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environment/damian-carrington-blog/2010/dec/08/wikileaks-climate-cables-questions | WikiLeaks climate change cables: the unanswered questions | Damian Carrington | The WikiLeaks climate cables I have reported over the past week have left some important questions unanswered. And no one is especially keen to do so, given that while the US often comes out worst in the cables, its foreign counterparts are rarely shown in a flattering light either. I posted the very limited US and EU reactions yesterday which can be summarised thus: • US – "no comment", except you can't ask for money and then accuse us of bribery • EU – the US cables only report one side of the story (I've asked for the other side of the story) • Bolivia, which vociferously opposes the Copenhagen Accord and is sharply criticised in the cables, responded strongly Below are my key remaining questions, which I am sending to the relevant embassies and spokespeople. I will report back if and when I get replies. If you have other questions, let me know in the comments below. If you want to ask the same questions to the relevant authorities wherever you are, please do so and let me know how you get on. I'm on Twitter as @dpcarrington. Spying at the United Nations How has your country responded to being targeted by US spying at the UN? Sent to the named target nations: Austria, Burkina Faso, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, France, Japan, Libya, Mexico, Russia, Turkey, Uganda, Vietnam Reference: Section G (2) of this WikiLeaks cable US aid to the Maldives Has the Maldives received or been promised bilateral aid related to climate change from the US in 2010? Reference: The Maldives had opposed the Accord but said it would support it while talking about $50m of climate aid with the US. Dutch linkage of climate aid and support for the Accord Did the Dutch government ask nations in receipt of Dutch financial aid to support the Copenhagen accord? Reference: In this cable, US diplomats report that the Dutch climate negotiator Sanne Kaasjager "has drafted messages for embassies in capitals receiving Dutch development assistance to solicit support [for the accord]. This is an unprecedented move for the Dutch government, which traditionally recoils at any suggestion to use aid money as political leverage." Saudi Arabia's audacious appeal for US help in "economic diversification" Has Saudi Arabia received or been promised financial help from the US to assist with the kingdom's economic diversification? Reference: The world's second biggest oil producer and one of the 25 richest countries in the world asked for US help which in return would "take the pressure off climate change negotiations" US blocking of Iranian scientist from senior IPCC post What action has Iran taken in response to the US blocking the appointment of Dr Mostafa Jafari to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change? Reference: The US "worked actively" to block the appointment of Dr Jafari, lobbying the IPCC chair, Rajendra Pachauri, and many nations. (I have also asked Dr Jafari and Prof Chris Field for comment.) Germany loses renewable energy agency HQ to oil-rich UAE Has or will Germany ask for the location of Irena's HQ to be reconsidered? Reference: Cables in this story show how the United Arab Emirates used international security concerns to pressure the US to back its bid. | ['environment/damian-carrington-blog', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'environment/environment', 'tone/blog', 'media/wikileaks', 'environment/copenhagen', 'environment/cancun-climate-change-conference-2010', 'type/article', 'profile/damiancarrington'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2010-12-09T10:40:19Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
cities/2017/feb/23/24-hours-marine-traffic-san-francisco-bay-mapped | One day in the life of San Francisco Bay – mapped | How do ships safely navigate in and out of the San Francisco Bay? This animated story map by Sam Kronick of Mapbox answers this question by taking you on a guided tour of the Bay’s marine traffic. Based on 24 hours of telemetry data from the US Coast Guard, the map displays in striking detail the paths taken by every ship to sail within the Bay harbour on 1 September 2014. Each ship is categorised by size, and the depth of the Bay waters are conveyed using colour, adding some context for interpreting the ships’ movements. For a fuller understanding of the various navigation patterns the sidebar guides you through the map. The story begins with the ships’ approach, as they line up in designated traffic lanes to avoid collisions. Once they reach the shallow waters just outside the Golden Gate Bridge, larger ships must rendezvous with one of the Bay’s designated bar pilots – experts in the area’s navigational hazards who help guide the ships into the bay. Once inside, large cargo ships join a flurry of activity from smaller boats: high-speed ferries transporting passengers, private pleasure boats, and tourist ferries shuttling sightseers to Alcatraz or underneath the Golden Gate Bridge. The clock in the upper-right corner of the map shows the time, and you can rotate its hands to watch the movement of the Bay’s marine traffic throughout the day. Treepedia: urban street tree canopies compared Aside from the beauty and character they add to a city’s streets, trees offer a range of social and economic benefits. By blocking the sun’s rays and increasing the rate of water evaporation, trees help mitigate extreme temperatures. Trees also absorb pollution, improving a city’s air quality. And their root systems make the ground more absorbent, reducing the risk of storm surges and floods. In honour of street trees around the world, MIT Senseable City Lab has created Treepedia, a visual catalogue of the urban tree canopy in 16 global cities. Using the map, users can zoom in and explore each city to the level of individual trees. Treepedia also allows you to compare cities and neighbourhoods by their Green View Index, a rating that measures the percentage of canopy coverage at a given location. The index accounts for the density of trees, and by analysing panoramas from Google Street View, it considers how buildings and other obstructions affect how the trees are perceived at ground level. America’s megaregions A study published in the open access journal Plos One, has taken a novel approach to an old geographic problem: how to divide space into coherent unit areas. Rather than look at the US as a collection of 50 states, the study takes an empirical approach to the problem, partitioning the country based on the flow of commuters. The authors, Garrett Dash Nelson and Alasdair Rae, geographers from Dartmouth College and the University of Sheffield, base their analysis on a dataset of more than 4 million commuter journeys. Using a combined computational-visual approach, they divide the country into “functional megaregions”, arguably the real units that comprise the US economy. To see what these megaregions look like when borders are applied, have a look at the full study – it’s worth a read for the striking visuals alone. Follow Guardian Cities on Twitter and Facebook to join the discussion, and explore our archive here | ['cities/cities', 'technology/data-visualisation', 'cities/series/exploring-urban-data', 'culture/series/cities-in-numbers-series', 'us-news/san-francisco', 'us-news/us-news', 'technology/technology', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/max-galka', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/cities'] | technology/data-visualisation | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2017-02-23T12:00:02Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
