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world/2015/may/13/dead-whale-valencia-spanish-beach | Mystery surrounds dead whale discovered on Spanish beach | Zoologists in Valencia are investigating the death of a six-tonne whale that washed up near the shore this week. Guardia Civil agents patrolling the area spotted the whale in shallow waters on Monday morning. They said it was floating lifelessly towards the shore and deployed a boat to protect the animal from oncoming vessels. Five hours later, the whale washed up on a beach in Cullera, a town about 30 miles south of Valencia. Police at the scene confirmed it was dead. Zoologists from the University of Valencia have been investigating the animal’s death. They confirmed it was a fin whale, one of the most common species in the Mediterranean. “It was female – most likely an adult,” Patricia Gozalbes, at the University of Valencia, said. “It showed no signs of a collision with a vessel or being caught in a net.” The whale’s advanced state of decomposition meant little more could be deciphered about its death, she said. Lured by the large population of krill, fin whales often frequent the waters off the Valencian coast to feed, Gozalbes said. They tend to wash up onshore in the region at a rate of about one a year. | ['world/spain', 'environment/whales', 'environment/cetaceans', 'environment/environment', 'world/europe-news', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/ashifa-kassam'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2015-05-13T12:54:37Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
global-development/2017/jun/08/promise-on-paris-agreement-as-world-wavers-climate-action-europe-development-policy | A promise on Paris agreement emerges as world 'wavers' on climate action | Major European countries have pledged to keep the Paris climate agreement on track amid “wavering” world commitment in a new development consensus agreed between the EU’s member states and signed in Brussels on Wednesday. “These are challenging times,” said Neven Mimica, European commissioner for international cooperation and development. “The global commitment to the sustainable development goals – to climate action, to solidarity – this seems to be wavering globally. The significance of this new European consensus on development becomes much bigger than the sum of its parts because of this global questioning of climate action and even the sustainable development goals.” The consensus sets out a framework for the overall direction of European development policy, but for some nations the commitments do not go far enough. Ulrika Modéer, Sweden’s state secretary of international development cooperation, said: “Sweden would have wished for an even more progressive consensus. But we think it’s good. “The EU really needs to step forward and showcase the importance of women’s rights and girls’ rights. In the world of today sexual and reproductive rights are being threatened. So we would have wanted stronger language on rights in general. “And climate change [is] the biggest threat we face now, with the potential to roll back a lot of the development that we’ve seen,” she said. “We need to start working and get this into practice.” Spain’s secretary of state for cooperation and Ibero-America, Fernando García Casas, who has worked on the agreement for the last six months, said a consensus had been difficult. “It was hard to the very last minute, but we succeeded. I believe we have a truly shared vision of the things we want to do in development cooperation. And at a time when Europe faces challenges such terrorism, migration, populism, this is the best that we can provide.” The agreement included a commitment that all states will reach the UN target of 0.7% of GDP going to overseas development assistance by 2030. MEP Norbert Neuser said that migration was the “hot topic”. “The consensus says that migration is not negative, it has a lot of positive elements,” said Neuser. But Oxfam said the emphasis on addressing the root causes of migration risks a shift from aid to self-interest. “We were disappointed in the final outcome,” said Hilary Jeune, Oxfam’s EU policy adviser. “We really saw that the EU’s self-interest and need to enact its foreign policy outweighed its solidarity, by using development aid to secure borders, to make deals with countries with a history of human rights abuses.” Nevertheless Mimica said the EU was taking very seriously its role as the world’s “largest development actor”. “We are ready to step up to our global responsibility,” he said. “We shall fly high in our leadership role in sustainable development regardless of how low or how high others go.” This article was amended on 12 June 2017 to correct Ulrika Modéer’s job title to state secretary of international development cooperation | ['global-development/global-development', 'global-development/sustainable-development-goals', 'global-development/environmental-sustainability', 'environment/environment', 'society/society', 'environment/sustainable-development', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/anna-veronica-leach', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/sustainable-development | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2017-06-08T15:36:42Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
commentisfree/2022/apr/19/global-heating-2c-climate-paris-agreement | Should we feel joy or despair that we’re on track to keep global heating to 2C? | Christiana Figueres | The atmosphere does not react to pledges for the future or reports about past achievements. It only reacts to real emission reductions. The research published in Nature last week showing that the pledges by countries to reduce emissions made since the Paris agreement could keep warming within 2C, if met on time, has therefore understandably sparked a series of conflicting reactions. Outrage that even if the promises are met, they don’t come close to 1.5C; and optimism that 2C is such a huge improvement on where we’d be headed without the Paris agreement. On the one hand, we have to acknowledge this looks very much like failure. A 2C world will not be livable for vast swathes of humanity, and half of the world’s children are already at extremely high risk from the impacts now, including hunger-inducing floods and droughts. A 2C future may even lead us into conditions that insurers would deem uninsurable for practically all businesses and homes, and that’s only if the pledges are met. There will never be a shortage of excuses for slippage on these promises. The atrocious invasion of Ukraine, which has brought our deadly addiction to Russian oil and gas into shocking view, is just one of them. Short-term arguments to push decarbonisation down the road will always find a way to rise back above the parapet. On the other hand, we have to agree that this new projection based on national commitments portends a far better outcome than we would get without them. Bending the curve of future emissions down – from 4.5C or higher as it was projected to be in 2015 – to within the stated goal of the agreement would be a huge improvement. This is a real result stemming from the difficult, intricate and decades-long multilateral process of negotiations as well as from the power of the decreasing costs of clean technologies. The Paris agreement is working, even if not fast enough. This process has been enabled at every turn by extraordinary momentum for action from all sectors of society, activism of all stripes from all corners of the globe and individual leadership. It’s also just the start: once action unleashed by these commitments begins to really kick in, and the non-state actor community continues pushing their additional pledges, the progress will quickly become exponential. So we are caught between two truths, and two deep feelings in our bones: outrage and optimism. Both are valid responses and both are necessary. Those in the community who have contributed to the provenance and ongoing implementation of any commitment to reduce emissions – national or corporate – would do themselves a great service by celebrating the tectonic shift. I know that these pledges are nearly always the result of dogged hard work and determination combined with deep-seated effort to develop a shared understanding and collective action. Yes, they are not yet enough, but behind each one are individuals who share the increasing pain about the ecological devastation we are witnessing and the anxiety about what we will continue to lose as a result of unambitious choices. Celebrating what we have on the table so far doesn’t mean we should not continue to challenge the commitments made, ensure their base in the latest science and call for proper accountability. After all businesses and governments pledging action cheat all of us, including themselves, by saying one thing and doing another. Integrity and transparency must be at the heart of all efforts. Delving into the actual work going on on the ground is absolutely inspiring. I know this first-hand from working closely with the Climate Pledge, in which 300 companies are aiming to accelerate solutions to the climate crisis and reach net zero by 2040. There is a treasure trove of future possibility burgeoning, even as we constantly read of new fossil fuel projects the atmosphere cannot afford being developed. By assuming one reaction or the other – outrage or optimism – we force ourselves into a box. We risk reducing our thinking and acting according to a binary mentality that can drive polarisation at a time where acting in solidarity with each other is ever more important. The complexity of the climate crisis and its solutions mean we need to get used to holding complex emotional reactions, and to pursuing complex solutions. The path ahead will be full of outrage and optimism. We can use both of those to push for the policies we know we need: policies that will enable every commitment and pledge to reduce emissions to be met not just on time, but ahead of schedule. Christiana Figueres is co-host of the Outrage and Optimism podcast and a former UN climate chief | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/christiana-figueres', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2022-04-19T09:00:38Z | true | EMISSIONS |
business/2023/jun/06/ms-removes-use-by-dates-from-milk-to-reduce-waste | M&S removes use-by dates from milk to reduce waste | Marks & Spencer has become the latest big retail name to remove use-by dates from its fresh milk in an attempt to prevent millions of pints that are still safe to consume being poured away. With milk ranking as the third most wasted food in UK homes after potatoes and bread, M&S will encourage customers to use the old fashioned sniff test to judge whether their dairy is still drinkable, by replacing use-by labels with a best-before date. A typical household throws away 18 pints of milk a year, usually because the date has expired. This results in waste on an industrial scale, with 490m pints, worth £270m, being poured away, says Catherine Davidof the sustainability charity Wrap. “The main reason is not drinking before the use-by date,” said David of why so much milk is wasted. “By changing to a best-before date, M&S is instantly helping its customers save money and cut waste by giving them more time to consume the milk they buy.” While use-by dates are about safety, and applied to foods that go off quickly and could cause food poisoning, best-before is an indicator of quality. Food is still safe to eat after this date but the flavour and texture may not be as good. Use-by dates are often found on products, such as milk and yoghurt, where a best-before one might do, a practice blamed for contributing to food waste. Things are starting to change, however. Last year Morrisons switched to best-before dates on its milk while the Co-op removed use-by dates from its own-brand yoghurt. The average family with children throws away food worth £60 a month, which experts say is both a waste of money and bad for the planet because about a third of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions are associated with food and drink. Last year M&S removed best-before dates across more than 300 fruit and veg lines, in a move designed to encourage customers to use their judgement on what is still good to eat. M&S said shoppers would start to see the new labels – with use-by dates replaced with best-before – on its Select Farms British and organic fresh milk this week. The move could have a big impact on milk waste as it sold more than 12m 4-pint cartons of Select Farms semi-skimmed milk alone last year. The combination of improved shelf life and overall quality of milk in recent years had enabled it to make the switch, meaning “customers can use their judgement before throwing away milk”, M&S added. | ['business/retail', 'business/marksspencer', 'business/business', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'food/milk--drink-', 'business/supermarkets', 'environment/farming', 'environment/food-waste', 'type/article', 'profile/zoewood', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-06-06T14:35:46Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
music/2011/mar/22/paul-weller-japan-tsunami-gig | Paul Weller, Primal Scream and Beady Eye play gig to support victims of Japan tsunami | Paul Weller, Primal Scream and Liam Gallagher's new band Beady Eye are among the acts billed to play a London gig in aid of the British Red Cross Japan Tsunami appeal. Primal Scream said they are: "humbled to play Japan Disaster benefit in their contribution to the relief efforts and as Mani is unable to attend due to prior family commitments, are pleased to announce they will be joined for one night only by Sex Pistols legend Glen Matlock." Also on the bill are Graham Coxon, Richard Ashcroft and the Coral. The show has been hastily arranged to help benefit those who have been affected by the recent earthquakes and subsequent tsunami. The Japanese Red Cross has been working on the ground since the disaster struck, mobilising 85 teams made up of 700 doctors, nurses and support staff. They have provided first aid, healthcare and assistance in assessing the damage and the needs of the communities affected. The show will take place at London's Brixton O2 Academy on 3 April. Tickets go on sale on Friday 25 March at 9am. | ['music/music', 'world/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami', 'music/paulweller', 'music/primal-scream', 'society/charities', 'tone/news', 'culture/culture', 'music/the-coral', 'society/voluntarysector', 'world/tsunamis', 'type/article', 'profile/casparllewellynsmith'] | world/tsunamis | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-03-22T11:52:31Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
commentisfree/2012/oct/31/hurricane-sandy-medicaid-healthcare | Hurricane Sandy is a reminder of why Medicaid is so important | Rob Delaney | If you were following coverage of Sandy last night, you may have seen photos of nurses and firemen transporting babies from the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) at NYU's hospital. If you didn't, you might consider looking them up. They're very moving. They show courageous emergency and medical personnel doing what they do best, and it's beautiful. I was in a NICU recently visiting friends' new twins who came out too early and needed some extra professional TLC before they could venture out into the wider world. As these little nuggets lay in their incubators, tiny and pink, I felt like I was looking into the womb. I essentially was, since modern medicine does a remarkable job recreating a womb-like atmosphere to keep the newest members of our race safe. My wife was standing next to me, pregnant with our second baby, who's about two thirds of its way through development inside her growing tummy. As I looked at these pictures of the babies being evacuated, I had a depressing thought. What are the financial situations of these babies' parents? Are they poor? Do they have insurance? Are they on Medicaid? Medicaid is a health programme that pays for medical services for those who cannot afford them. It is jointly funded by the federal and state governments. In some ways, I'd be happy if you were learning this information for the first time right now; the reason being that you don't have to rely on Medicaid. Regardless, I suspect that if you had some "Medicaid" in your pocket last night, you'd have gladly given it to these precious babies to ensure their health and safety. It's a good thing. If one of those babies were poor, I don't suspect you'd want to punish her because her dad got laid off from his manufacturing job or because leukemia killed her older brother and bankrupted her parents just in time for her birth. If you don't like these examples, tough shit; they're how people get poor in the United States of America in 2012. I don't want you to like them. I'd also ask that you think about those babies when you vote next week. Or think about your own baby, or maybe a baby you know or perhaps work with. (Wouldn't it be cool to work with a baby?) Here's why: according to the Congressional Budget Office, which provides nonpartisan analysis of the federal budget for Congress, if we adopted vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan's proposed budget, "federal spending for Medicaid would be 35% lower in 2022 and 49% lower in 2030 than currently projected federal spending." This is a reduction of $810bn(£503bn) over 10 years. This concerns me, as I suspect incubators aren't cheap, even if it's a poor baby you'll be putting in one. If you're worried about our nation's debt, present and future, I have good news: that same Congressional Budget Office – to reiterate, a nonpartisan organisation – has shown – again and again – that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, will reduce the deficit. I am of the opinion, as a dad, a husband (of a woman with reproductive organs), a tax payer, a voter and an American living inside a human body, that improving the mechanisms for delivering health care in this nation is as high a priority as we will ever have. Why? When you unshackle good, hard-working, kind, enterprising Americans from the fear that health care costs could bankrupt them, you will unleash an intellectual and economic force that will knock your socks right off your feet, whether you bought them at Brooks Brothers or Goodwill. • This article was originally published on robdelaney.tumblr.com and is republished here with permission | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'us-news/healthcare', 'us-news/hurricane-sandy', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'us-news/obama-administration', 'us-news/paul-ryan', 'us-news/us-politics', 'us-news/usdomesticpolicy', 'us-news/us-supreme-court', 'law/us-constitution-and-civil-liberties', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/hurricanes', 'tone/comment', 'us-news/medicaid', 'type/article', 'profile/rob-delaney'] | us-news/hurricane-sandy | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-10-31T13:43:07Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
commentisfree/2023/aug/09/the-guardian-view-on-the-amazon-summit-rich-nations-must-now-step-up | The Guardian view on the Amazon summit: rich nations must now step up | In last October’s Brazilian election, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defeated Jair Bolsonaro by a margin of 1.8%. That narrowest of victories may have been the single most important environmental development of 2022. With Mr Bolsonaro in power, the Amazon rainforest was hurtling towards a tipping point after which it would no longer function as a climate stabiliser and the world’s biggest carbon sink. Between August 2021 and July 2022, an area of forest the size of Qatar was cleared in the interests of big business. Lula’s government has stopped the rot. Companies involved in illegal deforestation have been sanctioned, armed interventions have taken place to end illegal mining operations, and new conservation areas have been established. Deforestation dropped by 42% during Lula’s first seven months in office, and the state has returned as a protective presence in the Brazilian Amazon. The transformed political context was the catalyst for this week’s landmark regional summit in Belém, in which the eight Latin American nations sharing the Amazon came together – for the first time in 14 years – to produce a plan for its sustainable development. The outcome was only a partial success. Tuesday’s Belém declaration outlines important new areas of cooperation in combating illegal logging, mining and burning in the Amazon. But it failed to formalise a target of ending deforestation by 2030 – a commitment already adopted by Lula’s Brazil, and one credited with driving much of the progress his government has made this year. Leaders were also unable to agree a common position on the future of industries such as cattle farming, mining and oil, which are driving the destruction. This was, then, a weaker document than environmental groups, and Lula himself, had hoped for. But as it rightly argues, game-changing progress in these areas will not be achieved without assistance – on a transformative scale – from the richer nations that have benefited from exploitation of the Amazon’s resources. If less well-off countries facing huge financial challenges are to rethink the Amazon’s economy, and protect its biodiversity, such stewardship in the global interest will need to be properly rewarded. Debt relief in exchange for climate action, as called for at the summit, would be a step in the right direction, and should be on the table at this year’s Cop28 summit in Dubai. The subsidising of environmentally viable Amazon products should be stepped up, and China and the United States should follow the European Union’s lead in blocking products linked to deforestation. The indigenous peoples who have been the most effective stewards of the land need to be better protected and empowered. The rainforest’s future will only be truly safeguarded when its economics reward sustainable practice rather than the relentless production of beef in particular, the chief driver of land clearance. It is the responsibility of the world’s most developed nations, as well as the signatories of the Belém declaration, to ensure that happens. Opening this week’s summit, Lula envisioned a future Amazon “with greener cities, with cleaner air, with mercury-free rivers and forests that are left standing”. By changing the political weather, the Brazilian president’s election has opened a window of opportunity for the most valuable piece of green infrastructure on the planet. The world cannot afford for that opportunity to be missed. But the heavy lifting now required needs to be shared equitably. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'world/luiz-inacio-lula-da-silva', 'environment/deforestation', 'environment/environment', 'environment/conservation', 'world/brazil', 'environment/forests', 'world/americas', 'world/world', 'world/jair-bolsonaro', 'type/article', 'tone/editorials', 'tone/comment', 'profile/editorial', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/opinion', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-08-09T17:34:03Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
us-news/2019/jan/14/california-wildfires-pacific-gas-and-electric-bankruptcy | California utility firm suspected of starting deadly wildfires goes bankrupt | The utility company that services more than a third of California announced on Monday it plans to file for bankruptcy by the end of the month. Several deadly wildfires believed to have been caused by the company left it with potential liabilities of at least $30bn. The board of directors of Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) has determined that the move “is ultimately the only viable option to restore PG&E’s financial stability to fund ongoing operations and provide safe service to customers”, the San Francisco-based company stated in a filing at the Security and Exchange Commission. PG&E, which provides gas and electricity to 16 million Californians, is under investigation for its role in November’s Camp fire, the deadliest wildfire in the state’s history. The company has been found responsible for several other disasters in recent years, including the 2017 North Bay fires, which killed 43 people and destroyed more than 14,700 homes, the 2015 Butte fire, which killed two people and destroyed almost 900 structures, and a a 2010 gas line explosion in San Bruno that ripped through an entire neighborhood, killing eight and injuring 58 people. PG&E was fined $1.6bn for the San Bruno explosion and a federal jury found the company guilty of six felony charges, ordering it to pay $3m in fines. With Monday’s announcement, PG&E hopes to reach a resolution for potential liabilities resulting from the Camp fire and the North Bay fires. “We believe a court-supervised process under Chapter 11 will best enable PG&E to resolve its potential liabilities in an orderly, fair and expeditious fashion,” the interim PG&E CEO, John Simon, said in a statement. “We expect this process also will enable PG&E to access the capital and resources we need to continue providing our customers with safe service and investing in our systems and infrastructure.” Monday’s moves come during a period of intense disruption for the company. S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s Investors Services cut PG&E’s credit grades to junk status, down from investment-grade level, last week. The federal judge overseeing the utility after the 2010 San Bruno explosion also moved to order the company to reinspect its grid and “remove or trim all trees” that could fall on power lines ahead of next year’s fire season. And on Sunday, PG&E’s chief executive, Geisha Williams, announced her resignation. Williams is set to receive a severance payment of about $2.5m, as well as accrued pension benefits, “the same as any employee of the company”, said Matt Nauman, a PG&E spokesman. California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, who was elected just days before the Camp fire ignited, said in a statement on Monday that he has been “closely monitoring the impact of PG&E’s existing and potential future liability”, but would not go into detail about any possible government intervention. “Everyone’s immediate focus is, rightfully, on ensuring Californians have continuous, reliable and safe electric and gas service,” Newsom said. “While PG&E announced its intent to file bankruptcy today, the company should continue to honor promises made to energy suppliers and to our community. Last fall, the then governor, Jerry Brown, signed into law a bill allowing utility companies whose equipment is found to have caused a wildfire to increase rates over several years in order to pay for liability costs. Consumer watchdog groups strongly opposed the law, knowing that under it, any wildfires from 2017 on could be covered in such fashion. “Basically, from our perspective, customers pay a bill every month and they pay it because they want to have safe and reliable electricity and that is where our money should be going toward,” said Mindy Spatt, a spokeswoman for the Utility Reform Network. “Customers can’t afford to keep paying for PG&E’s negligence and liabilities.” In a statement on Monday, the San Francisco city attorney, Dennis Herrera, vowed to “vigorously defend” the interests of San Francisco taxpayers and hold PG&E to its promise that “the power stays on during the company’s financial turmoil”. “We will also remain vigilant,” Herrera said. “PG&E should not be allowed to shift its failures onto the backs of hardworking residents. We are working with other policymakers to ensure that this situation results in safe, reliable, clean and affordable power for ratepayers, including the possibility of a publicly owned utility.” | ['us-news/california', 'business/energy-industry', 'business/business', 'world/natural-disasters', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/wildfires', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/vivian-ho', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2019-01-14T23:37:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
big-energy-debate/2014/oct/28/cornwall-community-energy-planning-nimbys | How Cornwall is stopping communities becoming a ‘soft target’ for nimbys | When the Cornish village of Gorran High Lanes raised £80,000 in a share issue to install two 80KW wind turbines, the aim was to create their own sustainable energy source. But the turbines have produced other benefits for the community, with up to 3% of the revenue funding further eco-friendly initiatives. These have included insulating the village hall and installing LED lighting in the church. Community-led projects like this are rare in the UK, accounting for just over 0.3% of energy produced from renewables. In Germany – where community owned installations represent 46% of all energy produced from renewables – they are mainstream. Neil Farrington, technical director of Community Power Cornwall, the local co-operative behind the Gorran High Lanes scheme, believes renewables offer a “massive opportunity” for the community sector. But he says that community-owned renewables still have to overcome the same local planning hurdles as other developments, despite their wider benefits. “People will still oppose a wind farm, even when it is 100% community owned,” he warns. “Because you are a community-led scheme and feel the need to take objections on board, you can be seen as a soft target.” Some argue that the lack of clarity in planning guidance is holding back the development of community renewables, particularly schemes involving onshore wind farms. The current National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) supports “community-led initiatives for renewable and low carbon energy”, but some argue that it is too ambiguous, left too open to interpretation. A working group of planners set up by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is looking into how the planning system impacts on community renewables and is due to report shortly. Yana Bosseva, a group member and RenewableUK’s planning advisor, says although overall the NPPF is positive towards renewables, including community-led schemes, the guidance and its wording is “very fuzzy”. She suggests that this is leading to inconsistent decision-making. “At local level, planners’ lack awareness of the benefits for communities and there is some anti-windfarm sentiment amongst members,” Bosseva says. “Planners check that wind farm applications are sound, and comply with local plans, but when it gets to councillor level it gets a lot more messy, especially if emotions start to interfere with logic.” Adrian Lea, technical director of energy-from-waste provider Wardell Armstrong, and a former local authority planner himself, says developers of renewables have to be “pretty determined” and community groups often lack the time and the expertise. “If you are going to encourage communities to bring these schemes forward you have to incentivise and assist those people,” he says. But some local authorities are taking steps to ensure that community-led renewables projects are not at a disadvantage. Cornwall council is one of them. Having already developed a revolving loan fund for green energy schemes, it is now developing supplementary planning guidance (SPG) to explain the national policy on community renewables and what it means for schemes in Cornwall. If adopted, the SPG is expected to come into force next year, alongside a new local plan for the area. One of the issues facing planning officers and committees is what weight to give to the fact that a scheme is community-owned, when they are faced with objections. This is particularly a problem with onshore wind farms, which have faced opposition in some areas. Lea says that he has known of renewables proposals with significant community backing and the potential to bring many local benefits that are refused after attracting local objections. Cornwall’s SPG is designed to overcome this problem. Dan Nicholls, the council’s principal planning officer, says the guidance sets out what is meant by a community-owned scheme and describes the type of projects that should be supported, so there is no room for ambiguity. “There does appear to be some confusion about what a community-led project is and what weight you apply to the NPPF,” he explains. Nicholls says that the SPG should help to clarify how much community involvement in a scheme carries weight when an application is challenged. Rather than defining too specifically community-led schemes, it explains clearly what decision makers are looking for based on a hierarchy with full community ownership at the top. That way, it would not exclude emerging models of community renewables or private schemes providing significant community benefits, Nicholls explains. Bosseva welcomes Cornwall’s move, adding that using a local plan to define policy is a good approach. “The purpose of the SPG is providing more detail,” she advises councils. “If everyone did that then at least we would be applying the NPPF to current local plans and planning guidance. However, not enough [councils] have an up-to-date local plan; only 13% have been updated since the NPPF [was published in 2012].” Hugh Ellis, head of policy at the Town and Country Planning Association and chair of the DECC working group on community energy, warns that the gap between the best planning authorities and the rest “is very stark”. “In the worst cases you have councils charging communities for pre-applications discussions. That has to change,” he says. A report by the thinktank ResPublica reveals that the community renewables sector could grow to 89 times its current size if the right national and local policies were put in place – potentially generating £30m a year in tax revenue for councils. Ellis says that while a city like Munich can generate hundreds of millions of euros per year from renewable energy, there would need to be a “completely different culture and attitude” within Britain to achieve the same goal. “It’s a positive way of localising our economy,” he says. “We just need to get the planning side of things in place.” This article is part of the Guardian’s #bigenergydebate series. Click here to find out more about this project and our partners. | ['big-energy-debate/big-energy-debate', 'environment/energy', 'environment/energyefficiency', 'business/energy-industry', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/windpower', 'travel/cornwall', 'society/localgovernment', 'politics/planning', 'society/communities', 'public-leaders-network/public-leaders-network', 'public-leaders-network/local-government', 'public-leaders-network/planning', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'profile/rosie-niven'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2014-10-28T09:59:07Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/commentisfree/2014/dec/30/nsw-marine-parks-have-been-exposed-by-confused-mess-of-fishing-regulations | NSW marine parks have been exposed by confused mess of fishing regulations | There is a footbridge on the New South Wales south coast that crosses at the mouth of Lake Mummuga, near the sleepy village of Dalmeny. On the other side of the bridge, and a short walk north, is Brou beach where one of the most head-scratching decisions in Australian marine conservation management has just been made. Shortly before Christmas the NSW government announced the end of a controversial, blanket amnesty on shore-based line fishing in marine park sanctuary zones. During the amnesty, declared in March 2013, anglers could not be fined for fishing in these special, mostly remote, stretches of coastline. In other words there has been an 18-month free-for-all from the shore in sanctuary zones. Scientists and environmentalists agree it is a good thing the amnesty has ended. But there is a kicker: in 10 locations, in five of the state’s marine parks, sanctuary zones will now be revoked to make shore-based fishing permanently legal. Brou beach, in Batemans Marine Park, is one of these locations and it is a stretch of coast I have known and loved all my life. And what is happening at Batemans is a microcosm for the entire nation. Marine park areas in NSW and across Australia are faced with being replaced, meddled with and altered to such an extent they are starting to become like the legendary Greek ship Theseus. The Theseus had so many of its components substituted that philosophers began to wonder if it was still the same vessel. Before the Dalmeny footbridge was constructed more than three decades ago, residents and holidaymakers would have to wade across the estuary to get to the surf beach. Taking into account shifting sands and the ebb and flow of the tide, that meant getting wet anywhere from the bottom of your shorts to the neck of your T-shirt. I vividly remember how the walkway over the lake mouth revolutionised Dalmeny’s civil society: a Sydney harbour bridge for pedestrian seachangers. But one thing never changed. Brou beach was still only ever rarely fished. My grandparents owned a little fibro cottage that would today qualify for the micro-house movement, and every day, for weeks on end I would wander along Brou beach and in the forests and dunes backing onto the coast. Even before I was 10 I was trying to work out how I could live forever in the forests behind Brou beach and catch fish and never have to go home again. Eventually, however, heat or cold, hunger or thirst would reluctantly drive me back to my grandparents’ shack. The footbridge over Lake Mummuga is where I learned to fish. My grandad taught me how to collect worms for bait on Brou beach. He was a tough but fair taskmaster, whose chiefest sole delights were family, drinking beer and catching fish. His playground was the marine environment of the Eurobodalla: the estuaries, rivers and the ocean between Moruya and Narooma. He was no greenie but he was a conservationist, the kind of gnarled, strong man who would sit for hours undoing a “bunch of grapes” of tangled fishing line rather than throw it out and let it become a hazard to sea life. He caught his own bait (or got me to catch it) rather than buy the frozen prawns in plastic bags that so many fishers leave littered around boat ramps and popular headlands. He would catch enough for a feed and perhaps a couple of extra to put in the freezer but catching fish wasn’t the main game. He just loved the simplicity of floating down a river in his tinny with his wife and family. Most of his playground is now Batemans Marine Park. But if he were alive today none of his favourite spots in the marine park would be closed to recreational fishing. The park’s sanctuary zones are a mere fraction of the total area and most are very remote, inaccessible or of no interest to the majority of recreational anglers. The rezoning of Brou beach will benefit only a tiny minority of anglers who are prepared to make their way to one of the wildest coasts in the state. But allowing even such a small number to fish from the shore, while maintaining a sanctuary zone from beyond the breakers, is like letting someone eat only the icing off a chocolate cake. After all, it is the shoreline of the beaches and the headlands, soon to have their sanctuary status revoked, that are the focus for marine life. The other problem with allowing a tiny number of people access to these special areas is that many anglers don’t like to walk, resulting in poorly maintained vehicle tracks that lead to terrible erosion. But the worst thing of all is that these kind of contorted-compromise decisions lead to confusion and make it hard to prosecute those breaking the law. The controversy surrounding the original protection of a place like Brou beach has now well and truly passed. There were no demonstrations demanding it be reopened to fishermen. So an announcement like the one before Christmas looks like bloody-minded score settling at the expense of our marine environment. Normally such decisions happen on other people’s beaches. Back in 2006 I was happy to see the place where I learned to fish be one of the very few chosen spots on the NSW coast given the highest level of protection. I am dismayed that it will soon, again, be just like everywhere else. James Woodford is Guardian Australia’s ocean correspondent. The position is a non-profit journalism project funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. For more information on Woodford’s work for Guardian Australia, click here | ['environment/marine-life', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/new-south-wales', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/environment', 'commentisfree/commentisfree', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/james-woodford-australia'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2014-12-30T02:06:57Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2009/mar/23/bottled-water-sales-fall | Sales of bottled water are falling | The consumer backlash against expensive, bottled water is gathering momentum, according to two related studies this week which reveal that more of us are content with that plain old, dirt cheap stuff that comes straight out of a tap. First of all, the UK's restaurant-goers overwhelmingly prefer to choose tap water over bottled, according to a brand new survey issued to tie in with UN World Water Day 2009, which fell on 22 March. The research, commissioned by international charity, WaterAid reveals that tap water is the preferred choice for 63% of people when they dine out. Over 23.5 million people prefer to order tap water with their meals rather than bottled. Yet despite this, one in four people surveyed said they have felt pressured to order bottled water when dining out. More and more UK restaurants are offering tap water to diners as standard, which is already the norm in the US. But you still often have to ask for it - with the associated embarrassment that can cause. WaterAid's drinking water survey also shows that women are more likely to choose tap water, while men are more inclined to have bottled water with their meal. And where people live also seems to make a difference - people in Greater London and Scotland are the most likely to choose bottled water, whereas those dining out in the South East and East Anglia are happy with a good old jug of tap. The popularity of bottled water soared in the 1990s and the early 2000s, but is now s-o-o-o yesterday, according to figures from market research company TNS. Last year the on-going year-on-year increase in sales was halted and sales actually fell by 9%. The Guardian has highlighted what an expensive and unnecessary adornment bottled water is, even singling out Bling H2O - in frosted glass bottles adorned with Swarowski crystals and a mere snip at $55 a bottle - as the ultimate eco-unfriendly product. Tap water costs around 0.1p a litre at home. Surely it's a no-brainer? Which do you drink - bottled or tap? Which restaurants would you single out for their refreshing attitude to offering tap water, and which are still swimming against the consumer current? | ['lifeandstyle/wordofmouth', 'food/food', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'tone/blog', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/waste', 'environment/water', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/environment', 'environment/green-living-blog', 'type/article', 'profile/rebeccasmithers'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2009-03-23T13:00:00Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2018/mar/03/green-party-caroline-lucas-conservative-environment-plan-plastics-michael-gove | Green party says Tories' environment rhetoric is dangerous | The Conservative party’s rhetoric on the environment is a “fluffy communications strategy” when change on plastics could happen in half the time pledged, the co-leader of the Greens has said ahead of her party conference speech. Caroline Lucas will use her speech on Saturday in Bournemouth to call for petrol and diesel-only new cars to be phased out by 2030 and a deposit return scheme on drinks containers to be launched by the end of the year. “The government’s 25-year environment plan – finally published a few months ago – is desperately disappointing,” she will say. “A vague promise to ban ‘avoidable’ plastics in a quarter of a century is woefully inadequate and easy to do, with the politicians who wrote it likely to have retired or expired by the time it would come into force.” Since the general election in June, the Tories have made the environment a key campaigning theme and the party’s main Twitter account has returned to the subject of environmental legislation time and again. MPs often tweeted in unison about the BBC documentary series Blue Planet II. Michael Gove has introduced a raft of measures since becoming environment secretary, including banning microbeads in beauty products and pledging to eliminate plastic waste by 2042, starting with all single-use plastic in central government offices. He has also encouraged supermarkets to introduce plastic-free aisles. Speaking to the Guardian ahead of her speech, Lucas said she thought the Conservatives’ electoral strategy on the environment could be dangerous. “It is dangerous to have a nice, fluffy communications strategy which lulls people into the sense you can trust this government on the environment, when time and time again they’ve shown you simply can’t,” she said. Lucas said the 25-year timetable on plastics was far too slow, with the supermarket Iceland pledging to go plastic-free on its own-brand products in five years. The MP for Brighton Pavilion said the government had to show it was prepared to go beyond just incentivising corporations to take environmental action on issues like plastics. “Michael Gove waxes very lyrical about Blue Planet and how this has touched his heart. Well, it’s good it has touched his heart but we need it to touch his head too,” she said. “That means urgent action, and if you wait for the industries to move themselves, we’re going to be waiting a long time. “There is a role for government to be setting frameworks, and that’s the challenge for Conservatives in general and Gove in particular.” Lucas said she was also highly sceptical that Brexit would be an opportunity to strengthen environmental protections. “On farming, you hear Gove saying Brexit is an opportunity to put more money into public good, like environmental protection,” she said. “And yet even under the current system of the common agricultural policy, you can already transfer more money than this government in England has chosen to do. Scotland has gone further. We haven’t even gone up to the maximum. “So the idea Brexit is going to be this great opportunity to have a flourishing environment policy, when even under the existing rules the government isn’t taking up opportunities that are there and has also been blocking action at EU level – that’s why I say it is dangerous.” In her speech, Lucas will call for the government to speed up its environmental strategy. She will call for a “comprehensive” deposit return scheme for all drinks containers by the end of the year, and say it is “unacceptable to expect the public to wait nearly a quarter of a century for a phase-out of petrol and diesel when thousands of people die prematurely because of air pollution”. Lucas will add: “We know that places across the world are shifting to electric vehicles faster than us, and it’s time the British government took a lead by phasing out petrol and diesel by 2030 and replaced them with better public transport and infrastructure for electric vehicles.” | ['environment/environment', 'politics/green-party', 'politics/caroline-lucas', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'politics/conservatives', 'environment/plastic', 'politics/michaelgove', 'environment/plastic-bags', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jessica-elgot', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-03-03T06:00:10Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2023/jan/12/orca-florida-beaching-necropsy-killer-whale | Orca necropsy will search for clues to rare, ‘heartbreaking’ beaching in Florida | Wildlife officials in Florida will conduct a necropsy to determine the cause of death of a 21ft (6.4-metre) orca, the first recorded instance of a killer whale beaching itself in the south-eastern US. The female orca was still alive when it came ashore in Flagler county, about 30 miles north of Daytona Beach, early on Wednesday, but died before rescuers arrived. “This is the first killer whale stranding in the south-east US, so there’s a lot of interest in trying to sample it extensively and try to determine why it might have been sick and why it stranded,” said Erin Fougeres, marine mammal stranding program regional administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), in an interview with CNN. “We know they’re out there, but they’re very rare in our waters.” Deputies from the Flagler county sheriff’s office closed access roads to the beach just south of Jungle Hut park, as large numbers of spectators tried to get a glimpse of the orca. Fougeres said a member of the public reported the orca coming ashore shortly after first light but a rescue team from the Hubbs-SeaWorld research institute found the whale dead. Workers from the Florida fish and wildlife conservation commission (FWC) and Flagler county officials assisted in removing the carcass. The sheriff’s office posted photographs of the “heartbreaking” episode to its Facebook page. There were no obvious signs of trauma, Fougeres said, although it could be several weeks before the results of a necropsy are known. “We’ll be doing a full investigation into what might have caused this animal to strand, or if it’s sick, what might have caused that,” she told the Daytona Beach News Journal. “We’re eager to learn as much as we can about this whale and about the species, and we really rely on the public to report these events when they happen.” According to Noaa, about 50,000 orcas live globally, in several populations and ecotypes. They are most abundant in cooler waters of Antarctica, Norway and Alaska but other populations prefer warmer climes. The world’s most-studied group of orcas, including the endangered “southern resident distinct population” of just 73 killer whales, live in the eastern north Pacific Ocean that ranges from central California to south-east Alaska. Fougeres said it was “fairly uncommon” to see them in the south-east US region from North Carolina to Puerto Rico, and west to Texas. All populations of orcas, the largest members of the dolphin family, are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Threats to their survival include food depletion, chemicals in the oceans and disturbances from shipping. Fougeres said the necropsy would be an extensive process. “They’ll go through every organ system and look to observe if there’s any gross lesions, anything obviously wrong with the different organ systems, and they’ll take extensive samples from the whale, which will then send out to a lab, or multiple labs actually, for analysis.” In August 2021, rescuers saved a 20ft killer whale that washed up on Alaska’s Prince of Wales Island, keeping the whale alive by pouring buckets of water over it during an hours-long effort by boaters, locals and wildlife officials. • This article was amended on 13 January 2023. An earlier version said that there were 2,500 orcas in the “southern resident distinct population”. That group numbers 73; 2,500 is the approximate figure for the total number of killer whales living in the eastern North Pacific Ocean. | ['environment/cetaceans', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/florida', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/richardluscombe', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-01-12T14:38:33Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