politics/2013/jun/27/danny-alexander-guarantees-nuclear-power | Danny Alexander announces £10bn of guarantees for nuclear power station | The government has announced a bid to unlock investment in nuclear power by offering £10bn of guarantees to investors in a new power station at Hinkley Point. The push on nuclear came as part of a major announcement on £100bn in public funding for capital projects such as road, rail and energy infrastructure that the government hopes will stimulate the ailing economy. The plans set out by the chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, included more than £70bn of investment in transport, over £20bn in schools and £10bn in science, housing and flood defences. Government sources said the public funding to support the £14bn Hinkley Point project did not represent a subsidy to nuclear power since the guarantees would be offered at a commercial rate. The offer, which is subject to negotiation with the energy giant EDF, will bring a deal on the guaranteed prices between EDF and government closer to fruition. Announcing long-term capital spending until the end of the decade, the chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, also unveiled plans for a major road-building programme as well as an affordable housing programme. The National Housing Federation said the £3bn spending promised over the next two years was deeply disappointing in light of previous cuts. Alexander claimed the government had already built 84,000 affordable homes, and the new money would lead to a further 165,000 homes being built. The Treasury chief secretary also announced the prices for renewable generation including onshore and offshore wind, tidal, wave, biomass and solar. He said the prices were broadly similar to those the UK government pays under the existing Renewables Obligation. He said the reforms would bring forward 8-16 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity. The five-year time horizon of the capital project also binds the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives together in an agreed capital spending plan for the next parliament. The two parties refused to come to such a joint agreement on current spending, only agreeing a deal for 2015-16. The scale of the spending announcement was described by Labour as "hilarious hyperbole", pointing out that the spending represented no increase on what had been promised for 2015-16 in the spring budget. They also claimed experience had shown the government had been unable to translate grand infrastructure plans into reality on the ground. Much of the extra capital spending will be funded by a £15bn sell-off of public assets by 2020 including the £10bn student loan book and £5bn in land and property. The Treasury No 2 also announced he had accepted the recommendation of Lord Deighton that crucial infrastructure delivery be taken out of the hands of civil servants and given instead to commercial experts. Other funding commitments include the go-ahead for HS2, a new nationwide rail network that will put two-thirds of northern England within two hours of London. Alexander claimed the commitment to roads was the biggest since the 1970s. By 2020-21 the government plans to triple the money spent on roads compared with 2013. Overall, he said the government would invest £28bn over the six years from 2014 in enhancements and maintenance of national and local roads. This includes £6bn to help local authorities repair the local road network. Superfast broadband provision will be expanded so 95% of UK premises will have access by 2017. Alexander also presented the outline of a deal with the insurance industry designed to help 500,000 homes at risk of flooding. But he also announced plans to regulate affordable flood insurance should that prove necessary. That will be done through amendments to the water bill, he said. Alexander also announced a further £600m in the regional growth fund. Dr Adam Marshall, director of policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: "Infrastructure projects are too often promised and too rarely delivered in this country, and that cycle must be broken. "If these announcements are to translate into short-term confidence, medium-term construction jobs and long-term competitiveness, the Whitehall machine must be judged by the number of diggers on the ground, not strategies and press notices." Ian Brinkley, director of the Work Foundation, said: "If there is a sound economic argument to invest more in social housing and road maintenance from 2016-17 onwards, it must make just as much sense to invest in these projects from 2014-15 onwards. Giving local authorities the means to tackle the poor repair of our roads now will create many 'shovel ready' projects, generating much-needed jobs in construction and related sectors, and help save future maintenance bills." | ['environment/nuclearpower', 'politics/danny-alexander', 'politics/politics', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'politics/csr-2013', 'politics/taxandspending', 'world/road-transport', 'world/world', 'politics/transport', 'uk/transport', 'business/construction', 'business/business', 'society/housing', 'society/communities', 'society/society', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/patrickwintour'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2013-06-27T11:47:56Z | true | ENERGY |
business/2020/jul/15/uk-launches-first-online-service-for-groceries-in-reusable-packing | UK launches first online service for groceries in reusable packing | The UK’s first online shopping service that delivers food, drink and household essentials from leading brands in reusable packaging is to launch on Wednesday, aiming to kickstart moves to reduce single use plastic that stalled as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Loop – already established in the US and France and due to be rolled out to Japan, Australia and Canada next year – is one of the most ambitious attempts yet to eliminate plastic waste from the household shop. It is backed by major consumer goods companies such as Unilever and PepsiCo, who have created eco-versions of popular brands – including Coca-Cola, Heinz and Persil – to sell via the website. Customers can place online orders for goods that normally come in single-use plastic packaging. They will be delivered instead in durable, refillable containers that can be collected from the doorstep and cleaned for reuse up to 100 times. Heinz’s tomato ketchup, for example, will be delivered in its patented glass octagonal bottles which were designed 130 years ago. The new service, which is billed as the “milkman reimagined”, aims to change the way households shop and consume amid concern about the global single-use plastic binge. At the start, 150 products from 35 major brands will be on offer, with more to be added. At first shoppers will only be able to buy from the Loop website but a partnership with Tesco – which will absorb the platform into its own business – aims to eventually put dedicated aisles in its stores. The Loop scheme is run by the recycling company TerraCycle, which is initially testing it in a major national trial. Key to the scheme