lifeandstyle/2017/jul/19/kitchen-gadgets-review-device-to-measure-spaghetti | Kitchen gadgets review: finally, a magnetised device to measure spaghetti | What? Dexam spaghetti timer and measure, (£15, dexam.co.uk). Crystal oscillator and diode display, with swivel-out back panel cut with holes of variable diameter. Portions and controls the cooking of spaghetti. Why? Pasta, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! Well? A handy item this week – a pasta-measuring device with a built-in timer, which, thanks to a magnetic back, can be kept on the fridge. (I watched the movie Edge of Tomorrow yesterday and I’ll tell you who else has a magnetic back: Emily Blunt.) It’s nicely chunky, with a large readout. The three-serve pasta hole is the default, but pulling out the rear tile accesses single and double measures, and you can use multiples thereof for larger quantities. (Bit worried about that Blunt comment. It’s just, in the film, she’s this badass who destroys aliens in a boxy robotic exoskeleton; there’s one particular scene where Tom Cruise finds her in a post-training cobra pose, covered in sweat, and it’s stayed with me. They keep replaying the moment within the film, too, so blame the producers.) The clock and alarm work well. I normally use my phone for this sort of thing, but it’s amazing how Siri can mishear “Set a timer for three minutes” as “Conduct a search for teat pipettes” or some other nonsense. (Having made some phone calls, I now realise the whole Blunt back tangent is problematic. For balance, here are some other backs I think about often: Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire, Alain Delon in Plein Soleil and whoever the actor is who plays Tim Riggins in Friday Night Lights.) While not a technical marvel, the sheer convenience and functionality here mean creator Dexam should receive credit for not trying to reinvent the wheel. (So, apparently, the solution to objectification isn’t more objectification? Jeez. OK, the full list of inoffensive, non-controversial backs I like is as follows: backgammon, cashback, smoked back bacon, The Empire Strikes Back, Rhodesian ridgebacks, Back to the Future, Yes Sir, I Can Boogie by Baccara, and the international baccalaureate.) All in all, no complaints. In our carb-swerving era, the timing may not be right for a spaghetti alarm, but it’s always pasta o’clock where I live, and this a gadget that rings my bell. Dystopian fantasies not included. Any downside? Maybe they’re called Zimbabwean ridgebacks now? Oh God. Counter, drawer, back of the cupboard? To put it Bluntly, better than fine. 3/5 | ['food/food', 'lifeandstyle/series/inspect-a-gadget', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'tone/features', 'technology/gadgets', 'food/italian-food-and-drink', 'food/pasta', 'type/article', 'profile/rhik-samadder', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/g2', 'theguardian/g2/features', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-g2-features'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2017-07-19T08:00:15Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
commentisfree/cif-green/2009/apr/29/recycling-environmental-impact | Harry Phibbs: In recycling we trust | There is a terrible gap left in people's lives now that the habit of going to church has ceased among a large part of the population. As GK Chesterton argued, "The problem when people don't believe in God is not that they believe in nothing, it is that they believe anything." Amid the array of dotty fads available, if people choose not merely to recycle but to "believe" in recycling, this is surely one of the less harmful manifestations of Chesterton's dictum. The difficulty comes, however, that if recycling is treated as a matter of faith, then there is a lack of scrutiny and objectivity. Those who want to believe they are doing something good do not take kindly to the harsh rigours of a cost-benefit analysis. Peter Jones, an environmental adviser to government ministers, has questioned the recycling orthodoxy with courage equivalent to Galileo's suggestion that the Earth goes round the sun: "It might be that the global warming impact of putting material through an incinerator five miles down the road is actually less than recycling it 3,000 miles away," said Jones. He was quickly denounced by the modern day popes at Friends of the Earth. Last week there was a report from Which?, as the Consumers Association is now known. It was not critical of recycling but suggested it was often done in an unintelligent way. At present, endless tonnes of recycling are contaminated and end up on landfill anyway. Are we really trying to save the planet? Or salve our consciences? Why do we hear so much about recycling but, for instance, so little about the eco friendly incinerators? The Renewable Energy Association has argued there is potential for far more "waste to energy": a cost-effective and environmentally beneficial alternative to recycling or landfill. Why do we not hear more about composting? I am pleased that Hammersmith and Fulham, where I am a councillor, offers free composters to residents. The late Tory MP Eric Forth used to relish turning up in the House of Commons on Friday to denounce legislation almost everyone else assumed to be worthy. On one occasion he did so concerning recycling: "My reservations are that insufficient attention is paid to the real difficulties caused by the collection and distribution process, which will contribute to traffic congestion, atmospheric pollution and the consumption of fossil fuels, which are all inimical to the environment. Those factors have to be added to the equation, and that is why I am not a fan of recycling." He added that as a minister he had "glancing responsibility" for recycling, which must have been a joy to his officials. Part of the equation Forth might have had in mind when it comes to recycling plastic is that much of it gets sent off to China. This is because sifting through the stuff is cheaper there. A Sky News investigation reported: "In Lianjiao's recycling plants they melt plastic down into molten lumps. It gives off fumes that can cause lung disease. Smoke stacks bellow clouds of chemicals that hang above the town. Poisonous waste pours directly into rivers, turning them to a stagnant black sludge. Entire families live amongst the filth. "We visited yard after yard filled with rubbish from across Europe. We watched a container truck unloading household waste from France. Another yard specialised in German plastic. "Next door we found a container-load of household rubbish just off the boat from Britain. Baled and compressed by the companies that ship it here, it was stacked to the ceilings. Workers sifted through shopping bags from Tesco and Asda. We saw Sainsbury's milk bottles, packaging from Cadbury's chocolate, and plastic wrapping from pet food." It may be that shipping the stuff to China is a net environmental gain. Or it may be that the process is damaging to the environment and is carried out purely to achieve some statutory target despite the perverse consequences. Perhaps recycling some things is worthwhile, but recycling others does more harm than good. Does using up water from the tap at home to rinse out bottles do more harm than good if the glass has to be cleaned again anyway? It is time we were given some honest advice and clear priorities, rather than constant incantations to do more. | ['commentisfree/cif-green', 'commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'lifeandstyle/compost', 'environment/environment', 'tone/comment', 'type/article', 'profile/harryphibbs'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2009-04-29T09:30:00Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
business/2022/sep/10/british-gas-cap-profits-cut-energy-bills-centrica-electricity | British Gas owner plans to cap profits to cut energy bills | British Gas owner Centrica plans to voluntarily cap booming profits in an effort to cut household bills and defuse outrage over them, the Guardian can reveal. The chief executive, Chris O’Shea, said he is keen for Centrica to become the “first company” to sign up to new, renegotiated contracts with the government on its electricity generation, amid controversy over windfall gains. As part of Liz Truss’s £150bn energy bills freeze, renewable and nuclear power generators will be asked to supply electricity below current market rates – but the new prime minister has refused to impose a windfall tax on them. Ministers plan to “negotiate” with generators on older wind, solar and nuclear contracts, which have benefited from windfall gains as the price of gas has soared, to persuade them to switch to newer, less lucrative deals, which lock in lower prices in return for guaranteed long-term income. As well as being the UK’s biggest supplier of gas and electricity to households via British Gas, Centrica is also a big generator via its 20% stake in Britain’s nuclear power stations. O’Shea said Centrica is willing to switch the five nuclear plants to the new-style contracts. He said he was even prepared to draw up long-term contracts with the government for Centrica’s North Sea gas fields, which are not covered by the initiative and have already been subject to the windfall tax announced earlier this year by the then chancellor, Rishi Sunak. North Sea oil and gas extraction does not currently receive subsidies. O’Shea said he had discussed the idea, backed by industry body Energy UK, with the government and talks are ongoing. “We are in this business for the long term. We’re not in this business to maximise our profit this year,” he said. Energy firms have supported the “contracts for difference” (CfD) proposals, which give investors certainty over the levels of returns they can receive, potentially years after the energy crisis has abated. However, the Resolution Foundation has warned that the policy risked “delaying but locking in” windfall gains. There are concerns that the government negotiating team, led by the former head of the vaccines taskforce, Madelaine McTernan, is in a weak position as it will need to convince generators to forgo high short-term prices. O’Shea declined to say what proportion of its profits he was prepared to relinquish or how much the company hopes to receive from government. He told the Guardian: “Sometimes if you go to the government and propose you take a lower price they look at you like there must be something else in it for you. “We are obviously in this business to create value for all of our stakeholders, customers, country [and] colleagues. But it’s not about maximising this year’s profits; it’s about having a long-term sustainable business. “We supply more than 8m homes and businesses in the UK with energy – if they can’t afford their energy, we don’t have a sustainable business. And so when you think about this holistically … if we put something like a CfD regime in place for existing assets then, God forbid, if this ever happens again and we see prices go where they go, there’s an automatic adjustment mechanism.” O’Shea said the “risky” nature of commodity markets can hang over investments. “If you put a floor on the price that can be achieved, you eliminate a huge amount of the risks,” he added. Centrica holds its 20% stake in Britain’s nuclear fleet through a joint venture with France’s EDF, which is also understood to be supportive of the proposals. The scale of the windfall from surging gas prices was underlined in July when Centrica reported first-half operating profits of £1.3bn and handed £59m to shareholders. The company said it had seen an 11% gain in volumes of nuclear power generated in the first half of 2022. It said the price achieved for nuclear power had risen from £46.5 a megawatt hour in 2021 to £110.4/MWh. The company posted a surge in half-year profits from the division containing its exploration and production, and nuclear operations – reaching £906m, up from £75m. O’Shea said that alternative suggestions to cap wholesale gas prices could “distort the market massively and have perverse consequences”. Asked if he was backing the CfD proposal to fend off a potential windfall tax, O’Shea responded: “A windfall tax by its nature is a one-off. It doesn’t fix the structure of the market. We’re trying to solve the same issue in a way that’s sustainable.” Last month British Gas announced it will donate 10% of its profits to help its poorer customers manage rising gas and electricity bills for the “duration of the energy crisis”. | ['business/centrica', 'business/energy-industry', 'business/utilities', 'business/cost-of-living-crisis', 'business/economics', 'business/business', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'business/oil', 'business/commodities', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/environment', 'environment/energy', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/alex-lawson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2022-09-10T05:00:06Z | true | ENERGY |
technology/2014/mar/10/denon-da300usb-dac-review-digital-music-converter | Denon DA-300USB DAC review – an aural makeover for digital music files | I'm a music critic and I love good sound quality, but I don't think it's always necessary. Music is made for different purposes and places: pop for whinnying out of a radio on a hot summer's day, hip-hop for distorting out of a rolled-down car window. But lots of digitally downloadable music does sound fairly shoddy – the price we pay for convenience. Digital-to-analogue converters promise to change this, however. The market is becoming crowded with them. What Hi-Fi? lists 74 models ranging from £33 to nearly £8,000. But what do they do? DACs add analogue signals to digital data, magically making compressed files sound uncompressed – giving your crappy computer files an aural makeover. The Denon DA-300USB DAC is the newest kid on this block. A slinky piece of kit with minimal controls – an on-off switch, a volume dial, a touch-screen button to switch between inputs – it is very simply, rather sexily, hi-tech. To make it work, you plug it into a computer by USB, or a CD player by the usual input/output mini-jacks. Attach your headphones or an amp, and it acts as a huge, external soundcard. Hey presto: rubbish sound files suddenly turn into symphonies. Reaching that stage is a struggle if you're an amateur, though. The DA-300USB's introduction booklet isn't particularly helpful – there's a dearth of information about Mac compatibility and guidance about switching sound inputs would have been welcome. Furthermore, the machine doesn't come with an USB2 lead, an odd state of affairs when that's required to make it all work. Luckily, I had my own. Does the DA-300USB deliver on its promises? First up, I tried it out on pop. Choosing lighters-in-the-air track XO off the latest Beyoncé album, the song's synth washes and drums sounded slightly flashy and tinny through my iTunes MP3. Through the DA-300USB, they were warmer and richer, with more bottom-end depth and power. Next, I played some expansive electronic music to try to broaden its effects. The results were less impressive. Talk Talk's April 5th (a brooding 1986 track that I play loud and often to clear out the cobwebs) should have sounded skyscraping. It sounded broadly the same. An MP4 of Olympians by electronic duo Fuck Buttons (played during the athletes' parade at the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony) met the same fate. Perhaps tracks produced brilliantly to begin with sound good enough already. However, the DA-300USB did transform an online stream of a demo recording of REM's first cassette release – the crappiest quality recording I could find. Radio Free Europe gained lower frequencies that I'd never heard before and its guitar notes chimed out like pure, clear bells. In a way, this experience felt like cheating, of course, as this wasn't the original rough-and-ready recording I knew. Nevertheless, it felt impressive to be hearing a remastering job live. If you fancy this magic in your own home, the DA-300USB certainly works, although it won't turn your ears entirely inside out. As for me? I'll be back at my whinnying radio, turning the bass up to 11, listening to music as it was always meant to be. • RRP £329. More details: denon.co.uk | ['technology/digital-music-and-audio', 'technology/gadgets', 'technology/itunes', 'technology/technology', 'music/downloads', 'music/music', 'media/media', 'tone/reviews', 'type/article', 'profile/juderogers', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/observer-tech-monthly', 'theobserver/observer-tech-monthly/observer-tech-monthly'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2014-03-10T13:00:00Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
uk-news/2023/jun/08/special-humpback-whale-sighting-off-coast-of-cornwall-delights-conservationists | ‘Special’ humpback whale sighting off Cornwall coast delights conservationists | At first the sailors thought the splashing and spray was being caused by a pesky jetskier, but then they glimpsed a large, dark fin and realised they were having a close encounter with a much rarer creature – a humpback whale. The whale was spotted by a couple sailing 2 miles off the Cornish coast and is causing a ripple of joy among conservationists because the mammals, which can grow up to 18 metres long, are rarely seen off the far south-west of England and there is no previous modern record of one in the area at this time of year. Linda Cassidy, who spotted the humpback in Falmouth Bay during a sailing adventure with her partner, Ryan, around the UK, said it was an amazing sight. “We were sailing from Plymouth to Falmouth when we noticed some splashes ahead,” said Cassidy. “Our first thought was a jetskier – though this did seem unlikely because the water was choppy. Then we saw the fin and realised we were witnessing a whale.” The humpback appeared on the starboard side of their 11-metre boat, Crystal Star, and then popped up on the port side. Cassidy tried to keep her camera still to film it but the footage was a little shaky because of the rough conditions and her excitement over what she was recording. She managed to capture the whale slapping its tail on the surface of the water and then breaching. “That was its finale,” she said. “It was an incredible sight to witness this beautiful creature, and totally unexpected. At best we were hoping to see some dolphins so this was a real treat, a great experience.” There has been a steady increase in the number of humpback whale sightings over the past five years off Cornwall. So far this year about 10 different humpbacks have been recorded by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust passing through Cornish waters, but there has only been one previous summer sighting: in August 2019, off Lamorna in the far west of Cornwall. Abby Crosby, a marine conservation officer for the trust, said: “This is a very special sighting as humpbacks are usually sighted here in Cornwall only sporadically in the winter months. To get a sighting like this in early summer is brilliant. It may indicate the species is recovering. I see it as a wake-up call to remind us how impressive our Cornish seas are.” The trust said the humpbacks, which can weigh as much as 40 tonnes and live for 80 to 90 years, did seem to be making a comeback in UK waters. Sightings are more common off Shetland and the Hebrides and they are also increasingly being spotted in the northern parts of the North Sea. Humpback whales undertake some of the longest migrations of any mammal, feasting on small fish and krill in cooler waters and then travelling to tropical seas to give birth. Crosby said the tail-slapping seen in the video may be a form of communication, or a way of stunning prey. Some whales that are repeatedly seen passing through Cornish waters in the winter have been identified and given names including Cream Tea, Kevin, Snowy and Morvil – Cornish for whale. There is also one called Abby, named after Crosby. And a whale called Helen has been spotted in waters off Cornwall, Russia and the Dominican Republic. | ['uk-news/cornwall', 'environment/whales', 'uk/uk', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/cetaceans', 'campaign/email/today-uk', 'uk-news/england', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/stevenmorris', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-06-08T11:35:35Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
australia-news/2018/nov/16/extreme-heat-and-drought-could-cause-summer-blackouts-energy-market-operator-says | Extreme heat and drought could cause summer blackouts, energy market operator says | Extreme weather over summer could reduce the output of coal, gas and hydro power generators and cause problems with the reliability of electricity supply, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator. While there has been extensive political debate in Australia about the reliability of various forms of energy supply, the market operator will make the point on Friday that extreme weather imposes significant stress on the supposed ramparts of the system – thermal generators and transmission infrastructure. Aemo will on Friday release advice about its summer readiness plan for 2018. It will nominate heightened risk courtesy of Bureau of Meteorology forecasts, which point to an elevated chance of bushfires, with drier conditions, increased temperatures, and an earlier start to the bushfire season – events scientists associate with climate change. It says the weather bureau is predicting warmer-than-average temperatures in the coming months, with heatwaves of shorter duration in the south but longer duration in the northern regions. “Extreme temperatures and extended heatwaves elevate the risk of extreme peak demands on the network, and can limit generator capacity or lead to equipment failures,” Aemo’s assessment says. “Extreme temperatures and events including bushfires, lightning and storms can reduce the output of thermal, solar and wind generation, impact transmission lines and result in loss of supply. Drought is also a factor in the output of hydro generation, which uses water as fuel, and thermal generation, which uses water in cooling.” Aemo has previously identified the risk of load shedding – blackouts to protect the network as a whole – in Victoria and South Australia over the looming summer under certain operating conditions. It notes the risk is heightened in Victoria and South Australia because generators have already signalled to the market that approximately 250 megawatts of thermal generation will be unavailable over the summer. The market operator says it has sought additional reserves through its reliability and emergency reserve trader facility to manage the reliability and security risks. Part of the response will include demand management, with 132MW of reserves available to support reliability in Victoria. Demand response involves paying energy users to reduce their power consumption, either by switching over to backup generation or storage when electricity reserves reach critically low levels. The costs of contracting the additional supply are passed through to energy consumers. Last summer the total cost was $52m, which increased annual power bills by 0.3% or about $6 for each household account. Aemo estimates the costs this summer will be lower, because only 40MW of resources are contracted, with additional resources on standby, compared with 1,141MW last summer. Beyond the outlook for the coming summer, the market operator expects almost 6,000MW of new wind and solar to be added to the grid over the next two years. Aemo’s chief executive, Audrey Zibelman, says the new supply “will alleviate the short-term risk of involuntary load shedding during summer peak periods” but says integration will be important to ensure ongoing reliability and stability of Australia’s power system throughout the year. The assessment notes that the high uptake of rooftop solar is pushing back peak demand to later in the evening because power consumers are generating more of their own supply during the day. South Australia, the state with with the national energy market’s highest rooftop photovoltaic penetration as a percentage of peak demand, experienced its peak at 8pm (AEST) last summer. Zibelman said she was confident Aemo had put in place the necessary procedures to minimise the risks over the coming summer. “Aemo is confident the plans we have made and the targeted actions we have taken in collaboration with the wider energy industry and governments, have appropriately equipped us to tackle any unforeseeable events the upcoming summer might bring,” she said. | ['australia-news/energy-australia', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'world/extreme-weather', 'environment/energy', 'australia-news/australia-weather', 'australia-news/bushfires', 'australia-news/victoria', 'australia-news/south-australia', 'environment/environment', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'type/article', 'profile/katharine-murphy', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2018-11-15T17:00:40Z | true | ENERGY |
education/2019/may/17/schools-should-have-one-meat-free-day-a-week-says-charity | Schools should have one meat-free day a week, says charity | All state schools in England should offer pupils a compulsory plant-based menu one day a week, under new recommendations to the government that aim to make school meals more environmentally friendly and reflect changing dietary advice. Given wide acceptance that diets need to change to address the climate crisis – including by eating less meat and more beans and pulses – the Soil Association is urging the Department for Education to replace a non-mandatory recommendation for a weekly meat-free day with a statutory menu once a week offering only plant-based proteins and foods. The relatively few schools that already offer a meat-free day are often serving up less healthy lunches such as cheese-laden pizza, the organic food and farming group says, underlining the need for kitchens to be given support to provide more imaginative, healthier meals. The DfE has started reviewing school food standards in light of the latest evidence on reducing meat and sugar consumption and boosting fibre in Britons’ diets. The UK Committee on Climate Change report released earlier this month recommended a 20% decrease in meat consumption and an increase in the consumption of plant-based proteins, while a recent study from EAT-Lancet also recommended a shift from meat to plant proteins on climate grounds. “The update of the school food standards provides an ideal opportunity to make school meals healthier and more climate-friendly,” said the SA’s policy officer, Rob Percival. “We know that children would benefit nutritionally from eating more beans, pulses, and plant-based proteins. The climate would also benefit – we should all be eating less and better meat. Some schools are showing that its possible to serve children healthy plant-based meals, alongside higher welfare meat. It’s time the government caught up – the updated school food standards should require that schools serve a plant-based protein day each week.” With increasing numbers of pupils now striking over climate change, the SA is highlighting food and diet as an issue of growing importance to young people. The current standards were introduced in 2015, replacing the original nutritional regulations launched in 2008 following TV chef Jamie Oliver’s personal crusade to improve the standard of school meals – and remove junk food such as the notorious “turkey twizzlers”. Adherence is mandatory for all state-funded schools, except for academies established between 2010 and 2014. The DfE has convened an expert panel to review the school food standards update, which includes representatives from Public Health England. A DfE spokesperson said: “Our school food standards ensure that school meals are healthy and nutritious. They do not require meat to be served every day, and schools have the freedom to introduce a meat-free day each week.” | ['education/schoolmeals', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'education/schools', 'food/vegan', 'society/health', 'environment/farming', 'food/food', 'environment/environment', 'environment/plants', 'environment/food', 'society/society', 'education/education', 'uk/uk', 'environment/meat-industry', 'society/children', 'science/nutrition', 'science/science', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/rebeccasmithers', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2019-05-17T05:00:05Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
money/2019/aug/31/i-was-charged-20000-for-driving-my-car-into-the-london-emissions-zone | 'I was charged £20,000 for driving my car into the London emissions zone' | In December, Giancarlo Bonati, a DJ in Ibiza, made the journey by car to London to be with his mother, who had been diagnosed with cancer. During three months in the country he drove in and out of London 12 times, although never into the city centre. But in April, without prior warning that fines were building up, he says he was left in a state of shock after receiving 12 letters sent by Transport for London’s debt collection agents, EPC. Sent to his address in Ibiza, they demanded €1,219 each, or €14,637 in total (£13,300) for his 12 drives. He appealed, but the fine went up to £20,000, with about £18,000 going to TfL and £2,000 to EPC. “Of course, when you receive any fine from an official body it is a worry, let alone ones amounting to €22,000,” Bonati said. “It has created a huge amount of stress. The overriding fear was they [EPC] had the power to send debt collectors local to us in Spain and seize goods amounting to the €22,000. Either that, or put a lien on our property – we thought anything was possible.” Bonati contacted Guardian Money in despair. “TfL negated all responsibility for matters relating to foreign-plated vehicles. We were told to deal with EPC directly. We appealed the fines with EPC, which completely ignored them and just increased the fines,” he said. The good news is that after Money contacted TfL this week it cancelled all the fines, a result he says he “can’t quite believe … thank you, we are breathing a huge sigh of relief”. But how could any driver end up with officially sanctioned fines of £20,000 for driving into London 12 times? The answer will strike fear into anyone who owns a large 4x4, or who is bringing their car into the capital from Europe. It also raises questions about the information given to drivers on the TfL website. Bonati’s problem was not the recently introduced ultra low emission zone, which costs £12.50 a day for vehicles entering the central London congestion charge area. Instead, his car allegedly breached the much broader low emission zone (LEZ), which covers Greater London. The LEZ is mostly aimed at articulated lorries and trucks which, if not compliant with the rules, are charged £100 a day. If the vehicle is from outside the UK and not registered with TfL beforehand, the fee is £200 a day. If it is not paid, it jumps to £500, then escalates to £750. On top of that, there are extra fees for the debt collectors. But Bonati was not driving a lorry. He was driving his family car, a 30-year-old petrol-engined Mercedes Benz G300, pictured above. It is very similar to a Land Rover Defender and Land Rover 110 – popular in the British countryside. TfL said some 4x4s are classified as commercial vehicles: “If a 4x4 is classified as a car, it isn’t affected by the LEZ. If the manufacturer and EU classify it as a commercial vehicle, it is. Any vehicle designed to carry goods, or more than nine passengers, is classed as a commercial vehicle (even if only used for recreational purposes) and could be affected by the LEZ.” But Bonati, who acknowledges his car is more suited to Ibiza’s rocky terrain than the streets of London, meticulously checked the TfL website before his trip – which said his car was not liable for the charge. “We had heard of the LEZ and had checked with the relevant TfL website before travelling to London. We did not want to be caught out by any congestion charge-type scenarios. Ironically, this is exactly what ended up happening.” He showed Money screengrabs of the TfL site, which showed he could check by either registration plate, or vehicle type. As the car was foreign-registered, Bonati thought it more sensible to check by type. “We input our vehicle details. It stated: ‘You are not affected by the Low Emission Zone.’ Great! Or so we thought.” If Bonati had clicked the “check by registration plate” button it would have warned him of a £200 daily charge. Intriguingly, the “check by vehicle type” button has been removed from TfL’s site since Bonati first logged on. Also, when Money entered his details early this week, it said he was liable for a charge, but later in the week it said he was not. Helen Chapman, director of licensing, regulation and charging at TfL, said: “We’re sorry to hear of Mr and Ms Bonati’s experiences. Having reviewed the information from the relevant country’s licensing equivalent, we are now satisfied the vehicle is not subject to the LEZ, and we have now cancelled the LEZ charge. We urge people with vehicles registered outside the UK to register their vehicle with us before they travel so its status, including emissions, is confirmed before they travel. This is necessary as we cannot access information from foreign vehicle licensing authorities in the same way we can with UK vehicles registered with the DVLA. And, as in this case, there are occasions when it isn’t clear if a vehicle is affected by the LEZ.” Bonati is still angry he was put through such an emotionally exhausting saga by TfL. “They now appear to have changed the rules and, most importantly, their website, which in future will stop other people falling into this particular trap,” he said. “But why were these fines not internally reviewed, particularly when huge fines were given, particularly when they were imposed around this admittedly grey area of the LEZ?” | ['money/motoring', 'uk/tfl', 'money/money', 'politics/congestioncharging', 'uk/transport', 'uk/uk', 'uk/london', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/air-pollution', 'environment/environment', 'politics/transport', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/patrickcollinson', 'profile/milesbrignall', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/money', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-money'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-08-31T06:00:44Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
sustainable-business/2015/feb/04/business-manifesto-sustainability-guidelines-climate-policy | Big businesses push for stricter environmental regulations | It’s been 34 years since Ronald Reagan, speaking at his first inauguration, told the American people that “Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.” But a growing trend of activist businesses suggests that Reagan’s succinct summary of the traditional, stereotypical business view of government has begun to fray at the edges. Today, some of the world’s biggest businesses are calling for better – and more aggressive – government policy to tackle the biggest global challenges. In a “Business Manifesto” presented at Davos last month, for example, chief executives from SAB Miller, KPMG, Philips, Yara, GSK, DSM, Sumitomo Chemical, AkzoNobel, Novozymes, Unilever and others called for government leaders to be as ambitious as possible in the deals they reach at September’s Sustainable Development Goals summit in New York and December’s climate summit in Paris. Cynics would argue that, at the root, this call for better government policy must be based in self-interest, as nothing else motivates business. Others might argue that some of the most passionate and effective sustainability activists also happen to be CEOs of major companies. Research suggests that the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Looking at the specific policies endorsed by many of these business leaders, it isn’t hard to see how their proposals for government regulation dovetail with their economic self-interest. For example, many are calling for policies that address long term predictability in climate policy, a problem that, increasingly, is affecting global trade. Others are asking for governments to set ambitious global goals on a host of issues – like food and nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene, energy and climate, gender equity, education and good governance – that affect their customers. But while this business-based call for policy change may be somewhat self-interested, it still represents a significant shift in the corporate mindset since the Reagan era. Many CEOs now realize that there is a clear business case for good policy on sustainable development. Poverty, concentration of wealth and environmental challenges present clear threats to business. Unilever estimates that climate change already costs it €200m ($229m) a year. What’s more, a growing number of companies are realizing that there are significant commercial opportunities for businesses that are prepared to address today’s global challenges, and the right policy frameworks can make a huge difference. Philips’ healthcare and LED-lighting businesses have great commercial solutions for helping address health and climate challenges – and the right policy agreements in Paris and on the SDGs will grow the size of these markets. Similarly DSM sees market opportunity for its nutritional supplements from making tackling malnutrition a policy priority. Many business leaders are already starting to map out how their businesses can align their corporate strategies for expansion with the funding and market growth that will result from the Sustainable Development Goals – through new initiatives led by KPMG and a partnership of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the Global Reporting Initiative and the UN Global Compact. But this business case for government policy is only part of the explanation of what’s going on. Ultimately, business leaders are human beings too, and at that level, many have begun to recognize that some common challenges affecting all of us can only be solved with the help of coordinated government policy. As CEO Feike Sijbesma of DSM explains, “As a business leader, you cannot be successful, nor even call yourself successful, in a society that fails.” This shift in mindset from business leaders is vital. For all the efforts of governments and NGOs, business still provides 90% of jobs in developing countries and 80% of capital flows. For the Sustainable Development Goals to be achieved, business has to be on board. Clearly, not all business leaders are quite so forward-thinking. Globally, companies still lobby against workers’ rights legislation, environmental regulation and other sustainability initiatives. For example, research conducted by Oxfam suggests that the business community collectively spends €44m ($50.5m) a year lobbying Brussels to water down EU climate rules. But it is remarkable how many of today’s business leaders are calling for more aggressive government policy – a sign that should signal to the policymakers negotiating deals in September and December that business will back them to go the extra mile. As Unilever CEO Paul Polman says, “We now have the opportunity to eradicate poverty and deal with the issue of climate change. What bigger opportunity do you want to see?” The values-led business hub is funded by SC Johnson. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled “brought to you by”. Find out more here. | ['sustainable-business/series/values-business', 'sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'sustainable-business/business-case', 'environment/environment', 'business/business', 'business/ethicalbusiness', 'environment/corporatesocialresponsibility', 'global-development/sustainable-development-goals', 'type/article', 'tone/comment'] | environment/corporatesocialresponsibility | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2015-02-04T12:00:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2021/sep/17/we-feel-vindicated-life-by-a-landfill-after-vital-high-court-ruling | ‘We feel vindicated’: life by a landfill after vital high court ruling | When she returned to her home in the village of Knutton, outside Newcastle-under-Lyme, after a trip to London on Thursday, the landfill fumes hit Helen Vincent like a brick wall. “We were saying to each other: ‘Oh how nice was the fresh air in London?’ You won’t hear many people say that,” she laughed. Vincent had been in London for a landmark high court ruling which ordered the Environment Agency to do more to protect five-year-old Mathew Richards from the landfill’s hydrogen sulphide fumes, which doctors said were shortening his life expectancy. “It feels like the biggest victory just for someone to say yes, we believe you. We’ve been hitting our heads against a wall for so long with this,” said Vincent. “We’re realistic, we know no one’s got a magic wand which is going to make it go away overnight. But now at least we can see some light at the end of the tunnel.” Walleys Quarry landfill, situated on the edge of the village of Silverdale, has caused issues for years, but it was at the start of 2021 that hydrogen sulphide levels recorded at the site exceeded World Health Organization guidelines. Hundreds of people in the surrounding area say they have suffered sore throats, itchy eyes, nosebleeds, headaches and sleep deprivation, while schoolchildren have been kept inside at lunchtimes to avoid the fumes. Sian Rooney lives more than a mile from the landfill but had to use her inhaler more regularly before moving on to an oral tablet for her asthma as her breathing got worse. “It’s frightening for your health to deteriorate without any warning,” she said. “I definitely believe it’s to do with the landfill. When I went to Devon for two weeks, I literally didn’t need any medication, but as soon as I got home, my asthma got worse quite quickly.” She also fears for her four-year-old son, who coughs more when the fumes are bad. “For a long time I couldn’t sleep at all because I was absolutely terrified of what it was doing to him,” she said. “When the fumes start coming out, my first thing is to run, turn the air purifier up and put it in his room to stop the fumes getting in.” A community health survey of 1,881 people in the nearby area, conducted in June, found that 83% had reported physical or mental health effects from the landfill, and 24% had discussed their problems with a GP. A total of 144 people had been prescribed medication as a result. The survey, submitted to the high court as evidence of the landfill’s wider community impact, contained dozens of distressing accounts from parents of the effects on their children, with many being forced to take time off school. “My two-year-old is consistently congested, coughing, not eating and sleep deprived,” wrote one, while another said: “My daughter started having nosebleeds out of the blue … she had nine nosebleeds in seven days, she has had to stop doing PE at school. She wakes during the night from coughing and has been having a lot more headaches to the point she cries while holding her head.” Mental health problems have also soared; the local NHS trust and Mind have recruited a counsellor specifically to deal with problems apparently caused by the landfill. “Personally, because of sleep deprivation I was referred to mental health services at work,” said Vincent. “But there’s people a lot worse than me.” Work is ongoing to “cap” parts of the site in order to reduce fumes, but outside the landfill on Friday morning Dr Mick Salt, a radiation physicist who has become a local expert on the landfill emissions, said he was surprised the EA weren’t on site after the ruling. “The timescale for change is so tight, they should be here today making sure that temporary capping material is going on. The targets in the ruling are actually very harsh,” Salt said. He spends up to 10 hours a week monitoring emissions and holding authorities to account on the issue: “When I see a regulator or a large, multimillion pound company trying to steamroll over a community and dazzle them with science, I just stand in the way.” The villages around the landfill have some of the highest rates of deprivation in England, which many believe may be part of the reason why the issue has been unaddressed for so long. “This case was really shocking to me, and I don’t think it would have happened in many other parts of the country,” said Rebekah Carrier, the solicitor who represented Mathew at the high court. For the people living around Silverdale, Thursday’s high court ruling was a huge milestone in their ongoing battle to “stop the stink”. “We do feel vindicated,” said Rooney. “I just hope this ruling finally forces them to act more decisively and urgently.” A spokesperson from Walleys Quarry said: “We have noted the judgment and will take advice on what it means on a practical operational level, given significant changes have been in progress for some time. “We will work with the Environment Agency and other local stakeholders to continue our work to mitigate local concerns and update the community as appropriate.” | ['environment/landfill', 'environment/air-pollution', 'environment/environment-agency', 'environment/environment', 'law/law', 'environment/waste', 'environment/pollution', 'uk/uk', 'society/childrens-health', 'society/asthma', 'society/society', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'tone/news', 'profile/jessica-murray', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-09-17T15:23:27Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
uk-news/2017/oct/15/hs2-fears-as-crack-opens-on-land-where-line-will-run | New HS2 fears as large crack opens up on land where train line will run | Residents in West Yorkshire have raised concerns about plans to build the HS2 rail line through a former mining area, after an eight-metre-long crack opened up in the ground along the proposed route. Plans for the Yorkshire section of the high-speed train line were changed earlier this year, taking it to the east of Sheffield instead of through the Meadowhall shopping centre, on the city’s border with Rotherham. But people living in Crofton, near Wakefield, have argued that the company has failed to consider the effect that the area’s coal mining legacy could have on costs. Jonathan Pile, a health and safety consultant and anti-HS2 campaigner, discovered the crack while walking his dog in August. He contacted the Coal Authority when it became clear that the hole was getting bigger. He said the government agency attended the following day, fenced off the area and posted danger signs. They then filled the hole with 15 tonnes of stone. In a letter to Pile, the Coal Authority stated: “Recorded deep mining has taken place within the zone of influence of the fissure and therefore the Coal Authority accepts liability in respect of this ground collapse.” A timeline of the project, published by HS2 Ltd, shows that the company does not plan to conduct a detailed ground investigation until shortly before construction begins. A spokesperson for the company said it was confident “the historical mining features in Crofton pose no major risk to the construction programme”. The area around Crofton, which was near the Nostell and Sharlston collieries, was heavily mined and includes many filled in open cast mines. As a result of subsidence, groups of houses were demolished in the 1980s and 1990s. “As with any Yorkshire coal mining community, they dug under houses, they dug everywhere. But HS2 will just throw money at the problem,” said Pile, whose family home is 265 metres from the proposed high-speed train line. The decision to scrap plans torun the HS2 line through the Meadowhall centre, and instead take it east of Sheffield, came after similar concerns were raised that the ground beneath the site was “mush” and riddled with old mine workings. Risk documents published by HS2 Ltd state that there is a 68% likelihood of the cost of the project increasing as a result of new information coming to light about mining in the area. An HS2 spokesperson said they were aware of “the rich history of coal mining in the area” and that they had conducted assessments on the suitability of the land. “The findings from these studies were taken into account, alongside many other factors, during the route selection process,” they said. “We are confident that the historical mining features in Crofton pose no major risk to the construction programme. “We continue to engage with the Coal Authority as we progress the more detailed design of the railway, and will carry out a programme of ground investigation works prior to construction. This will inform the engineering measures we will put in place to safely manage the presence of historical coal mining beneath the railway.” | ['uk/hs2', 'uk/rail-transport', 'uk/transport', 'uk/uk', 'environment/mining', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/frances-perraudin', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/mining | ENERGY | 2017-10-15T13:50:32Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2021/aug/03/anger-in-turkey-grows-over-governments-handling-of-wildfires | Anger in Turkey grows over government’s handling of wildfires | People across Turkey are looking for answers as to how summer wildfires got so desperately out of control, after seven straight days of unusually ferocious fires that continue to blaze throughout the south and west of the country. Eight people, including two firefighters, have died in the wildfires that have engulfed large parts of Turkey’s Mediterranean coastline since last week and destroyed huge swathes of pine forest and agricultural land. While 137 fires in more than 30 provinces have been extinguished, at least nine are still burning, and more than 10,000 people have yet to return to damaged homes, resorts and hotels evacuated in the middle of the tourism season. Strong winds, low humidity and scorching temperatures – the weather conditions that helped the fires spread – are likely to continue into next week, in what is widely feared may become increasingly normal for the region as the consequences of the climate crisis become impossible to ignore. The heat intensity of the wildfires is four times higher than anything on record for Turkey, according to satellite data shared with the Guardian last week. “I am begging for five days, dying and begging [for the authorities to help],” said one distraught resident of a village near the resort town of Marmaris, who lost his house, in a video clip widely shared on Twitter. “There was not even one fire engine here. They said they will help when the fire comes near homes. Well, here you go, it came near homes. How on earth can such management, such governance exist? “Now they say I should fix my house … God damn all of them. If they have any fear of God or a conscience, they should resign.” Wildfires have also broken out in other parts of the Mediterranean basin, including Lebanon, Greece, Spain and Italy, as hot air from north Africa raises temperatures to more than 40C (104F). In Turkey, however, where the fires have consumed 95,000 hectares (234,650 acres) compared with an average of 13,516 hectares by this point of the year, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government has faced accusations of mismanagement and unpreparedness after admitting the country has no serviceable firefighting planes. “We are living in hell and we’re not sure what to do now,” said Ahmet Aras, the mayor of Bodrum, a coastal tourist spot, in a video posted to social media. “It is impossible to intervene here from the land … There can only be an aircraft intervention here, but it’s too late now,” he said as thick clouds of smoke blocked out the blue sky behind him. Water-dropping aircraft from Ukraine, Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran have come to Turkey’s aid, and while Ankara initially appeared unwilling to accept assistance from western nations, the EU on Monday deployed soldiers and several planes to help. On Tuesday, after social media pressure, the police force also finally started using water cannon – more often used in the increasingly authoritarian country to break up peaceful protests – to extinguish the fires. Meanwhile, locals have filled everything from household buckets to commercial cement mixers with water to try to fight the fires themselves. In many quarters, the response from Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development party (AKP), which is already slipping in the polls because of its mishandling of Turkey’s economic woes, is seen as out of touch. On a visit to inspect the damage in Marmaris over the weekend, Erdoğan caused bewilderment by throwing packets of Turkish tea from a moving bus at passersby, and a local AKP official sparked widespread condemnation by claiming that loan terms for rebuilding would be so generous that “others whose houses didn’t burn down might wish theirs had burned too”. Turkey’s government-linked media watchdog released a statement on Tuesday warning television stations that continuous live coverage of the wildfires “demoralises the people” and could be punished. As the scale of the crisis has become clearer, and public anger has grown, government officials appear to have dropped early claims that the fires were set by children or the militant Kurdistan Workers’ party. Instead, evidence suggests that almost two decades of AKP government policy have contributed to the unchecked spread of this year’s wildfires, said Erdoğan Atmış, a forestry policy expert. “Turkey’s forests are not properly protected as ecosystems and instead seen as income-generating land … As of 2020, 6% of all forest land is no longer [classified as] forests, or are allocated for other purposes such as tourism, mining and energy,” he said. “On top of that, due to the economic crisis, the budget for preventing forest fires has been reduced, and managers at the general directorate of forestry who are actually knowledgable and experienced when it comes to fighting fires were removed from their jobs and replaced with pro-government people.” Gökçe Uygun, from Istanbul, who travelled to Manavgat in Antalya province with an aid group to help farmers protect their cows and other livestock from the flames and smoke, said many affected people she had met talked about how the state had not been there to protect them. “What we feel is we have found out that we are the state ourselves,” she said. | ['world/turkey', 'world/world', 'world/wildfires', 'world/extreme-weather', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/bethan-mckernan', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2021-08-03T22:19:18Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