is online ordering, which has surged since the outbreak of the pandemic. Prices will be comparable to the equivalent plastic container, but with returnable deposits for the refillable containers. Progress in reducing single-use plastics in the UK has stalled since the outbreak of coronavirus, due to the increased use of masks, gloves, visors and disposable wipes amid fears of contamination and as recycling rates plummeted during lockdown. | ['business/packaging', 'business/fooddrinks', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'environment/recycling', 'uk/uk', 'environment/waste', 'environment/ethical-living', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/rebeccasmithers', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2020-07-15T05:00:02Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2003/aug/06/theeditorpressreview.conservationandendangeredspecies | Press review: Watch what you put in your vase | Next time you consider buying cut flowers from the supermarket, think again. Most "have been grown thousands of miles away using a cocktail of toxic fertilisers and pesticides that are hitting the environment and workers' health. In addition, wetlands are being taken over and lakes drained to fuel this floral boom", according to BBC Wildlife (August). Supermarkets now control 40% of the UK cut-flower market. Many of the blooms are imported from Africa, and in Kenya - the biggest exporter of cut flowers to Europe - workers earn just £1.50 a day, the equivalent of one seventh of 1% of the retail cost of the flowers. Wildlife Conservation (July/August) tracked the progress of media magnate and "modern-day Noah" Ted Turner, who wants to "rewild the American West" by restoring extinct and threatened species. Turner has been buying land since the late 80s and now owns 14 ranches and plantations in seven states, making him the largest single landowner in the US, with 1.91 million acres. He is also "carrying out the most ambitious personal campaign ever waged for conservation by a citizen" and "quietly demonstrating that old-fashioned capitalism and endangered species protection can be compatible". Turner's ranches are home to wolves, condors, prairie dogs and bison. "If I can help these animals by giving them a home on the property I own, then I will have done my part," he told the magazine. But "today, Turner is more concerned about the bears on Wall Street than the bruins on his land ... The burst of the technology bubble, the economic after-effects of 9/11, and the uncertainty surrounding AOL Time Warner leave him reeling." Turner has had to make huge temporary cuts to his programmes, but has told his staff that when the stock market rebounds he will again have the means to return to conservation. As he told Mike Phillips, the executive director of the Turner Endangered Species Fund, "We will do whatever it takes. If it takes decades, it doesn't matter, because our commitment is not going away." English hedgerows, which have grown and evolved over centuries, are "unprotected, undervalued and unstudied", complained Tom Williamson in Treenews (Spring/Summer), a magazine dedicated to "bringing people and trees together". While most hedgerows are less than 200 years old, a minority are more than 250 years old and many are probably older than 500. But "tragically, hedge trees are being lost all the time through old age, poor management and inadequate legislative protection", said Williamson, a lecturer in landscape history at the University of East Anglia. Hedgerow trees are also part of our cultural history, he said. "The scenes depicted by Constable, or by the artists of the Norwich school, would look very different without the spreading oaks and elms rising from the hedgerows." Williamson is backing a Tree Council initiative to plant new hedge trees and give better care and management to those in place. The Tree Council's website (www.treecouncil.org.uk) has further details. By this time of year, with the frenetic activity of the breeding season past, the dawn chorus has gone quiet. Mike Fraser in Birdwatch (August) was intrigued to discover why birds sing their loudest at the break of day and examined research from Canada into the dawn chorus phenomenon. Researchers from the University of Western Ontario have discovered that birdsong is most effectively transmitted over greater distances early in the day. "This is largely because local air turbulence - which causes attenuation of sound and creates background noise, thus reducing effective transmission distance - is at its lowest first thing in the morning." Another reason to sleep easy. | ['environment/environment', 'theguardian/series/the-editor-press-review', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'type/article', 'profile/sandrasmith'] | environment/endangered-habitats | BIODIVERSITY | 2003-08-06T09:37:16Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
artanddesign/2018/oct/31/beijings-skyline-with-and-without-air-pollution-in-pictures | Beijing's skyline: with and without air pollution – in pictures | In 2012, more than 1 million people reportedly died from air pollution in China, according to the World Health Organization, with winter smog proving a particular problem in the country’s densely populated capital, Beijing. The central business district photographed from the Jingshan park When a thick smog gripped the country in January the following year, the air pollution was so bad it was called an “airpocalypse”. For nearly a month, record breaking levels of PM2.5 – the harmful, breathable particles which affect human health – swamped more than 800 million people. The Forbidden City Since then, the government’s clean air action plan has included such measures as placing a quota on new vehicles, trying to reduce coal consumption down from 23m tonnes to a target of 5m tonnes by 2020, and creating five urban forests, 21 small green spaces, 10 leisure parks and 100km of healthy greenways in 2018 alone. Central business district The number of “blue sky days” (days of good air quality) in Beijing has increased from just 176 in 2013 to 226 last year, and yet the issue remains critical. These recent images, shot around the CBD and looking into the Forbidden City, show the difference between clear and polluted skies in Beijing a month apart (5 September and 15 October respectively). A polluted day in Beijing People looking at the view from Jingshan park in Beijing | ['artanddesign/series/photography-then-and-now', 'world/china', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-pictures-guardian-news'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-10-31T07:00:12Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2019/may/08/national-park-air-quality-hazardous-study | Fresh mountain smog? 96% of national parks have hazardous air quality – study | Sign up for the This Land is your Land newsletter to get monthly updates on the threat to America’s public lands. Millions of tourists will head out into America’s national parks this summer in search of fresh mountain air. But according to a new report they should instead expect dangerous levels of pollution; roughly 96% of the nation’s parks are struggling with significant air quality issues. The report, released yesterday by the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), found that some of the most popular parks, including Sequoia, Kings Canyon and Joshua Tree national parks and Mojave national preserve, were among the worst