commentisfree/2019/oct/31/california-wildfires-pg-e-power | Ordinary life has vanished in fire-ravaged California | Rebecca Solnit | There were two categories of people most affected by the fires in California: those who evacuated because the fires threatened them directly and those who stayed home under blackout conditions. What a blackout means might not be clear to those who are not among the more than one million affected. It means, for the most part, no gas stations, no traffic lights, no stores (including grocery stores and pharmacies), no banks or money machines, no charging of devices unless you have alternative power sources, no wifi, in some cases no cellphone towers so no signal, and therefore no internet, even if you managed to keep your phone charged. Landlines were reported to be out in some locations as well, with nearly half a million people totally cut off from communications services. In other words, there’s not a lot to do but stay home in houses and apartments without the usual amenities, including refrigeration and electric lights, and, for some people, without much contact with the outside world. If you worked in a place where Pacific Gas and Electric cut your power or depended on electricity and internet to do your work, you weren’t working, and if your business was in the blackout area, it was probably closed, and if you had younger children you had to stay home anyway, because the schools were shut too. It’s impossible to quantify the losses: the fear and stress, all the education that didn’t happen as every place from Sonoma State University to kindergartens closed down, the socially beneficial labor that didn’t happen, the crops and livestock that weren’t tended in agricultural Sonoma and Marin (though in some grim cases, migrant farmworkers were still working in smoky fields). If you were disabled, or dependent on electricity for life support, you faced a whole other level of challenge and might not have been able to shelter in place. Evacuation meant that two-fifths of Sonoma county’s half-million people had to pack up and find someplace else to live for an indeterminate amount of time. Many of them were people who had to evacuate two years ago, or people who had lost their homes in the 2017 fires. California is the fifth-largest economy in the world and likes to shout about its genius at innovation, but it is a victim of its lack of energy innovation. It’s a climate disaster zone, with the new reality of hotter, dryer conditions made far worse by the outdated power grid and corrupt private corporation in charge of distributing gas and electricity. The longer, drier, hotter weather that climate change has brought us makes the rolling hills and forests of the Bay Area a fire waiting to happen, but PG&E has supplied the spark that started many of the largest fires and is suspected of having done so again with the Kincade fire, which has burned more than 76,000 acres, or more than 117 square miles, in Sonoma county, an area more than twice the size of San Francisco. There was a moment earlier this month, before the fires began, when I wondered why I felt so disoriented in the region I’ve lived in nearly all my life, and then I realized the air was so scorchingly dry it felt like desert air, like Nevada, not like coastal California. Everything has changed; everything must change to respond to it, with global action to limit the extent of climate chaos that is already so destructive, with local action to reinvent how we power our homes and communities and to shift whose interests are served from shareholders to citizens, and from corporations to the web of life. Right now in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, we are paying the price for relying on old systems in a new climate. Rebecca Solnit is the author of Whose Story Is This? Old Conflicts, New Chapters. She is a Guardian US columnist | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'us-news/california', 'world/wildfires', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/natural-disasters', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/rebeccasolnit', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-opinion'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2019-10-31T10:00:16Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2016/aug/16/louisiana-flooding-natural-disaster-weather-climate-change | Disasters like Louisiana floods will worsen as planet warms, scientists warn | The historic and devastating floods in Louisiana are the latest in a series of heavy deluges that some climate scientists warn will become even more common as the world continues to warm. On Tuesday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) is set to classify the Louisiana disaster as the eighth flood considered to be a once-in-every-500-years event to have taken place in the US in little over 12 months. Since May of last year, dozens of people have been killed and thousands of homes have been swamped with water in extreme events in Oklahoma, Texas, South Carolina, West Virginia and Maryland. Noaa considers these floods extreme because, based on historical rainfall records, they should be expected to occur only once every 500 years. The Louisiana flooding has been so exceptional that some places in the state experienced storm conditions considered once-every-1,000-year events. Close to 2ft of rain fell over a 48-hour period in parts of southern Louisiana, causing residents to scramble to safety from flooded homes and cars. At least six people have died, with another 20,000 people having to be rescued. Even Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards had to evacuate after his governor’s mansion in Baton Rouge was swamped with chest-high water. A federal state of emergency has been declared, with 12,000 people crowding into shelters. The National Weather Service balloon released in New Orleans on Friday showed near-record levels of atmospheric moisture, prompting the service to state: “We are in record territory.” Climate scientists have warned that the build-up of moisture in the atmosphere, driven by warming temperatures, is likely to cause a greater number of floods in the future. “We have been on an upward trend in terms of heavy rainfall events over the past two decades, which is likely related to the amount of water vapor going up in the atmosphere,” said Dr Kenneth Kunkel, of the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites. “There’s a very tight loop – as surface temperatures of the oceans warm up, the immediate response is more water vapor in the atmosphere. We’re in a system inherently capable of producing more floods.” The number of heavy rainfall events in the US has risen well above the long-term average since the 1990s, with large regional variances. While the north-east, midwest and upper great plains have experienced a 30% increase in heavy rainfall episodes – considered once-in-every-five year downpours – parts of the west, particularly California, have been parched by drought. Warmer air, influenced by heat-trapping gases released by human activity, can contain more water vapor than cooler air. With the extra heat helping nourish storms, scientists expect global warming to help produce more intense downpours. “Assuming we don’t change our ways, warming is a virtual certainty and increased water vapor is virtual certainty,” Kunkel said. “That means increases in heavy rainfall is virtual certainty.” While scientists are loathe to attribute any single event to changes in the climate, they state that warming temperatures are helping tip the scales towards altered precipitation. Some, however, bristle at the belief that because floods and storms have always occurred, they should not be linked to climate change. Dr Kevin Trenberth, senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said the major floods seen in the US had a “clear human component in them. I have seen only a few reports and none mention climate change at all. It is pathetic.” There are plenty of influences on rainfall levels, including natural variation and topography. One of the biggest variables will be how much warmer the world will become – Trenberth said each 1C increase in temperature can add 7% more moisture in the atmosphere. But plotting exact projections between warming and the magnitude of downpours is something scientists are still working on. “Changes in the global water cycle in response to the warming over the 21st century will not be uniform,” states the latest IPCC assessment. “The contrast in precipitation between wet and dry regions and between wet and dry seasons will increase, although there may be regional exceptions.” With the US suffering more weather-related disasters than any other country, an increase in rainfall, storm and hurricane intensity is something that could start demanding more attention from lawmakers. “It’s prudent to consider that if you’re building something with a 100-year lifetime, it’s virtually certain that it will experience an increase in extreme rainfall,” Kunkel said. “We either pay now or pay later. If we build resiliency into infrastructure, we can protect life and property.” | ['environment/flooding', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'world/natural-disasters', 'us-news/us-news', 'us-news/louisiana', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/oliver-milman', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2016-08-16T10:00:31Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
uk/2012/may/01/flood-fears-rain-south-britain | Flood fears rise as rain drenches south of Britain | People were warned not to wade or drive into flood water following the death of a man on the Berkshire-Hampshire border on Monday and an overnight alarm when a man was reported shouting for help in a flooded part of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. Fire and rescue boats were launched to search an area off the Gloucester Road in the town early on Tuesday but found nothing. Police too are still investigating the report from a member of the public of a man shouting in a flooded area at around 2.30am. Another man reported missing from a different part of the town in a separate incident was later found. The fire brigade for the county warned people not to wade or drive into flood water, backing up a similar plea from Devon and Somerset rescue services who attended seven incidents in two days. There were fears that many parts of England and Wales faced further flooding on Tuesday after heavy rain continued to drench southern Britain following the wettest April since 1910, when records began. The number of warnings and alerts fell during Tuesday morning, although there were still 33 warnings, where floods were expected, and 130 alerts, where flooding was possible, at noon. Conditions around Tewkesbury, badly hit in the 2007 floods, were not expected to worsen over the next 48 hours, according to the fire service. Sandbags were issued to homes most at risk and surface water covered much of the flood plain around the town. Nearly half the flood warnings were in the south-west of England – which saw some of the heaviest overnight downpours. The Environment Agency is continuing to check flood defences on rising rivers. The Met Office warned of floods and difficult driving conditions but the rain in southern England was expected to ease later in the day. Northern areas faced far drier weather. But heavy rain will be back by late on Wednesday, say forecasters. Swaths of the country remain in a state of drought after two dry winters and the government has said everyone must still save water while they can. | ['uk/weather', 'environment/flooding', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'environment/environment', 'environment/environment-agency', 'type/article', 'profile/jamesmeikle'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-05-01T11:54:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/feb/18/james-hansen-coal-power-plants | Robert Bryce: James Hansen wants to close coal-fired power plants, but there's no good alternative energy source | The next time you hear someone say "we are addicted to oil" or "we are addicted to coal", try this exercise: substitute the word "prosperity" for "oil". Do the same for "coal". This suggestion came to mind while reading James Hansen's latest broadside against coal. On 15 February, Hansen wrote an opinion piece for the Guardian, in which he declared: "Coal is the single greatest threat to civilisation and all life on our planet." In late December 2008, Hansen sent an open letter to Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, in which he called coal-fired power plants "factories of death" (pdf). Hansen justifies his campaign against coal because of his belief that a global climate catastrophe looms just ahead. Perhaps Hansen is right. Then again, it's also possible that he's wrong. I no longer care about the scientific arguments about global warming. I've read what Al Gore has to say. I've seen his movie, An Inconvenient Truth. And I've seen a fair amount of what the so-called "sceptics" have to say. Again, I have no opinion on the merits of the science. The argument has gotten so shrill and divisive that I am bored by it. My position is this: how can the US and/or the EU tell the rest of the world not to use coal? Sure, it's possible that the US (and maybe some members of the EU) could give up coal. That would mean a loss of about 50% of the electric generating capacity in the US. But that might be OK. Perhaps some Americans are bored with lights, refrigeration and climate-controlled houses. There are two key problems with Hansen's argument against coal: cost and scale. Hansen doesn't offer a single idea as to what the world will use to replace the coal that he abhors. Coal currently provides about 28% of the world's total energy use. And it is the cheapest source of fuel for electric power production. That's why developing countries – China and India in particular – are using so much of it. Furthermore, the possible replacements for coal – wind and solar power in particular – are incurably intermittent and therefore cannot be used for baseload capacity. That means that barring a breakthrough technology in electricity storage, wind and solar are likely to contribute only small – that is, single-digit – percentages of our overall energy needs. (Lest readers think I am against renewables let me be clear: I've put my money into this technology. I have 3,200 watts of photovoltaic panels on my house here in Texas.) Energy consumption creates wealth. It is axiomatic: As energy use rises, people get richer. And that's particularly true of electricity. Peter Huber and Mark Mills – in their outstanding 2005 book about energy, The Bottomless Well – made this point clear, declaring: "Economic growth marches hand in hand with increased consumption of electricity – always, everywhere, without significant exception in the annals of modern industrial history." It is no accident that the countries with the highest per-capita incomes are also the ones with the highest rates of energy consumption. Nor is it accidental that many of the countries with the fastest-growing economies are also the ones that have done the most to boost their electricity generation capacity. Between 1990 and 2007, the five countries with the biggest increases in electricity generation were China, Indonesia, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates and South Korea. The second problem with Hansen's prospective coal ban: scale. According to the latest data from the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, the countries of the world now consume the coal equivalent of about 63.8 million barrels of oil per day. That's the energy equivalent of about 7.5 times the daily oil production of Saudi Arabia. Where will the world find a replacement for such a vast quantity of energy? And how will it pay for it, particularly now, given the worldwide recession? Hansen doesn't offer any ideas. And frankly, aside from a huge push for increased nuclear power (a move that I favour) no one else has any reasonable ideas either. That's why the world will continue using coal – and lots of it – for decades to come. Perhaps the best argument against any effort to cut carbon dioxide levels (read: fossil fuel use) comes from Freeman Dyson, a renowned professor of physics at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University. In August 2007, Dyson wrote an essay for Edge that forced me to change my thinking about energy use and climate issues. (For the record, Dyson is a sceptic on climate change. In his essay, he makes that clear: "My first heresy says that all the fuss about global warming is grossly exaggerated. Here I am opposing the holy brotherhood of climate model experts and the crowd of deluded citizens who believe the numbers predicted by the computer models.") But the essence of Dyson's essay isn't about the science of global warming. Instead, it's about energy use and equity – and the need to keep those issues in mind when discussing climate change. "The greatest evils are poverty, underdevelopment, unemployment, disease and hunger, all the conditions that deprive people of opportunities and limit their freedoms," he wrote. "The humanist ethic accepts an increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as a small price to pay, if worldwide industrial development can alleviate the miseries of the poorer half of humanity." To that, I say amen. The hard truth is that we will have to adapt to any changes in the world's climate – regardless of the causes of those changes. And the reason we will have to adapt is simple: we are addicted to prosperity. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'science/hansen', 'environment/environment', 'environment/coal', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'environment/energy', 'tone/comment', 'commentisfree/cif-green', 'type/article', 'profile/robertbryce'] | environment/coal | ENERGY | 2009-02-20T13:00:01Z | true | ENERGY |
us-news/2021/jun/21/big-sur-wildfire-willow-fire | Big Sur fire: hundreds of firefighters battle blaze raging in California | Firefighters are battling to contain a wildfire that erupted near Big Sur last week, as the flames continue to engulf the dry California landscape and threaten historical sites, cabins and ranches. The fire is one of dozens of wildfires burning in hot, dry conditions across the US west, including in Arizona and New Mexico. In Monterey county, the so-called Willow fire has burned more than 2,800 acres since it broke out on Thursday evening. More than 500 firefighters face the difficult task of trying to contain the large forest fire in the rugged coastal mountains south of Big Sur. The blaze forced the evacuation of a Buddhist monastery and nearby campground. The area is also home to endangered species and contains cultural sites that could be at risk if the fire continues to grow, and the Los Padres national forest resource advisers have brought in biologists, botanists and Chumash tribal members to aid in protecting sensitive areas. “We have to take our time accessing these areas because we can’t get the equipment in there,” said Amanda Munsey, a public information officer with California interagency incident management team 11. “Weather is also a big factor,” she adds, “and it has been very hot for a number of days – and very dry.” Hundreds have been ordered to evacuate the mountainous area, including most of those at the Tassajara Mountain Zen Center, a historic Zen Buddhist monastery. Some monks who are part of a trained fire crew stayed behind to assist in the firefight. “The ZMC fire crew will remain in order to run ‘Dharma Rain’ [Tassajara’s sprinkler system] and to prepare the monastery in case the fire reaches the valley,” the center posted on its website on Sunday. “Tassajara has been working on special fire prep projects during the pandemic shutdown and the fire crew has been in place and training for several months. Our water supplies are good and we are well prepared for this situation.” The cause of the fire is still under investigation. The latest wildfire comes as the American west is gripped by a historic drought, and as officials predict another record-breaking fire season. A heatwave has baked the region, intensifying drought conditions and ignition risks much earlier in the year than normal. Already this year, 33 large fires have burned more than 372,000 acres across 10 states, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. “Right now, in June, the dryness and the fuel conditions – it is what we would expect in August,” says Munsey. “It is alarming but it is beyond our control. So we have prepared as best as we can.” There’s hope that cooler weather, expected with higher humidity across the Bay Area in the coming days, will help slow the flames, but there are concerns that winds along the ridges will continue to drive the fire and complicate containment efforts. But with so many fires already burning across the west, resources have been strained. In Arizona, a blaze named the Backbone fire that has burned more than 32,750 acres after igniting last Wednesday from a lightning strike is also at 0% containment. Temperatures there have exceeded 100F and thousands of residents have been evacuated north-east of Phoenix, in the communities of Strawberry and Pine. “There are major fires around Arizona and Utah – all over the western United States,” Munsey says. “That becomes problematic when trying to get resources to whatever fire you are on because they are already stretched so thin.” Meanwhile, the mountainous city of Flagstaff was shrouded in smoke by another fire, dubbed the Rafael fire, on Monday. If the fire continues its north-eastern push, hundreds of people in the college city, which lies about two hours north of Phoenix, could be affected, officials say. The national forest surrounding Flagstaff announced a full closure set to begin later this week – the first time that has happened since 2006. It’s already been a tough fire season for Arizona, which has seen multiple blazes spark this summer. On Monday, two national forests in northern Arizona made rare announcements that they would close completely to visitors starting later this week, because of concerns they won’t have enough resources to respond to any future wildfires. In New Mexico, lightning-sparked blazes have been scorching the southern part of the state, where a large portion of the Gila wilderness remains closed, and fire officials are closely watching the Gila Cliff Dwellings national monument. Firefighters in Oregon were focused on two wildfires, one burning near the state’s highest peak and another in the southern part of the state that was threatening 125 structures. And in Utah, several wildfires were burning in bone-dry conditions. The largest near the small town of Enterprise in southern Utah forced evacuations over the weekend. The Associated Press contributed reporting | ['us-news/california', 'world/wildfires', 'us-news/us-news', 'us-news/arizona', 'world/natural--disasters', 'environment/drought', 'us-news/california-drought', 'world/extreme-weather', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/gabrielle-canon', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2021-06-22T16:52:54Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
commentisfree/2024/nov/29/keir-starmer-labour-net-zero-electric-vehicles-green | Starmer has discovered a tricky truth about the electric vehicles transition: there’s no gain without pain | Gaby Hinsliff | Have cake, will eat. For years it has been the default political response to awkward questions about the climate crisis, with successive governments insisting that going green would create jobs, not destroy them, and that the planet could be saved without stifling growth or demanding uncomfortable sacrifices. Keir Starmer promised only this month not to “tell people how to live their lives”, suggesting the road to net zero would not be quite as painful as some think. And then, this week, he hit a pothole. The carmaker Stellantis, which owns Vauxhall, announced it was closing its van factory in Luton, putting 1,100 jobs at risk; its rival Ford is axing 800 jobs. In Sunderland, Nissan has warned of an industry at “crisis point”. All are blaming rules introduced by the outgoing Conservative government, under which manufacturers will be fined if they don’t meet annual targets for ramping up sales of electric cars even though demand is waning. Though it may be true that nobody is going to have a job if the planet fries to an uninhabitable crisp, the promise of a brighter future for your grandchildren doesn’t make a P45 before Christmas any less of a punch in the guts. This is the first really serious test of nerve for a Labour government that is genuinely committed to net zero, but anxious about the human consequences of job losses in its old industrial heartlands and increasingly fearful of provoking the kind of backlash against green policies that Nigel Farage’s Reform UK could easily exploit. Ministers shouldn’t panic and throw the net zero baby out with the bathwater, but they’re right to recognise that the water is getting increasingly murky. Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, grew up on Wearside in the kind of town where everyone knows someone who works at Nissan. He lost no time announcing an urgent review of the last government’s zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) mandate, whose ever-ratcheting annual sales targets were meant to pave the way for ending petrol and diesel car sales for good in 2035. What it didn’t do, crucially, was acknowledge how many drivers simply wouldn’t be able to afford new cars in the middle of a cost of living crisis. If the ZEV mandate was meant to put a rocket up the industry, it has worked. Bestselling models such as the much-loved Ford Fiesta and VW Golf have been quietly killed off, because the more cheap petrol cars you sell, the harder it is to sell enough electric ones to meet the mandate. (Though they’re often cheaper to run long-term, electric cars tend to be more expensive upfront.) Meanwhile, all the fuss over Jaguar’s new rebrand, featuring wackily dressed models and lots of woo-woo about “delete ordinary”, disguises a hard-headed commercial decision: late to the electric party, Jaguar has had to reinvent itself dramatically, ditching petrol models and relaunching in 2026 as an electric-only boutique brand for the global rich. It’s going not woke, but bespoke – and if that doesn’t work, possibly also broke. All this plus some panicky last-minute discounting and creative use of loopholes (which may be widened by ministers) means that this year’s target for 22% of car sales to be electric should just about be met. But in 2027 that target leaps to 38%, and to 80% by 2030. If demand doesn’t rise to match, then manufacturers could be forced to choose between selling electric cars at an unsustainable loss, or halting production partway through the year and sending workers home so they don’t overproduce petrol and diesel cars they might get fined for selling. The threat nobody is quite spelling out yet is that if selling cars in Britain gets too hard, ultimately there’s no obvious reason to make them here either. Why not just shift production overseas to wherever the rules are looser, and save the post-Brexit hassle of exporting them? Meanwhile, from the planet’s point of view, every lost electric sale is a missed opportunity to transition faster. Reynolds and the [then] transport secretary, Louise Haigh, are said to be lobbying privately not for watering down the targets, but for more financial incentives to buy electric cars. In Norway, the world leader in switching to zero-emission cars, generous tax breaks tempt drivers to make the leap. Joe Biden introduced tax credits for buying electric (though inevitably Donald Trump is threatening to scrap them) and Germany is proposing something similar. But in Britain, the last government tried to make the transition on the cheap, ignoring warnings that doing so would end in precisely the scenario now unfolding. Once again, it’s the incoming government lumbered with sorting out the mess. The truth is that like all big industrial transitions, the shift to green was never going to be without pain. New jobs will be created, but not always in the towns where fossil-fuel industry jobs are dying. Not every worker made redundant in late middle-age is going to happily retrain as a windfarm engineer. Not everything in life is going to be the same as it was, and change always has the potential to be politically explosive. Softening the edges of it, for the places and people who always seem to end up on the sharp end, won’t be cheap. But neither, as you would think we might have learned by now, is picking up the pieces of lives left behind. Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist • After this article was scheduled for publication on 29 November 2024, Louise Haigh resigned as transport secretary. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/electric-cars', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/environment', 'environment/travel-and-transport', 'environment/ethical-living', 'technology/motoring', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/gabyhinsliff', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/opinion', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2024-11-29T08:00:05Z | true | EMISSIONS |
technology/2019/aug/23/bitcoin-seized-hacker-grant-west-uk-compensate-victims | Bitcoin worth £900,000 seized from hacker to compensate victims | A judge has ordered the confiscation of bitcoin worth more than £900,000 from a jailed hacker in the first case of its kind for the Metropolitan police. Grant West, 27 – previously described as a “one-man cybercrime wave” – had about £1m-worth of the cryptocurrency seized from a number of accounts after his arrest in September 2017, but the value of bitcoin has since fluctuated radically, complicating attempts to compensate victims. Proceedings in Southwark crown court on Friday morning were temporarily stalled as the order signed by West agreeing to the confiscation of the cryptocurrency related to a higher amount than that which was confiscated. Eventually announcing the order under the Proceeds of Crime Act, the judge, Joanna Korner QC, said: “I therefore order a confiscation of that amount, £915,305.77, to be paid as a way of compensation to the losers.” She said West would spend an additional four years in jail if he refused. He has agreed to comply with the order. UK authorities have been in possession of 82 bitcoin previously obtained by West through criminal activity since before his sentencing. Unlike fiat currencies, there is no centralised exchange rate for the currency, which rose in value to almost £18,000 a bitcoin in December 2017 before falling below £7,000 in May 2018. The value of the seized assets was calculated by authorities on Friday at a rate of about £8,500 a bitcoin. “Inevitably in any case like this there will have to be a further hearing after this,” the prosecuting counsel, Kevin Barry, told the court. “As the court recognises today, as do the parties, there is likely to be fluctuation which will require in due course for the order to be amended upwards or downwards.” The Metropolitan police had also seized a much smaller amount in other cryptocurrencies, including ethereum and bitcoin cash, after a lengthy investigation, codenamed Operation Draba. About £200,000 in bitcoin was being held by the FBI under its own investigation, and had been frozen on the request of the Crown Prosecution Service, Barry told reporters. Though police were already in control of the assets, the defendant must legally agree to the default sentence because he may have refused to sell the assets. The cryptocurrency was seized by the Met after West was caught on a train from Rhyl to London with his “fingers on the keyboard”. It was being held by authorities in secure accounts and would be sold on the open market in due course by an agent of the crown, Barry said. The head of the Met’s cybercrime unit, DCI Kirsty Goldsmith, said: “The MPS is committed to ensuring that individuals who are committing criminality on the dark web are identified, prosecuted and their criminal assets are seized … I am very proud of my team for bringing this offender to justice and ensuring we have secured this order.” In May 2018, West, of Sheerness, Kent, was sentenced to 10 years and eight months in prison for a number of offences including unauthorised modification of computer material, conspiracy to defraud and possession of criminal property. Using the online identity “Courvoisier”, he carried out cyber-attacks over two and a half years on more than 100 companies and organisations worldwide including Sainsbury’s, Asda, Uber, the British Cardiovascular Society and the bookmakers Ladbrokes and Coral. He sold the information on the dark web and collected his profits in online caches. Officers discovered about 78m individual usernames and passwords along with 63,000 credit and debit card details stored on an SD card recovered from his address. Masquerading as the food delivery service Just Eat between July and December 2015, he also attempted to obtain the email addresses of more than 160,000 people through an unsuccessful phishing scam, which cost the company about £200,000. West started trading on the dark web in March 2015 and completed more than 47,000 sales from an online “store”, the Met said. Along with financial data, he also sold cannabis, which he shipped to customers, as well as how to guides instructing others how to carry out cyber-attacks. The confiscation follows the sentencing in Norwich last week of Elliott Gunton, 19, who hacked the telecom company TalkTalk and sold personal data in exchange for hundreds of thousands of pounds in cryptocurrency. | ['technology/cybercrime', 'technology/internet', 'technology/technology', 'technology/bitcoin', 'technology/cryptocurrencies', 'uk/uk', 'technology/hacking', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/mattha-busby', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | technology/hacking | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2019-08-23T12:51:37Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/nov/17/palm-oil-malaysia-jeffrey-sachs | Jeffrey Sachs stung by the corrosive mix of palm oil and publicity | Damian Carrington | Palm oil and publicity has long been a corrosive mix and now the renowned economist and sustainable development expert Jeffrey Sachs has felt its sting. The tale is a complicated but instructive one, weaving together the world's biggest palm oil producer, discredited TV shows shown on the BBC and CNBC, a now-bankrupt media company and Sachs, professor of sustainable development at Columbia University. Sachs appears to be guilty of nothing but, in my opinion, a degree of naivety. Yet the way in which the media company sought to co-opt his reputation reveals the ruthlessness of the PR business. First things first. Palm oil is both widely used, especially in food, but also widely derided by green campaigners for frequently resulting in deforestation, huge carbon emissions, loss of orang-utans and many other species, as well as land and workers' rights conflicts. Malaysia - with Indonesia, the world's biggest producers of palm oil - was the subject of some of the TV shows, made by UK-based FBC Group. But FBC - standing amusingly for Fact Based Media - were in the pay of the Malaysian government and Malaysian palm-oil titan Sime Darby. Eight of these aired on BBC World News, and the BBC Trust ruled on Wednesday that they seriously breached rules governing conflicts of interest, promotion of a sponsor's activities and sponsorship of current affairs shows. Some of the shows featured Sachs. FBC bragged to Sime Darby that their "track record" included "cultivation of influential 'ambassadors' such as Sachs". Sachs flatly denies any such influence and says he "never sought nor received a single penny from Sime Darby" and "of course, would never serve as an 'ambassador' or 'champion' for Sime Darby". He says he did not know Sime Darby were paying FBC. In 2009, the same year the TV shows, Sime Darby committed $500,000 to the Earth Institute at Columbia, of which Sachs is the director. "This was not a 'payment,' this was specific support for two existing scientific programs run by the Earth Institute," says the statement Sachs's office sent to me. I asked him if Sime Darby would be allowed to remain a "Corporate Circle" member of the Earth Institute? "The reports raise very serious issues. Sime Darby came to us declaring their desire to pursue a new agenda on sustainable development and asking for our scientific help in designing those policies. We hope that is real. The [news] of course will lead us to re-examine this relationship, and see if it was indeed driven by PR considerations." Sachs also wrote an article mentioning Sime Darby for an advertising supplement published in the International Herald and Tribune in June 2008. It praised "promising steps" being made in Malaysia but noted "it remained to be seen" if the policies would "triumph over intense market pressure". It ran alongside a piece from Tun Musa Hitam, chairman of Sime Darby and former deputy prime minister of Malaysia. Sachs was aware the supplement was paid for by the Malaysian government but was not paid. Sach's statement says: "The comments and message are his own and reflect his real concerns about the need for sustainability and better practices in the industry." I asked Sachs if he thought there was any conflict of interest in all of this. "Of course not. Sime Darby came to Professor Sachs and asked for help on sustainability and for the Earth Institute's scientific support and guidance on sustainability. We took their request for our help in good faith." Kenneth Richter, a campaigner at Friends of the Earth, says: "The rapid growth in palm oil plantations is one of the greatest threats to south east Asian rainforests and the species that depend on them. Jeffrey Sachs would be wise to steer clear of the multi-million pound greenwash operation of this highly disreputable industry." Sime Darby accept they paid FBC and were engaged in a campaign "to establish and project the 'new' Sime Darby brand on a global platform." But the company says: "There was never any intention, stated, implicit or suggested, that FBC embark on a greenwash campaign to boost the company's image." It also denies the $500,000 committed to the Earth Institute was an PR stunt. But the history of palm oil publicity is a sorry one. The body the industry hopes will clean up its reputation is the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. This body, which Malaysian and Indonesian interests have a record of obstructing, does not include carbon emissions in its environmental impacts. By their own admission, 40% of Sime Darby's palm oil does not even meet RSPO standards. The well-funded palm oil PR offensive is showing no signs of letting up. The Malaysian government is ploughing €5.5m into combating anti-palm-oil campaigns. Earlier this year, Malaysia and Indonesia - who produce 90% of the world's palm oil - joined forces to lobby in Europe. Under this onslaught, everyone involved in sustainable development and environmental issues - including Sachs - should exercise great caution. Because if you give them an inch, the spinmeisters will take a mile. | ['environment/damian-carrington-blog', 'environment/palm-oil', 'world/malaysia', 'environment/environment', 'tone/blog', 'environment/deforestation', 'global-development/global-development', 'media/bbc-trust', 'media/bbc', 'global-development/poverty-matters', 'type/article', 'profile/damiancarrington'] | environment/deforestation | BIODIVERSITY | 2011-11-17T15:18:00Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2016/jul/28/hinkley-point-c-timeline-all-the-key-moments | Hinkley Point C timeline: all the key moments | Nov 2005 UK energy policy review launched by Tony Blair May 2006 Blair declares that failing to take action on the UK’s nuclear plants would be a “dereliction of duty” July 2006 Energy review states that nuclear power can make a “significant contribution” to UK’s energy needs. Industry secretary Alistair Darling says the private sector will have to “initiate, fund, construct and operate” the nuclear plants Feb 2007 EDF’s chief executive of its UK Division says: “EDF will turn on its first nuclear power plant in Britain before Christmas 2017 because it will be the right time.” Aug 2007 Reactor safety checks begin on EPR (European pressurised reactor) power plant design Jan 2008 The government says the first new plant will be completed “well before 2020” Mar 2008 Deal to build new nuclear power stations announced by UK and France Sep 2008 EDF buys British Energy for £12.5bn May 2009 Centrica to join EDF to build new UK nuclear power stations Oct 2010 UK government names Hinkley Point one of eight candidates Nov 2010 EDF relocates a colony of badgers off the Hinkley Point site Apr 2011 Fukushima disaster delays health and safety assessment of proposed reactor designs Oct 2011 55,000 page planning application for Hinkley Point C submitted by EDF Dec 2011 The first new reactor not operational until 2019, says government Nov 2012 EDF awarded nuclear site licence Feb 2013 Centrica withdraws from joint venture deal with EDF Oct 2013 Government announces subsidy deal for Hinkley Point, which will now not produce power until 2023 according to EDF Dec 2013 EU launches investigation into the subsidies May 2014 European Commission approves state aid for Hinkley Point and costs the plant at £24.5bn Sep 2015 £2bn loan guarantee confirmed by George Osborne. Oct 2015 EDF signs a deal with China General Nuclear Power Corporation, which will provide one third of the cost, now estimated at £18bn March 2016 EDF finance chief quits and chief executive promises long-delayed final investment decision will be made soon April 2016 The French government announces it will subscribe to €3bn in new shares July 2016 EDF promises decision on final investment at board meeting on 28 July 28 July 2016 EDF decides to press ahead with building Hinkley Point C | ['environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/environment', 'uk-news/hinkley-point-c', 'uk/uk', 'environment/energy', 'type/article', 'tone/timelines', 'profile/luc-torres', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2016-07-28T17:23:25Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2015/sep/04/climate-stalemate-prompts-call-for-world-leaders-to-intervene | Climate stalemate prompts call for world leaders to intervene | World leaders must step into the ongoing UN climate change negotiations, to remove roadblocks and ensure their negotiating teams can lay the groundwork for an agreement at landmark talk in December, an influential group of former leaders has urged. The Elders - a group including former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, Graca Machel, the Mozambican politician and widow of Nelson Mandela, and Mary Robinson, formerly president of Ireland and a UN high commissioner – made their call on Friday, as the latest round of pre-Paris negotiations ended with many key issues left open. That stalemate leaves only five official negotiating days left before the Paris climate conference, at which governments are supposed to forge a new global climate change agreement to take effect from 2020. “[This year] will conclude two of the most important international processes of our times [sustainable development goals, and a Paris agreement],” the group said, addressing heads of government. “You can prove to be a historic generation of leaders who will have a profound and positive impact that echoes through the century.” World leaders are meeting late this month in New York, to discuss the UN’s proposed “sustainable development goals” aimed at lifting poor countries out of poverty and addressing social problems such as health and gender equity. But global warming is also likely to be high on their agenda, with time running out before a crunch climate conference in Paris this December. At the climate negotiations in Bonn, the latest in a series of pre-Paris talks that have been taking place at intervals since 2012, countries worked on a new form of text for the proposed Paris agreement. In this, the basic text of a legal form of agreement is separated from ancillary sections containing some of the most controversial issues, including questions surrounding the provision of finance to developing countries. The format is aimed at making the talks more manageable, as previous texts grew to scores of pages that were hard to prune, but the question of what should be in the core agreement has not yet been settled. “The text needs to be consolidated and streamlined, to present negotiators with fewer options,” said Alden Meyer, director of strategy of the Union of Concerned Scientists. There were signs of a possible compromise on the thorny issue of “loss and damage”, by which developing countries would receive assistance to help them cope with extreme weather events. Progress has also been made in the tabling of emissions targets by leading developed and developing countries, most of which have now set out goals on reductions or curbs on emissions for the decade following 2020. But these are still regarded as falling short of scientific advice. Some of the unresolved problems include what measures could be used to scale up countries’ emissions targets in the years between 2016 and 2020, when the new targets come into effect; how the preservation of forests should be treated under the text; how to review national targets to ensure they are fair and are monitored. Some observers called on negotiators to continue their work outside the official negotiating sessions, the next – and final – week of which will be in October. Governments and the UN routinely hold informal meetings, in small and larger groups, to reach compromises on disagreements. This process could be supercharged when world leaders meet at the UN general assembly in New York this month, with opportunities for high-ranking officials to hold discussions on the fringes, as well as set-piece meetings of prime ministers and presidents. There was frustration from some civil society representatives attending the Bonn talks, with some suggesting a breakdown in the Paris process was possible if more stringent demands are not met. Harjeet Singh, climate policy manager at ActionAid, said he was “seriously concerned about the fragile progress”, saying that developing countries had been ignored. “The US and EU took baby steps towards agreeing to deal with climate damages for vulnerable countries, but insisted on leaving this out of the core agreement. Its exclusion will likely cripple a deal in Paris.” | ['environment/cop-21-un-climate-change-conference-paris', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/unitednations', 'world/world', 'world/kofi-annan', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2015-09-04T15:33:50Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2009/dec/06/copenhagen-climate-summit-timetable | Copenhagen climate summit timetable | Negotiating teams from 192 countries will meet tomorrow in large halls at the giant Bella centre in Copenhagen. Their mission is, in six days and nights, to try to reduce a draft agreement from 176 pages down to a manageable few pages in time for the three days of high-level political talks, which start on 15 December. Because the talks are deadlocked in so many areas, there is no chance now of the negotiators reaching this point. So the only option is to leave it to the politicians to get a broad non-binding political agreement, and hope to transfer this to a new legally binding treaty within six months. When ministers arrive they will take part in large formal meetings, but also in mini-ministerials, called "green rooms". Here key countries are invited by the UN secretariat to meet to thrash out their differences or come up with proposals to advance the talks. The last stage of the conference starts when 100 or more heads of state fly in for the last day on 18 December. Here, the real horse-trading between countries will take place, with leaders meeting in large and small groups to twist arms and hammer out firm commitments. The talks are due to finish at midnight on 18 December, but history suggests they will continue well into 19 December. The intention is to get political agreement from all countries on emission cuts and finance, as well as other agreements to set up new carbon markets, technology and forestry deals. But as a Downing Street source admitted: "This is profound decision-making. We are trying to effect a revolution. We do not know where this will end up." | ['environment/copenhagen', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'tone/resource', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'type/article', 'profile/johnvidal', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2009-12-06T20:40:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