offenders. Last year, these parks recorded up to two months where ozone levels were considered dangerous –mostly in summer when visitation is at its highest. In 88% of parks, the NPCA found that the elevated levels of air pollution were a direct threat to sensitive species. Air pollution is also exacerbating climate change, adding to a mounting list of threats to national parks that includes wildfire, drought and unnatural seasons. “We are not doing right by the places that we most cherish,” said Stephanie Kodish, the Clean Air program director for the NPCA. “By protecting these places we are protecting each other, our communities and we are protecting the planet,” she says, emphasizing that the actions that need to be taken to safeguard the parks are the same needed to combat climate change and defend public health. Bad air quality can cause lung damage, harm immune systems and increase inflammation, having lasting impact on the health of rangers and visitors. It also causes irreversible damage to the parks themselves. Ozone has the ability to affect soil, burn plants and harm habitats. From Yosemite’s ponderosa pines to the arid ecosystems of Joshua Tree, there are already signs of suffering, according to information released by the National Park Service, and the issue has been an urgent one for decades. Independent researchers came to similar conclusions last year, detailing in a scientific study that, over the last two decades, air pollution in parks has rivaled that of the 20 largest major metropolitan cities, including Los Angeles and Houston. The study also concluded that bad air quality causes some people to stop visiting, sparking economic concerns, but there has still been an impact on visitors’ health. “There were still tens or hundreds of millions of visitor days since the beginning of our study in 1990,” said Dr David Keiser, an environmental economist at Iowa State University and the lead researcher on last year’s study. “This is a tremendous amount of exposure to the US population and one of the things I don’t think too many people think about.” Advocates believe the problems will only get worse as the Trump administration continues to repeal regulations and push for more drilling on public lands. The administration has overseen an 85% drop in EPA pollution enforcement, and just last week the Bureau of Land Management took the next step in a plan that would open more than 1.6m acres in California near these parks to fracking. Still, compliance with the Clean Air Act requires states to protect national parks and new rules could help curb air contamination in the coming years. Under the Regional Haze Rule, states will have to submit updated plans for how they will address the pollution affecting the parks by 2021, and clean up their acts by 2028. The rule, implemented in 1999, set goals to return the air quality in parks to pre-pollution levels by 2064. Kodish of the NPCA said there was still a long way to go. Some parks remain hundreds of years away from that mark, and states such as Utah and Texas are resisting the regulations. But she remained optimistic that, with growing appreciation of the parks and their importance, Americans will embrace the efforts. “I hope that people think about our national parks as bipartisan unifiers. That the connection to our national parks is one that can help preserve our future, our history, our culture,” she said. “For the American people, they should serve as a reminder – and a warning cry.” | ['environment/series/this-land-is-your-land', 'environment/national-parks', 'environment/air-pollution', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/gabrielle-canon', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-05-08T10:00:08Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
technology/2014/sep/09/apple-watch-iwatch-wearable-device-smartwatch | Apple Watch: Apple's first wearable device and smartwatch | Apple’s highly anticipated entry into the world of wearable technology is the Apple Watch, CEO Tim Cook announced on Tuesday. The Apple Watch will monitor health and fitness, tracking the wearer’s movement, heartrate and activity with built-in sensors, feeding the information into Apple’s Health app for the iPhone and iPad and allowing review and analysis of the data. “This is the most personal device we’ve ever created,” said Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook. “We’ve set up to make the best watch in the world. One that is precise. It’s synced with a universal time standard.” It uses a button on the side of the watch - dubbed the “digital crown” by Apple - which turns like a jog dial for adjusting functions including zooming and setting the time – no pinching to zoom required. It also functions as the home button. The screen is covered by a curved sapphire glass touchscreen that can differentiate between a tap and a touch, and vibrates with alerts using a haptic feedback component and a speaker. The Apple Watch is charged by a wireless, inductive charging pad that magnetically connects to the back of the watch. Three editions The smartwatch will be available in three versions: the stainless steel Watch, aluminium Watch Sport and 18c gold Apple Watch Edition. Six different straps will also be available, each with a quick-remove clasp. All three will rely on a iPhone paired using Bluetooth to sync data, and will be compatible with iPhone 5, 5C, 5S, 6 and 6 Plus, but the device will not be available until early 2015. The starting price will be $349 in the US. Apps, taps and touching Several of Apple’s apps will be available on the Watch, including voice-control tool Siri, Messages, Maps as well as information pulled from calendars, email and other iPhone apps. Maps will provide walking directions right on your wrist, buzzing for each turn required in the same way Google Maps operates on Google’s Android Wear smartwatches. Siri will be accessible through the side button, as will voice dictation. The watch has a quick-reply panel on the face board for messages and suggests text or emoticons for a reply - perhaps for when dictating a reply isn’t appropriate. Apple’s new payment tool Apple Pay will also be available on the Apple Watch, allowing users to pay for goods and services in the US using the watch like a contactless credit card. Hundreds of third-party apps, including Twitter and Facebook, will also be available, arranged in clusters for easier launching on the smaller screen, zooming in using the digital crown. Apple also includes a new communication app called digital touch, which allows users to share taps, small drawings and even their heartbeat with other Apple Watch users. The Apple Watch can also control music playing on iPhone or iPad devices around it, as well as storing music locally on the Watch, playing through Bluetooth headphones. Health and fitness Apple’s focus on fitness extends to the Apple Watch, which can be plugged into the existing iPhone Health app so that fitness data can be shared with third-party apps. Two new apps, Fitness and Workout, track different levels of activity. The Fitness records general activity, steps and calories burned throughout the day, similar to fitness trackers currently on the market like the Misfit Shine or Jawbone Up, but also notes how sedentary the wearer has been and encourages them to move throughout the day. The Workout app tracks activity for custom workouts, acting like a personal trainer and responding to the wearer’s heartrate and movement. Tough competition With as much as 70% of the market for smartphones saturated in developed markets, gadget makers have released a slew of smartwatches in the past few years to try and create appetite for a new type of device. In 2013 9.7m wearables, including fitness trackers and smartwatches, were sold worldwide according to data from research firm CCS Insight. That number is expected to reach 22.3m in 2014. Earlier this month more than 10 rival smartwatches were released at IFA, Europe’s largest electronics trade show in Berlin, with devices by Samsung, Sony, Asus and Motorola all launching smartwatches - and many running Google’s Android Wear software. But wearable technology has struggled to become mainstream, with few convincing use cases and ugly designs for devices failing to convince consumers to replace their wrist watches. Smartwatches have also been shown to have a high rate of abandonment too, with one third of Americans ditching the devices within six months of trying them according to research by Endeavour partners. Many devcies have launched in time for the Christmas market, but the Apple Watch will not launch until 2015. | ['technology/wearable-technology', 'technology/technology', 'technology/apple', 'technology/smartwatches', 'technology/gadgets', 'technology/iphone', 'technology/iphone-6', 'technology/smartphones', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/samuel-gibbs'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2014-09-10T09:21:46Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
technology/blog/2009/jul/20/breakfast-briefing | Breakfast briefing: Icahn wants Yahoo to make Microsoft deal | • Carl Icahn, the investor who buys his way into companies and agitates for them to sell until he gets his way, says he wants Yahoo to deal with Microsoft, according to Reuters. Why does that matter? Because Icahn forced his way onto Yahoo's board of directors this time last year. • Icahn may fancy reading this weekend's debate, sparked by the Wall Street Journal, about whether or not the internet is dead for investors. James Altucher, writing in the Journal, says yes. Venture capitalist Fred Wilson, unsurprisingly, says no. • Say hello to your new Monday morning internet addiction: PingWire, a site that grabs a constantly updating feed of pictures uploaded to a number of services including yfrog and Twitpic. It's like a window into the strangest places in people's brains (and possibly NSFW). You can follow our links and commentary each day through Twitter (@guardiantech, or our personal accounts) or by watching our Delicious feed. | ['technology/blog', 'technology/yahoo', 'technology/microsoft', 'technology/yahoo-takeover', 'technology/technology', 'tone/blog', 'type/article', 'profile/bobbiejohnson'] | technology/yahoo-takeover | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2009-07-20T05:00:00Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2010/jun/17/bp-oil-spill-tony-hayward-congress | BP oil spill: Tony Hayward stonewalls Congress | BP chief executive Tony Hayward felt the full-on wrath of a powerful committee of the US Congress today, determined to bring him to account for what it called an astonishing culture of "corporate complacency" that has led to America's worst environmental catastrophe. In the 59 days since the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, Hayward has been transformed into one of the most hated men in the US, and the ferocity of the encounter between him and the House of Representatives committee on energy and commerce was much-anticipated. As one committee member noted: "The anger at BP is at fever pitch. It's almost palpable." The committee has been conducting an aggressive inquiry into the gusher, and called Hayward in to answer specific charges of suspected safety lapses and shortcuts in the design plan of the well in the days before the explosion on the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon rig. But Hayward, who had been carefully coached by legal and media teams and was testifying under oath, failed to satisfy. "The committee is extremely frustrated with your lack of candour," Bart Stupak, who is leading the investigation, told him. "You are the CEO. You have a PhD. We hope you have more candour in your responses." The reprimand was just a taste of the rancour towards Hayward. He was told by angry committee members that BP had a history of cavalier disregard for environmental rules and workers' safety. Hayward's claims to have ushered in a new regime of safety after taking over as chief executive of the company in 2007 were plainly ridiculed. "When I heard of the explosion in the Gulf, the name that immediately popped into my mind was BP," said Stupak. But the committee's search for answers was repeatedly frustrated by Hayward, who denied any involvement in or prior knowledge of the ill-fated decisions about the well that led to the blow-out. "I was not part of the decision making process on this well," he said. "I had no prior knowledge." Hayward had multiple variations on the same theme: that he had no direct involvement or knowledge of problems on the Deepwater Horizon, even though engineers lower down in BP's hierarchy had spoken about a "nightmare well". He clung to his argument that it would be premature to comment until investigations had run their course. However, he did allow that BP was pursuing seven lines of inquiry into the disaster, focusing on the cement casing of the well and well control procedures, as well as the failed blow-out preventer safety device. His answers, all delivered in flat, impassive tones, infuriated committee members. "You are kicking the can down the road," said Henry Waxman, the chairman of the committee. "I find that irresponsible." Ed Markey, who chairs the subcommittee on global warming, snapped: "Your equivocation is not reassuring." Even the Republican members were frustrated. "You are copping out," said Phil Gingrey. "It seems like your testimony has been way too evasive." Today's session in Congress looked set to erase whatever modest rehabilitation in BP's image was affected by the company's decision to pay $20bn into an independently managed fund to pay victims of the disaster. But in one glimmer of hope, the US official overseeing the administration's response to the spill said that the drilling of a relief well meant to staunch the gusher was proceeding ahead of schedule. Hayward admitted to the committee that a relief well would be the only sure way of stopping the gusher. | ['environment/bp-oil-spill', 'business/tony-hayward', 'business/bp', 'business/oil', 'environment/oil', 'environment/oil-spills', 'business/oilandgascompanies', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/suzannegoldenberg', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories'] | environment/oil | ENERGY | 2010-06-17T22:13:00Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2007/dec/12/bali.climatechange4 | Bali delegates invited to join global warming sing along | A formal session to open the high-level section of the UN climate talks was interrupted by an unlikely invitation to enjoy one of the Indonesian president's songs. Heads of state and senior ministers squirmed in their seats as the song's soft-focus video, complete with smiling children, burning forests and melting ice, was beamed onto a giant screen ahead of a formal series of speeches, and an aide to the president urged them to clap and sing along. As well as ruling over a nation