uk-news/2021/nov/08/glasgow-squat-baile-hoose-cop26-activists-police-raid | Police criticised over raid on Glasgow squat housing Cop26 activists | The occupants of a disused building in Glasgow that was reopened to offer emergency accommodation for climate activists have accused police of trying to break into the site with a battering ram early on Monday morning. The activists at Baile Hoose, a former homeless shelter in the Tradeston district, said up to 20 officers from the Metropolitan police and Welsh forces mounted the raid at 3am, claiming to be acting under orders from Scottish police. The activists said Police Scotland officers arrived soon afterwards and “calmed the situation. [It] was only then that the Met and Welsh police backed off.” One witness to the raid said at least one of the liaison officers from Police Scotland appeared to be shocked at their colleagues’ conduct, and also said that an officer described it as “totally unacceptable” policing. Another activist said police had their batons drawn as they entered rooms, to the distress of many occupants. A spokesperson for Police Scotland confirmed that officers went to the building. However, Police Scotland deny that the operation was a raid or an attempt to force entry, or that a battering ram was used. “Around 3am on Monday 8 November, officers attended at a property on Centre Street, Glasgow, following concerns for the safety and security of those using the building. Officers will continue to engage with those currently in the property,” the spokesperson said. A Baile Hoose spokesperson disputed that explanation. She said they had been occupying the building since 3 November and that the Scottish fire and rescue service had already inspected it, giving them advice about fire safety and battery-operated fire alarms, which were now installed. The activists squatted in the building after it emerged that hundreds of Cop26 delegates, including indigenous leaders, were unable to find accommodation for the summit. There were unconfirmed reports of some indigenous activists sleeping rough. “Baile Hoose has provided a safe home and meals for hundreds of activists during this summit,” a spokesperson said. “There have been a lot of people who have travelled here from all over the world and the country, and quite often people from marginalised communities are not getting their voices heard.” Glasgow city council, which owns the building, said it had asked the activists to leave last week because it was concerned about the safety of its water supply and the possibility that the building could contain asbestos. | ['uk/glasgow', 'uk/scotland', 'environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021', 'world/protest', 'uk/police', 'uk/metropolitan-police', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jessica-murray', 'profile/severincarrell', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021 | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2021-11-08T16:24:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
australia-news/2023/aug/23/investment-in-new-australian-wind-and-solar-farms-stalls-amid-raft-of-barriers-report-finds | Investment in new Australian wind and solar farms stalls amid ‘raft of barriers’, report finds | Investment in new wind and solar farms has all but stalled with developers facing a “raft of barriers” despite strong political support, the Clean Energy Council said in its latest quarterly report. The first half of 2023 produced the slowest pace of final investment approvals in the council’s six years of data tracking. Just four generation projects accounting for 348 megawatts – or roughly the size of a single coal-fired power station unit – secured financial commitment in the June quarter. While an improvement on the March quarter, investment levels so far this year are running at half the pace of the rolling 12-month average of just under 700MW. The combined investment value of the four projects was $225m, or less than a fifth of the 12-month average of $1.3bn. “While there is now strong political support for the clean energy transition, there remains a raft of barriers as a result of the historic lack of leadership, planning and foresight over the prior decade,” Kane Thornton, the council’s chief executive, said. “There is an enormous pipeline of renewable energy projects in Australia, but investors are swamped with global opportunity at a time where these barriers make Australian projects less attractive.” Investments in storage, particularly batteries, offered a more promising result. The Waratah super battery in New South Wales with its 850MW/1,680MW-hour capacity led the way, accounting for about half of the new storage reaching financial approval in the quarter. The six projects were valued at a record $2bn, the council said. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup The slowdown in new investments being signed off comes despite a pipeline of some 108 generation and storage projects either reaching financial closure or being under construction. The sector was “a long way off the pace necessary for Australia to achieve an 82% renewable energy share by 2030”, the council said, referring to the Albanese government’s inferred target from its emissions reduction goals. The federal energy minister, Chris Bowen, said the former government had overseen a decline of 3GW of dispatchable power with the closure of coal plants not made up with new clean energy capacity. “Our strong stance on climate, leadership and policy certainty is paying dividends with $2bn worth of storage projects reaching the investment stage in Q2,” Bowen said. “The surge in storage investment shows the government’s focus on ensuring reliability as renewable penetration grows above 35% of generation is making an impact.” The disappointing rate of recent investments in new generation capacity is prompting the state governments to consider ways to ensure sufficient coal-fired power stations remain available to the grid until renewables arrive. On Monday, Victoria’s Andrews government signed an agreement with AGL Energy, Australia’s biggest electricity generator, to ensure its Loy Yang A power plant in the Latrobe Valley operates until June 2035. The Minns government in New South Wales has also received its “energy supply and reliability check-up report” that examined the state’s energy security. Speculation has been mounting that it will recommend the government ensure the 2880MW Eraring power station – the nation’s largest single plant – remains at least partly available beyond its August 2025 scheduled closure date. “NSW has not ruled anything in or out, which has been the same position since first coming to office,” a spokesperson for the energy minister, Penny Sharpe, said. The report and the government’s response will be made public by the end of the month. A spokesperson for Eraring’s owner, Origin Energy, said the company had yet to see the report. “We continue to engage with the market operator, the NSW government, our people, and the local community regarding plans Eraring’s closure,” she said. “As we stated in the closure notice to Aemo [the market operator], we will continue to assess the market over time, and this will help inform the final timing for the closure of all four units.” Also being watched is the fate of the 1400MW Mount Piper power station near Lithgow to Sydney’s west, which provides about a tenth of NSW’s electricity. The community has been preparing for an abrupt closure of the plant, well before the 2040-or-later date previously stated by owner EnergyAustralia. “We are positioning Mount Piper to enable it to transition to a reserve role which we anticipate being in the early to mid-2030s,” the Hong Kong-based firm said on Monday. “We will reduce reliance on it but maintain its ability to contribute to system stability and the orderly entry and exit of capacity,” EnergyAustralia said. “Its closure by 2040 completes our exit from all coal assets.” Sharpe’s office said the government was “closely monitoring the impact that the retirement of coal-fired power stations may have and will respond if there is adverse advice from the Aemo on NSW’s future electricity reliability”. | ['australia-news/energy-australia', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'campaign/email/afternoon-update', 'australia-news/new-south-wales', 'australia-news/victoria', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/solarpower', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/peter-hannam', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2023-08-22T15:00:03Z | true | ENERGY |
australia-news/2021/oct/15/scott-morrison-to-attend-cop26-in-glasgow-but-emissions-deal-with-nationals-still-weeks-off | Australian PM to attend Cop26 in Glasgow but emissions deal with Coalition partner still weeks off | The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, has confirmed he will attend the Cop26 conference in Glasgow in two weeks but has signalled it might take a fortnight, rather than days, to land an agreement with junior Coalition partner the Nationals on new climate policy initiatives. Given the proximity of the United Nations-led summit, organisers have required nations, including Australia, to confirm their representation at the event so that speaking slots for leaders can be assigned. Morrison, who has been equivocating about his attendance for several weeks – in part, to avoid irritating Nationals inclined to accuse the prime minister of presiding over a policy stitch-up – confirmed on Friday he would attend the Cop26, because it was “important”. But given Nationals are complaining privately about being railroaded by the Liberals, Morrison was careful to say no agreement had been reached with the junior Coalition partner on commitments for the conference. The Nationals party room will meet on Sunday. Morrison had been hopeful Australia’s new policy commitments for Glasgow would be unveiled early next week, once government MPs returned to Canberra for a new parliamentary sitting fortnight. But the prime minister pushed that timetable out on Friday. “The government will be finalising its position for me to take to the summit prior to my departure over the next fortnight,” Morrison told journalists in Sydney. “We’re working through those issues with our cabinet and with our colleagues and I look forward to those discussions concluding over the next couple of weeks.” Morrison has been laying the groundwork for Australia to adopt a net zero commitment since Joe Biden won the US presidential election and brought the US back into the Paris agreement. As well as landing 2050, the prime minister has also told colleagues he wants to increase Australia’s existing 2030 emissions reduction target as part of his current negotiations with the Nationals. New emissions projections to be released shortly are expected to forecast Australia will beat the current target of a 26-28% cut by 2030 compared with 2005 levels, and the prime minister wants to reflect that in a new target to be outlined ahead of Glasgow. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning But with some Nationals openly hostile to signing up to a mid-century net zero commitment and others on the fence, it is unclear whether Morrison will have the political capital to be able to take the extra step and increase the 2030 target. Sources say Australia has raised with both the UK and US governments the idea of publicly declaring it would “overachieve” on its 2030 target without formally increasing the goal, but both allies have pressed Morrison to deliver the formal increase rather than window dressing. Given the Nationals are not yet on board with 2050, and the internal discussion is at a delicate stage, the prime minister chose his words about his policy aspirations carefully on Friday. “I simply say to everyone that net zero was … an outcome that I outlined at the beginning of this year consistent with our Paris commitments,” the prime minister said. “The challenge is not about the if and the when, it is about the how,” he said. “I’m very focussed on the how because the global changes that are happening in our economy as a result of the response to climate change have a real impact. “They will have a real impact in Australia.” Morrison said the transition roadmap that had been considered by the government’s leadership group, Nationals ministers and the cabinet this week was about “ensuring that our regions are strong, that our regions jobs are not only protected but have opportunities for the future”. “It is not just about hitting net zero,” he said. “That is an important environmental goal. “But what is important is that Australia’s economy goes from strength to strength and the livelihoods and the lives that Australians know, particularly in rural and regional areas, are able to go forward with hope and confidence and that is what my plan will be all about.” The roadmap outlining Australia’s transition to net zero was discussed by cabinet for the first time on Wednesday afternoon. Ahead of that deliberation, sceptical Nationals asked Angus Taylor, the minister for energy and emissions reduction, to supply all the assumptions underpinning Treasury modelling informing the roadmap, not just the top-line findings. Some Nationals remain implacably opposed to adopting net zero, and the junior Coalition partner will demand new commitments to revitalise regional Australia and boost employment in return for supporting any shift in climate policy. | ['australia-news/scott-morrison', 'environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'australia-news/national-party', 'type/article', 'profile/katharine-murphy', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021 | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2021-10-15T06:06:32Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
media-network/media-network-blog/2012/oct/09/guardian-google-data-international-development | Join our live debate on data, aid and censorship | Video | Guardian Data and Google will be hosting their first ever live event tonight, Tuesday 16 October – focusing on the role data has to play in policy making and transparency around international development and foreign aid. Running in the evening from 7pm to 9pm at Guardian HQ, this unique event will explore the key datasets behind the stories, bringing them to life and drawing on the expertise of those who know the numbers inside out. Our expert panel of speakers include: Douglas Alexander MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and former Secretary of State for International Development Salil Tripathi, director of policy, Institute for Human Rights and Business Professor Ian Goldin, director, Oxford Martin School Rachel Rank, research and monitoring manager, Publish What You Fund And the panel will be moderated by Simon Rogers, editor of the Guardian Data Store. Both the Guardian and Google believe that data should be at the heart of policy – and we'd like you to join us for the discussion. How do I submit questions? You can put them in the comments field below – or tweet them with the hashtag #gdnglobaldev – or email data@guardian.co.uk The debate will be broadcast live on Google+ and the Guardian, and users around the world will have the ability to join from their desks and submit questions. 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? • Please post your visualisations and mash-ups on our Flickr group • Contact us at data@guardian.co.uk • Get the A-Z of data • More at the Datastore directory • Follow us on Twitter • Like us on Facebook | ['data/series/google-data-visualisation-competition', 'news/datablog', 'media-network/media-network', 'media-network/media-network-blog', 'technology/free-our-data', 'technology/technology', 'global-development/global-development', 'global-development/development-data', 'technology/data-visualisation', 'technology/internet', 'tone/blog', 'type/article', 'profile/robin-hough'] | technology/data-visualisation | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2012-10-09T11:23:00Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
commentisfree/2017/mar/03/children-lungs-air-pollution-diesel | Traffic pollution must be fixed: our children’s lungs demand it | Penny Woods | Few things are as precious as our children’s health. That’s why the research commissioned by the mayor of London on the amount of schools in areas with illegal levels of toxic air is so troubling. The findings expose the severe problems with air pollution in London. But it’s not just a problem for Londoners. Safe air pollution levels are being breached across Britain. And children are the ones who are most vulnerable. Worryingly, this study drives home the extent to which their lung health is genuinely in danger. Why? This is due, in part, to the immaturity of children’s respiratory and immune systems. Children’s lungs are still growing and air pollution can stunt that growth. Evidence has shown that children growing up in polluted areas are four times more likely to have poor lung growth. Children with smaller lungs are more likely to have health problems in later life. From links to asthma, chronic chest problems and emerging evidence of the impact on children’s mental and cognitive health: pollution is bad for children. The UK’s air quality is more than a hot topic; it’s a public health crisis. The negative health effects need to be given far greater prominence. Research shows that if a baby is exposed to air pollution in the womb, it can alter its lung development. If it is exposed to a lot of air pollution, it can also lead to premature birth and low birth weight. For the rest of us, short-term exposure to dirty air can cause irreparable damage to the lining of our lungs, coughing and wheezing. The irritation to our respiratory system can leave us feeling out of breath. Long-term exposure can lead to a reduction in lung function. There is now a growing body of evidence that there is an increased risk of lung cancer and cardiovascular disease. The statistic that is becoming well known is that it contributes to approximately 40,000 early deaths a year. So what is causing the high levels of pollution that we are now frequently experiencing? Over the past 30 years, pollution levels have actually improved, but there are still illegal levels in many towns and cities. Since 1970, thanks to changes in power generation and industry, emissions of nitrogen oxides have declined 69%, while emissions of particulate matter (small particles that can get lodged in our lungs) are down nearly 73%. This doesn’t mean that there isn’t a serious problem with air pollution. What has changed is an increase in vehicle usage, and the amount of diesel used on the road. This means traffic emissions have become the major source of pollution in urban areas, where the majority of the population lives. The World Health Organization has classified diesel as a class one carcinogen. What this means is that over a lifetime it increases the risk of getting lung cancer in a similar way to inhaling tobacco smoke. Reducing diesel vehicles has to be part of the solution if we’re going to bring pollution down to safe levels. We need to prioritise getting older, more polluting diesels off the roads. The British Lung Foundation believes diesel needs phasing out, but for this to happen much more investment is needed in cleaner and alternative transport options. What’s frustrating is that the majority of diesel owners bought their cars thinking they were healthier and cleaner. Plus, the tax system continues to provide incentives to buy diesel cars. We hope the chancellor will address this, and introduce a scrappage scheme to encourage people to switch from diesel to cleaner fuel. I’ve planted plenty of worries for parents and teachers – indeed, for all of us – but there are practical steps everyone can take to protect their lungs. In the most polluted places, or when we’re experiencing a severe reduction in air quality, avoid walking along main roads, steer clear of rush-hour traffic and always carry any medication with you. On the school run, look for alternative routes that avoid busy traffic areas. Cycling and walking, where it’s practical to do so, is the best option for healthy lungs. A major issue is the lack of available data and information on air pollution. We need more monitors in places such as schools, providing accurate information to help parents and teachers make practical choices around their health. We hope the chancellor will take bold action next week, creating incentives to reduce diesel vehicles on our roads. It will be a step in the right direction, but it won’t be enough on its own. We still need a new Clean Air Act, with fair and ambitious targets to reduce pollution levels. Our children’s lungs demand it. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/pollution', 'tone/comment', 'society/children', 'society/health', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'environment/air-pollution', 'profile/penny-woods', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-03-03T12:48:50Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2021/may/17/sierra-leone-sells-rainforest-for-chinese-fishmeal-plant | ‘Catastrophic’: Sierra Leone sells rainforest for Chinese harbour | A $55m (£39m) deal struck by the government of Sierra Leone with China to build an industrial fishing harbour on 100 hectares (250 acres) of beach and protected rainforest has been criticised as “a catastrophic human and ecological disaster” by conservationists, landowners and rights groups. The gold and black sands of Black Johnson beach fringe the African nation’s Western Area Peninsula national park, home to endangered species including the duiker antelope and pangolins. The waters are rich in sardines, barracuda and grouper, caught by local fishermen who produce 70% of the fish for the domestic market. After reports of a Chinese-backed fishmeal plant began circulating on social media, a statement that appeared to be from the Sierra Leonean fisheries ministry confirmed the deal, but denied the planned construction was a “fish mill”. The facility would be a harbour for tuna and “other bigger fishing” vessels exporting to international markets, it said. It would include a “waste-management component” to “recycle marine and other wastes into useful products”. The government said the beach, one of many along the nation’s 250-mile (400km) coastline, was the “most suitable place” for construction, and revealed the finance ministry had set aside a compensation package of 13.76bn leone (£950,000) for affected landowners. But the statement leaves more questions than answers, say those objecting to the plan. Two legal campaign groups, the Institute for Legal Research and Advocacy for Justice (ILRAJ) and Namati Sierra Leone, have written to the government, under the 2013 Right to Access Information Act, demanding to see the environmental and social-impact assessment studies, and the report showing that the beach was, as claimed, the most suitable place for construction “in terms of bathymetry, social safeguards (minimum resettlement costs) and environmental issues”. They are also seeking a copy of the grant agreement between China and Sierra Leone. Basita Michael, a lawyer for the ILRAJ, said: “The press release was very vague. It left us wondering how did we arrive here and how come we are only hearing about this now. We have a right to know more.” James Tonner, who owns land at Black Johnson with his mother, Jane Aspden Gbandewa, has written an open letter to the president, Julius Maada Bio, calling for him to intervene and stop the construction, which Tonner said would be “disastrous for the country and the planet”. It would destroy pristine rainforest, plunder fish stocks and pollute fish breeding grounds and several ecosystems, Tonner said. The beach is on Whale Bay, so-named because whales and dolphins are seen there. Tonner, who lives in London, has set up a crowdfunding page to fund a judicial review into the deal. The government could be acting unconstitutionally if it acquired the land compulsorily, he said, because the constitution requires any such move to be in the public interest. The compensation stated by the government was also unfair, he argued, claiming that the rate was about 30 times lower than the market value of the land. “Under the constitution, the government can sequester land if it is in the public interest,” Tonner said. “Even if this just a deep-water harbour, it is not in the public interest because it’s not a suitable site. There are fish breeding sites in the lagoon. It will wipe out the local fish people live on.” Tito Gbandewa, Tonner’s stepfather, is a former fisherman who runs an ecotourism business on the beach and owns about 1.2 hectares. He said: “If they do this here, the water will be dirty, there will be a lot of oil and noise, the trawlers will be all around. “Our own fishermen won’t have a place to fish. Everything will be spoiled. Tourism will be finished.” Dr Sama Banya, president emeritus of the Conservation Society of Sierra Leone, echoed Gbandewa’s comments, saying the proposed development would have a “disastrous” impact on tourism and “the very fish industry that it’s supposed to support”. Emma Kowa Jalloh, Sierra Leone’s fisheries minister, insisted that the plan was for a harbour and not a fishmeal factory. She said: “I can categorically tell you there is no fish mill [sic] going in at Black Johnson. What we are doing is a fish harbour that will be built by the Chinese government. A fish mill is something where you go and catch all the baby fish and grind it into food to give to piggeries, and fish in aquaculture – and that is so not true.” It would be built with a Chinese government “grant” and equity from Sierra Leone in the form of land, she said. Half of the land needed was government-owned, she said, including the seafront, up to 200 metres from the sea. The rest has been acquired through compulsory acquisition, she said. “People are making this fuss about it,” the minister added. “I would just appeal to people: ‘be patient, we want to be developed, we want to grow, we want to be classified as an upcoming country. There must be development and somebody has to sacrifice.’ “I’m not saying everything is going to be 100% perfect but we will make sure that it is near-perfect.” | ['environment/series/seascape-the-state-of-our-oceans', 'world/sierraleone', 'environment/fishing', 'world/china', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/environment', 'environment/food', 'environment/marine-life', 'world/africa', 'world/world', 'world/asia-pacific', 'global-development/global-development', 'global-development/transparency-and-development', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/karenmcveigh', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/series/seascape-the-state-of-our-oceans | BIODIVERSITY | 2021-05-17T05:00:16Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2022/jan/16/scottish-auction-for-offshore-windfarm-permits-expected-to-raise-860m | Scottish auction for offshore windfarm permits expected to raise £860m | Scotland’s largest-ever auction of permits to construct offshore windfarms is expected to raise up to £860m when the results are announced on Monday. Crown Estate Scotland, which is running the auction, hopes that windfarms with as much as 10 gigawatts of new generating capacity will be built over the next decade, effectively doubling the amount of electricity generated in Scottish waters in a transition which has the potential to create tens of thousands of jobs. The programme, known as ScotWind, has attracted frenzied interest from domestic and international bidders, and could set new records for values placed on the plots of seabed being leased for turbines. In the first ScotWind leasing round, 8,600 sq km of Scottish seabed is on offer across 15 areas, enough to develop windfarms which could power every Scottish household and save more than 6m tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. The windfarms could more than double the capacity built or planned in the seabed around Scotland over the coming decade. At the moment, offshore windfarms in Scotland generate about 1GW. Projects that have received consent and those being built amount to less than 10GW. The Moray East windfarm has become Scotland’s biggest source of renewable energy, generating up to 950 megawatts from 100 turbines. It will be overtaken by Seagreen next year with 1GW of capacity. Located around 27km off the Angus coast, the £3bn windfarm is a joint venture between Perth-based SSE Renewables (49%) and France’s TotalEnergies (51%). The winning bids – and the prices paid – are expected to be announced at 10am on Monday. Crown Estate said in July that 74 offers had been submitted for ScotWind. Many come from consortiums. Among them is Denmark’s largest energy company Ørsted, which pioneered the first ever offshore windfarm in 1991 and has teamed up with Italy’s Falck Renewables and the floating wind expert BlueFloat Energy. Other bidders include renewable energy investment funds such as Australia’s Macquarie Bank Green Investment Group, which has partnered with the Scottish offshore wind developer Renewable Infrastructure Development Group; big utility companies involved in existing projects, such as SSE and Scottish Power; and large oil companies, including Shell, France’s Total, Italy’s ENI and Norway’s Equinor. Crown Estate Scotland lifted the cap for the auction bids from £10,000 to £100,000 per sq km last year. If every bid is submitted up to that maximum cap, the sale could raise £860m. Melanie Grimmitt, global head of energy at the law firm Pinsent Masons, said this leasing round had shown that there was significant appetite for investment from within the UK and abroad, which bodes well for a second ScotWind seabed leasing round later this year. “This is crown state Scotland’s first seabed leasing round and marks an important chapter for Scotland’s offshore market, but with proposed windfarms from the leasing round expected to save in excess of 6m tonnes of carbon emissions, it is also an important milestone for the UK’s overall net zero commitments,” she said. “Developers will be keeping an eye out to see if and how the application process and criteria for the next round might differ from this one given how popular and competitive it has been.” Crown Estate Scotland is a separate organisation to the crown estate, which manages the Queen’s assets in England and Wales, and its profit is passed to the Scottish government. Some of the proceeds are expected to be ploughed into preparing the workforce for the switch from North Sea oil and gas to wind power. The transition to renewable energy means that as fossil fuel jobs disappear, thousands of workers will need retraining. • This article was amended on 18 January 2022. The Norwegian oil firm mentioned is called Equinor, not Equinox. | ['environment/windpower', 'uk/scotland', 'environment/environment', 'environment/energy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/juliakollewe', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2022-01-16T18:29:01Z | true | ENERGY |
australia-news/2015/jul/30/queensland-solar-farm-faces-legal-challenge-from-sugar-cane-proponents | Queensland solar farm faces legal challenge from sugar cane proponents | The Queensland government is considering stepping in to head off a legal challenge to one of Australia’s largest planned solar farms in the state’s northern sugar belt. The Spanish renewable energy developer FRV has approval from the local council and a deal with a cane farmer to build a 130-megawatt facility on his property in Clare, where the company says there is some of the most powerful sunlight in the country. But a local cane harvester and sugar mill oppose the plan on the grounds it will take up “good quality agricultural land” in conflict with the state’s planning policy. The prospect that the project could become tied up in a planning court case led FRV and Burdekin shire council to ask the deputy premier and planning minister, Jackie Trad, to “call in” the development. This week Trad announced she would consider a “call in”, giving her the final decision on the project which would then be immune to legal challenge. It came after the energy minister, Mark Bailey, vowed last week to match federal Labor’s commitment to achieving 50% renewable sources for Queensland’s power network by 2030. FRV claims it would invest up to $400m to fully develop the solar farm, which it says would be ideally located next to an existing power substation in Clare, “among sites with the highest levels of solar irradiation in Australia”. A cane farmer, Lyndsey Hall, has agreed to give over 340ha – which would produce about 27,000 tonnes of sugar cane a year – for the solar farm. Burdekin shire council approved the development in May but a sugar miller, Wilmar, and cane harvesters Lawrence and Patricia Brotto lodged an appeal. In their appeal documents, they claim it flies in the face of planning laws and policy around the use of quality agricultural land. They argue FRV has not shown an “overriding need for the proposed development” or that there is “no alternative site” or “adverse character or amenity impacts”. Trad said the government was committed to “listen[ing] to the community and this proposed ‘call in’ notice will provide an opportunity for all interested parties to have their say”. She will decide by 10 September whether to take control of oversight of the solar proposal. Hall, FRV and Wilmar declined to comment. The Brottos could not be reached for comment. | ['australia-news/queensland', 'environment/solarpower', 'australia-news/queensland-politics', 'environment/energy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/joshua-robertson'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2015-07-30T08:40:43Z | true | ENERGY |
australia-news/2023/jun/20/australias-transition-away-from-fossil-fuels-not-fast-enough-as-wind-and-solar-investment-lags | Australia’s transition away from fossil fuels ‘not fast enough’ as wind and solar investment lags | Australia’s transition away from fossil fuels is not proceeding fast enough with too few investments in wind and solar farms, according to the head of the Australian Energy Market Operator. Daniel Westerman, in a speech on Tuesday, will also argue that delays in transmission construction have left the grid vulnerable to the sudden exit of coal-fired power stations. Westerman says coal plants supply about 60% of the country’s electricity needs but as much as two-thirds of the capacity could leave the grid by 2030. Renewable energy backed by storage was the cheapest form of new capacity, and there was “a strong pipeline” of proposed new wind and solar plants totalling more than 200 gigawatts of capacity, the Aemo boss will tell the Australian Energy Week 2023 conference. However, whether they would actually be built remained uncertain. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup “This investment is not happening fast enough” for what was “the biggest energy system transformation since the introduction of electricity itself”, Westerman says in his written speech. “Bringing these new projects to market and connecting them into the grid urgently is critical to ensure consumers continue to have reliable power when they need it.” Westerman’s comments echo those of industry groups, such as the Clean Energy Council, which have warned that the influx of new renewables is faltering and could fall far short of the speed required to meet energy demand and the need to reduce emissions from the power sector. Electricity generation is the country’s largest source of carbon pollution. States such as New South Wales have recently announced that their plans to accelerate away from fossil fuels are running behind schedule. Snowy Hydro’s giant 2.0 pumped hydro project, the largest energy project in the country, is also years late and facing much higher costs than originally predicted. Westerman noted that were no new financial commitments on large-scale renewable energy generation signed in the first quarter of 2023. Only a single storage plant secured investment support. “One quarter doesn’t make a trend, but investment decisions are an important leading indicator for our energy transition,” he said. Aemo was working to support 163 projects with 27GW of capacity in eastern Australia that were at various stages of connection. Securing approval from local communities for the new projects and the power lines linking them was one of the main challenges. “This situation has been framed in fairly oppositional terms: city versus country; business versus community, infrastructure versus agriculture, David versus Goliath,” Westerman said. “Landowners in these communities that host transmission towers should be fairly compensated.” Victoria and NSW have been offering landholders payments over time of $200,000 per kilometre for power lines on their properties and Queensland as much as $300,000. While large-scale plants will need to increase nine-fold by 2050, rooftop solar is projected to expand five times to reach two in three homes by then. Rooftop solar already amounted to 15GW of capacity in eastern states, or about a quarter of the total. “But as the operator who is accountable for system security, huge amounts of rooftop solar can sometimes be a challenge because it is largely invisible and doesn’t yet respond to either market or operational signals,” Westerman said. More was also needed to be done to improve energy efficiency so less energy was required in the first place. Australia ranked 18th out of 25 nations on the efficient use of energy, lagging countries such as India and Indonesia, he said. Storage, too, was another challenge. The grid now has about 2GW of capacity in the form of batteries or pumped hydro, a scale that will need to expand 30-fold by 2050. | ['australia-news/energy-australia', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/peter-hannam', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2023-06-19T23:15:32Z | true | ENERGY |
lifeandstyle/2014/aug/06/best-domestic-water-saving-gadgets | The best domestic water-saving gadgets | This month, we’re saving water on the Live Better challenge. Hopefully you’ve mastered the art of the four-minute shower by now – but there are plenty of other ways to save water, and there’s almost always a handy gadget to help you along the way. We’ve rounded up a few of our favourites. Gadgets to keep a shower short 1) The Waterpebble We didn’t get on too well with the Waterpebble at first – not because it didn’t do its job well, but because it’s not much fun to be scolded by a blinking light. It’s a small, judgmental disc that lives near the plughole in your shower, measuring and memorising the amount of water you’re using. It flashes green at the start of your shower, when you’re using an acceptable amount of water, amber when you’re “halfway through”, then switches (quite quickly) to red for “get out of the shower, NOW you’re creating a desert!” Then – and this is the clever bit – it uses the information to shorten your next shower. 2) ECO Showerdrop This gadget takes it all a step further than the Waterpebble. The four-minute shower is a great goal, but given that different showers use varying amounts of water, you still don’t know quite how much water you’re using (or wasting). The ECO Showerdrop shower meter works out exactly how much water your own shower uses – and will tell you when it’s time to get out. Showers/taps that produce less water If taps and showers would curb their enthusiasm when it comes to spurting out water, you might have less need to wash with a countdown. Try these: 3) Eco shower heads Last month we checked out two shower heads that use sneaky technology to give the feel of a high-pressure shower while using less water. There was the EcoCamel, which (somewhat noisily) injects air directly into the waters stream, and the PulseEco, which pulses water 30-40 times a second, using less water without you noticing any reduction in the stream. Of course, if you have pitiful water pressure, you’re already taking eco showers. 4) Tap inserts Much like the EcoCamel shower head, tap inserts aerate the flow of water so you can use less water without having to wash your hands under a trickle. You can find them on helpful sites such as savewatersavemoney.co.uk or evengreener.com. Reducing the water flush 5) The Hippo The best type of eco gadget is surely one you install and never have to think about again. The Hippo is such a gadget. If your toilet was installed before 2001, it uses up to three litres more water per flush than the current standard. The Hippo is a type of polyethylene bag which sits in the water underneath the cistern float. The toilet flushes, and the water confined in the bag is saved. Reusing water The one time it’s acceptable to use a hosepipe during a hosepipe ban is when you’re using greywater – the charming term for water that’s been used for bathing (grey? How dirty do they think we are?) Here are a couple of useful water recyclers: 6) Bathwater diverter A bathwater diverter is a simple and inexpensive piece of kit. When fitted to an exterior waste pipe, it diverts bath water to a water butt or connects straight to your hose for you to use on plants or grass. 7) Water butt Speaking of water butts, it’s always a good idea to have one lying around to collect rain. Much more eco friendly than running the hose when the sweltering weather returns. Don’t let all these dramatic thunderstorms go to waste. 8) Wheelie bin water butt conversion kit Don’t bother buying a water butt, though, if you have a wheelie bin kicking around. Fit a wheelie bin water butt conversion kit on the side and it transforms, as if by magic, into a rain water butt. You can use it to fill a watering can or attach a hosepipe directly to it, before turning the hose on your thirsty plants (or a family member who’s been asking for it). Interested in finding out more about how you can live better? Take a look at this month’s Live Better challenge here. The Live Better Challenge is funded by Unilever; its focus is sustainable living. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled advertisement feature. Find out more here. | ['lifeandstyle/live-better', 'lifeandstyle/series/live-better-saving-water', 'environment/water', 'environment/ethical-living', 'technology/gadgets', 'environment/environment', 'technology/technology', 'type/article', 'tone/blog', 'profile/erica-buist'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2014-08-06T14:21:32Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
tv-and-radio/2019/oct/02/beached-az-returns-10-years-later-more-political--weirder-than-ever | Beached Az returns 10 years later – more political and weirder than ever | It has been more than 10 years since a plump, crudely drawn and partially coloured-in blue whale, with an exaggerated and perhaps mildly offensive cartoon New Zealand accent, discovered he was in a spot of bother and exclaimed, “Oh no, I’m beached, bro. I’m beached az!” Time flies when you’re a giant aquatic mammal stuck on the sand, pondering the hopelessness of your circumstances. Created by Australians Nicholas Boshier (of the Bondi Hipsters), Jarod Green and Anthony MacFarlane, the first episode of the viral series cost just $16 to make and has racked up almost 10m views since it landed on YouTube in 2008. And now, after two initial series on the ABC and YouTube, Beached Az is back for a third. The gentle mockery of Kiwi vernacular continues – but in 2019, the whale and seagull have gotten more political, and more surreal. The first episode, which launched on Facebook on Tuesday, offers a glimpse of where it’s going. The two lead characters meet with the god of the sea, Poseidon, who shows them what the future holds in an increasingly desperate attempt to alert them to the ocean’s demise. But the seagull and whale – perhaps stand-ins for us all – are distracted and delighted by the cool tech instead. Each of the 10 new weekly episodes will be accompanied by an educational series, Teached Az, which expands on the ideas explored. If the word “educational” makes you want to run for the hills, fear not: directed by Jarod Green, these episodes hold true to the show’s deadpan tone, as the animated, climate change-denying seagull sits down to interview a range of Australian marine experts and conservationists. In the accompaniment to that first episode, for instance, the seagull asks Greenpeace Australia’s Jack Ballhausen about what the future of the ocean will actually look like. The answer? Less blue. More acidic. Toxic for birds. “That’s pretty shit,” the seagull says. “What are we talking here? Are we talking like a million years?” “We’re talking about 11 years.” “At least it’s still something I don’t have to worry about immediately I guess.” In another episode, the blue whale takes the form of bleached white coral – and the seagull character is now a seahorse. They interact with each other in the expected way: in furious agreement about the coral’s predicament. “Bro, you’re heaps bleached, ay?” “So bleached! I’m bleached az!” The seahorse announces his plan to save his friend: he’ll take a photo of the bleached coral and publish it to Facebook. As the coral politely explains that in fact he needs a real solution, the seahorse brags that the picture has racked up “six likes already!” and “a sad face emoji with a little tear on it!” “That looks like traction, but I actually need you to do something,” insists the dying coral. “What’s the systemic change at the end of it?” In his book The End of Protest: A Playbook for Revolution, the Occupy co-founder Micah White describes clicktivism (which includes writing social media posts and signing online petitions) as a form of political protest that “propagates a false theory of social change” and “encourages complacency”. The message, in this context, is simple: get away from the keyboard and take direct action. The episodes are self-contained, with no narrative through-line. Some revolve around the seagull and the whale, while others follow an assortment of fishy characters. It’s clear the budget is bigger than ever, and the creators seem to have been given carte blanche to expand the universe and take crazy detours – the connective tissue generally being a political point about the climate and ecological crisis. There’s an episode about overfishing that satirises conspiracy theorists; another that follows the seagull as he spreads pro-fossil fuel propaganda and befriends David Koch; and then Dolphins, the weirdest of all, which runs for an epic 10 minutes involving tripped-out dolphins on a psychotropic adventure. Yep. It’s pretty weird. But beached, bleached or teached, it’s still good az. • New episodes of Beached Az and Teached Az land on Facebook every Tuesday. | ['tv-and-radio/series/screen-bites', 'culture/australian-television', 'tv-and-radio/tv-and-radio', 'tv-and-radio/animation', 'culture/culture', 'culture/television', 'world/newzealand', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/asia-pacific', 'tv-and-radio/comedy', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/marine-life', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/luke-buckmaster', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-culture'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2019-10-02T03:18:44Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/2022/jan/07/asda-ditches-pledge-to-sell-only-british-beef-over-higher-prices | Asda ditches pledge to sell only British beef over higher prices | British farmers have criticised Asda’s decision to backtrack on its promise to sell only British beef. The retailer said the U-turn was the result of higher beef prices, and it would now sell both Irish and British-produced beef in its stores. The move comes just over a year after the supermarket chain, under its new owners the Issa brothers, made a pledge to source 100% British beef. The retailer only managed to fulfil its commitment last October. Neil Shand, the chief executive of industry body the National Beef Association (NBA), said he was “very disappointed that Asda wasn’t able to continue its commitment beyond two months”. The NBA estimates that farm gate prices for British beef have risen by around 20% since the start of the pandemic. However, farmers warn that the higher prices they are receiving for their produce are offset by the soaring costs of feed, fuel and fertiliser. “The higher price for beef is being eroded,” said Shand. “Asda may claim beef is too expensive, but it can’t be produced at a lower price.” Asda said: “We know that it is important to our customers that the beef on our shelves has been produced to high welfare standards and is affordable. Unfortunately, the price of British beef has risen and whilst we continue to work hard to keep prices as low as possible for our customers, these increases are significant.” The retailer added that all of the beef sold in its premium Extra Special range would remain 100% British. Irish beef is about 20% cheaper than British beef, according to the Irish Examiner. The UK is Ireland’s main overseas market for its beef, and accounted for more than three-quarters (78%) of beef imports entering the UK in 2019, according to figures from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB). Richard Findlay, the chair of the livestock board of the National Farmers Union (NFU), said farmers needed support from retail, given the post-Brexit changes to agriculture policy, and at a time when they were looking to invest in environmentally friendly food production. “Given the significant changes to trade and agricultural policy, it is more important than ever that our retailers champion British food and farming and that, fundamentally, any sourcing commitments they make are honoured,” Findlay said. Shand said he was pleased that six grocers – Waitrose, Marks &Spencer, Morrisons, Co-op, Aldi and Lidl – had maintained their commitment to selling exclusively British beef. | ['business/asda', 'food/beef', 'business/business', 'business/retail', 'business/supermarkets', 'business/fooddrinks', 'environment/farming', 'environment/meat-industry', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/joanna-partridge', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-01-07T13:08:08Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/2019/may/16/how-does-labour-plan-to-pay-for-its-energy-nationalisation-policy | How does Labour plan to pay for its energy nationalisation policy? | The Labour Party has announced plans to take back control of Britain’s energy network from private shareholders, as part of a sweeping nationalisation policy. We look at how a Labour government plans to pay for the multibillion pound programme. What is Labour proposing to nationalise? Labour plans to nationalise large parts of Britain’s privately run infrastructure, including the water and rail industries. The first detailed policy covers the electricity and gas supply industry, which is structured in two layers – a National Grid, which is a single entity that is publicly listed on the London Stock Exchange, and 14 distribution network operators, or DNOs, which are owned by six large business groups, most of them foreign-owned. How will it pay for taking the energy network companies public? Soon after taking office, Labour will pass an act of parliament nationalising the entire energy network industry. Ideas for mutual or cooperative ownership have been rejected in favour of the Treasury stumping up the cash, which could run into the tens of billions of pounds. How will it value the companies? Labour plans to minimise the cost by taking into account “pension fund deficits; asset stripping since privatisation; stranded assets; the state of repair of assets; and state subsidies given to the energy companies since privatisation”. In other words, it will say that the lack of investment in the networks, previous subsidies, excessive profit taking and the holes in existing final salary pensions schemes should be deducted from the bill. Critics dismiss Labour’s argument that its plan mimics Gordon Brown’s nationalisation of Northern Rock in 2008. They say it was a bust company and effectively worthless. Railtrack is a better example. Even though Tony Blair agreed to pay £2.50 a share for the rail network operator, the government spent years fighting shareholders who wanted £9.15 a share. The same lengthy court battles await a Corbyn-led administration. How will shareholders and pension funds be compensated? Once it arrives at a value, Labour plans to compensate the owners of the energy network company by replacing shareholdings with government-backed bonds. In this way, shareholders will become lenders to the electricity industry and instead of receiving a dividend each year, will receive interest on the loan (bonds typically make an annual interest payment to their holders). Labour says it will be able to cope with honouring these debts because it will pay a lower interest rate, because government debt is considered less risk by credit rating agencies, than that paid by a private company owner. Will it add to the national debt? Whether the final bill for the energy network is closer to the sums Labour expects to pay or the more generous figures likely to be demanded by the industry, it will be added to the national debt of £1.8tn. Labour says that this extra liability will be more than offset on the Treasury’s balance sheet by the purchase of a profitable asset such as National Grid. What will happen to the profits generated by the companies? Surpluses with be used to “kickstart a green industrial revolution” based on a new network of community-based bodies overseen by a national energy agency. However, those surpluses will have to cover a lot of cost. Upgrading the UK’s ageing infrastructure in order to make it ready to distribute power generated by renewables will soak up billions of pounds. In addition, the government will also need to fund extra capital investment in renewable energy such as wind and solar farms. There will also be huge costs setting up an extensive support network Labour envisages for areas as small as a single street to take control of their energy supply. Will nationalisation lead to lower bills and a greener economy? Critics of the current arrangements argue that National Grid and the DNOs have moved too slowly in embracing renewable technology. According to Labour, nationalisation would allow the UK to move much faster in cutting CO2 emissions. But sceptics says it is difficult to see how customer bills will go down, or rise at a slower pace than in previous years, when investment must increase to meet green targets, service levels are expected to improve and workers’ pay and pensions must be be safeguarded. | ['business/energy-industry', 'business/nationalgrid', 'business/utilities', 'business/business', 'politics/labour', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'uk/uk', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'politics/politics', 'type/article', 'tone/analysis', 'tone/news', 'profile/phillipinman', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2019-05-16T17:02:12Z | true | ENERGY |