of more than 230m people, the president of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, is a minor pop star in the country, with an album and several singles in the national charts. Introduced as an "accomplished musician", Yudhoyono's global warming tune started with a warning: "Mother Earth is getting warmer. Climate change is a tragedy for us all. Together we must ensure we don't let it destroy our lives." Surrounded by forest animals, a group of four singers in the video, which did not appear to include Yudhoyono, was then joined by children to echo the chorus. "We're all gathered in Bali, we want to save our planet. We're all meeting here in Bali, for a better life, a better world, for you and me." The audience also included Hilary Benn, environment secretary, who leads the UK delegation. Asked if he had enjoyed the performamce, Benn said: "I've enjoyed all of it so far, but I don't plan to sing." | ['environment/bali', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'type/article'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2007-12-12T14:40:28Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2017/may/26/adani-carmichael-mine-to-get-six-year-holiday-on-royalties-report-says | Adani Carmichael mine to get six-year holiday on royalties, report says | The Adani Carmichael project will reportedly receive a reduced royalty “holiday” offer from the Queensland government under a policy that activists say would subsidise other vast new coal projects that imperil swathes of farmland. The state treasurer, Curtis Pitt, declined on Friday to confirm a report by the Australian that the Palaszczuk government had settled on a plan to give Adani a pause in royalties for up to six years. But Pitt said the premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, had made it plain she wanted an offer “wrapped up by Monday” when the cabinet will vote on a policy hashed out by the pair with the deputy premier, Jackie Trad. Trad’s left faction in cabinet forced a revision to an earlier reported proposal that Adani pay $2m a year in royalties on its coal in the mine’s early years, giving the miner a loan of up to $320m. It is not clear how different the new offer is – the Australian reports that Adani would be asked to pay “several” million dollars a year before repaying, as before, the balance of full royalties with interest. Trad had previously said a royalties “holiday” would break Labor’s promise at the last election not to subsidise Adani’s bid to build Australia’s largest coalmine in the Galilee basin. But the reported royalties “holiday” will now apply across the Galilee basin and two other undeveloped mining regions, the Surat basin and the North West Minerals province. The big mining prospect in the Surat, Glencore’s Wandoan proposal, would mine 22m tonnes of coal a year – more than the first phase of Adani’s Carmichael mine. The prospect of widespread royalty “holidays” has alarmed Lock The Gate Alliance, an anti-mining group backed by farmers, which says it is a “recipe for disaster for food production”, putting 110,000 hectares of farmland at risk on the Western Downs. The Wandoan mine alone would have an impact on up to 32,000 hectares, the Lock The Gate spokeswoman Ellie Smith said. “The Queensland government should not be easing the path for polluting coal projects that will damage our land and water, and destroy rural communities,” she said. “Instead of propping up the damaging coal industry with special deals, the government should be investing in growth industries, such as agriculture, renewable energy, aged care and tertiary education, in order to create long-term jobs in regional communities.” Smith said another beneficiary of a royalty holiday was New Hope Coal, who “claim to be sitting on a resource of 1bn tonnes of coal in the Western Downs”. The Queensland Greens senator Larissa Waters said state Labor had been “publicly shamed” for its previous royalty plan for Adani but had “cooked up another deal that hands out taxpayer-funded favours to all mining companies”. The board of Adani Mining’s Indian parent company had been due to make a “final investment decision” on Monday but postponed this after the internal Labor revolt killed off the previous offer. This decision was to be the trigger for the Indian parent injecting between $100m and $400m for preliminary works on the mine this year. But the $16bn project will not be clinched until it secures financial close with banks – Adani’s current deadline is in early 2018. Pro-renewable energy analysts say Carmichael is at risk of becoming a “stranded asset” but Pitt says the project “has the backing of the Queensland government”. “It’s very clear we have an enormous opportunity to assist regional Queensland at a time when I think it really does need the support to get as much investment traction and bringing forward of investment into some of these resources projects,” he said. Pitt said incentives to develop the North West Minerals province were important because “some of the minerals that will be extracted will be those that will help and assist sustainable energy going forward”. “Renewable energy including battery storage will rely on some of the things that will come out of the ground,” he said. “So this is not a story about long-run approaches to resources, this is a story about making sure we have an eye to the future and transition to a renewable economy.” Stuart Palmer, of Australian Ethical, a $2bn investment fund, said a royalty holiday for Adani and other new coal mines was “desperate, myopic politics”. “It’s yet another subsidy for the Carmichael mine which is uneconomic without taxpayer support. It’s completely inconsistent with Australia’s commitment to limit warming to two degrees under the Paris Agreement. It ignores the economic, environmental and social costs to Australia. “Australian governments aren’t responding to declining smoker numbers by lowering tobacco taxes to grow Australian tobacco sector jobs. Why then the handouts for Adani Carmichael?” | ['environment/carmichael-coalmine', 'business/adani-group', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'business/business', 'world/india', 'australia-news/queensland', 'environment/coal', 'business/mining', 'australia-news/annastacia-palaszczuk', 'australia-news/queensland-politics', 'type/article', 'profile/joshua-robertson', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/coal | ENERGY | 2017-05-26T03:08:03Z | true | ENERGY |