politics/2018/sep/12/defra-readiness-for-no-deal-brexit-pilloried-by-whitehall-auditors-michael-gove-nao | Defra's readiness for no-deal Brexit pilloried by Whitehall auditors | Michael Gove’s department will not be ready for a no-deal Brexit and does not yet understand the scale of work it must complete, an auditors’ report has found. After examining the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ preparations for Britain leaving the EU, the National Audit Office said Defra officials had failed to hire enough vets and this could severely disrupt exports of UK food. Defra will have completed just 15 out of 154 of the national export agreements needed to maintain the trade of animals and animal products with the EU after Britain leaves, auditors discovered. Plans to increase patrols of fishing waters were also unlikely to be ready, and the UK’s £17bn chemical export market to the EU was facing the possibility of grinding to a halt, the NAO report said. There was also a “high risk” that Defra would be unable to deliver planned legislation by March 2019, because it did not have time to pass three bills and 93 statutory instruments. The report is expected to be highly embarrassing for Gove, a principal figure in the Vote Leave campaign, who recently told farmers and the food industry that his department would be ready for Brexit. In July, he said he believed that a tariff-free trade deal was likely. Asked by the BCC what would happen if there was no deal, he said: “Well, we will get that deal and I’m confident that food and farming not just in Wales but across the UK will benefit from a win-win situation.” Defra is responsible for 55 of the 319 EU-related workstreams across government, covering chemical and agrifood industries, agriculture, fisheries and the environment. The report concludes: “For some workstreams, Defra has passed the point where it will be able to deliver what it had initially planned for a ‘no-deal’ exit in March 2019.” The department has a shortfall in the number of vets to process the increased number of export health certificates (EHCs) that are expected to be needed in the event of no deal. The report said food exports could be delayed at the border or prevented from leaving the UK. Defra needed to negotiate with 154 non-EU countries to agree acceptance of UK versions of more than 1,400 EHCs, the report said. “[Defra] is focusing on reaching agreement with 15 of these countries that it estimates account for approximately 90% of total exports to non-EU countries of animal products, food and live animals, but is not expecting to be able to complete negotiations with all the remaining 139 countries by March 2019,” it added. The UK chemical industry, the country’s second biggest manufacturing exporter, is at risk of disruption without a new negotiated settlement with the EU. “To recover market access, they would need to re-register their products on the EU’s system via an affiliate or representative located in an EU member state. This is a lengthy process that cannot be started until the UK has left the EU,” auditors said. “If there is still a significant likelihood of no deal being reached in October 2018, Defra is planning to launch an emergency recruitment campaign of vets to bring capacity at least part-way towards the minimum level required.” Amyas Morse, the head of the NAO, said the scale and complexity of what needed to be done to leave the EU had left Defra struggling, although officials have done relatively well under very difficult circumstances. “Like other departments, it now must ensure its voice is heard by the centre of government to provide an accurate picture of what is possible if a negotiated settlement is not reached, and even if it is,” he said. Meg Hillier MP, who chairs the public accounts committee, said: “We are rapidly running out of time for Defra and other departments to finish planning and deliver completely new services and functions, and a huge volume of legislation. “The government needs to be honest with the public about its progress in delivering key elements of Brexit and must be upfront about what won’t be ready in time.” A Defra spokesperson said the department had already achieved a great deal in its preparations for leaving the EU. “As the report also recognises, we have already secured HM Treasury approval for £320m spending in 2018-19, started to build new IT systems and developed new services to replace those currently provided by the EU. “Since the report was written, we have continued to reprioritise our resources, expanded our workforce and made further progress on our extensive programme of work focused on preparing for a range of Brexit scenarios.” | ['politics/eu-referendum', 'politics/michaelgove', 'politics/trade-policy', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'environment/farming', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/rajeev-syal', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2018-09-11T23:01:58Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
technology/2015/jan/15/google-modular-smartphone-switchable-parts-project-ara | Google to launch modular smartphone with switchable parts | Google’s Project Ara modular smartphone is to go on sale in Puerto Rico this year as trial for what the company considers to be the next evolution of the smartphone. The Ara smartphone shell consists of a frame into which nine or so modules can be inserted, adding, removing or upgrading functionality without having to buy a new smartphone. The frame is designed to last five to six years. Over 20 different modules from connectivity including Wi-Fi and 3G or 4G modules, to a new screen, new cameras, new speakers, faster processors, more storage or even health-monitoring devices for measuring blood glucose will be available by launch. The modules should make upgrading a smartphone over the lifetime of the frame cheaper than buying a brand new smartphone. Each module will held in by magnets and swapped on-the-fly, allowing the functionally to be changed for what is needed at the time, whether that’s a smartphone with twice the battery capacity to last longer or one with twice the processing power for intensive applications. The trial in Puerto Rico, a US territory that falls under the same regulatory conditions governed by the US Federal Communication Commission, will see the smartphones and modules sold from food-truck like shops. Google did not reveal how much the phone would cost. The appeal of a modular phone is obvious for early adopters, but the appeal for the mass market, who regularly keep their devices unchanged for two or more years is unknown. “It’s a great idea. In theory, to be able to select the components of the phone regardless of the brand is a great idea, but at the end of the day it won’t work,” said Francisco Jeronimo, European mobile devices research director for IDC. “it’s not economically viable for any vendor to manufacture a phone and to provide software that will allow users to select components.” Jeronimo explained that when manufacturers create a traditional smartphone, the software be it Android, Windows Phone or another operating system, has to be tuned to the specific components within the device, the camera, the processor, the memory or any other piece of hardware. Those that fail to do so properly produce a poor, bug-ridden and frustrating experience for their users, who see their phones malfunction. “To be able to manufacture a phone that will work with different components without any problems when users change them about is a major issue,” said Jeronimo. “For a project like Ara to be successful they need to test every single component in every combination, which is not an easy task, especially when you are talking about different components from different manufacturers.” • Project Ara: Google subsidiary aiming to develop ‘highly modular smartphones’ | ['technology/google', 'technology/android', 'technology/smartphones', 'technology/mobilephones', 'technology/gadgets', 'technology/technology', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/samuel-gibbs'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2015-01-15T15:25:17Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
books/2020/may/17/barn-8-by-deb-olin-unferth-review-riotous-chicken-rescue | Barn 8 by Deb Olin Unferth review – riotous chicken rescue | The inspiration behind the new novel from the American writer Deb Olin Unferth lies in a sobering investigation she wrote for Harper’s magazine six years ago on the US egg industry, which centred on conditions at a Michigan battery farm. The surprise is that what could have been a grave polemic in the manner of Upton Sinclair’s 1906 novel The Jungle, which lifted the lid on the Chicago meatpacking industry, instead takes the form of a screwball caper that wears its seriousness lightly. The book opens with part-Latina runaway Janey, who, after a bust-up with her mother in New York, finds herself living in Iowa with her estranged father, “a something something for the USDA at a poultry processing plant”, who hooks her up with a job. It’s a bore until Janey notices that her boss, a woman named Cleveland, is violating strict secrecy laws by surreptitiously filming the conditions in which hens are kept – not to mention stealing them to drop off at animal sanctuaries in the dead of night. By degrees, Janey is drawn into an improbably ambitious chicken rescue enterprise led by retired animal liberationists persuaded to take one last job – an undertaking that, as Unferth tells us from the off, will go catastrophically pear-shaped in ways we’re kept guessing about for most of the book. Immersing us in the heady scenes and lingo of activist and agricultural life, Unferth trusts that we’ll catch up. At times the narrative resembles a gonzo documentary voiced by those caught in the fallout of the bungled mission; at other times we stick close to the perspective of the main characters, rooting for them as they get in over their heads. We also get the perspective of a hen, or Bwwaauk, “as she was known to herself”, and the overseeing narrator pops up all the while with wry parentheses to supply a bigger picture, from childhood flashbacks to doomy, proleptic visions of a climate-ravaged apocalypse. Written with vim and wit, Barn 8 is a highly enjoyable treatment of a worthwhile social issue. Part of what makes it so much fun is Unferth’s relentlessly playful manipulation of the material. Turning the story round to present new angles, zooming in and out, she makes the vogue for plain present-tense narration seem austere by comparison. While she’s often very funny, she sidesteps the obvious pitfall of caricaturing the ideologues she’s writing about, even as she lets us laugh. Airing their emotional hangups, Unferth suggests they have complex motives without minimising the force of their beliefs. Nor does the novel proselytise –although it’s enough of an eye-opener to give you pause next time you make an omelette. • Barn 8 by Deb Olin Unferth is published by And Other Stories (£9.99). To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com. Free UK p&p over £15 | ['books/fiction', 'books/books', 'environment/farming', 'culture/culture', 'type/article', 'tone/reviews', 'profile/anthonycummins', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/new-review', 'theobserver/new-review/books', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-new-review'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-05-17T10:00:01Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
sport/2022/sep/08/ecb-chair-suggests-giving-players-three-year-deals-to-stop-move-to-franchises | ECB chair suggests giving players three-year deals to stop move to franchises | Richard Thompson, the new chair of the England and Wales Cricket Board, has suggested the organisation will consider offering players long-term contracts in an effort to stop them turning their backs on international cricket in favour of a more lucrative life on the global franchise circuit. The proliferation of Twenty20 competitions has massively increased players’ earning potential, allowing someone like Liam Livingstone – whose white-ball contract with the ECB might be worth up to £300,000 – to secure in one year a $150,000 (£130,000) deal to play for Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League and a 115m rupee (£1.3m) contract from Punjab Kings to play in the Indian Premier League, as well as $500,000 to play in the new South African league, which launches in January. “I do feel we are at an inflection point, a tipping point, of how we control our talent and are not losing them,” said Thompson, speaking at the Oval during the washed out first day of the third Test between England and South Africa. “If in five years’ time we’ve lost our best talent to multiple global tournaments then that’s a tragedy … We’ve got to guard against it and we’ve got to create a pathway. That involves a lot more thinking then we are doing at the moment. “We’ve got to find ways [with] the schedule, the financial commitments, other areas where it’s not all about money [like] security, that we can provide them. If you’re going from one league to another and you get injured, you’re done. But if a country can say, ‘Here’s a three-year contract,’ that’s very different.” Thompson believes that the proliferation of international franchises is unsustainable, and that “there has to be a point where you just say: ‘Enough’.” He added: “There is so much volume coming, at some point there will be a shake-up. I can’t see how every competition will flourish. There’s bound to be a levelling-off at some point.” Thompson revealed that though many aspects of Andrew Strauss’s high performance review have been broadly welcomed the counties’ vote on the proposals, originally scheduled for 20 September, had been postponed to allow for more consultation. “We want to reach the right decision,” he said. “There is no date for the vote. It was never set in stone.” Thompson complained that fitting four competitions – the County Championship, the Royal London Cup, the Blast and the Hundred – into an English summer was “like the worst game of Jenga ever”. Strauss has suggested a reorganised County Championship comprised of three six-team divisions, with one side relegated from the top flight each year, in an effort to reduce the number of matches and concentrate talent at the highest level. Thompson insisted that there is nothing unsporting about such an arrangement. “There are some counties that find it hard to compete in every format, and are going to put more of their resources in white-ball and less in red-ball,” he said. “We need to be clear that there are counties that can afford to play in every format and others that can’t. It’s important we are creating the most competitive red-ball league in the world, that’s got to be the outcome of this.” | ['sport/ecb', 'sport/cricket', 'sport/sport', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/simonburnton', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-sport'] | sport/ecb | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2022-09-08T15:03:02Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2019/oct/02/specialist-police-assigned-extinction-rebellion-rallies | Specialist police assigned to Extinction Rebellion rallies | Specialist police teams will be heading to London this weekend to help deal with two weeks of protests planned by Extinction Rebellion, the environmental activists who brought the capital to a standstill over Easter. Metropolitan police will be put on 12-hour shifts from Monday, the first day of Extinction Rebellion’s action, to free up as many officers as possible from regular duties. Forces across England have already been asked to contribute specialist “protest removal teams” trained and equipped to deal with protesters using locks and glue to hamper efforts their removal as they attempt to block key routes. The Met was criticised by politicians this year after protesters used such tactics to block four key locations in central London, some for more than a week, to establish semi-permanent protest zones. At a briefing at Scotland Yard on Wednesday, Nick Ephgrave, an assistant commissioner, said: “I think what we learned from Easter was that we need to be agile, we need to be probably slightly more proactive and more ready in anticipation of what we might expect. That was the lesson we learned from Easter … we need to react swiftly. We need to be as proactive as we reasonably can, on what we know, and be prepared to change and shift. “And I think that agility is the thing that we learned, the need to be agile and the need to be able to respond quickly to develop these situations rather than allow them to develop and then try and deal with a much bigger issue later on.” Ephgrave indicated that his officers could also take a different legal approach. Previously, officers using section 14 of the Public Order Act had to go through a lengthy process, before any arrest, of notifying protesters that they were in breach of an order, then giving the people time to decide whether they would comply with it. “The legislation around public order is drafted in a different era,” he said. “And it’s not particularly helpful because it wasn’t really designed to deal with what we’re dealing with now.” Extinction Rebellion is starting two weeks of protest action on Monday, occupying 12 sites in London. At similar mass demonstrations by the group in April about 1,100 people were arrested and the policing operation cost £16m. Pointing out the pressures on the police, Ephgrave said his officers would also be dealing with about 30 other public events in the same period, including the state opening of parliament. Officers have already been requisitioned from their regular duties for a total of 83,000 shifts to tackle protests so far this financial year, Ephgrave said. It was a drain on frontline resources on a greater scale than that caused by the London Bridge terror attack and Grenfell tragedy in 2017. “There is a cost to all of this. There is a cost to communities in London, to your average Londoner,” he said. “There is a cost to our people, and there is a cost to business. It’s undoubtedly the case that we will not necessarily be able to deliver a service to the level we would want to, right across London, during this two-week period.” An Extinction Rebellion spokesperson said: “We appeal to the humanity of the government and authorities to remember that we are non-violent protesters. We appeal to their humanity to remember that we are facing an unprecedented global emergency. Many are losing their lives already and we are called upon as human beings to act now. “We also say to them, the people of London and every other person that we cannot do this without them. We invite them to join us, along with the doctors, teachers, scientists, the young and the old, on the streets from 7 October.” | ['environment/extinction-rebellion', 'uk/metropolitan-police', 'environment/activism', 'uk/police', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/protest', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'environment/environment', 'uk/london', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damien-gayle', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/extinction-rebellion | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2019-10-02T17:17:34Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
uk/2005/may/17/environment.motoring | Protest halts Range Rover production | Production of Range Rover's latest "gas guzzling sports utility vehicle" was halted yesterday when 35 Greenpeace volunteers disguised as contractors chained themselves to half-built vehicles at the start of the day's shift at the factory. The protesters dubbed Ford, which owns Range Rover, "climate criminals", and ran a flag up the company flagpole to say so. Negotiations for a peaceful end to the protest broke down after six hours when Ford refused to meet any of the protesters' demands and asked the police to move in and cut them free - no easy task, since they were wearing special toughened handcuffs. Fifteen people were arrested. The protest was against Ford's aggressive marketing of 4x4 vehicles for urban use, particular its latest model, the Range Rover Sport. Campaigners have also been angered by the company's refusal to accept a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions in Europe, and its continuing court case against the state of California which is trying to cut vehicle emissions. Output of about 40 vehicles, worth £1.8m, was lost yesterday. Among those arrested by West Midlands police on suspicion of aggravated trespass was the Greenpeace executive director, Stephen Tindale, a former environment adviser to the Labour government. He had chained himself to a production line, laterreleasing himself to negotiate with Ford managers. Speaking by phone from inside a police van two hours after his arrest, he said: "This is the first time behind bars for me, but we want to make the point that these off-road vehicles are totally out of place in an urban setting. "More to the point, Ford are actively promoting them as a city vehicle, and they have even worse fuel consumption than previous models. "The company claim to care about the environment but are doing everything they can to prevent fuel efficiency, and attack anyone who tries to make regulations to improve it. "The UN says that 150,000 people a year are dying because of climate change, yet Range Rovers do less miles to the gallon than the Model T Ford." Mr Tindale said that Ford's sales in the US were on the wane as smaller Asian-built models were selling well. He said the protest in Solihull was partly to warn workers that once the fashion changed here, their jobs would be in jeopardy. But there was no meeting of minds in Solihull yesterday. While Greenpeace was fuming about Ford spending £3m a year on advertising in London alone, Ford was claiming that most of its vehicles were exported to be used on rough terrain. British publicity material for the new Range Rover Sport says: "On-road it is astounding. There has never been a Land Rover so focused on awesome tarmac performance." Land Rover said protesters' claims about fuel consumption were misleading - the average fuel consumption of the models produced at the plant was around 30 miles a gallon. Land Rover said it took "its responsibility to the environment very seriously and finds many of the claims made by Greenpeace both misleading and incorrect. "What makes today's action even more regrettable is the fact that Land Rover and Ford representatives initiated discussions with Greenpeace on our plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions." The Transport & General Workers Union also criticised the protest. Gerard Coyne, the regional secretary, said: "Greenpeace's actions are insensitive and potentially dangerous. They ought to think through the consequences of hitting production at a difficult time for the industry and for the people of the West Midlands, who only recently have seen the closures at Jaguar's Browns Lane plant and mass redundancies at MG Rover." Land Rover said it was hard to estimate how far production had been disrupted. The Range Rover line produced an average of nine vehicles an hour, costing an average £50,000 each, though a spokesman said production had continued in other parts of the plant. The protesters went into the plant at 7am, wearing orange overalls and mingling with contractors' staff. The spokesman said the protest had been peaceful but added that Land Rover would be reviewing its security. | ['uk/uk', 'environment/environment', 'uk/transport', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'business/automotive-industry', 'world/world', 'environment/greenpeace', 'type/article', 'profile/paulbrown', 'profile/markmilner'] | environment/greenpeace | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2005-05-16T23:01:29Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
environment/2010/dec/07/cancun-summit-climate-aid-row | Cancún summit: Rich countries accused over £30bn climate aid promise | A fresh fault line opened up at the Cancún climate summit today after rich countries were accused of failing to deliver on their promise of $30 billion in aid to countries that will experience the worst ravages of climate change. The commitment to $30 billion in climate aid between 2011-2012 was the single biggest concrete outcome of last year's Copenhagen summit, and US officials used the promise of cash to get poorer countries to support the accord. But America and other richer countries had been too slow in awarding the so-called 'fast-start' finance, and those delays could wreck the already slim prospects of advancing a global climate deal, Jairam Ramesh, India's environment minister, said. "Guyana has complained. Maldives has complained. Bangladesh has complained. Country after country has told me the disbursements are simply not taking place. It was meant to be a fast start," Ramesh told the Guardian. "We are one year after Copenhagen, and the real issue is: how much of the fast start has been actually disbursed?" As detailed in the Guardian, the deputy US climate change envoy Jonathan Pershing had repeated consultations with Maldives about how to take advantage of the climate fund. Ramesh first raised the complaint at a press conference earlier today, where he spoke on behalf of China, India, South Africa and Brazil – the bloc of major emerging economies that brokered last year's deal with Barack Obama. Ramesh warned then that speeding up aid from the $30 billion fund was "non-negotiable" for the emerging economies that could make or break the Cancún summit. Later he outlined further conditions, saying he wanted to see the disbursement of the first $10 billion by mid-2011. However, he would not say how much had actually arrived so far in poor countries' treasuries. The comments from Ramesh present an additional complication to a successful outcome at Cancún, on the eve of the first set of high-level discussions on Tuesday. Japan last week said it would not agree to renewal of the Kyoto Protocol – a must for developing countries. The complaints from Ramesh suggest the countries on track to be the biggest emitters in the future intend to use their clout to hold the US and other rich countries to account. The demand from Ramesh for accountability closely mirrors America's core demand that developing countries offer verifiable evidence of their efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions. China, India, Brazil and South Africa were the driving forces, together with the US, behind last year's Copenhagen accord – the one concrete, if slim, achievement from the climate summit. Now Ramesh argued even that result was in peril. He said: "The grand bargain at Copenhagen was President Obama telling the four heads of state: do you agree on transparency in return for money which can start flowing to vulnerable countries? The question is: has the money started flowing? and the answer is clearly no." The confrontation looks set to intensify on Wednesday, when the summit will look at plans for a far more ambitious climate fund of $100 billion a year by 2020. Under the accord, America and other rich countries were to begin mobilising $10 billion a year between now and 2012 to help buffer the poorest countries from the effects of climate change. US officials have said repeatedly they are committed to the fund. However, the Obama administration has pledged only $1.7bn this year, and four senior Republican senators last week warned they would use their party's new power in Congress to block even that. Ramesh argued that much of that money had simply been cut from other aid budgets. "I would like transparency. How much is new and additional money? Nobody knows. How much of it is aid money recycled as fast money? Nobody knows," he told the Guardian. "I am told that only the UK and Japan have big numbers that appear to be new money." The $30 bn was meant to help the poorest and most exposes countries cope with changes brought by climate change – small island nations, low-lying states and sub-Saharan Africa in particular. But Ramesh said he had heard repeatedly that the money – though pledged – never materialised, defeating the entire rationale for the fast-start deal. "We need to sit down and have an honest accounting of the $30 billion," he said. "Where is it coming from? How is it being used? Where is it going?" | ['environment/cancun-climate-change-conference-2010', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'global-development/environmental-sustainability', 'environment/copenhagen', 'world/unitednations', 'world/world', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/suzannegoldenberg', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2010-12-07T02:15:22Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
business/2022/mar/29/uk-offshore-wind-power-renewable-energy-kwasi-kwarteng | UK rules out windfall tax on North Sea oil firms to help fund energy bills | The business secretary has effectively ruled out a windfall tax on North Sea oil firms to fund discounted energy bills but promised much greater investment in solar panels, wind and nuclear to reduce reliance on Russian oil and gas. Speaking amid reports of a cabinet split over landmark energy security plans due to be published within days, Kwasi Kwarteng offered up a tax on oil companies, backed by Labour, as the one policy that definitely will not find favour with ministers. “We believe a windfall tax would be a tax on jobs, would destroy investment and would add to the uncertainty in oil markets,” he said. “It would be completely the wrong message to send investors.” Labour has said the pain inflicted on households by the soaring price of oil and gas could be eased by a tax on the companies that sell it. But Kwarteng has said such a move would penalise anyone with a pension invested in those companies. “It’s a retro measure which completely doesn’t understand what business is all about,” he said. Kwarteng, who was answering questions in the House of Commons on Tuesday, was repeatedly asked if the government had further plans to help households struggling to pay their energy bills. A cap on bills is due to rise by £693 to an average of £1,971 on 1 April, with prices predicted to soar as high as £3,000 at the next price cap increase in October. Kwarteng said “nobody knows” how high prices will go and pointed only to measures announced in chancellor Rishi Sunak’s spring statement, which has been derided for the limitations of its plan to help people cope with the cost-of-living crisis. While the business minister said oil firms would not be hit with a windfall tax, he did unveil a pledge to boost renewable energy sources. The government is aiming to triple the number of solar panels, more than quadruple offshore wind power and double onshore wind and nuclear energy by 2030, in a move that could lower bills for consumers and reduce the UK’s reliance on foreign energy suppliers such as Russia. Kwarteng put forward the targets as part of Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) plans for inclusion in the upcoming energy white paper. The paper has faced delays because the cost of approving at least six nuclear power stations as part of an expansion of the UK’s renewable energy strategy has been debated at the Treasury. Ministers are also divided over plans to back onshore wind. BEIS’s targets include increasing solar power from its current capacity of 14GW to 50GW, offshore wind from 11GW to 50GW, onshore wind from 15GW to 30GW, and nuclear power from 7GW to 16GW, according to the Financial Times. Solar power and onshore wind generation have, to date, not had official government growth targets. Earlier this month, Kwarteng said developing the UK’s energy independence was a matter of national security. Boris Johnson has set out a 10-point plan that includes a target for the UK to get all of its electricity from low-carbon sources by 2035. The expansion of wind and solar farms is likely to be opposed by some residents and campaign groups. Johnson, who has said his personal preference is to expand offshore wind power generation, is considering plans to offer residents affected by the construction of energy farms or nuclear power plants financial incentives to win them over. On Tuesday, SSE, the electricity generator and network company, upgraded its profit forecasts after changes to weather conditions improved output from its renewable energy generation sources. The company – which raised adjusted earnings a share from guidance to between 92p and 97p, up from 90p – also said its thermal and hydro plant benefited from the disruption to oil and gas markets as a result of the war in Ukraine. “SSE’s integrated and balanced business model has performed well in turbulent market conditions,” said the SSE finance director, Gregor Alexander, who added that capital expenditure for the year to the end of March would exceed £2bn. “Our significant investment programme will make a huge contribution towards both net zero and energy security.” | ['business/energy-industry', 'business/business', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'business/cost-of-living-crisis', 'money/energy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'money/money', 'money/household-bills', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'politics/kwasi-kwarteng', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/rob-davies', 'profile/marksweney', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2022-03-29T16:25:38Z | true | ENERGY |
uk-news/2017/oct/11/michael-fish-would-not-dismiss-great-storm-of-1987-today-says-met-office | Michael Fish would not dismiss great storm of 1987 today, says Met Office | Blame the sting jet – not a plane, but a fearsome and poorly charted weather phenomenon. Add to that the unusual southerly winds and a once-in-200-years event. But though the weather conditions behind the great storm of 1987, the anniversary of which falls this weekend, may now be increasingly understood and analysed by the Met Office, the devastating event will still be remembered for the famous lunchtime forecast by Michael Fish in which he dismissed reports of a hurricane on the way. Thirty years on, the Met Office is confident that any such looming event would now be clearly forecast, probably days in advance, and certainly with at least 12 hours’ warning of its likely severity and impact. “A storm like this would not come out of the blue today,” said Ken Mylne, a Met Office scientist. “You would not be unwarned, but [the warning] would come with a level of risk.” He said storms of this nature were still hard to predict, but that warnings are now given with codes to say how likely they are, with a red warning for the most severe and most likely. The great storm helped spur changes in the way the Met Office does its forecasting, including how it communicates severe weather warnings. Supercomputing power has increased many times over – the average smartphone today has five times the computing power of the Met Office’s best computers in 1987 – which means forecasters can pull together “ensemble” models with data from a wide variety of sources. The data has also improved as today 215 billion readings from satellites are incorporated into Met Office forecasts daily. In 1987, only a few coarse-grained satellite images were available, and these were not used for the standard forecasts that tended to rely on ships, buoys and planes, of which few were operating in the Bay of Biscay where the great storm was brewing. Along with these advances, our understanding of some of the basic physical forces driving the weather has also been transformed. Take the sting jet. Unheard of in 1987, it is an important phenomenon produced by a strong jet of air in the tail of a cloud – hence the sting – wrapped round a low-pressure centre. Reaching 50km across, the jet starts at about 3km or 4km above the earth and descends over three or four hours, while snow and rain falling into it evaporate and cool as the system descends, which help it to accelerate to high speeds. Those speeds can reach more than 100mph, and it is now understood that such a system played a major part in the devastation caused by the great storm. That devastation included 22 deaths across Britain and France, with many more injured, hundreds of thousands of homes left without power, 15m trees torn down and roads and railways disrupted. The great storm was the most damaging to hit the UK since 1703 and at the time caused about £1bn of damage. Technically, Michael Fish was right: the great storm was not a hurricane, but an extratropical cyclone. Hurricanes are driven by warmer water in the sea below, while storms like this one are driven by conditions in the upper atmosphere. However, hurricane-strength winds were experienced, with a high speed of 115mph measured in Shoreham, West Sussex, and 94mph gusts in London between 3am and 4am. Warm winds coming from the south meeting colder air from the north intensified the storm. Although storms may become more frequent as a result of climate change, the conditions that created the 1987 storm are still only likely once in 200 years, according to the Met Office. The Met Office is planning to improve its storm forecasting and early warning systems even further, with severe weather warnings to be produced seven days in advance instead of the current five, along with new warnings of thunder and lightning. The visual design of how these warnings are communicated on the web site is also being improved, and the language used simplified. However, even with much more advanced forecasting systems, the Met Office is still unable to predict the localised effects a severe storm can have, such as damage to trees, which was one of the lasting legacies of the 1987 storm. | ['uk/met-office', 'world/hurricanes', 'world/natural-disasters', 'uk/uk', 'uk/weather', 'business/insurance', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2017-10-11T17:10:18Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/2009/jun/26/lindsey-oil-dispute-deal | Deal agreed to end Lindsey oil refinery dispute | A deal has been hammered out to end the Lindsey oil dispute that has sparked sympathy industrial action around Britain. The agreement was reached last night between the unions and contractors at the site, owned by French company Total. Talks continued until 11.30pm. The proposal will be examined by shop stewards at Lindsey today and put to a workers' vote on Monday. Full details of the deal that could end the unofficial walkout that began two weeks ago have not been announced. Union sources say it includes a commitment that the 51 staff who were made redundant would now return to work at the site. The 647 construction workers who were fired by Total for walking out in support will also be reinstated. "We understand that the contractors and the unions reached a deal last night," said a spokeswoman for Total, who were not represented at the talks. "We hope that the workers will be back on site as soon as possible, and that construction work will be completed on time." The GMB and Unite unions are recommending that their members support the deal. The dispute began on 10 June when 51 staff were laid off at the site, even though people were being hired for other jobs helping to construct the hydro desulphurisation plant. It spread to other sites across Britain, including the Sellafield nuclear power station, after the 647 workers were fired for taking part in the unofficial action. Staff at Sellafield and at the Longannet power station in Fife, where 150 staff walked out, returned to work today following news of the Lindsey deal. In January, more than 1,000 Lindsey staff went on strike in a row over the use of overseas workers at the plant. | ['business/oil', 'business/oilandgascompanies', 'politics/tradeunions', 'business/construction', 'environment/oil', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'tone/news', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'environment/green-jobs', 'type/article', 'profile/graemewearden'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2009-06-26T11:06:15Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2022/apr/16/women-with-electric-rickshaws-combat-delhi-toxic-air-and-its-sexism | Women with electric rickshaws combat Delhi’s toxic air – and its sexism | Monika Devi is thrilled to be driving her autorickshaw. The 35-year-old has two reasons to be particularly proud as she winds her way through New Delhi’s insanely congested streets. She is one of the first women to be driving one of the three-wheeled taxis that swarm the roads of the Indian capital. And she is driving one of Delhi’s first e-rickshaws – part of the city’s drive to tackle its notoriously filthy air. “This city is unsafe for women, and until now they had no choice but to travel in an autorickshaw driven by a man, which can be scary at night,” she said. “Plus, I hate the pollution and feel happy that I’m doing my bit by driving an electric rickshaw which isn’t spewing out toxic fumes.” While some Indian cities such as Pune and Mumbai have female autorickshaw drivers (though only a handful), for some reason public transport in New Delhi remains an exclusively male affair. Indian women fly planes, sit in boardrooms and send rockets into space, but do not drive rickshaws or buses in Delhi. Sunita Choudhary became the city’s first female autorickshaw driver 18 years ago, but since then no one else has taken up the challenge. This sort of low-level job appeals only to women from lower-income families, yet the conservative culture of this social stratum firmly resists the idea of women being out on the streets and interacting with men. “My father drives an autorickshaw, but he initially opposed me,” Devi said. “He thought male passengers would flirt with me or harass me. I had to fight him on this. I am not scared at all of being on the roads. If women are scared, how will we make progress?” Her e-rickshaw was subsidised by the Delhi state government, which has launched a fleet of 3,500 e-rickshaws – painted a sickly lilac rather than the standard yellow and green – and earmarked 500 for women. The din of honking and the Darwinian rules that determine who has right of way on Indian roads (it’s the bigger vehicle, so buses and trucks are king) make driving stressful. The e-rickshaw itself is a flimsy contraption on three wheels with no safety belts or protection and exposed to the fumes of other vehicles. Dolly Maurya, 26, another driver, is in Saket near the Select City Walk shopping mall, drenched in sweat in the 42-degree April heat. For a woman, as the hours go by, finding a public toilet is not easy. “It’s easy for male drivers, they just stop and pee on the roadside, but for me it’s always a choice between drinking water because I’m thirsty or not drinking it to avoid going to the loo,” said Maurya. And then there are boorish male rickshaw drivers who give them grief. While standing at a traffic light, two male drivers spot Maurya and jeer. “Look at that, now they’re taking our jobs too when they barely know their left from their right,” they laughed. The heckling is countered by the warm appreciation of female passengers. “They take my number so that they can call me if they are going out during the evening,” Maurya said. “Mind you, I’m not sure what my father and brothers will say about my being out after 8pm.” Her biggest anxiety is the battery running out a long way from a charging point. Delhi’s transport minister, Kailash Gahlot, is planning for drivers never to be further than 3km from a charging point, but that will take some time. Until it happens, most women e-rickshaw drivers will avoid long journey that could leave them stranded on a lonely road. The Delhi government is promoting e-rickshaws as part of its “paradigm shift” from fossil fuel- to electricity-based vehicles to try to reduce the air pollution. The city’s first electric bus began carrying passengers in January and there’s a pledge to add hundreds more soon. But for Jyoti Pande Lavakare, founder of non-profit Care for Air, the 3,500 e-rickshaws are a grain of sand in the desert compared to the 90,000 traditional autorickshaws with their polluting two-stroke engines. “We need to phase out all old polluting vehicles urgently. Starting with e-rickshaws is good, but it needs to be much more ambitious so that e-rickshaws are powered by renewable energy, not by electricity from polluting coal-fired power plants,” said Lavakare. Almost 40 women are also being trained to drive new automatic buses, both to give them jobs and for the comfort of female passengers who are still haunted by the 2012 gang rape and death of a young woman during a bus journey in the capital. For Devi, one thing stands out about her new job. “It’s the heady feeling of independence,” she said. “It’s important for a woman not to have to depend on her father or husband for money, and for me it’s the first time it has happened.” | ['world/india', 'environment/travel-and-transport', 'environment/electric-cars', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/ethical-living', 'tone/news', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'world/delhi', 'society/women', 'world/south-and-central-asia', 'environment/environment', 'tone/features', 'profile/amrit-dhillon', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/worldnews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-main'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2022-04-16T14:04:34Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
commentisfree/2021/nov/23/india-farmers-modi-climbdown-dissent | India’s farmers have won – but this doesn’t mean Modi is softening | Rukmini S | It is not often that Narendra Modi gives a televised address to the nation and it is met with relief, not disarray. The Indian prime minister’s previous frightening acts of decisiveness have included announcing a complete lockdown with just four hours’ notice last year, and withdrawing 85% of the country’s currency overnight in 2016. This most recent on-screen address went another way entirely. When Modi announced his government’s intention to withdraw three controversial farm laws after one of the most prolonged periods of protest ever recorded in India, in which hundreds died in the face of state violence, it was met with mass jubilation. The laws – originally passed during a chaotic voice vote in parliament last year, when the television broadcast was muted so viewers could not hear the opposition – were seen as tools to encourage the corporatisation of agriculture and weaken state protections for farmers. Backed by the International Monetary Fund’s chief economist Gita Gopinath, the US state department, rightwing economists and a large section of India’s pro-Modi, pro-industry media, the laws faced mass opposition among Indians – almost half of whom, according to the most recent census, work in farming. This is a rare climbdown from Modi’s government, and perhaps its most significant. But it would be overambitious to hold up the farmers’ victory as a sign of things to come. The space for dissent in India has shrunk markedly over seven years as the Modi juggernaut has rolled on and emboldened Hindu nationalism; people have found themselves jailed, journalists have faced police action and a Muslim comedian has had to cancel gigs in the face of threats. Despite promises from Modi early on in his term that he would protect freedom of speech, parts of the Indian media now resemble a propaganda wing. The central issue of the farm protests – protection and fair prices for farmers – was one that enjoyed genuine mass support. While led from the front by farm leaders from Punjab’s Sikh and Uttar Pradesh’s Jat communities, the protesters had in their ranks women and men from across the country. Those too poor or elderly to make the trek to Delhi held demonstrations in solidarity locally, capturing the popular imagination with their fortitude, camping out on the streets for months and remaining firm in the face of state violence. The number of protesters is a testament to the huge reach and deep roots of farm unions in India – more than 40 of them came together to organise. While led by the veteran farm organiser, Rakesh Tikait, the movement was not overshadowed by one personality; nor did factional differences split it, and consensus on the issues remained strong. When some protesters became violent, condemnation from the leadership was swift. While political support from opposition parties was cultivated and encouraged, the group held them at arm’s length. The Sikh diaspora across the world, including in the UK, marshalled significant support including, unexpectedly, from Rihanna. Once the protesters had demonstrated to Modi that public opinion was with them, and the time and effort his government had spent trying to discredit the protesters had not gone much further than Delhi TV studios, the spectre of a potential electoral defeat loomed large, as Modi saw his polling drop in states where elections are due to take place next year. But this does not mean that every mass protest in India will have the same impact. In December 2019, Modi’s government enacted the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which could grant citizenship to illegal immigrants fleeing religious persecution from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, but only if they were non-Muslim. Simultaneously, the government began work on a national register of citizens (NRC), a version of which it rolled out in the north-eastern state of Assam, forcing immense hardship and misery on people who were unable to produce documents proving their Indian ancestry. Taken together, the CAA and the NRC were widely perceived by Indian Muslims to be an attempt to force them into statelessness and triggered massive nationwide protests. The anti-CAA-NRC protests had some things in common with the farm protests: they blockaded a part of Delhi, were creative, energetic and sustained, and had satellite protest sites across the country. But there was a noticeable difference – this was a “Muslim issue” in a country that has demonstrated an increasingly muscular majoritarianism, and the Indian media was enormously spiteful in its coverage of the protests. Then, in March 2020, the country went into pandemic lockdown and the protests dispersed. If the government begins once again to move on the NRC, it is unclear if the farmers’ victory will energise Muslim protesters and their non-Muslim allies, or if they will meet an angrier state machinery. For now, India’s farmers and their supporters will savour this victory. The broader democratic square remains hemmed in, but perhaps a crack has let some light in. Rukmini S is a data journalist based in Chennai, India | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'world/india', 'world/narendra-modi', 'world/protest', 'world/south-and-central-asia', 'world/world', 'environment/farming', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/rukmini-s', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2021-11-23T09:50:06Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
technology/2019/may/23/facial-recognition-cameras-watchdog-code-regulate-police | Facial recognition tech: watchdog calls for code to regulate police use | The information commissioner has expressed concern over the lack of a formal legal framework for the use of facial recognition cameras by the police. A barrister for the commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, told a court the current guidelines around automated facial recognition (AFR) technology were “ad hoc” and a clear code was needed. In a landmark case, Ed Bridges, an office worker from Cardiff, claims South Wales police violated his privacy and data protection rights by using AFR on him when he went to buy a sandwich during his lunch break and when he attended a peaceful anti-arms demonstration. The technology maps faces in a crowd and then compares them with a watchlist of images, which can include suspects, missing people or persons of interest to the police. The cameras have been used to scan faces in large crowds in public places such as streets, shopping centres, football crowds and music events such as the Notting Hill carnival. On the final day of the hearing, Gerry Facenna QC, for the information commissioner, said there was a lack of “clarity and certainty” over how police watchlists were drawn up. Facenna said: “There ought to be a proper and clear code that has been consulted on.” He added: “If you live in a police state where everyone is monitored all the time, no doubt crime will fall.” He said the state needed to grapple with a “balancing exercise”. Facenna said a legal framework should address the nature of a watchlist and in what circumstances the technology was deployed. “Can you roll it out at every sports match? Does it need to be intelligence led? What can you do with the footage?” Facenna said there were also questions around what training AFR operators should have, how to ensure the technology was not hacked and if people could refuse to be scanned. In his closing speech, Dan Squires QC, for Bridges, said AFR gave police “extraordinary power”. Squires said: “If you have someone’s biometric data and you have a series of CCTV cameras, you are able to log someone’s movements around the city or potentially around the country if AFR is rolled out.” South Wales police argued during the hearing at the Cardiff civil justice and family centre that the cameras prevented crime, protected the public and did not breach the privacy of innocent people whose images were captured. The case has been adjourned and two judges will make a ruling at a later date yet to be fixed. Speaking after the hearing, the deputy chief constable Richard Lewis said: “This process has allowed the court to scrutinise decisions made by South Wales police in relation to facial recognition technology. We welcomed the judicial review and now await the court’s ruling on the lawfulness and proportionality of our decision making and approach during the trial of the technology. “The force has always been very cognisant of concerns surrounding privacy and understands that we, as the police, must be accountable and subject to the highest levels of scrutiny to ensure that we work within the law.” | ['technology/facial-recognition', 'uk/uk', 'uk/wales', 'uk/police', 'world/privacy', 'technology/technology', 'uk/cardiff', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/stevenmorris', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | technology/facial-recognition | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2019-05-23T14:39:37Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
world/us-news-blog/2012/oct/30/hurricane-sandy-storm-new-york | Hurricane Sandy brings storm of fake news and photos to New York | Amanda Holpuch | On Monday night, as people attempted to find information on the damage inflicted on the east coast of America by Hurricane Sandy, misinformation spread quickly online. Furthermore, the spread of such misinformation was abetted by journalists, who were once taught the importance of verifying every source. Rumors and misleading photos quickly overtook Twitter and are continuing to feature heavily on Facebook, as people share the most shocking – and occasionally untrue – stories about the powerful storm. As millions across the East Coast lost power, many relied on social networks for updates on their situation, only for the most persistently shared untrue stories to be backed by reputable news organizations. Within hours, such rumors were debunked by other reporters who tried to verify the information. The organizations concerned, including Con Edison and the MTA, also used their social-media arms to dispel myths. Con Edison Reuters reported that 19 Con Edison workers were trapped inside a power station. The organization said on Twitter that the report was untrue and a Con Ed spokesman, Allan Drury, confirmed to the Guardian that the story was false. On Tuesday afternoon, Reuters' 12-hours-old story was still online. "There was really nobody trapped in the building," Drury said. "There was some people that were helped out, but they probably could have got out on their own." The complex Drury to which referred is located on East 13th Street, near FDR Drive. At around 8:30pm on Monday night an explosion at the facility knocked 250,000 customers out of service. "We're not sure of the cause of the explosion," Drury said. "It could have been flooding from the incredible storm surge we had, it could've been debris flying into our equipment." A video was shared on social media and by news organizations, including the Associated Press, that claimed to show the explosion happening. Drury said he did not know how the video was filmed and could not confirm its accuracy. He could not confirm reports on Twitter that said people were seeing the sky light up with other explosions. As for an estimate of how long it would take to restore power to areas that had lost it, Drury said: "For our entire system, which is five boroughs of New York City and Westchester county, restoration will probably take at least a week." MTA The Wall Street Journal reported that Metropolitan Transit Authority chairman, Joe Lhota, had estimated that New York City subways would be closed for "at least a week". This was debunked by the MTA's verified Twitter account. In a Tuesday-morning press conference, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg said that public transportation would be down "until further notice", and estimated that a limited bus service could be restored by Tuesday afternoon and a full service restored as early as Wednesday. Bloomberg later pinned a more specific number to subway and power restoration, saying that "if you had to guess", it could take three to four days (subway) and four to five days (power) before the services were restored. Seconds after the mayor's announcement, Twitter users, including journalists, shared both numbers. The MTA then reiterated on Twitter that there was no timetable for restoration. New York governor Andrew Cuomo staged a press conference after Bloomberg's press conference had finished. He announced that a limited bus service would be restored at 5pm Tuesday, and that people would not have to pay any fare. NYSE A meteorologist told CNN's Piers Morgan that the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange was under 3ft of water. The story lasted for several minutes, with Morgan asking experts about the implications the flooding could have on the economy. The program's financial correspondent, Ali Velshi, said: "This will have an influence worldwide on people's wealth." Ten minutes later, CNN said the story may have been unconfirmed. On Twitter, journalists who had put in calls to the New York Stock Exchange confirmed that the story was wrong. In the broadcast, CNN said that the National Weather Service had provided the information, but the organization denied in a statement that it was the source. CNN later issued a correction and said the information had come from a "chat bulletin board" that the meteorologist had mentioned briefly on air when Morgan later questioned the claim. Before Hurricane Sandy made landfall, doctored photos of sharks in New York streets and outdated images of East Coast landmarks made the rounds. Twitter users debunked some of the more shocking photos quickly, revealing that images from the disaster film The Day After Tomorrow, stock photos and photoshopped images of the streets were being passed off as fact. On Monday afternoon, the Guardian's Katie Rogers collected some of the most heavily circulated deceptive photos and put together a helpful guide on how to spot deceptive pictures and verify others. Alexis Madrigal of the Atlantic is also identifying fake and real photos purported to be from Hurricane Sandy. Within hours of most such photos and rumors appearing on Twitter, most had been challenged and disproven. The same could not however be said for Facebook, where information is spread through networks instead of in a public forum. Recovery efforts are now in effect, but rumors will continue to spread as people try to keep up to date. So exercise skepticism before sharing links online. | ['us-news/hurricane-sandy', 'us-news/new-york', 'media/social-media', 'world/hurricanes', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'us-news/michaelbloomberg', 'us-news/news-blog', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/amanda-holpuch'] | us-news/hurricane-sandy | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-10-30T17:33:22Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2022/jul/08/officially-extinct-butterfly-large-tortoiseshell-making-a-comeback-in-uk | Officially extinct butterfly ‘making a comeback’ in UK | An elusive butterfly that has been officially extinct in Britain for more than half a century has been discovered breeding on the rewilded estate of Knepp in West Sussex. The large tortoiseshell mysteriously vanished more than 50 years ago but this week male and female butterflies – much larger than the small tortoiseshell and without its white patterning – have been spotted at Knepp for the first time. Neil Hulme and Matthew Oates, the lepidopterists who made the discovery, have also found signs of its caterpillars consuming leaves of wych elm in the rewilded farmland earlier this spring. “This butterfly is still officially extinct but the evidence suggests it is making a comeback,” said Oates. “This is a scrubland species and historically and culturally we’ve hated the word ‘scrub’ and done all we can to eliminate it in the countryside. There is ideal scrub for it at Knepp.” Since 2019, small numbers of the butterfly have been found breeding at Portland on the Dorset coast, with adults identified alongside the egg cases and webbing produced by large tortoiseshell caterpillars. Another colony has been discovered in an East Sussex valley. Large tortoiseshell caterpillars feed on a variety of trees including elm, aspen, sallow, and fruit trees, and it is not known precisely why the species became extinct in the 20th century. Theories include populations being attacked by parasites, Dutch elm disease and the loss of orchards and scrub such as sallow, which were removed from woodlands when conifers were planted. The butterfly feeds on sallow flowers in the spring. The butterfly was last seen widely in the late 1940s. Since the 1950s there have been only occasional sightings of individual butterflies, often close to the coast, suggesting that a few were arriving from overseas without breeding. According to Oates, numbers of the large tortoiseshell are rising on the continent again – possibly because of climate change – and increasing numbers are now crossing the Channel to arrive on the south coast. But the picture is confused because some maverick butterfly breeders have also been secretly releasing the species. Oates said there were too many sightings close to the south coast for all to be the work of breeders, with the species being difficult to rear in captivity as well. “I don’t believe butterfly breeders would all travel to the south coast to let them go. They are coming in as well,” he said. The adult butterflies emerge in July and soon disappear to hibernate, not mating until the following spring. “You’ve got to have lots of them coming over for them to find a mate and they must have a highly sophisticated mate-finding strategy,” said Oates. “How do they pair up if they are living at this low density? There’s a lot we still need to learn about this butterfly.” It has been a bountiful season for wildlife at Knepp, with record numbers of nightingales – 40 singing males – recorded on the estate this summer alongside a record nine nests of storks, which have been reintroduced and have already attracted other wild storks from the continent. Isabella Tree, who began rewilding Knepp with her husband, Charlie Burrell, 20 years ago, said: “We always think we’ve got to intervene and bring things back but again and again we see that it’s just about habitat and providing the space for nature and many species can come back on their own.” | ['environment/butterflies', 'environment/insects', 'environment/environment', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/conservation', 'uk/uk', 'uk-news/england', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/patrickbarkham', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-07-08T10:40:43Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
global-development/2012/jun/15/rio20-voice-washington-dc-us | Rio+20: A voice from Washington DC, US | Thousands of participants from nearly every country will assemble in my city of Rio in June for the Rio+20 United Nations conference on sustainable development. I wonder, of those experts, how many have actual "on the ground" expertise? Let me venture to say – not enough. Certainly, UN conference organisers have made great strides in recent years to include more participants from marginalised populations, but how these voices are heard among the cacophony of such an event remains to be seen. Unfortunately, much of their day-to-day work doesn't include these voices either. Communities and grassroots organisations are too often considered the lowest common denominator in the development discourse. Yet what is undeniable to me, during my decade of service in the international aid sector, is that poor people are not getting by due to sweeping national-level policies or major internationally funded programmes. Robert Chambers, of the Institute of Development Studies, talks about the strong centripetal forces that draw resources and educated people into the "core" where there is mutual attraction and reinforcement of power, prestige, and resources. What happens to the "periphery", then, especially when it's those on the periphery that those gathered at Rio+20 are trying to serve? Those on the ground, who have fundamental knowhow and the resources needed to bring about long-term social change, are excluded. Wiser.org, a social network for sustainability, has already registered over 113,000 local organisations and indigenous movements working on a wide variety of issues in 243 countries. Conservative estimates indicate there may well be over 4m such local groups operating across the globe. This leaves me asking – what is the cost to all of us when so many of the best minds and perspectives from the community-level are left out of navigating the paradox of sustainable development? Here, we clearly need all the help we can get. | ['global-development/environmental-sustainability', 'global-development/global-development', 'environment/rio-20-earth-summit', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'environment/sustainable-development', 'environment/environment', 'tone/interview', 'global-development/series/global-development-voices', 'type/article'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2012-06-15T09:40:48Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2015/jun/29/solar-plane-takes-off-solo-pacific-crossing | Solar plane takes off in 'moment of truth' for longest solo flight in history | A solar plane took off for what could be the longest solo flight in history on Monday, with its Swiss pilot confronting the “moment of truth” of a journey around the Pacific Ocean and around the world. The Solar Impulse 2 set off about 3am from Nagoya, Japan, en route to Hawaii, a trip expected to take five days and nights of continuous flight. The Pacific crossing represents the most difficult leg of Andre Borschberg’s attempt to circumnavigate the world in a multi-stage flight. Borschberg was delayed in Nagoya for weeks after “a wall” of bad weather forced an unplanned landing and his original flight, from Nanjing, China, was diverted in early June to Japan. The Swiss pilot flew for 44 hours from Nanjing to Nagoya – two days and two nights – and rested only in 20 minute intervals. To cross the Pacific he will have to repeat the feat two and a half times over. “We really are in the moment of truth now,” Conor Lennon, a member of the Solar Impulse team said from the project’s headquarters. “It’s the moment of truth technically and in human terms as well. Can the plane manage it?” “There’s a lot of uncertainty at the end, we cannot know everything,” Bertrand Piccard, Borschberg’s project co-founder and occasional co-pilot, said after the team decided to fly. “Today we accepted the decision to go, we accepted that risk, we believe the window is good.” Piccard said that the window to reach Hawaii is “a little bit tight” and that “maybe we’ll be a little bit late” before a weather system moves into the plane’s path. The plane’s crew has spent weeks trying to gauge long-range weather forecasts to find a window for the crossing. With wind and turbulence calmer in the predawn hours of the morning, the Solar Impulse 2 took off in the darkness equipped with full batteries that would recharge as the sun rises over the ocean. The plane has 17,000 solar cells on its wings and a top speed of about 87mph, faster than a ship but much slower than traditional aircraft. Designed to be lightweight – its carbon-fiber build and lithium batteries weigh little more than two tons, about as much as a car – the plane is threatened by strong winds and bad weather like the driving rains that halted its progress for weeks in Japan. Borschberg’s home for the next five days will be a 130-cubic-foot cockpit, in which he’ll have to keep the plane gliding as much as possible during the day to save power, guiding it into patches of sunlight and using its motors as little as possible. He will also have to endure altitudes of 28,000ft and temperatures close to 100F (37C) in the unpressurized and unheated cockpit. Meanwhile the entire Solar Impulse team will help recalculate the plane’s journey every day, adjusting for weather and other variables that might affect its trajectory. “We are really at the limit of what the technology can provide,” he told the Guardian last month. “The step we make forward is huge,” he said. “We didn’t have the chance to test this airplane day and night, we never flew over the oceans. There is no way to go back, so when you leave the coast of China you are committed to go to Hawaii, you are committed to fly five days five nights. You have to go to the end.” Borschberg, a 62-year-old Swiss engineer, performs yoga to help stay alert and rested during flights. The plane began its circumnavigation from Abu Dhabi in March, stopping in Muscat, Ahmedabad, Varanasi, Mandalay, Chongqing and Nanjing – and breaking records for solar flight along the way. In May, Piccard compared his and Borschberg’s challenge with achievements on par with those of other aviation pioneers. “Eighty years ago, maybe we would have done like some of the pioneers, like Amelia Earhart,” Piccard said. “That means taking off without knowing what would happen and disappear.” Earhart vanished over the Pacific in 1937 attempting the hazardous crossing over 5,000 miles of ocean, through unpredictable weather and long hours of exhausting work. In June a team of researchers has traveled to the tiny atoll of Nikumaroro in the south Pacific, where they believe her plane crashed and wreckage remains to this day. Solar Impulse would be more cautious than its predecessors, Piccard said: “We don’t want to be daredevils. It would be stupid. We have the tools to make it in a safer way.” If successful, Borschberg will have beaten the the standing endurance record for solo flight in any plane by about two days. On Tuesday Piccard admitted that doubts sometimes creep into his mind about safety, but expressed confidence about the mission. “You create your own very dark scenarios,” he said. “What happen if all the engines fail and the plane is in the water – OK – and then you go back to the reasonable decision-making. We have a narrow plane we have tested, it works, it’s fine. We have a good team, we have people ready to make it happen.” Borschberg has also dismissed risks, and said that he has faith in his training and emergency equipment: a parachute and life raft for worst-case scenarios. After landing Hawaii, Borschberg plans to fly to Phoenix, Arizona, for another leg of the journey of comparable length to the first flight over the Pacific. The original Solar Impulse flew a 26-hour flight in 2010, proving that a solar-powered aircraft could store enough energy in its lithium batteries to keep flying at night. The Swiss engineers hope that their innovations with solar power and energy efficiency can be incorporated into other technologies and daily use around the world. | ['environment/solarpower', 'environment/environment', 'world/air-transport', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/alan-yuhas'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2015-06-29T01:00:45Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2019/jan/15/uks-first-contact-lens-recycling-scheme-launches | UK's first contact lens recycling scheme launches | The UK’s first free national recycling scheme for plastic contact lenses – worn by an estimated 3.7 million people – is being rolled out this week. Wearers of any brand of soft lens will have the option of either having their discarded items and packaging collected or dropping them off at a network of recycling bins at Boots Opticians and selected independent stores. Recycling contact lenses is challenging, and 20% of wearers admit they dispose of their lenses by flushing them down the toilet or the sink. The new scheme aims to reduce plastic waste in landfill and the oceans by providing a simple and practical alternative. The recycled contact lenses, blister and foil packaging will be turned into products such as outdoor furniture. The scheme is a collaboration between the medical manufacturer Johnson & Johnson Vision and the recycling firm TerraCycle. Contact lens wearers are encouraged to check the Acuvue and TerraCycle websites for details of their nearest public drop-off location points or courier collection. Seven in 10 Britons say they are confused about the types of household items they can recycle, according to recent research by Johnson & Johnson Vision. When it comes to contact lenses, 39% of wearers say they believe they can recycle them or are not sure. “Seventy-seven per cent of British contact lens wearers said they would recycle their contact lenses if they could and we share their interest in reducing the amount of plastics in the environment,” said Sandra Rasche, of Johnson & Johnson Medical. “We are committed to doing our part to combat climate change, protect our planet’s natural resources and reduce waste.” | ['environment/plastic', 'environment/recycling', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'uk/uk', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/environment', 'money/money', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/rebeccasmithers', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-01-15T07:01:09Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2021/feb/18/indigenous-peoples-face-rise-in-rights-abuses-during-covid-pandemic-report-aoe | Indigenous peoples face rise in rights abuses during pandemic, report finds | Indigenous communities in some of the world’s most forested tropical countries have faced a wave of human rights abuses during the Covid-19 pandemic as governments prioritise extractive industries in economic recovery plans, according to a new report. New mines, infrastructure projects and agricultural plantations in Brazil, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Indonesia and Peru are driving land grabs and violence against indigenous peoples as governments seek to revive economies hit by the pandemic, research by the NGO Forest Peoples Programme has found. Social and environmental protections for indigenous communities have been set aside in the five countries in favour of new projects, leading to a rise in violence and deforestation on and around indigenous lands, according to the report produced by the NGO, Yale Law School researchers and the School of Law at Middlesex University London. The authors warn that raw materials from the new extractive projects are likely to filter into global supply chains and enter western markets. They have called on businesses to strengthen protections for human rights and tropical forests. “Indigenous peoples are seeing their rights stripped away as the lands that have long been their homes are stripped away as well,” said James Silk, Binger clinical professor of human rights at Yale Law School and co-author of the report. “Corporations in the extractive industries have aggressively pushed governments to let them exploit resources on indigenous lands, promising economic revitalisation, but ignoring the devastating effect on indigenous communities. The result is a cascade of human rights violations and accelerating contributions to global warming.” The report, titled Rolling Back Social and Environmental Safeguards in the Time of Covid-19, was produced in collaboration with affected communities. It found that the governments in Brazil, Colombia, DRC, Indonesia and Peru were prioritising the expansion of logging, industrial agriculture and the energy sector in or near indigenous territories. Domestic and international laws that prohibit land grabs were not being enforced by the state, resulting in a rise in deforestation in 2020 that was likely to continue this year, the researchers said. Indigenous people who try to assert their rights are facing increased threat of criminal prosecution and arrest, according to the report. “Indigenous groups started contacting organisations like the Forest Peoples Programme early on in the pandemic. Governments were prioritising big oil, mining projects and infrastructure projects at a time when lockdowns were happening. Communities were unable to protect themselves,” Cathal Doyle of the School of Law at Middlesex University said. “Studies repeatedly show that the best, most conserved biodiversity and forests are in lands where you have indigenous communities. We’re dependent on them for addressing the existential crises that we face in the coming decades,” he continued. “Research is coming out talking about the importance of these forests and for preventing future pandemics. So it’s ironic that we seem to be going down the path of destroying them as a result of a pandemic.” According to the World Bank, while indigenous peoples make up about 6% of the global population, they safeguard 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity. Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on Twitter for all the latest news and features | ['environment/series/the-age-of-extinction', 'environment/environment', 'world/brazil', 'world/americas', 'world/africa', 'world/indonesia', 'world/colombia', 'world/congo', 'environment/deforestation', 'world/indigenous-peoples', 'law/human-rights', 'global-development/human-rights', 'world/peru', 'world/asia-pacific', 'environment/conservation', 'global-development/global-development', 'environment/forests', 'world/world', 'world/coronavirus-outbreak', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/patrick-greenfield', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-age-of-extinction'] | environment/series/the-age-of-extinction | BIODIVERSITY | 2021-02-18T15:00:37Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2022/dec/13/we-will-be-thanking-just-stop-oil-protesters-in-years-to-come | We will be thanking Just Stop Oil protesters in years to come | Letters | I would like to thank all the Just Stop Oil protesters and any others who campaign for a cleaner, greener world (Just Stop Oil’s message to Suella Braverman: threaten us all you like – we’re not listening, 6 December). I write as an 82-year-old woman who used to join the wonderful young people who campaigned for climate justice and succeeded in getting my city to declare a climate emergency. I wonder what sort of exceptionalism our government thinks will protect children and grandchildren if it doesn’t act. Freak events such as the heat dome over northern Canada and the floods that devastated parts of Germany last year show we are not immune. And the global south is paying a devastating cost, in the form of drought and flooding. So thank you, all you protesters, for your courage and determination. Nan Howitt Leeds • If anyone doubts the words of Indigo Rumbelow, I suggest they read Hothouse Earth by Bill McGuire. These brave people put their freedom at risk to try to get us to comprehend what is happening to our planet. In the future we will thank them and wish we had listened – for now, we will all just carry on as before with our collective head in the sand. Governments around the world are trying everything to stifle legitimate protest. This should be ringing loud alarm bells, but we would rather turn up the volume on Strictly. Paul Fisher Spilsby, Lincolnshire | ['environment/just-stop-oil', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/activism', 'world/protest', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2022-12-13T17:40:18Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
environment/2016/sep/29/switch-disposable-coffee-cups-for-reusables-urge-campaign-groups | Switch disposable coffee cups for reusables, urge campaign groups | The billions of disposable coffee cups thrown away each year globally should be replaced with reusable ones because they are a waste of resources and harm forests, an international coalition of NGOs has urged. The call comes as a study by Cardiff University said that the plastic bag charge in England had been so successful that it showed a charge on coffee cups in the UK could work too. The Environmental Paper Network (EPN), a group of 140 environment and social NGOs from 28 countries launched its ‘cupifesto’ on Thursday calling for the cups to be curbed. “Billions of throwaway cups are used globally every year. This is wasteful and harms people, forests, water and the global climate,” the groups, which include Greenpeace, WWF and Global Witness, said. Last month, the Liberal Democrats wrote to environment secretary, Andrea Leadsom, arguing that the success of the bag charge meant a 5p charge should be added to the 2.5bn coffee cubs thrown away each year in the UK. Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson, Kate Parminter, said: “It’s a disgrace that 7m cups are thrown away every day, mostly not recycled, and yet we simply turn a blind eye. “That’s why we introduced a 5p charge on disposable cups at our recent conference, which caused a significant increase in use of reusable cups and reduced waste.” It was revealed earlier this year that only 1 in 400 coffee cups are recycled because they are made of a difficult-to-recycle mix of paper and plastic. That prompted calls for a charge on takeaway cups by prominent figures including chef and campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and the then-environment minister, Rory Stewart. The Green party’s Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb said: “the next challenge is to make disposable coffee cups actually recyclable. People think these cups are recyclable but they’re not, and a charge similar to that for plastic bags could dramatically reduce the number that end up in landfill as waste.” But the government has said it has no plans to force coffee shops to put a charge on cups. The Cardiff research showed that the bag charge gave people in England an increased environmental awareness, and greater willingness to accept other waste policies too, such as a 5p charge on plastic bottles. “The success of the plastic bag charge in effectively changing plastic bag use and increasing support for other charges to reduce waste suggests that similar policies could also be successfully implemented, such as a deposit return scheme on plastic bottles or a charge on disposable coffee cups,” the authors wrote. But lead author Prof Wouter Poortinga conceded that a coffee cup charge would be trickier. “It’s not exactly the same. It’s easier to adapt to a bag charge by bringing your own bag than by bringing your own cup. You have to find ways around the hassle factor,” he said. The industry has established a Paper Cup Recycling and Recovery Group (PCRRG) which is looking at significantly increasing paper cup recycling rates. | ['environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'food/coffee', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'environment/recycling', 'uk/uk', 'environment/ethical-living', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/adam-vaughan', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2016-09-29T09:47:24Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2020/mar/03/outdoor-air-pollution-cuts-three-years-from-human-lifespan-study | Outdoor air pollution cuts three years from human lifespan – study | Humans are missing out on almost three years of life expectancy on average because of outdoor air pollution, researchers have found. However, the study reveals more than a year of life expectancy could be clawed back if fossil fuel emissions are cut to zero, while if all controllable air pollution is cut – a category that does not include particles from natural wildfires or wind-born dust – global life expectancy could rise by more than 20 months. “This corroborates that fossil fuel-generated air pollution qualifies as a major global health risk factor by itself,” the authors write. The study builds on the team’s previous research that confirmed about 8.8m early deaths a year worldwide, twice the figure from prior estimates, are caused by outdoor air pollution, with the new work examining the issue both for the world as a whole, and in detail for particular regions and countries. “The loss of life expectancy from air pollution is much higher than many other risk factors, and even higher than smoking,” said co-author Prof Jos Lelieveld of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry. “That was quite unexpected, I must say.” As with the team’s previous work, the new study draws on a recently developed model of the impact of fine particulate matter known as PM2.5 on the body, as well as a model for the impact of ozone, levels of exposure to these pollutants, and population and mortality figures for 2015. From this data, the team calculated the proportion of early deaths that could be attributed to outdoor air pollution across six categories, including unspecified non-communicable diseases – a category that encompasses conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes. The results reveal that, globally, 2.9 years of life expectancy on average are lost because of outdoor air pollution – a bigger toll than tobacco smoking (2.2 years lost), violence (0.3 years lost), HIV/Aids (0.7 years lost) and diseases spread by parasites and other vectors (0.6 years lost). Should avoidable outdoor air pollution be cut, the team adds, more than 5.5m early deaths globally could be avoided every year. However, there are variations between regions and countries: such a measure would save 2.4m early deaths a year in east Asia and regain three out of the 3.9 years of life expectancy lost because of outdoor air pollution. However, in Africa only 230,000 early deaths a year, and just over eight months of the 3.1 years of life expectancy lost, would be saved. In Australiathe gains would be even smaller. That, the authors note, is down to a variety of factors, including Africa’s outdoor air pollution being dominated by wind-blown dust and Australia having stricter air pollution policies than many other countries to start with. The team found the number of premature deaths owing to air pollution generally increased with age.However, for some regions, including Africa and south Asia, there is also a high number of premature deaths among very young children. Coronary heart disease accounted for the largest number of extra deaths for any of the six categories, at almost 2.8m a year worldwide, and made up more than 28% of the loss in life expectancy. By contrast deaths from lung cancer, chronic obstructive lung disease and lower respiratory infections together made up about 2.6m early deaths from outdoor air pollution a year. Prof Thomas Münzel, of the University Medical Centre Mainz in Germany and co-author of the study, said this was not surprising. “Even [though] the lung is the primary target of air pollution, causing inflammation and therefore pneumonia, there will be a transmigration of particles into the bloodstream and into blood vessels,” he said, noting that will cause inflammation and, over time, plaque will build up in the arteries. Münzel said the findings underscore the importance of including air pollution as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease in official guidelines for such conditions. However, the study has a number of limitations, including that it only looks at two air pollutants. and does not look at the chemical makeup of the particulate matter. Among other factors, the team note there may be diseases that should be associated with air pollution that are not currently, while the models are based on data from a limited number of countries. As a result, the team say there are large uncertainties in the findings. Nonetheless, Münzel said, the study emphasises the need for governments to take action. “We need lower emission levels – 91% of the [world’s] population breathes polluted air as defined by the [World Health Organization],” he said. “We have incredibly high limits for Europe: those need to be reduced markedly.” The team note measures can include city planning and management, while improvements in healthcare can also improve life expectancy. Münzel added it was also important to conduct research into drugs that could mitigate the health impacts of air pollution. Prof Kevin McConway, emeritus professor of applied statistics at the Open University, said the uncertainty in the figures means that is it not yet clear whether air pollution is a bigger killer than tobacco, but that it certainly rivals it. That, he said, is because although smoking a packet of cigarettes a day is more dangerous, a higher proportion of people inhale air pollution than tobacco smoke. The work is published in the journal Cardiovascular Research. | ['environment/air-pollution', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'environment/pollution', 'global-development/global-health', 'science/science', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/nicola-davis', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-science'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2020-03-03T00:00:06Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2022/oct/10/us-appoints-special-envoy-to-champion-nature-in-time-for-montreal-summit-aoe | US appoints special envoy to champion nature in time for Montreal summit | The United States has created a new diplomatic role to show the country’s commitment to tackling the biodiversity crisis ahead of Cop15 in Montreal, Canada, where the next decade of nature targets will be drawn up. Monica Medina, a former military officer who started her governmental career in 1989 as senior counsel to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, has been named special envoy for biodiversity and water resources. Historically, the country has not been a supporter of the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) treaty. The US is the only UN member state not to ratify the 1992 Rio Declaration, citing concerns ranging from financial commitments to who would own the rights to genetic discoveries in forest reserves. But the creation of the new role for nature shows the US is “very much committed to the aims of CBD negotiations”, said Medina. “It’s a priority for our administration,” she said. “We use nature for free essentially, but it’s not free. We know it’s not free. We know there are costs to the way that we’ve been extracting from nature. And now we need to find a way to make sure we account for that today and in the future.” A state department spokesman said the new role signalled “the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to resolving the world’s intertwined biodiversity and water crises”. Medina, who is also the assistant secretary for oceans, international environmental and scientific affairs, added: “We have an awful lot of work in the area of biodiversity this year, so we thought it was appropriate to expand the role. Nature is an important part of our sustainability as well [as climate change], and I’m glad to have a chance to bring a voice to those issues and to the people and communities that depend on nature.” The US is a supporter of aims to protect 30% of land and sea by 2030 (known as 30x30), and has nationally committed to the goal. Another focus for Medina is getting more private-sector funding into nature protection. “I think we are poised to have an incredible success [at Cop15], but we have a long way to go,” she said. Other countries have diplomats who act specifically for the interests of nature, such as Pippa Hackett, who is an Irish Green Party minister for land use and biodiversity; and Lorna Slater, Scotland’s minister for green skills, circular economy and biodiversity. “I think [Medina’s appointment] is a really exciting announcement,” said Slater. “It shows that small countries like Scotland can lead the way in these things. But it’s great, of course, when the big global powers get in the game as well. “I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we see more and more of this in the future. The nature part is not an add-on, it’s part and parcel of making sure our world is habitable and of tackling the climate crisis. Prof Yadvinder Malhi, president of the British Ecological Society, said: “We’re pleased to see that the US has designated a special envoy for biodiversity and water resources. We’re hopeful that this appointment is an indication of the US’s commitment to protecting nature on a national and international scale and can lead to positive action at Cop15. “The appointment also helps to highlight the significance of biodiversity loss, a crisis that can often be overlooked in comparison to the closely linked – and equally significant – crisis of climate change.” 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/series/the-road-to-kunming', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/biodiversity', 'environment/water', 'environment/wildlife', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'environment/cop15', 'profile/phoebe-weston', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-age-of-extinction'] | environment/biodiversity | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-10-10T10:00:24Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
australia-news/2022/apr/15/coalition-faces-criticism-for-limiting-top-up-payment-to-lismore-flood-victims-only | Coalition faces criticism for limiting ‘top-up’ payment to Lismore flood victims only | The Morrison government is facing criticism for excluding flood victims outside Lismore from a new $350-a-week “top-up” paid to those unable to work. The disaster recovery allowance is paid at the jobseeker rate of $642.70 a fortnight to those who are temporarily unable to earn an income. The benefit is separate from the disaster recovery payment, which has been the subject of controversy after the Morrison government initially provided an extra $2,000 to flood victims in the National party-held areas Lismore, Richmond Valley and Clarence Valley but excluded nearby areas held by Labor. That decision was later reversed after other areas were assessed, with the government arguing Lismore had been initially prioritised as it was worst hit by the disaster. But last Friday the government quietly added a $350-a-week top-up payment to the disaster recovery allowance. The top-up is now automatically added to the payments of disaster recovery allowance recipients who work or live in the Lismore local government area. In a repeat of the situation that sparked fury last month, flood victims receiving disaster recovery allowance in other areas, such as those in the Labor-held seat of Richmond, are ineligible. Because the top-up payment can be paid for a maximum of 13 weeks, those in Lismore could theoretically receive a total of $4,550 more than victims from other areas. The federal National MP for Page, Kevin Hogan, had last week called for the disaster payments to be doubled. But the decision to introduce the “top-up” payment was not publicised by the federal government. The only official announcement was an update on the Services Australia website. Hogan has since labelled the decision to only include Lismore as “absurd”, while NSW state Liberal MP Catherine Cusack said the latest announcement showed a “total lack of integrity in the commonwealth’s funding approach”. Cusack, who intends to quit parliament over what she believes was the politicisation of NSW floods funding by the Morrison government, told Guardian Australia: “The whole northern rivers community would unite around the idea that funding should be according to need and not determined by where people live.” Last month, after fierce criticism from Cusack, Labor and others, the federal government added Ballina, Byron and Tweed to a list of areas eligible for an extra $2,000 in payments. Those areas are in the federal electorate of Richmond, held by Labor’s Justine Elliot. Elliot, who has accused the government of “pork-barrelling”, said the decision to once again exclude her constituents was “appalling”. “What makes it even worse is they snuck it out a Friday afternoon, they didn’t do a press conference,” Elliot told Guardian Australia. “I first heard about it when I saw it on the Services Australia website. They were doing it really quietly.” “There are people here who desperately need the top-up. Of course Lismore desperately needs that, and we feel for them, but we’re just as worthy,” she said. A joint press release issued on Tuesday by the federal and NSW government that outlined new flood support made no mention of the “top-up” payment. “It seems unfair it’s there for Lismore and not for us,” Elliot said. “I think the fact they’re trying to hide it shows they know that. These people have been through so much. Everyone in my community is really traumatised. People have lost their homes, their ability to work, because the business was flooded.” Mandy Nolan, who is running for the Greens in Richmond, said many people in the electorate “were unable to access their properties by car or couldn’t leave their property because “it’s impossible”. “These people have missed out on the support they need,” she said. “I’ve been into some of these areas. They have to hike on a road by foot two hours on rope into their properties. They’re the people who have really missed out. This recovery top-up would be so helpful.” Like Elliot, Nolan also believed the decision was politically motivated. “To cut out areas because they’re not a safe National seat, which Lismore is, [is wrong].” Because it is only the Lismore local government area that is eligible for the “top-up”, it is likely some of Hogan’s own constituents have also missed out on the extra support this time. “This funding has been targeted using a one-in-500 year flood definition,” Hogan told Guardian Australia. “The bureaucrats in Canberra (Australian Climate Service, National Recovery and Resilience Agency, and Bureau of Meteorology), somehow decided the one-in-500 year event only happened in Lismore. “This is obviously absurd. I have told the minister the one-in-500 year definition needs to be expanded to other communities.” A National Recovery and Resilience Agency spokesperson said the government had made additional support available to those who live or work in Lismore “as it was the most significantly affected local government area based on the proportion of people and businesses directly impacted”. He said the top-up payment had been paid to 2,037 people, of the 16,485 people eligible for the disaster allowance in the 58 flood-affected local government areas in New South Wales. The emergency management and national recovery and resilience minister, Bridget McKenzie, referred questions to the National Recovery and Resilience Agency. | ['australia-news/new-south-wales', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/australia-east-coast-floods-2022', 'environment/flooding', 'australia-news/welfare-in-australia', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/luke-henriques-gomes', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2022-04-14T20:00:11Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