business/2012/oct/30/bp-beats-forecasts-5bn-profit-dividend | BP dividend increase cheered by investors | BP has rewarded "very patient" shareholders and pension funds buffeted by the group's travails in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster with a double-digit increase in its dividend. A week after announcing the $27bn (£17bn) sale of its 50% stake in Russian business TNK-BP to the Kremlin-controlled Rosneft, the British oil group said it would increase its third-quarter dividend to 9¢ a share – a rise of 12.5% – in a move that goes some way to reasserting BP's status in pension fund portfolios. At its height, the BP investor payout accounted for £1 in every £6 of FTSE 100 dividend payments. But even at 9¢ it remains below its pre-Deepwater level of 14¢ in 2010, after which it was suspended for three successive quarters until its reinstatement in early 2011 at half its previous level. BP shares closed 4.2% higher at 442.85p. The stock remains about 30% below the 658p level that it was trading at shortly before the world's worst offshore spill, which saw 4.9m barrels of oil gush into the Gulf of Mexico. BP's chief executive, Bob Dudley, said the dividend move was a reaction to the Rosneft deal, the development of new oil and gas prospects, and a post-Deepwater disposal programme that has nearly reached its $38bn target. "We recognise that we have had some very patient shareholders. It is a combination of divestments, projects coming on stream and some clarity in Russia, that gave the board the confidence to reward our shareholders this quarter," he said. At 14¢ a quarter the BP dividend contributed around $10bn a year to pension funds, with the new 9¢ representing an annualised payment of about $6.8bn. The National Association of Pension Funds, which represents 1,300 schemes with assets totalling £900bn, said it welcomed the move. "BP is a big company and a key holding for investors, so this rise in their dividend will be welcomed by many pension funds. It is also an encouraging indicator of the long-term health of the company," said David Paterson, head of corporate governance at the NAPF. BP's third-quarter underlying replacement profit of $5.2bn – a figure that strips out fluctuations in oil prices – beat forecasts by more than $1bn, but represented a decline of 5% on the same period last year due to a number of divestments made by BP over the past 12 months. Dudley added that BP was undaunted by a succession of bruising encounters with Russian geopolitics, which include Dudley's experience as boss of TNK-BP in 2008, when he was forced to quit after an "orchestrated campaign of harassment". Dudley said: "We have always had a good relationship with Rosneft … there is a very clear commitment to create and build a modern and efficient, world-class company." BP will emerge from the TNK-BP deal with an 18.5% stake in Rosneft. Acknowledging BP's fractious relationship with TNK-BP's co-owners, a group of oligarchs called AAR, he added: "The relationship seems to have run its course and BP did not want to leave Russia." BP said its results were boosted by a strong performance in its downstream business, driven by improved profitability at its refining units, while its upstream business – oil and gas production – produced a similar performance to the previous quarter. BP's US refineries have struggled for profitability in recent years but problems at rival refiners, including Exxon's Beaumont facility, helped boost profits over the past three months. In the wake of the Gulf of Mexico spill, which has cost BP $38.1bn so far, the group has outlined a 10-point strategy that includes developing more profitable oil and gas fields. With that target in mind, the majority of BP's significant new projects that are due to come into production by 2014 are in four areas: the Gulf of Mexico, Angola, Azerbaijan and the North Sea. "All of these projects are on track," said BP. As part of its post-spill strategy to slim down the group and raised compensation funds, BP has divested $35bn worth of businesses including $11bn in disposals since the second quarter, led by its Texas City and Carson refineries in the US. BP said it will make a "final" payment of $860m into a $20bn Gulf of Mexico compensation fund. Excluding that $20bn fund, the group has paid out $15bn in compensation and clean-up costs so far. However, it is still negotiating a settlement with the US department of justice over criminal and civil offences. BP said: "Whilst [BP] is ready to settle on reasonable terms, a number of unresolved issues remain and there is significant uncertainty as to whether an agreement will ultimately be reached." According to reports, the DoJ could be seeking a settlement of at least $18bn, while BP is holding out for $15bn. | ['business/bp', 'business/oil', 'business/oilandgascompanies', 'business/business', 'environment/bp-oil-spill', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'environment/oil', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/danmilmo', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3'] | environment/oil | ENERGY | 2012-10-30T17:46:00Z | true | ENERGY |
news/2020/may/27/weatherwatch-heavy-rain-in-australia-and-record-heat-in-italy | Weatherwatch: heavy rain in Australia and record heat in Italy | Western Australia experienced unusually heavy and torrential rain along with severe wind gusts last weekend, as the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Mangga tracked along western coastal areas. The tropical cyclone transitioned to extra-tropical before reaching the westernmost lands of Australia, but its interaction with an active cold front gave it new strength and it hit the coast with gusts close to 75mph and rainfall totals of more than 40mm on Sunday 24 May. Meanwhile, southern parts of Italy experienced a record-breaking heatwave between 13 and 16 May, as extremely hot south-easterly sirocco winds caused temperatures to rise above 35C (95F) in three regions. One of the hottest places was around Palermo, on the north coast of Sicily, where temperatures were as high as 34C at 3am, and reached 38-40C, breaking the May national record of 36.8C set in 2008. Temperatures at Palermo–Boccadifalco airport peaked at 38.6C on the 13th, 38.8C on the 14th and 39.1C on the 16th. Finally, a series of severe thunderstorms occurred in Texas during the night of 23 May. Four tornados were reported close to the border with Oklahoma, and another thunderstorm produced a giant hailstone measuring 5.33in (13.5cm) in diameter, which landed inside a house after falling through the roof. | ['news/series/world-weatherwatch', 'news/series/weatherwatch', 'weather/italy', 'weather/usa', 'australia-news/australia-weather', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2020-05-27T20:30:11Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2011/apr/17/japan-nuclear-crisis-nine-months | Japan nuclear firm aims to end crisis within nine months | The company at the centre of Japan's nuclear crisis says it hopes to bring the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant under control in six to nine months, but cannot say when tens of thousands of people forced to evacuate the area will be able to return home. In the first indication of how long it will take to stabilise the plant, the Tokyo Electric Power Company [Tepco] revealed on Sunday a two-stage process it hopes will end with the safe "cold shutdown" of the stricken reactors. Tepco's announcement came as the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, arrived in Tokyo to pledge Washington's support for Japan as it recovers from the worst disaster in its postwar history. "Economically, diplomatically and in so many other ways, Japan is indispensable to global problem-solving," she said. "We are very confident that Japan will recover and will be a very strong economic and global player for years and decades to come." Clinton pledged steadfast support for Japan in the face of "a multidimensional crisis of unprecedented scope". Japan and the US announced the creation of a public-private partnership to spearhead reconstruction. "We wish to enhance co-operation between Japan and American businesses," Clinton said. Tepco officials say the two most urgent tasks are to prevent hydrogen explosions at three of the six reactors, and to secure storage for tens of thousands of tonnes of contaminated water in the turbine buildings. The firm has been pumping low-level radioactive water into the