global-development-professionals-network/2013/dec/20/amazon-condom-factory-chico-mendes | Amazon condom factory: a sustainable way to profit from Brazil's forests | Deep in the Amazon rainforest, in Brazil's far western region, tappers walk the forest trails, harvesting liquid latex from the trunks of the bountiful native rubber trees. But while their grandparents collected rubber for military use in World War Two, today it is used for lovemaking, not war – transformed into condoms at a factory in the town of Xapuri in Acre state. The industry provides a sustainable way to profit from the forest, the state government says, and condoms are distributed free of charge throughout Brazil to help keep HIV/Aids in check. The fact that the trees remain, and the rubber industry prevails is partly the result of the efforts of Chico Mendes, a rubber tapper and union leader, who lost his life fighting to protect both rainforest and rural livelihoods. Mendes was killed 25 years ago this week in Xapuri by a ranch-owner who planned to deforest an area Mendes was fighting to protect. Marcos Afonso, a friend of Mendes and director of Acre's Library of the Forest, says the murder was a catalyst for change – the results of which are visible today. "We were saddened by his murder and wept a lot – but the fight grew," he said. "Chico's legacy was his courage, his determination, and his belief in a different future for the Amazon." Innovation in Acre In Acre, that different future seems a little closer than it did 25 years ago. In the late 1990s, the Workers' Party (PT) founded by Mendes and his colleagues in Acre, was elected on a platform aimed at improving infrastructure and services by adding value to sustainable forest products. Reforms since then have opened a path to faster economic growth, without sacrificing forests. Acre had an average GDP growth rate of 6% a year from 2001 until 2010 while Brazil as a whole grew at 4.9% on average, according to the World Bank. At the same time, deforestation declined by about 70%. Lifting the region out of poverty remains a challenge. In 2010, Acre's GDP per capita was $6,528, less than 60% of Brazil's national average. But the government believes protecting the forest doesn't have to come at the cost of development, according to Monica de los Rios from Acre's Institute for Climate Change and Regulation of Environmental Services. "As a poor state, we need to be more creative," she said. In 2010, Acre introduced the state system of incentives for environmental services, which will reward small farmers, indigenous communities or even cattle ranchers and loggers for protecting services like forest carbon stocks, water, soil, biodiversity and traditional knowledge. They will receive cash payments, equipment, and training to help them implement sustainable land use practices. Transparent governance "The sustainable development strategy is enshrined in a legal framework that reaches across the government," says Acre's attorney general, Rodrigo Neves. He says the state now hopes to attract investment from emerging national and international markets for those environmental services. "Acre's history of social organisation has created a political context suitable for the adoption of sustainability policies," Neves said. "Of course, it's had to overcome a number of difficulties, particularly associated with the creation of new markets, a process that takes years to mature, but if there's a place where this can be done, it's in Acre." Amy Duchelle, a Brazil-based scientist with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), says Acre's state-wide commitment to tackling deforestation through development is unique in Brazil. "It's kind of a laboratory for innovative policy," Duchelle said. "The essence of Acre's forest-based development model is turning the 'business-as-usual' model of development on its head. Here, production is at the heart of conservation and these policies have created opportunities for people to engage in more sustainable practices." Lasting legacy Mendes' legacy is felt well beyond Acre. While he lived, he urged the Brazilian government to designate Amazon areas as 'extractive reserves,' which non-indigenous forest residents would manage and be legally entitled to sustainably extract resources. A year after his death, the country's first extractive reserve was established; now there are 59 across Brazil, including the 'Chico Mendes extractive reserve' which provides rubber for the Xapuri condom factory. "Mendes brought attention to smallholders' struggles for land rights in the Amazon through a strategic link to the international environmental agenda – inspiring forest policy change in Brazil," Duchelle said. Resisting powerful interests in the Brazilian Amazon remains dangerous. According to a Brazilian NGO, nearly 1,000 people have been murdered in rural land disputes across Brazil's Amazon since 1985. And although deforestation rates have dropped dramatically since Mendes' time, after four years of consecutive reductions, deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon edged up again this year. But Acre has shown that the historic link between economic development and deforestation can be broken. "If he were still alive, Chico Mendes would be happy – and still fighting for the Amazon, because this is a never-ending fight," Afonso said. "We need to continue resisting and developing new ideas and models," he added. "But I think we're doing justice to his legacy." Hear more on the legacy of Chico Mendes from director of Acre's Library of the Forest Marcos Afons in this video. Kate Evans is a freelance writer and video producer with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). Follow @CIFOR on Twitter. This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. To get more articles like this direct to your inbox, sign up free to become a member of the Global Development Professionals Network | ['working-in-development/working-in-development', 'global-development/global-development', 'world/brazil', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'environment/deforestation', 'global-development-professionals-network/policy-advocacy', 'global-development/governance-and-development', 'type/article'] | environment/deforestation | BIODIVERSITY | 2013-12-20T17:39:00Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2023/apr/20/once-rare-alpine-swift-uk-soon-stay-breed-climate-crisis | Once-rare alpine swift in the UK could soon be staying to breed | Swifts are our most aerial bird, spending almost all their entire lifetimes airborne, apart from a brief period in the nest. Growing up in London, for me swifts were the first sign of summer – usually appearing in early May. But the climate crisis means they are now arriving two or even three weeks earlier – like the birds that flew over our garden on 21 April 2020, during that first Covid lockdown. This spring, there has been an unprecedented influx of their larger and scarcer relative: the alpine swift. These are like a common swift on steroids – twice the weight, at 100 grams, and with a 57cm (almost 2ft) wingspan. Each spring, a handful of alpine swifts overshoot their intended destination of southern Europe and turn up here. In mid-March 1990, no fewer than 14 arrived after intense high-pressure over the continent. But this spring dozens have been seen, some as far north as Scotland, where the species is very rare. They arrived on south-westerly winds – but that may not have been the only reason they came. The effects of the climate crisis on birds that breed around the Mediterranean may be encouraging these species to seek more equable places to nest. As with the bee-eaters, which raised three chicks in Norfolk last year, alpine swifts could soon stay here to breed. | ['environment/birds', 'news/series/weatherwatch', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/stephenmoss1', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2023-04-20T05:00:38Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2023/sep/10/tanya-plibersek-announced-swift-parrot-plan-without-showing-recovery-team-who-helped-develop-it | Tanya Plibersek announced swift parrot plan without showing recovery team who helped develop it | The swift parrot recovery plan announced by the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, to mark threatened species day was not actually finalised and had not been shared with the experts who helped to develop it. Once they had seen it, conservation groups and scientists said the recovery plan released on Thursday contained no meaningful action to address the key threat to the survival of the species: the logging of native forests. The critically endangered swift parrot is a migratory bird that spends winters in Victoria and New South Wales and summers in forests in Tasmania. It is estimated just 300-750 mature birds remain in the wild, with studies finding the species could be extinct within 10 years if governments failed to do more to protect it. Plibersek said the new plan and $1.3m in funding for projects to protect swift parrots had been released “to boost the long-term survival” of the species. It was one of a raft of commitments timed for threatened species day. But release of the plan was news to the official recovery team for the swift parrot. Members of the team said the last official draft they had received was a version released for public comment in 2019. They said the plan was not finalised, noting the government’s own media release said two states – NSW and Victoria – had not yet signed on. They first saw the document after it was provided by journalists seeking expert feedback on the new plan. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup The environment department on Thursday said on its Facebook page that the plan was still “being finalised” and would be published in “coming weeks”. “The crux of the issue is the minister put out a media release saying the recovery plan has been released and yet no one on the recovery team had seen it,” said Mick Roderick, BirdLife Australia’s representative on the recovery team. “One would expect that recovery team members would see a purported or apparent final version before it is released and before the media has access to it.” Dr Dejan Stojanovic, a conservation scientist at the Australian National University and a swift parrot recovery team member for more than a decade, said a version of the plan had not been circulated for years. It left members of the team feeling as though their collective knowledge had been “sidelined”. Guardian Australia revealed last year that Tasmanian and federal bureaucrats had pushed for the plan to be changed to remove and play down the scientific evidence that logging was the biggest threat to its survival. After reading the latest version of the document, Stojanovic said it focused too heavily on the threat of predation by sugar gliders instead of the key threat of logging. The plan acknowledges that sugar glider predation is worse where habitat loss is severe, such as logged areas. Stojanovic said it was a “lost opportunity” to develop a plan to end decades of damage from forestry that was “pushing the swift parrot to extinction”. “Despite mountains of evidence that logging in Tasmania is the key threat to swift parrots, this government is trying to scapegoat a tiny possum for its inability to stand up to the forest industry,” Stojanovic said. He said actions that were critical to protecting the parrots’ habitat on public land had been given a lower priority rating in the plan than other proposed steps, including educating the public about swift parrot conservation. Stojanovic is a member of the ANU’s difficult birds group, which has been responsible for monitoring the species and conducting research including genetic analysis. He said the group was now relying on public donations to fund its swift parrot work because it had not received any commonwealth funding since the previous Coalition government wound down a national science hub for threatened species. He also said he had not seen any specifics outlining what the government’s $1.3m for swift parrot projects would be spent on. The Tasmanian government has its own, separate swift parrot program. A spokesperson for Plibersek said the plan had been “endorsed by the federal government’s independent threatened species scientific committee, which includes many of Australia’s most experienced and respected scientists”. The spokesperson said the government understood the environmental value of native forests and it was proposing reforms that would require regional forestry agreements between the federal government and states to comply with national environmental laws. “The government takes the advice of experts about which projects should get environmental science funding,” the spokesperson said. Dr Jennifer Sanger, a forest ecologist with advocacy group Tree Projects, said the plan failed to address logging, including in parrot breeding habitat in Tasmania. “I’m livid. Working as an environmentalist you always have this hope it’s going to be better and we’re going to get some real change this time,” she said. “This recovery plan is a whole new level of disappointment because it has completely carved out forestry from any actions whatsoever.” | ['environment/birds', 'environment/environment', 'environment/wildlife', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/tanya-plibersek', 'environment/endangeredspecies', 'environment/conservation', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/lisa-cox', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-09-09T20:00:32Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
global-development/2022/sep/22/horn-of-africa-drought-puts-36m-children-at-risk-of-dropping-out-of-school | Horn of Africa drought puts 3.6m children at risk of dropping out of school | More than 3.5 million children are at risk of dropping out of school due to the drought in the Horn of Africa, the United Nations has said, amid warnings the crisis could lead to “a lost generation” that misses out on education. According to new figures shared with the Guardian, Unicef now estimates that 3.6 million children in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia are in danger of leaving school as a result of the cumulative pressure on households caused by the unrelenting drought. In a sign of how acute the situation is becoming in many areas, that number has more than tripled – from 1.1 million – in the past six months. Four consecutive failed rainy seasons have pushed millions of families to the brink, increasing the number of deaths of children from malnutrition and forcing people to flee their homes in search of more resources. But the drought also threatens to cause another, quieter ripple effect in the three worst-hit countries, said Abhiyan Jung Rana, Unicef’s education adviser for eastern and southern Africa. “In the Horn of Africa, there are about 15 million children out of school, including these countries. But the fear is that because of the drought an additional 3.6 million more children will drop out as they’re moving with their parents to different areas away from their school.” Teachers and activists in Somaliland, an autonomous region of Somalia, say they are already seeing this effect in their classrooms – and it is mainly girls who are leaving. “When the chips are down, it is always the girls who bear the brunt of the situation,” said Sadia Allin, country director for Plan International, which is working with communities in Somaliland to help them withstand the drought. “It is very worrying. Education provides immediate physical, psychological, and cognitive protection. For girls, being out of school is disappointing. It is impacting their dreams,” she said. “When girls feel they are losing that [education], it seems also that they are losing their rights.” Kiin Farah Hasan, the headteacher of a village school in the Toghdeer region of Somaliland, is praying that this year will be better for the girls at her school. By the end of the last academic year, after two rainy seasons failed, only 31 of the original 56 girls remained. “Some of the girls got married, some of them moved to other places because their parents migrated from here due to the drought,” she said. “And some of them, their families are poor and have nothing, even getting their livelihoods is hard for them.” Kiin said she had become used to teaching hungry children. “When we wonder about them being hungry, sometimes we give them a 30-minute break and order food from the market for them to eat, and for some I even cook food in my house and give [it to] them,” she said. A proper school feeding programme, along with a school bus to cover the 3-6 mile (5-10km) journey to school, would enable many of those at risk to stay in education, she said. But the absence of these, combined with the added pressure on household incomes, has stacked the odds against children getting to school. Kiin said she believed “three or four” of the girls who dropped out had married since leaving school. “Maybe some of them got married by their own will, but that problem really affected me.” Child marriages often increase in times of drought or disaster as parents seek to raise extra funds through dowries. Unicef said it did not expect to see a discernible difference between the sexes in terms of the numbers of children at risk of dropping out, because the displacement of entire families, including boys and girls, was a major factor in their vulnerability. But Jung Rana said he did expect girls to be less likely to return to school, just as in the aftermath of Covid lockdowns, which in some places coincided with higher rates of early marriage, teenage pregnancy, and gender-based violence. “I would foresee something similar happening because, in a sense, schools are closed for them and they’re there with their parents or with their families, and these kinds of things would likely be happening more,” he said. He added: “Girls especially are looked on in households to be able to provide the caregiving aspects … more than boys would be, in terms of taking care of their smaller siblings and taking care of chores around the home or wherever they are. I think, with those conditions, they are more likely not to go back.” Speaking from Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, Allin said it was vital that donor countries such as the UK recognised that droughts and other crises could have severe repercussions on girls’ education, and provide funding accordingly. Liz Truss, Britain’s new prime minister, has in the past declared women and girls to be a priority. “My message to her and to the world is that education is just such a powerful thing … and if we don’t provide these girls with the resources that they need to stay in education, it will [mean the] loss of a generation and [be] very costly in the future,” she added. Unicef estimates that 1.57 million children – roughly equal numbers of girls and boys – are at risk of dropping out of school in Kenya, 1.14 million in Ethiopia and 900,000 in Somalia, including Somaliland. It says factors that increase the chances of a child dropping out include the displacement of the family to other villages with limited educational capacity, a lack of school feeding programmes, and parents’ inability to afford essentials such as books and uniforms. | ['global-development/global-education', 'type/article', 'society/child-marriage', 'global-development/global-development', 'environment/drought', 'global-development/hunger', 'society/children', 'world/somaliland', 'world/ethiopia', 'world/africa', 'education/education', 'environment/environment', 'society/society', 'world/world', 'world/kenya', 'environment/water', 'tone/news', 'profile/lizzydavies', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2022-09-22T09:38:40Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
lifeandstyle/2016/jun/01/hotdog-maker-jocca-review-kitchen-gadgets | Hotdog maker review – ‘it steams pig parts and ruins bread rolls’ | What? The Hot Dog Maker by Jocca (£65.99, Wayfair.co.uk) is a steaming chamber and hot shaft. Frankfurters are heated in the first, while a bun is toasted on the latter. Why? How else to crack this complex dish of pigs’ lips in a bap? Well? To my mind, the hotdog is the bastard cousin of the burger. The meat-to-bread ratio tips too far towards the bun, and they’re made with frankfurters, the most disgusting food known to man. Does anyone enjoy their flaccid smoothness, laced with gristle and offputtingly pink? Eating a frankfurter is like licking Cristiano Ronaldo. It mystifies me that Frankfurt – birthplace of Goethe, financial powerhouse, site of two botanical gardens – would want eternal association with mechanically recovered meat paste. It’s not champagne, is it? Still, this week we’re unfortunately looking at Jocca’s Hot Dog Maker, a device that warms franks and buns. It’s pretty simplistic. I drop some clammy pork fingers into the part of the device appetisingly called “the receiver”. This sits above a pool of hot water, steaming the weiners. Meanwhile, the bun (I’m using brioche – who am I kidding?) is impaled on a terrifying steel lance. This works tremendously badly – the blunt shaft offers too gentle a heat, and squashes the bun’s innards as it pushes through them, resulting in a hollow, compacted bread prophylactic. It’s all so unavoidably suggestive. Inside the steam-filled receiver, the dogs struggle to stand, like down-and-outs in a drunk tank; it’s a melancholy scene. I pop Droopy Frank into his bread tube as if packing a musket, and chow down. As expected, it’s foul, with an aftertaste longer than the half-life of plutonium, and probably worse for your health. I’d rather eat actual dog. What kind of bad-choice monsters buy this? The same people who prefer the lower bunk bed, Pepsi, Global Hypercolour T-shirts? If you must eat this dish at home, a grill would be better in every way; steaming tubular pig parts and ruining bread rolls is a masochism that shouldn’t be encouraged. Back to the kennels for this not-so-hotdog. Redeeming features? The box boasts the strapline “funny cooking”, which strikes me as optimistic on both counts. Counter, drawer, back of the cupboard? Dogs die in hot cars; open the window and chuck this out. 0/5 | ['lifeandstyle/series/inspect-a-gadget', 'food/pork', 'food/meat', 'food/food', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'technology/gadgets', 'technology/technology', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'profile/rhik-samadder', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/g2', 'theguardian/g2/features', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-g2-features'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2016-06-01T10:06:03Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2021/jun/15/scientists-convert-used-plastic-bottles-into-vanilla-flavouring | Scientists convert used plastic bottles into vanilla flavouring | Plastic bottles have been converted into vanilla flavouring using genetically engineered bacteria, the first time a valuable chemical has been brewed from waste plastic. Upcycling plastic bottles into more lucrative materials could make the recycling process far more attractive and effective. Currently plastics lose about 95% of their value as a material after a single use. Encouraging better collection and use of such waste is key to tackling the global plastic pollution problem. Researchers have already developed mutant enzymes to break down the polyethylene terephthalate polymer used for drinks bottles into its basic units, terephthalic acid (TA). Scientists have now used bugs to convert TA into vanillin. Vanillin is used widely in the food and cosmetics industries and is an important bulk chemical used to make pharmaceuticals, cleaning products and herbicides. Global demand is growing and in 2018 was 37,000 tonnes, far exceeding the supply from natural vanilla beans. About 85% of vanillin is currently synthesised from chemicals derived from fossil fuels. Joanna Sadler, of the University of Edinburgh, who conducted the new work, said: “This is the first example of using a biological system to upcycle plastic waste into a valuable industrial chemical and it has very exciting implications for the circular economy.” Stephen Wallace, also of the University of Edinburgh, said: “Our work challenges the perception of plastic being a problematic waste and instead demonstrates its use as a new carbon resource from which high value products can be made.” About 1m plastic bottles are sold every minute around the world and just 14% are recycled. Currently even those bottles that are recycled can only be turned into opaque fibres for clothing or carpets. The research, published in the journal Green Chemistry, used engineered E coli bacteria to transform TA into vanillin. The scientists warmed a microbial broth to 37C for a day, the same conditions as for brewing beer, Wallace said. This converted 79% of the TA into vanillin. Next the scientists will further tweak the bacteria to increase the conversion rate further, he said: “We think we can do that pretty quickly. We have an amazing roboticised DNA assembly facility here.” They will also work on scaling up the process to convert larger amounts of plastic. Other valuable molecules could also be brewed from TA, such as some used in perfumes. Ellis Crawford, of the Royal Society of Chemistry, said: “This is a really interesting use of microbial science to improve sustainability. Using microbes to turn waste plastics, which are harmful to the environment, into an important commodity is a beautiful demonstration of green chemistry.” Recent research showed bottles are the second most common type of plastic pollution in the oceans, after plastic bags. In 2018, scientists accidentally created a mutant enzyme that breaks down plastic bottles, and subsequent work produced a super-enzyme that eats plastic bottles even faster. | ['environment/plastic', 'environment/environment', 'environment/recycling', 'science/chemistry', 'environment/waste', 'environment/pollution', 'uk/uk', 'uk/scotland', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damiancarrington', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/special-supplement', 'theguardian/special-supplement/special-supplement', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-06-15T06:00:36Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
business/2024/oct/17/shop-like-our-nan-call-for-supermarket-ban-on-plastic-packaging-for-fresh-goods | ‘Shop like our nan!’ Call for supermarket ban on plastic packaging for fresh goods | Supermarkets should be banned from selling fresh produce such as bananas, apples and potatoes in plastic packaging so we can go back to shopping “like our nan”, according to the influential anti-waste charity Wrap. It is calling for the government to ban packaging on 21 fruit and vegetables sold in supermarkets, including salad tomatoes, carrots and avocados, by 2030. After weighing up the other options – including new taxes or subsidies – Wrap said a government ban would be the most effective way to break a cycle that contributes to UK households throwing away nearly 100bn pieces of plastic packaging a year and results in huge amounts of food waste. Faced with the same plastic problem, other countries such as France have already passed laws banning packaging on many fresh products. Harriet Lamb, Wrap’s chief executive, conceded “this will be hard” for British shoppers schooled to buy fruit and veg in packets, adding that any ban would be “one of the biggest changes in the retail landscape in a while”. In 2018, UK supermarkets and food companies signed up to voluntary targets to cut plastic packaging. The goals of the UK Plastics Pact – led by Wrap, whose work helps shape government policy on sustainability matters – included the target that 50% of uncut fruit and veg be sold loose by the end of the decade. The call for a ban suggests this target will not be met without government intervention, with Wrap calling for a formal consultation. A progress report published late last year said that in 2022 an average of 19.4% of fresh produce sales was loose, with the proportion by retailer varying from 2% to 30%. By comparison, in mainland Europe it is 50%. Plastic packaging had resulted in less store waste, simpler production lines and tidier shelves, Lamb said, but the flipside was about 30% of the fresh produce bought ending up in the bin because set pack sizes forced people to buy too much. A packaging ban on the 21 foods (when sold in amounts less than 1.5kg) could eliminate 100,000 tonnes of fruit and veg from the bin annually and 13,000 tonnes of single-use plastic film, Wrap said. It proposes a second phase that would extend the ban to all uncut produce with some exemptions, such as soft fruits and herbs. While two-thirds of shoppers claim they prefer to select and weigh produce, they do not always do so in practice. In stores where loose produce is already being sold, Lamb urged people to shop “like our nan back in the day when everyone chose what they wanted in the grocery store”. Companies needed to make it easy for shoppers to make price comparisons and weigh produce, she said, but the “final step in the dance is the regulation with a timeline, creating a level playing field and a mandate to change”. The call for a ban comes as separate research found 51% of food and drink items in UK supermarkets come in unnecessary plastic packaging, amounting to 29.8bn avoidable pieces annually. The study, commissioned by the packaging giant DS Smith, looked at more than 1,500 products, and found the worst offenders were processed foods including ready meals and meal kits. Avoidable plastic was found on 90% of ready meals and meal kits, 89% of bread, rice and cereal items, 83% of dairy products and 80% of meat and fish. In a statement, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “This government is committed to cleaning up Britain and cracking down on plastic waste. We will roll out extended producer responsibility [a new packaging tax] to incentivise businesses to cut plastic packaging and the deposit return scheme to incentivise consumers to recycle.” The plastic packaging ban hitlist Apples Aubergines Avocados Bananas Broccoli Cabbages Carrots Garlic Ginger Lemons Limes Mangos Onions Oranges Parsnips Pears Peppers Potatoes Salad tomatoes Squash Swede | ['business/packaging', 'business/supermarkets', 'environment/food-waste', 'business/retail', 'environment/environment', 'business/business', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'uk/uk', 'environment/plastic', 'business/fooddrinks', 'business/dssmith', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/waste', 'food/vegetables', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/zoewood', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2024-10-17T06:00:06Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2018/nov/15/tree-planting-double-uk-climate-change | Tree planting in UK 'must double to tackle climate change' | Tree planting must double by 2020 as part of radical changes to land use in the UK, according to the government’s advisers on climate change. New forests would lock up carbon but also help to limit the more frequent floods expected with global warming. The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) said land currently used to produce food would need to be converted to woodland, growing crops to produce energy and for new homes to accommodate the growing population. Up to 17% of cropland and 30% of grassland could be converted, the report says. Protecting and restoring peatland, a huge store of carbon, is also vital, as is ensuring no food waste went to landfill by 2025, but is instead used to generate energy, it adds. The CCC said that for decades food production had been rewarded with subsidies ahead of other public goods that land could provide, but that Brexit provided an opportunity to reward landowners for helping to fight climate change and its impacts as well as supporting wildlife. “The incremental changes seen in the past to how we use land is not enough,” said Chris Stark, the CCC chief executive. “There is a window now to have a more radical policy.” He said intensive farming and global warming were damaging soil and wildlife. “The land is suffering,” Stark said. “We are not saying farmers need to go out of business, we are saying that we need a different approach which is equally [profitable] if government policy supports it.” The environment secretary, Michael Gove, said in January: “After a transition, we will replace [subsidies for owning land] with a system of public money for public goods.” The CCC report says the government should increase tree planting from 9,000 hectares (22,239 acres) per year to 20,000ha by 2020, then triple it to 27,000ha by 2030. This would bolster forest cover from 13% of the UK to 19% by 2050. “There are government plans to increase planting rates, but the plans have not been funded and to date the targets have been missed,” Stark said. The UK population is predicted to increase by 14% to 75 million by 2050, the CCC report says, meaning the land used for towns and cities could rise from 8% to 12%. The food production lost as fields are converted could be regained with improved efficiency, according to the report, as the best farms already produce double the quantity of food as the worst. The CCC also says healthier government food guidelines could reduce meat and dairy consumption, which produce the most greenhouse gases. The report also tackles the controversial area of biofuels, including the wood burned in power stations such as Drax in Yorkshire, which produces 6% of the nation’s electricity. “The UK has some of the best rules for biomass sustainability, but there are still some gaps and we would love Drax and others to fill those gaps,” Stark said. The key issue, he said, was ensuring that imported wood came only from forests where trees were replaced quickly to recapture the carbon dioxide emitted when burned. Will Gardiner, the Drax chief executive, said: “We are committed to working with the government and stakeholders to go further [on sustainability requirements] – setting the standard for others to follow.” The CCC report suggests demand for biofuels could increase and more than 1m hectares of UK land could be used for energy crops. They should, therefore, be used for only the most climate-friendly purposes, the report says, with biomass burning in power stations getting subsidies only after 2027 if the emissions are captured and stored underground. Biofuels for vehicles should also be phased out as they go electric and instead used for aeroplanes. Guy Shrubsole, a campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “This report is a wake-up call for a complacent government that we must completely transform the way we use land to avoid climate breakdown and make space for nature.” Tree planting should go far beyond the CCC recommendation to double the UK’s forest cover, he added. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/forests', 'environment/farming', 'environment/environment', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damiancarrington', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2018-11-15T00:01:18Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
news/2011/mar/28/weatherwatch-shrubs-trees-dead | Weatherwatch: why the December freeze killed so many shrubs and trees | A large number of shrubs and trees, some large and mature, appear to have died this winter. These losses are far greater than are usually seen even in Britain's coldest weather and will be a surprise to many gardeners. It seems the December cold snap is responsible. Research during the last century showed much colder winters than this one, for example 1962/63, killed fewer plants. In those cases the extreme cold had followed a gradual cooling through the autumn until extremes set in after Christmas. However, in years when November was mild and temperatures plunged in December, the rapid change wiped out large numbers of plants believed to be hardy. A paper, published in 1982, following an extremely cold December of 1981, showed that many varieties of roses and even privet hedges were killed. Not surprisingly figs and mature bay trees also died. Among the casualties listed was ceonothus, otherwise known as the California lilac, whose blue flowers light up many suburban gardens in the late spring. This year many mature specimens, up to 3 metres tall, stand black and apparently dead. What seems to be the cause of these widespread fatalities is that plants have still lots of sap in their stems and leaves after a mild November and have not fully become dormant. The sudden December freeze kills them. One bright spot recorded is that some specimens pronounced "dead" in 1982 were still alive below ground and produced new shoots when all hope had been lost. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'tone/features', 'environment/winter', 'type/article', 'profile/paulbrown', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-03-27T23:05:05Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/2020/jul/13/johnnie-walker-maker-creates-plastic-free-paper-based-spirits-bottle | Johnnie Walker maker creates plastic-free paper-based spirits bottle | The multinational drinks company Diageo says it has created the world’s first paper-based spirits bottle that is 100% plastic-free. The company said it was aiming to launch the bottle early next year with its Johnnie Walker whisky brand in one market before rolling it out worldwide. The bottle is made from sustainably sourced pulp, complies with international food and drink safety standards and is fully recyclable. The contents are protected by a liner, made of resin rather than plastic, which holds the liquid but disintegrates when finished. The cap will be made of aluminium. Ewan Andrew, the chief sustainability officer at Diageo, said: “We’re proud to have created this world first. We are constantly striving to push the boundaries within sustainable packaging and this bottle has the potential to be truly groundbreaking. It feels fitting that we should launch it with Johnnie Walker, a brand that has often led the way in innovation through its 200-year existence.” A paper beer bottle was unveiled last year by the Danish brewer Carlsberg. Last month the UK company Frugalpac announced it was in talks with supermarkets about its paper bottle, which is made with 94% recycled paperboard and a plastic food-grade liner to hold the liquid, and can be recycled along with household waste. | ['business/diageo', 'environment/green-economy', 'business/business', 'business/fooddrinks', 'environment/environment', 'food/whisky', 'food/food', 'society/plastic-free', 'environment/plastic', 'environment/pollution', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/rebeccasmithers', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2020-07-13T12:49:19Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
global-development/2017/may/15/splash-and-burn-artists-take-aim-at-sumatra-palm-oil-industry-indonesia-ernest-zacharevic | Where there’s a wall there’s a way: artists take aim at Sumatra’s palm oil industry | On a swampy patch of degraded forest land on the Indonesian island of Sumatra stands a hooded black figure, face obscured by plumes of smoke. Something strange is afoot. Elsewhere, random limbs protrude eerily from unexpected places. A sun bear, piggybacking a startled child, traipses stoically across a foreign landscape. A miniature man settles into a hammock strung between two oil palm saplings. Behind it all is a unique project, the brainchild of Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic, who has spent the past year secretly curating a group of international artists in a collective, artistic response to the global palm oil industry.Dotted across various sites and cities in Sumatra, the project is called Splash and Burn. The title is a play on “slash and burn”, the term used to describe the cheap method used by smallholder farmers to clear land for oil palm plantations. Splash and Burn depicts a young boy wielding a burning match as he sits astride a rhino folded from a US dollar bill. To raise money for the project of the same name, Zacharevic sold an edition of 130 of these lithographs Splash and Burn The artist was provoked into action all the way from his studio in Penang, a city in neighbouring Malaysia where his work is playfully displayed on colonial-era buildings. Slash and burn methods often cause forest fires, creating a haze that affects the entire region. In late 2015, the problem – exacerbated by a protracted El Niño – reached epic proportions. Tens of thousands of acres of rainforest were engulfed in flames, pollution indexes shot up to 2,000 – anything above 300 is considered hazardous – and six provinces declared a state of emergency as hundreds of thousands struggled to breathe the toxic yellow air. As thick clouds of smoke from Sumatra and Indonesian Borneo wafted over to Malaysia and Singapore, enveloping Zacharevic’s Penang base, he began to reflect on Indonesia and its role in the palm oil industry. I was thinking about how little we know about it, but how much we are involved in it economically, through palm oil. That was really how my art became directed to it – Ernest Zacharevic Indonesia is the world largest producer of palm oil, a vegetable oil so ubiquitous it is in about half of all packaged products – from lipstick and pizza dough to shampoo and ice cream – sold at your supermarket. The idea, says Zacharevic, was to use street and public art to start a dialogue, a creative campaign to draw awareness to deforestation, the displacement of wildlife, and other issues connected to the industry. One mural, which features children and an orangutan on a rickshaw, was painted around an existing sign that said dilarang masuk, meaning “no entry”. The children, he says, are a slightly cheeky symbol of surpassing taboo. Each work in the Splash and Burn series was designed to highlight unregulated farming practices in the palm oil industry. Collaborators included the Sumatran Orangutan Society, a charity based in Oxfordshire, the Orangutan Information Centre in Indonesia, and a slew of local NGOs. Speaking of his quirky but somewhat haunting figures, American installation artist Mark Jenkins says he wanted to interrogate ideas of ignorance and perception. Ostriches also loomed large. Several of Jenkins’ installations feature figures with buried heads, an ostrich-like abstraction of ignorance, or just a pair of legs poking out. At first glance they appear to be dead bodies. “We live in a culture now where people are so engrossed in their cell phones and things like that so they don’t really pay attention to surroundings,” says Jenkins, “So it almost takes something super surreal, or something that looks like a dead body to get people to stop.” Post Banksy, Jenkins describes the Sumatra project as a reimagining, a reinvigoration of street art, refocused on the grassroots. Among the eight artists involved are Britain’s Gabriel Pitcher, who painted the old woman at the window, Norwegian stencil artist StrØk, aka Anders Gjennestad, and the Spanish sculptor Isaac Cordal, whose series of poignant miniatures including a skeleton in a suit. Also involved are Italy’s Pixel Pancho, Malaysian painter Bibichun, and Axel Void, an American-born Spanish artist who is also working on a film exploring the lives of children born on the island’s plantations. Together with coordinator Charlotte Pyatt, Zacharevic has spent almost two years carefully orchestrating and secretly curating the project. The pair envisage that Splash and Burn will soon evolve into a regional exhibition. Zacharevic says Splash and Burn is not so much anti-palm oil as a call to reconsider our environment. I want to bring the artist and the viewer out of the box, looking at our dialogue and seeing that we can be conscious – Ernest Zacharevic | ['global-development/global-development', 'environment/palm-oil', 'world/indonesia', 'world/world', 'environment/environment', 'global-development/natural-resources-and-development', 'environment/forests', 'world/asia-pacific', 'type/article', 'profile/kate-lamb', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2017-05-15T06:00:37Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
australia-news/2022/apr/09/this-is-an-emergency-australias-extreme-weather-crises-spark-anger-at-climate-inaction | ‘This is an emergency’: Australia’s extreme weather crises spark anger at climate inaction | With recent months bringing record rain, record heat and a sixth mass bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia has experienced a troubling start to the year. While unprecedented rainfall resulted in devastating floods along the east coast, other parts of the country have experienced the driest summer in decades. These events have coincided with a La Niña atmospheric phenomenon, which developed in November and is typically associated with a wetter summer across eastern Australia. But the seemingly ceaseless extreme weather this year has left many Australians homeless, despondent and angry at the federal government’s wilful lack of climate action. Between 23 and 28 February, an atmospheric river – like “a tsunami from the sky” – inundated parts of south-east Queensland with more than one metre of torrential rain. At least nine people were killed, and an estimated 15,000 homes in Brisbane, the state’s capital, were flooded. In just six days, almost 80% of the city’s average annual rainfall had fallen. The system then moved south, laying waste to towns in northern New South Wales. The low-lying city of Lismore faced its worst flooding in modern recorded history, inundating houses and gutting the central business district. Distressing footage surfaced of residents who had become stranded on their rooftops by the rapidly rising waters. Once the flood waters had receded, residents of northern NSW returned to their ravaged homes and volunteers pitched in to remove mountains of waste. A national emergency was only declared a week later, ahead of the prime minister, Scott Morrison, visiting Lismore to survey the damage. The town’s locals, with whom he did not meet, were unimpressed. Farther south on the same day – 9 March – flash flooding in parts of Sydney inundated bridges and roads. The city experienced its wettest start to the year on record, and heavy rains turn its famous harbour brown. Just as clean-up efforts were in full swing, a second extreme weather system developed just weeks later, walloping northern NSW for the second time in a month. At the end of March, Lismore went under again; many residents had nothing more left to lose. Heavy rain flooded the main street in the backpacker town of Byron Bay, stunning locals. “I cannot remember sunshine. It has been raining steadily since spring,” wrote Travis Lipshus. Dr Andrew King, a climate scientist at the University of Melbourne, said it was typically difficult to pinpoint the effect of climate change on extreme rainfall. “Here in Australia we have very high variability from one year to the next, which means it’s hard to pull out a clear climate change signal,” he said. “But for really short duration extreme rain events”– such as the second bout of damaging rain over northern NSW – “we can see a climate change effect”. “The warmer the atmosphere gets, the more moisture it can hold,” said Dr Nina Ridder, a research associate at the University of NSW’s Climate Change Research Centre. “Per degree of warming, it’s 7% more water.” Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning “In observations, we have already seen that extreme rainfall events have become more and more frequent over the past decade … also, the intensity has increased.” Meanwhile, farther north, a different kind of mass devastation was unfolding. Corals on the Great Barrier Reef bleached en masse for the sixth time – and the first instance the event has occurred in a La Niña year. It was, a marine scientist told the Guardian, “a clear sign of the increasing intensity of climate change and ocean warming”. “It’s certainly worrying that we’re seeing bleaching in a La Niña year, but unfortunately I think it’s really a sign of things to come,” King said. “We know that the marine heatwaves we’ve seen in the last few years on the Great Barrier Reef would be virtually impossible to occur without human-caused climate change, at the magnitude we’re seeing.” “Unless we really keep global warming to very, very low levels, we’re going to lose most of our coral reefs globally,” he said. Records have also fallen in parts of Australia where La Niña has had less of an effect. Western Australia had a sweltering summer, with temperatures in the state capital of Perth exceeding 40C nine times. In January, the remote town of Onslow registered a temperature of 50.7C, equalling the highest ever reliably recorded in Australia. In the south, the island state of Tasmania had its driest summer in 40 years, where total rainfall was 43% below the long-term average. “Climate change is increasing the risks of heatwaves, bushfires, and high intensity rainfall,” said Neil Plummer, a consultant at the Monash Climate Change Communication Research Hub. The risk of these extreme events in future, Plummer said, will “depend upon the extent countries, including Australia, reduce their carbon emissions and deforestation practices”. Despite the urgent call to scale up climate action, the Morrison government plans to reduce annual climate spending if returned to power after the next federal election, which is due in May. It has also pushed to soften the wording of an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report to say that the Great Barrier Reef is not yet in crisis. The Coalition government’s actions are particularly jarring in light of the extremes – bushfires, drought and mice plagues – that many Australians have experienced in recent years, to which 2022’s devastation is but the most recent addition. Many now feel, as the incoming NSW Greens politician Sue Higginson puts it: “This is an emergency – a climate emergency.” | ['australia-news/australia-news', 'world/world', 'australia-news/australia-weather', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'australia-news/australia-east-coast-floods-2022', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/donna-lu', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | australia-news/australia-east-coast-floods-2022 | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2022-04-09T05:00:03Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2024/feb/23/colombia-names-cali-as-host-city-cop16-biodiversity-summit-aoe | Colombia vows to put nature at the heart of global environmental negotiations | The next round of global biodiversity negotiations will put nature at the heart of the international environment agenda, Colombia’s environment minister has said, as the country prepares for the Cop16 summit. Susana Muhamad, Colombia’s environment minister, who is expected to be the Cop16 president, said the South American country would use the summit to ensure nature was a key part of the global environmental agenda in the year building up to the climate Cop30 in the Brazilian Amazon in 2025, where countries will present new plans on how they will meet the Paris agreement. “Although the climate is affecting biodiversity, nature is an answer to the climate crisis. It is not the only answer but it is a very important pillar and we want to position it very strongly to build towards Cop30 in Brazil,” Muhamad told the Guardian. “We need to create the momentum and the role of Cop16 is to make nature a pillar of those discussions,” she said. “I think sometimes we divide the international environmental agenda into many issues … [but] we need to concentrate. For example, saving the Amazon is a practical and tangible action. The creation of multinational marine protected areas is a tangible action that has results for the climate and biodiversity.” Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, has named Cali as the host city for Cop16 in October – the first biodiversity summit since a historic UN deal was made to halt the rampant loss of biodiversity, in Montreal, Canada at the end of 2022. Governments heading to Cali, about 50 miles from Colombia’s Pacific coast, are expected to present national-level plans to meet the biodiversity targets, which include commitments to protect 30% of land and sea for nature and restore 30% of the planet’s degraded ecosystems. Muhamad said will use the summit to try to negotiate stronger recognition and finance for megadiverse countries, which are home to a disproportionate amount of life on Earth. The crisis in the natural world will feature heavily on the international stage in 2024: from Brazil’s G20 presidency, which President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will use to focus on developing economic models to protect the Amazon, to the climate Cop29 in Azerbaijan. Colombia has become a leading environmental voice on the global stage. At Cop28 in Dubai last year, the leftwing Petro announced that Colombia would back calls for a fossil fuel nonproliferation treaty, becoming the first large fossil fuel producer to do so. Petro said his country’s biodiversity would become the basis of its economic strength after the green transition. David Cooper, the acting executive secretary for the UN convention on biological diversity, said Colombia would be an inspiring host for Cop16 and bring welcome leadership on the environment. He said Cop16 would be important for the implementation of this decade’s biodiversity targets, but added that he was concerned about farmers’ protests against environmental policies, and how they could affect countries’ commitments in the future. “Protecting biodiversity and ecosystems are so fundamental to food and agriculture, yet we’re not managing to maintain a common interest,” he said. “We’ve got major challenges. Political leaders really need to step up.” Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on X for all the latest news and features | ['environment/series/the-age-of-extinction', 'environment/biodiversity', 'environment/environment', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/wildlife', 'world/colombia', 'world/americas', 'world/world', 'world/unitednations', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/patrick-greenfield', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-age-of-extinction'] | environment/biodiversity | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-02-23T05:00:39Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
uk-news/2019/mar/15/country-diary-remote-island-full-of-noises-lewis-outer-hebrides | Country diary: a remote island, but still full of noises | In my youth, Druim Fraoich – or Heather Ridge – was often full of noises. At night, there might be the twanging of guitars or the pounding of an accordion coming from Ness Hall, built in the 1960s on the site of a former quarry. During the day, its stone cliffs – where my father started work with pickaxe and hammer at the age of 14 – were home to twites and sparrows. Their chirping would accompany me as I dawdled home from Cross primary school in the neighbouring village. For all that the ceilidh music has long hushed, Ness Hall having closed a few years ago, the birds still perch there, an insistent chorus as I walk my childhood route to school. I stride through the village of North Dell, aware that some are still crofting there, though in a different way from their predecessors. Polytunnels are now as common as byres and outhouses, and pigs, rather than cattle, are churning up soil near old school walls. It would be easy to be negative about some of these changes, to note that, according to a recent study by Donald Macritchie, a local maths teacher, the population of north-west Lewis has declined from 2,445 in 1979 to 1,610 in January 2019. More than a third of its residents are over the age of 65. Yet that would be to overlook the district’s spirit, the way its residents have tried to stem the outward drift of people from these shores. The community took over the running of the Galson estate, between the Butt of Lewis lighthouse and the stone monolith at Ballantrushal, in 2007, employing more than 30 people where no jobs existed before, and finding a new use for Cross primary, which closed due to falling rolls in 2011. At present, the old school building is again full of noises. Drills and hammers are transforming it into a new museum for Comunn Eachdraidh Nis, the Ness historical society. When it opens in early 2020, there will be photographs and exhibits displayed in the rooms where I used to sit and peer out of windows, watching twites and sparrows, hordes of starlings clouding stretches of moor and croftland nearby. | ['uk/ruralaffairs', 'uk/scotland', 'environment/series/country-diary', 'culture/museums', 'culture/culture', 'uk/uk', 'world/population', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'environment/farming', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/donald-s-murray', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2019-03-15T05:30:01Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2012/jan/20/glyndebourne-wind-turbine-launch | Glyndebourne wind turbine launch met with cheers and jeers | When the wind blows at Glyndebourne this year, it won't just cause the guests at Britain's grandest opera season to huddle into their pashminas and dinner jackets as they picnic in the gardens. It will also be powering the fridges chilling the champagne as well as the spotlights on the soprano centre stage, as a £1.5m wind turbine turns. "That is just so beautiful," sighed Brenda Sherrard, as Sir David Attenborough and Verity Cannings, deputy head girl at Ringmer community college, wrestled with the green ribbon wrapped around the 44-metre mast of the first wind turbine to power a major UK arts institution. There were cheers from the crowd, which included many local residents, easily drowning out the swoosh and the low whine as the giant blades began to turn. But there were also a few jeers from a small knot of protesters who fought the proposal through years of planning debates and a six-day public hearing, insisting it would blight the rolling beauty and tranquility of the South Downs. Sherrard lives four miles away in Lewes, but her daughter Anna lives near enough that she walked to the launch ceremony. They both think the turbine, sited 100 metres from the stump of the Victorian post mill, has its own beauty. "Not everyone agrees with me," Sherrard conceded. But Cannings, who heads her college's ecology team, did. "I don't get how anyone can object to it. In a few years' time they won't even notice it. In another few years, if we don't do something about climate change, this view won't be here anyway because we'll all be under water." "It's been a long journey", said Gus Christie, grandson of Sir John Christie, who married a soprano and founded an opera house in the back garden of his country home. He too said the turbine was "an object of beauty", as well as a boost to Glyndebourne's efforts to become carbon neutral, which already included low-energy lighting, composting and green waste schemes for the acres of gardens, an electric car charging point and a cycle-to-work scheme for staff. Christie first thought of building a wind turbine in 2004. He said he hoped other arts organisations and environmental bodies such as Natural England would now join forces to find sites for more turbines – and that it would not take them quite so long to achieve. "If all applications are blocked, then future generations will hold these bodies responsible for failing to address the issue of climate change." Over the course of the year, he believes, the turbine will generate more than half of Glyndebourne's electricity requirements, a giant step towards its target of getting 90% of its energy from renewable sources. The turbine was first switched on on 3 December, and that month generated more than twice the electricity used in the previous December. The sound is faint but quite audible throughout the grounds, although the general director, David Pickard, pointed out that the houses most affected were on the Christie estate. So far the only complaints about noise pollution came when the wind direction shifted to the east, and the speed of the blades was turned down for a few days. Attenborough said the young had got it but their elders still had not grasped the scale of the change essential to avert catastrophe. "If people don't like the rhythmic puffy noise it makes then that's their choice, but I can't help feeling such people haven't really grasped where energy comes from. What do they imagine happens when they turn on a light switch or drive their cars? "For most of my lifetime most power came from burning coal, which killed many hundreds underground and thousands overground from breathing in fumes, and in my memory caused smogs where you could not see your hand in front of your face. It is almost unbelievable to me that we now have the ability to draw the power we need from every gust of wind." | ['environment/windpower', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'music/glyndebourne', 'music/music', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/maevkennedy', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2012-01-20T17:04:52Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2021/jun/12/all-hot-air-uk-commits-to-climate-action-but-not-to-new-funding | All hot air: UK commits to climate action but not to new funding | Boris Johnson has set out his intention to “build back better for the world”, to protect the natural environment and wildlife, and tackle the climate crisis, at the G7 summit in Cornwall. But he committed no new funds to the initiative, and other G7 leaders showed little sign of coming forward with the cash commitments that campaigners said were needed to help developing countries cope with the climate emergency. Announcing £500m to be spent on a “blue planet fund”, for the protection of the oceans and coastal areas in poor countries, he said: “As democratic nations, we have a responsibility to help developing countries reap the benefits of clean growth through a fair and transparent system. The G7 has an unprecedented opportunity to drive a global green industrial revolution, with the potential to transform the way we live. Sir David Attenborough, the naturalist, told the G7 leaders: “The natural world today is greatly diminished. Our planet is warming fast … The decisions we make this decade – in particular the decisions made by the most economically advanced nations – are the most important in human history.” However, a £500m commitment is not new money, but was contained in the Conservative manifesto in 2019, and will come from the £11.6bn in climate finance that the UK has already agreed to spend over the next five years helping developing countries. Damian Green, former de facto deputy prime minister, said: “The £500m Blue Planet Fund was announced last year, and certainly has important work to do on biodiversity and conservation around the world. But there is no new money being announced today, which is becoming a pattern after the announcements on vaccines and girls’ education.” The G7 summit was intended to be an important staging post on the way to vital UN climate talks later this year, called Cop26, to be hosted by Johnson in Glasgow. The world’s wealthiest democracies – the UK, the US, Japan, Canada, Germany, France, Italy and the EU – reaffirmed their intention of holding global heating to no more than 1.5C. Along with their commitments on emissions, they were also expected to increase financial assistance to the developing world, to help poor countries cut their greenhouse gas emissions and cope with the impacts of extreme weather. Rich countries pledged in 2009 to ensure poor countries would receive $100bn a year in climate finance by 2020, but that target has not yet been met. Campaigners warned developing countries would lose trust in the rich world without new funding, and face increasing difficulty in grappling with the climate crisis, if longstanding pledges were not met. They said the “build back better” plan was vague and little more than a label, containing few concrete measures. Green laid the blame for the failure to announce new finance squarely on the government’s decision to slash overseas aid, which has taken the pressure off other countries to come up with new finance for the developing world. He said: “The UK’s cut from 0.7% to 0.5% on aid has prevented finance ministers agreeing a financing plan before this summit started. So now it is up to the leaders, in the final 24 hours, to get their cheque books out and decide how they are going to divide the bill to pay for the ambition in the communique.” John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK, said: “Despite the green soundbites, Johnson has simply reheated old promises and peppered his plan with hypocrisy, rather than taking real action to tackle the climate and nature emergency. While commitments to provide more support to developing nations are absolutely vital, until they cough up the cash, we’re taking nothing for granted. “The dismal track record of rich nations to honour commitments made over a decade ago on climate finance, alongside the UK’s decision to slash its aid budget, make it hard to take the so-called ‘Build Back Better for the World’ plan with anything more than a pinch of salt.” Downing Street said the UK’s blue planet fund would support countries including Ghana, Indonesia and Pacific Island states to combat unsustainable fishing, restore coastal ecosystems such as mangrove swamps and coral reefs, and reduce marine pollution. The G7 are also expected to endorse a “nature compact” to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, in line with a global target of protecting at least 30% of land and 30% of the ocean by 2030 that all countries are being urged to sign up to this year. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/biodiversity', 'environment/environment', 'world/g7', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'uk-news/cornwall', 'uk/uk', 'tv-and-radio/david-attenborough', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'profile/tobyhelm', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-main'] | environment/biodiversity | BIODIVERSITY | 2021-06-12T21:31:41Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2007/sep/04/weather.travel | Nicaraguans flee coast as Hurricane Felix strikes | Nicaragua today evacuated 12,000 people from its coastline as Hurricane Felix struck land with the potential to wreak catastrophic damage. The maximum-strength, category-five storm, with winds of 160mph, ripped off roofs and brought down electricity lines only two weeks after Hurricane Dean struck Mexico, further up the Caribbean coast. "The wind is terrible. There's a roaring when it pulls the roofs off the houses," Lumberto Campbell, a local official in Puerto Cabezas, told a radio station before being cut off. "There is no electricity because all the posts that hold up the cables have fallen down. The metal roofs come off like shaving knives and are sent flying against the trees and homes." Felix landed around dawn at Punta Gorda. It was the first time two category-five hurricanes had hit land in the same area since records began, in 1886, according to the US national oceanic and atmospheric administration. Rogelio Flores, head of civil defence for the affected area, said officials had received distress calls from three boats at sea with a total of 49 people on board, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. He said more than 12,000 people had been evacuated. But many Miskito Indians, who were part of a British protectorate until the 19th century, refused to leave low-lying areas on the coast and head to shelters set up in schools. Some 35,000 Miskitos live in Honduras, and more than 100,000 in Nicaragua. The only path to safety is up rivers and across lakes that are too shallow for large boats, but many people lack sufficient petrol to make long journeys. Provincial officials estimated 18,000 people would have to find their own way to higher ground. Telephones and power were out in much of the region, making it difficult to find out what was happening as the storm's winds began hitting the remote, swampy area, much of which is reachable only by canoe. The Nicaraguan government sent in some soldiers before the storm hit but was preparing to send in more to help once the hurricane has passed. In Honduras's seaside resort of La Ceiba, residents spent the night reinforcing flimsy house walls with plywood and sandbags. "It's going to be strong, but we have faith that Christ will protect us," said Sandra Hernandez, 37,watching satellite images of the storm on television. In the final hours before Felix hit land, Grupo Taca airlines airlifted tourists from the Honduran island of Roatan, popular for its pristine reefs and diving resorts. Another 1,000 people were removed from low-lying coastal areas and smaller islands. Bob Shearer, 54, from Butler, Pennsylvania, said he was disappointed his family's scuba diving trip to Roatan had been cut short by the evacuation order. "I only got seven dives in. I hope they didn't jump the gun too soon," he said as he waited for a flight home. The US national hurricane centre in Miami said Felix could dump up to 30cm (12in) of rain in isolated parts of northern Honduras and north-eastern Nicaragua, possibly bringing flash floods and mudslides. Felix, the second hurricane of the Atlantic season after Dean, prompted fears of a repeat of 1998, when Hurricane Mitch devastated the region. Felix was following the same path as Mitch, a sluggish storm that stalled for a week over Central America, killing nearly 11,000 people and leaving more than 8,000 missing, mostly in Honduras and Nicaragua. The Honduras civil protection head, Marco Burgos, said: "We are faced with a very serious threat to lives and property. The most important thing is that people pay heed to the call for evacuation so that we don't have to count bodies later." The World Food Programme said its stocks in the region could feed 600,000 people for a month. Meanwhile, off Mexico's Pacific coast, tropical storm Henriette reached hurricane strength and was on a path to hit the resort-studded tip of the Baja California peninsula. Before dawn, strong waves pounded beaches, rain fell in sheets and strong winds whipped palm trees. More than 100 people spent the night in makeshift shelters as the storm approached, and more were expected to leave their homes. Police in Cabo San Lucas, Baja, yesterday said high surf stirred up by Henriette had led to the drowning of an unidentified woman. Over the weekend, the storm caused flooding and landslides that killed six people in Acapulco. Dean, the first storm of the Atlantic season, killed 27 people in the Caribbean and Mexico last month. Only 31 such storms have been recorded in the Atlantic, eight of them in the last five years. | ['world/world', 'travel/travel', 'travel/honduras', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/hurricanes', 'type/article', 'profile/marktran'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2007-09-04T15:27:50Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2019/mar/27/us-china-soy-tariff-war-could-destroy-13-million-hectares-of-amazon-rainforest | US-China soy trade war could destroy 13 million hectares of rainforest | The Amazon rainforest could be the greatest casualty of the trade war between the United States and China, warns a new study showing how deforestation pressures have surged as a result of the geopolitical jolt in global soy markets. Up to 13m hectares of forest and savannah – an area the size of Greece – would have to be cleared if Brazil and other exporters were to fill the huge shortfall in soy supply to China that has suddenly appeared since Donald Trump imposed hefty tariffs, according to the paper published in Nature. US exports of the commodity, primarily used to feed livestock, to China plummeted by 50% last year, which the authors say is an unusually sharp level of decline between two trading partners outside wartime. As well as raising concerns that food is being used as an economic weapon – though not yet at the level of the 1980 grain embargo on the Soviet Union during the cold war – this has prompted fears about the additional burden it could put on an already highly stressed global environment, particularly in the Amazon region. To make up the gap from the US, China will need to find 22.6m to 37.6m tonnes from elsewhere, notes the journal article. This could be spread among the 94 soy-producing nations but by far the most likely source is Brazil, already the world’s biggest supplier of soy and keen to further boost its agricultural exports. Boosting production would require either greater yields per hectare or more land. More intensive agriculture is difficult because Brazil’s nutrient-poor tropical soils already need nearly three times as much fertiliser as those in the US and Canada. So the easiest way for farmers to increase harvests is to plough new fields in the frontier lands of the Cerrado savannah and the Amazon forest. The amount of land needed would depend on adjustments to global trade and government regulation. But even if Brazil simply maintained its current share of the non-US soy market, this would require up to 5.7m hectares more land, a 17.3% increase on current levels. The authors warn this could push deforestation of the Amazon beyond even the worst levels of 3m hectares a year recorded between 1995 and 2004, with dire implications for carbon dioxide emissions. “This is a case study of why it will be extremely difficult for the world to meet the Paris target to keep warming within 1.5C [above pre-industrial levels]. We’re moving in the wrong direction,” said Peter Alexander, one of the authors and lecturer in global food systems and security at the University of Edinburgh. “Many people may not realise that a trade war between two nations can affect land use in a third country. But this is the unintended consequence that arises from decisions made in a complex web of interactions in which change in any one part may affect every other.” Regulatory barriers to deforestation are already under pressure. Much of the remaining Amazon forest is designated as nature reserves, indigenous territory or the homes of quilombolas and extractivist forest dwellers. In recent years, however, the strong “ruralista” agriculture lobby in Brazil has pushed for a weakening of protections. The government of Jair Bolsonaro has further diluted the powers of the environment agency and pushed for the expansion of agricultural interests. Rising soy prices have also sent a signal to farmers to cash in by expanding their cropland. Brazil is already moving to take advantage of the trade war. At the end of last year, 75% of China’s soya bean imports came from Brazil, which was a new record and a sign that the entire US shortfall was substituted with Brazilian soya beans, according to the paper. The stock index of the country’s 52 biggest companies has risen faster than any other market in the region. Trade talks between the US and China continue. A deal could help stabilise the soy market and ease deforestation concerns. The authors say consumer choices in other nations could also make an impact if it helped to reduce global demand for beef and pork, which are largely fattened on soy feed. But the situation could easily get worse. The conservative estimates for land clearance in the new paper assume Chinese demand for soy will remain stable. The trend is very different, Since 2000, China’s imports of the commodity from the US have risen 700%, from Argentina 200% and from Brazil 2,000%. If even more of the supply pressure is concentrated on Brazil, the impact is most likely to be felt by the Amazon, the world’s biggest forest, greatest home of biodiversity and most important terrestrial carbon sink. The Nature article concludes with a stark call for change. “Governments, producers, regulators and consumers must act now. If they don’t, the Amazon rainforest could become the greatest casualty of the US–China trade war.” | ['environment/amazon-rainforest', 'environment/deforestation', 'global-development/trade-and-development', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'environment/forests', 'us-news/donaldtrump', 'world/china', 'world/brazil', 'world/jair-bolsonaro', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/americas', 'world/asia-pacific', 'global-development/global-development', 'environment/conservation', 'global-development/food-security', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jonathanwatts', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/deforestation | BIODIVERSITY | 2019-03-27T18:00:07Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
us-news/2016/aug/18/louisiana-floods-damage-shelters-torrential-rain | Louisiana tries to rebuild after floods: 'Thousands of people lost everything' | As floodwaters receded Thursday, a week after torrential rains decimated parts of Louisiana, communities throughout the region turned themselves inside out: people dragged carpet, furniture, sheetrock into their yards, in a race to air out their homes before mold sets in. “Smell it?” said Justin Martinez as he and family members rushed to tear out anything wet – which is to say everything down to the studs – and throw it outside. The unmistakeable odor of mold rode the damp air. “It comes that fast. It’s unbelievable.” Martinez lives on the Amite River in Denham Springs, and thousands of people in every direction worked in the same frantic way. Livingston Parish, and those around it, looked like history’s most hapless yard sale. The death toll from the state’s historic floods had risen to 13 people by Thursday. Torrential rains that began a week ago brought an astounding 26m cubic metres (6.9tn gallons) of water down, with more than 76cm (2.5ft) of water to parts of the state. The weather has damaged some 40,000 homes in the state and, as of Thursday, left approximately 4,000 Louisiana residents in temporary shelters, down from a high of more than 12,000 earlier in the week. In the course of the storm, more than 30,000 people have been rescued from flooding, and more than 85,000 people have registered to receive federal disaster aid. “Thousands of people in Louisiana have lost everything they own and need our help now,” said Brad Kieserman, vice president of Disaster Services Operations and Logistics for the Red Cross, in a statement late on Wednesday. “This disaster is the worst to hit the United States since Superstorm Sandy and we anticipate it will cost at least $30m, a number which may grow as we learn more about the scope and magnitude of the devastation.” Superstorm Sandy barrelled into the East Coast in 2012, leaving more than 100 people dead across several states. Housing and urban development secretary Julián Castro announced Thursday that his agency would be offering assistance to homeowners and low-income renters affected by flooding damage. And Homeland Security secretary Jeh Johnson was expected to visit the state Thursday to survey the damage. At Amite Baptist Church, members dragged chairs into the parking lot. On a road near the river a tractor broke down with a trailer full of waterlogged furniture, and motorists stopped to help the owner push it off the road. Everywhere a gray silt covered trees and shrubs and walls, marking the water’s historic height. People whose homes didn’t flood worked in other ways. Lanette Watson, who would normally be working at her audiologist office, ripped open bags of bread and spread the pieces on her kitchen counter. She had mixed a vat of peanut butter and jelly, and now glopped it onto the bread while her children stuffed potato chips into sacks. “How many left?” she asked without slowing her assembly line. She and her husband, Mickey, are making a thousand meals a day and distributing them at their church. She received an automated call from the Livingston Parish school system. Instead of the usual monotone recital of holidays and lunch menus, the school official spoke with a wavering voice. “In these difficult times, we need to stay strong and keep our faith,” said assistant superintendent Steve Parrill. Schools are closed, he said, and there’s no sense of when they may reopen. Maybe weeks. Maybe months. “We pray for our students and their families, that they will find the strength they need to persevere.” There were signs of life, though: people walked through the drive-through lane of a McDonald’s for lunch. Ambulances ran, and garbage trucks made their rounds. And everywhere people helped their neighbors begin a task that will take many days: cleaning out the debris that nature left in its wake. Although many regions had entered recovery mode, local authorities in at least one region were warning residents to evacuate due to rising waters. An area outside of Vermillion Parish, which lay outside the local levee system, was told to evacuate by local fire chief Evans Bourque, who said the evacuation order concerned some 60 to 70 homes and scores of residents in total. | ['us-news/louisiana', 'environment/flooding', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/environment', 'world/natural-disasters', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/matthew-teague', 'profile/tom-kutsch', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2016-08-18T18:16:51Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
media/pda/2008/oct/10/yahoo-yahootakeover | Plunging shares prompt renewed push for Microsoft takeover of Yahoo | It had to happen; now that Yahoo's shares have plunged to less than $13, one investor has started pushing for the Microsoft takeover deal again, Reuters reports. One suggested Microsoft should make a new offer of $22 a share - that's a 74% premium on the current share price but far less than the $31-per-share offer Microsoft had offered back on February 1. Photograph: cogdogblog/Flickr/Some rights reserved Mithras Capital, who hold a minor stake in Yahoo, are proposing a $3bn cost saving by unloading Yahoo's Asian assets and non-search businesses and pulling in $2.8bn in tax benefits - effectively meaning Microsoft pays $10.3bn for Yahoo Search. Mithras partner Mark Nelson last night wrote to Microsoft and Yahoo heads Steve Ballmer and Jerry Yang respectively to propose the move. Analyst Rob Sanderson said that with plummeting share values "it is increasingly likely Microsoft will make a new offer". "It is imperative for Microsoft to act now, while the Yahoo-Google deal is mired in regulatory concerns, and before Yahoo strikes a deal with AOL," said Nelson. "It is imperative for the Yahoo board to embrace this proposal as the best outcome for long-suffering Yahoo shareholders." | ['media/pda', 'technology/yahoo-takeover', 'tone/blog', 'media/media', 'technology/yahoo', 'technology/technology', 'technology/microsoft', 'business/business', 'type/article', 'profile/jemimakiss'] | technology/yahoo-takeover | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2008-10-10T10:56:50Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
australia-news/2022/jul/03/heartbreaking-millions-of-native-animals-killed-under-tasmanias-property-protection-permits | ‘Heartbreaking’: millions of native animals killed under Tasmania’s property protection permits | Millions of native animals, including wallabies, green rosellas, cockatoos and wombats have been killed in Tasmania under property protection permits, according to data produced by the state government. The Tasmanian Greens say the “staggering” figures, which were first reported by The Mercury newspaper, should be examined through a broader parliamentary inquiry into the management and protection of wildlife in Tasmania. In Tasmania, landowners can obtain property protection permits which allow them to kill wildlife to prevent damage to crops, stock or infrastructure. The Greens have raised concern that the number of animals killed through this system is opaque and that the broader effects on the environment have not been thoroughly assessed. New data, supplied in answers to questions on notice, shows 859,304 native animals were killed in 2021 alone and an additional 53,352 were culled up to 6 June this year. The total climbs to about 2.8m when data for 2020 and 2019 is included. It includes 1,176,002 Bennetts wallabies; 1,088,117 rufous wallabies; 530,487 brushtail possums; and 168 common wombats that were recorded as having been culled in the period from 2019 to 6 June this year. Other affected species include yellow-tailed black cockatoos, black swans and forester kangaroos (also known as eastern grey kangaroos). About 3,400 permits for culling of native wildlife were issued from 1 July 2019 to 6 June this year. The Greens Leader, Cassy O’Connor, said the government should be working with landholders to reduce the impact of native wildlife on property through non-lethal means. She said the party would be moving for a broad inquiry into wildlife protection and management because “Tasmanians deserve to know what is being done to ensure, in a time of climate and biodiversity crisis, this island’s wildlife is has a future”. Rosalie Woodruff, the Tasmanian Greens environment and biodiversity spokesperson, said the number of native animals killed was “heartbreaking”. She said many were much-loved animals that people went out of their way to see and some of the species had recorded local declines in population numbers in recent years. Woodruff also questioned whether damage to property was being thoroughly verified before permits were issued, as was required under the permit system. “With hundreds of thousands of native animals every year being legally slaughtered under an opaque process, where is the assessment of biodiversity impacts or justification?” she said. Tim Beshara, the manager of policy and strategy at the Wilderness Society, expressed concern about the potential ecological impact of large numbers of animal carcasses if they were left in the environment. “We are talking about what could be as much as 10,000 tonnes of marsupial carcasses here – about two to three times the amount of roadkill,” he said. “With the recent crash of devil and quoll populations to devour the carrion, leaving so many carcasses in patches across the landscape is likely to boost numbers of species like feral cats and ravens, in turn creating huge flow-through impacts to other species.” A government spokesperson said the wildlife regulations were in place to ensure sustainable management of wildlife populations across the state. They said permits were issued after an assessment of damage at a property and where there was a demonstrated need to protect crops or stock, or equipment or infrastructure used for agricultural production. “To be clear landowners use a range of management measures, such as fencing, netting and noise-scarers, to try to keep wildlife populations at a sustainable level in the agricultural landscape and protect their investment and livelihood,” they said. “Farming is a business and our farmers must be able to manage their land to support ongoing viability.” The spokesperson said applications for a permit were also assessed against requirements under the state’s Nature Conservation Act. “Long-term wildlife population monitoring indicates that the species subject to property protection permits have stable or increasing populations, which indicates that the current process for taking wildlife is sustainable,” the said. | ['australia-news/tasmania', 'environment/wildlife', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/conservation', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/lisa-cox', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-07-02T20:00:05Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
news/2021/may/05/weatherwatch-the-havoc-caused-by-solar-storms | Weatherwatch: the havoc caused by solar storms | In May 1921, a giant sunspot erupted, ejecting masses of solar material towards the Earth. This solar storm produced auroras visible all the way to the equator, and a rash of fires. A telegraph exchange in Sweden was the first to burst into flames, followed by a control tower near New York’s Grand Central Station. Long stretches of telegraph wire were acting as aerials; the resulting induced currents were strong enough to blow fuses and cause overheating, sometimes resulting in fires. Telegraph services were disrupted in the US, UK and across much of the rest of the world, including Australia. Railway signalling was also affected, and in Scandinavia and Canada some telephone lines were put out of action. Scientists had difficulty assessing the magnetic strength of the New York Railroad Superstorm because it went off the scale of their instruments. It was certainly comparable to the Carrington Event of 1859, often considered the biggest known solar storm. The next once-in-a-century storm will likely have more serious impact, due to the increase in infrastructure. We can expect power blackouts, satellite navigation failures and other issues. The UK’s Space Environment Impacts Expert Group recently put forward proposals for planning for and mitigating such a storm, comparing it to the slight but predictable risk of a pandemic. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/davidhambling', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2021-05-05T17:46:11Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2021/nov/26/e-waste-black-friday-uk-shoppers-donated-recycled-material-focus-campaign | Don’t add to e-waste mountain, campaign urges UK shoppers | Black Friday and pre-Christmas spending sprees will create an e-waste mountain as 5m unwanted electrical items are binned or put in storage in Britain, a campaign group has warned. The end-of-November sales event triggers the commercial run-up to Christmas and is followed days later by the Cyber Monday e-commerce frenzy, with retailers offering cut-price deals on a range of goods from mobile phones to laptops and smart speakers. Research by campaign group Material Focus estimates that 5m unwanted electrical items will be thrown away or hoarded after being supplanted by purchases made between Black Friday and Christmas. Material Focus, which runs the Recycle Your Electricals campaign, said any tech sidelined by new purchases should be donated or recycled. “With so many people experiencing financial hardship or in need of more tech, we all need to consider donating or recycling our old electrical items,” said Scott Butler, executive director of Material Focus. “They are worth almost £160m to those in need. “If your old electricals are truly at the end of their life do not throw them away, as they will end up in landfill, please instead recycle them as a minimum.” The estimates, based on a survey of 2,000 adults, point to at least 2.7m older unwanted electrical items being sent to landfill and a further 2.2m being hoarded at home. The most popular electrical purchases in the run-up to Christmas include smartphones, headphones, tablets, laptops and speakers. Britain’s e-waste problem is likely to be replicated worldwide, with analysts estimating that millions of new mobile phones will be bought in the wake of Black Friday, spurred by the latest iPhone launch. Apple will sell 40m iPhones globally between this weekend and Christmas, according to US investment firm Wedbush Securities, despite a chip supply shortage that has hampered production. Last year an investigation by the environmental audit committee found the UK is trailing behind other countries in tackling e-waste. The UK creates the second highest levels of electronic waste in the world, after Norway, with about 40% of the waste sent abroad. “For all their protestations of claimed sustainability, major online retailers and marketplaces such as Amazon have so far avoided playing their part in the circular economy by not collecting or recycling electronics in the way other organisations have to,” the MPs said. On Amazon’s UK website, recommendations for dealing with unwanted electrical goods include taking them to a charity or recycling them at a local authority-owned facility. Earlier this year ITV News filmed Amazon destroying scores of unwanted electrical products at a warehouse in Dunfermline. Amazon said none of the items went to landfill. The value of recyclable material abandoned within dumped electronics runs into billions of dollars, according to estimates. Thrown-away computers, smartphones, tablets and other electronic waste have a potential value of $62.5bn (£47bn) each year in large part due to the precious metals they contain, which include gold, silver, copper and platinum. | ['environment/ethical-living', 'environment/waste', 'business/black-friday', 'environment/recycling', 'lifeandstyle/christmas', 'business/cyber-monday', 'business/retail', 'environment/environment', 'business/business', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/danmilmo', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-11-26T17:16:23Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
world/2008/may/30/brazil.conservation1 | Hidden tribes of the world | There are around 100 uncontacted tribes in the world, Survival International estimates, of which more than half are in the Brazilian and Peruvian Amazon. The Brazilian government believes there are around 40 uncontacted tribes within its borders. Another 15 are thought to live in Peru, with a handful of others in Bolivia, Paraguay, Ecuador and Colombia. There are further tribes in western Papua, part of Indonesia and north Sentinel Island, in the Bay of Bengal. David Hill, a Peruvian expert at Survival International, said the main threats to uncontacted tribes are oil exploration and logging. "Peru is undergoing an oil boom. The areas where oil production can be explored has risen dramatically in recent years and now cover about 75% of the jungle area. The government has stepped up the development of the Amazon and encouraged firms to prospect. "Logging has been a problem for several years. Most of it is mahogany and cedar. Peru has one of the largest commercially viable mahogany sources in the world. The oldest trees are obviously in the same areas as the untouched tribes. There is no one else there so it is lawless and violence does occur when the loggers move in. The loggers are armed. There have been deaths on both sides." Some tribes – dubbed "uncontacted refugees" - retreat into the jungle, potentially putting them into conflict with other groups who use that territory. Most loggers in Peru come to the jungle from impoverished Andean areas in search of money. They have little money to support themselves in the Amazon for months on end or buy machinery and rely on money advances from middlemen in the large Amazon towns, like Pucallpa, Hill said. The timber is transported to Lima and most of the mahogany is exported to the US. Although some of the hard wood is certified as being sustainable, there is widespread fraud over its true origin. Hill puts the Peruvian authorities around 40 years behind Brazil in tribal policy. Very little is known about the tribes' technology, society or extent of their nomadic lifestyle. Survival International believes some tribes had contact with westerners around 100 years ago, during the rubber boom and subsequently decided not to engage with the outside world. "We know from groups that were once uncontacted that they did debate amongst themselves whether to have more dealings with the new settlers. It is possible the hostile reaction seen in the photos is a product of the societal memory of past encounters," said Hill. | ['world/brazil', 'world/world', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'environment/environment', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'world/americas', 'type/article', 'profile/jamessturcke'] | environment/amazon-rainforest | BIODIVERSITY | 2008-05-30T13:06:14Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2007/aug/09/italy.international | Italian mafia accused of starting wildfires and hindering fire crews | Suspicions that many of the hundreds of fires sweeping Italy this summer were started by organised crime were heightened when a firefighting helicopter was reportedly shot at and saboteurs attacked a communications beacon used by firefighters near Naples. The helicopter was hovering over the Volturno river in the Campania region on Monday when the large canister suspended below it for scooping up water was hit by 18 bullets, according to operators. On the same day the wiring at a radio beacon in nearby Irpinia used for firefighter communications was ripped out. "There is a clearly an offensive under way, presumably organised by the powerful Casalesi Camorra clan," a regional government official, Corrado Gabriele, told Il Giornale. "Behind these simple fires hides a business worth millions, with the Camorra aiming to create new zones for building," he added. The infrastructure minister, Antonio Di Pietro, compared the situation to "the wild west, or worse", and called for the army to be sent in to boost security. The environment minister, Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, said the fires were a "real criminal assault on the country's parks and other areas ... by people linked to organised crime groups and illicit construction". The Amalfi coast and a national park on the foothills of Vesuvius are among the areas hit by fire in recent days in Campania, while up and down the country 80,000 hectares (200,000 acres) of woodland have burned so far this year. On Tuesday alone 197 fires were reported, although there were heavy rains in the north of the country yesterday. Holidaymakers were trapped on the beach in the Puglia town of Peschici last month by flames which killed three people. This week a fire in the Monte Mario park in Rome forced residents from their homes and sent smoke drifting towards the dome of St Peter's. The Italian environmental group Legambiente has said more than half of all Italy's fires are started deliberately, whether by organised crime, building speculators or farmers seeking more land to cultivate. There have been similar claims that many of the fires across Greece this summer were started on purpose. In Italy, even when authorities step in to ensure burned tracts of woodland are replanted and not built on, investigators have suggested the mafia gains since it is investing in the tree-planting business. To help curb arson attacks, the WWF called on the government this week to offer a reward of €100,000 (£70,000) to Italians who turn in arsonists. The bishop of Locri-Gerace in Calabria, Giancarlo Maria Bregantini, demanded on Monday that arsonists be excommunicated. A more preventive, but just as unusual, solution was proposed by Nuncio Marcelli, head of an Abruzzo-based sheep farmers' group, who said the answer was not extra police or firefighters, but more sheep. "Italy has lost 90% of its shepherds over the last 30 years, and with it the grazing by roving flocks of vast areas of grass in woodlands," said Mr Marcelli. "That means more dried grass in the summer, which is the real fuel that prompts fires to spread quickly and devastatingly." Huge forest fires have raged across southern Europe this summer, ranging from Spain to Greece, with more than 10,000 people evacuated from their homes in the Canary Islands and an estimated 10,000 hectares of land destroyed in 3,000 wildfires in Greece. | ['world/world', 'world/italy', 'world/mafia', 'world/organised-crime', 'world/wildfires', 'world/europe-news', 'type/article', 'profile/tomkington', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2007-08-08T23:05:45Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2023/nov/10/time-to-expand-public-access-to-woodland | Time to expand public access to woodland | Letter | The argument for a universal right of access is compelling (Letters, 5 November), but if Keir Starmer is reluctant to go that far, he could opt instead to build on the Blair government’s Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 by granting a right to access to woodland. Such a move would greatly increase access opportunities throughout England’s countryside, except in extensive arable areas. It would be cheaper to implement than the original 2000 act, as the complex botanical work and mapping required for terrain such as chalk downland would not be necessary. Nor would there be any need for signposting to identify such access land: woods are already shown on Ordnance Survey maps and we can all identify one. As I explain in my book A Right to Roam, woodland, being economically very valuable in the past, was often not penetrated but skirted by public rights of way, so although some “access islands” would result, the overall benefit should be life-transforming. Marion Shoard Four Elms, Kent • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section. | ['environment/forests', 'environment/environment', 'environment/land-rights', 'uk-news/land-ownership', 'politics/keir-starmer', 'politics/labour', 'type/article', 'tone/letters', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-11-10T18:14:44Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2018/apr/15/clipper-teabags-plastic-biodegradable-public-pressure | As public pressure grows, Clipper is latest brand to end use of plastic in teabags | The UK’s longest-established Fairtrade tea brand has become the latest to ditch synthetic sealants in its teabags, amid mounting consumer pressure on manufacturers to help cut down on plastic pollution. Clipper Teas – which champions the unbleached teabag – hopes to introduce a new, fully biodegradable bag free of polypropylene, a sealant used across the industry to ensure bags hold their shape, by the summer. Meanwhile a new national petition from the campaigning organisation 38 Degrees, calling on other brands to do the same, has attracted more than 125,000 signatures. Its first petition, directed at the UK’s largest tea brand, PG Tips, attracted 230,000 signatures in February – at which point it announced that its new eco-friendly pyramid teabags – made from a plant-based material that is 100% renewable and biodegradable – were about to go on sale in UK supermarkets. The Observer reported in January that the Co-op, which sells 367 million teabags a year, is creating a fully biodegradable paper teabag for its own-brand Fairtrade 99 tea. The new bags are expected to go on sale by the end of the year. Amid growing concern about plastic waste, many consumers have been shocked to learn that most UK teabags are not fully biodegradable. Twinings recently announced it is “actively developing and trialling fully biodegradable tea bags”, while Yorkshire Tea and Tetley confirmed they are looking at removing plastic from teabags. Yorkshire Tea hopes to make the switch after the end of trials in June. Clipper Teas was the UK’s first Fairtrade tea brand – launched in 1994 – and is known for using only unbleached teabags and 100% natural ingredients. Adele Ward, brand controller at Clipper, said: “To help minimise our impact on the environment our aim is to create a teabag paper made from all plant-based material. Not only will it be biodegradable, but it will remain unbleached and adhere to our organic principles. The development of this new substrate, which is completely GM free and 100% unbleached, means it is taking a little more time to finalise, but is a key priority. We hope to have a plastic-free teabag in operation by the summer.” According to the trade body the UK Tea and Infusions Association, teabags account for 96% of the 165 million cups of tea drunk every day in the UK. “It will come as a shock to many tea drinkers that almost all of the 165 million cups of tea are adding to our burgeoning plastic crisis,” said Ben Craig, campaign manager at 38 Degrees. “If Clipper and PG Tips can switch, there is no excuse for Britain’s other big tea companies like Typhoo – who must now live up to their environmental responsibilities.” | ['environment/plastic', 'food/tea', 'environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'business/retail', 'type/article', 'profile/rebeccasmithers', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-main'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-04-15T05:04:04Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
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