sea, angering neighbouring China and South Korea. It says it needs three months to achieve a steady reduction in radiation, and another three to six months to bring levels firmly under control. "We will do our utmost to curb the release of radioactive materials by achieving a stable cooling state at the reactors and spent fuel pools," Tepco's chairman, Tsunehisa Katsumata, told reporters. "The company has been doing its utmost to prevent a worsening of the situation. We have put together a roadmap and will put all our efforts into achieving these goals." The prime minister, Naoto Kan, welcomed Tepco's roadmap as "a small step forward". Earlier, he said in a newspaper editorial that last month's natural disasters and the nuclear crisis presented Japan with "a precious window of opportunity to secure the 'rebirth of Japan' ". Tepco says plans to stabilise the plant are subject to "various uncertainties and risks", and cannot give a time frame for the return of evacuees. The trade minister, Banri Kaieda, suggested some residents would be able to return as soon as the the plant was stabilised. But Katsumata, who admitted he was considering resigning over the crisis, said only that he hopes people will be able to return "as early as possible". Tepco is to monitor radiation levels in affected towns and villages once the plant is stabilised and liaise with the government about a possible lifting of the evacuation order. Pressure has mounted on Tepco and the government to give evacuees an idea of when they might be able to return to their homes. At the weekend, Kan was quoted as suggesting they may have to wait up to 20 years. He later insisted he had been misquoted. "We would like to present the facts to help the government make a judgment and provide an outlook on when evacuees can go home," Katsumata said. | ['world/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami', 'world/japan', 'world/world', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/hillary-clinton', 'us-news/us-foreign-policy', 'tone/news', 'world/asia-pacific', 'environment/fukushima', 'type/article', 'profile/justinmccurry', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2011-04-17T11:01:12Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2024/oct/30/we-were-trapped-like-rats-spains-floods-bring-devastation-and-despair | ‘We were trapped like rats’: Spain’s floods bring devastation and despair | The gratitude that greeted Tuesday’s dawn downpours was short-lived in Utiel. When the longed-for rains finally reached the town in the drought-stricken eastern Spanish region of Valencia, they were merciless in their abundance. “People were very happy at first because they’d been praying for rain as their lands needed water,” said Remedios, who owns a bar in Utiel. “But by 12 o’clock, this storm had really hit and we were all pretty terrified.” Trapped in the bar, she and a handful of her customers could only sit and watch as Spain’s worst flooding in almost 30 years caused the Magro River to overflow its banks, trapping some residents in their homes and sending cars and rubbish bins surging through the streets on muddy flood waters. “The rising waters brought mud and stones with them and they were so strong that they broke the surface of the road,” said Remedios, who gave only her first name. “The tunnel that leads into the town was half-full of mud, trees were down and there were cars and rubbish containers rolling down the streets. My outside terrace has been destroyed – the chairs and shades were all swept away. It’s just a disaster.” By Wednesday afternoon, the death toll in Valencia and the neighbouring regions of Castilla-La Mancha and Andalucía stood at 95 . Utiel’s mayor, Ricardo Gabaldón, told Las Provincias newspaper that some of the town’s residents had not survived the floods, but was unable to provide an exact number. Hours earlier, Gabaldón had told Spain’s national broadcaster, RTVE, that Tuesday had been the worst day of his life. “We were trapped like rats,” he said. “Cars and rubbish containers were flowing down the streets. The water was rising to 3 metres.” People in the town fear some of the dead may have been older people who were unable to escape the flood waters. Remedios said: “Anyone who could get to higher ground did, but there were some old people who couldn’t even open their front doors and they were trapped there inside their own houses.” Residents of La Torre, on the outskirts of Valencia city, were confronted by similar scenes on Wednesday morning. “The neighbourhood is destroyed, all the cars are on top of each other, it’s literally smashed up,” Christian Viena, a bar-owner in the area, told the Associated Press by phone. “Everything’s a total wreck, everything is ready to be thrown away. The mud is almost 30cm deep.” Spain’s meteorological office, Aemet, said that more than 300 litres of rain per square metre (30cm) had fallen in the area between Utiel and the town of Chiva, 30 miles (50km) away, on Tuesday. In Chiva, it noted, almost an entire year’s worth of rain had fallen in just eight hours. The ferocious rains have come as Spain continues to experience a punishing drought. Last year, the government approved an unprecedented €2.2bn (£1.9bn) plan to help farmers and consumers cope with the enduring lack of rain amid warnings that the climate would only get worse, and more unpredictable, in the future. “Spain is a country that is used to periods of drought but there’s no doubt that, as a consequence of the climate change we’re experiencing, we’re seeing far more frequent and intense events and phenomena,” the environment minister, Teresa Ribera, said. As Wednesday wore on, a distressing picture of the human and economic damage began to emerge. Spain declared three days of national mourning. The prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said the entire country felt the pain of those who had lost their loved ones, and urged people to take every possible precaution as the torrential rains moved to the north-east of the country. The defence minister, Margarita Robles, said 1,000 members of the military emergencies unit had been deployed to help regional emergency services. In a sign that more bodies could be trapped in the mud and in houses, she also offered mobile morgues. One man used a phone call to RTVE to plead for any news of his son, Leonardo Enrique Rivera, who had gone missing in his Fiat van after going to work as a delivery driver in the Valencian town of Riba-roja on Tuesday. “I haven’t heard from him since 6.55 yesterday,” said Leonardo Enrique. “It was raining heavily and then I got a message saying the van was flooding and that he’d been hit by another vehicle. That was the last I heard.” Esther Gómez, a town councillor in Riba-roja, said workers had been stuck overnight in an industrial estate “without a chance of rescuing them” as streams overflowed. “It had been a long time since this happened and we’re scared,” she told Agence France-Presse. As the search for the dead continued, experts warned that the torrential rains and subsequent floods were further proof of the realities of the climate emergency. “No doubt about it, these explosive downpours were intensified by climate change,” said Dr Friederike Otto, leader of world weather attribution at the Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London. “With every fraction of a degree of fossil fuel warming, the atmosphere can hold more moisture, leading to heavier bursts of rainfall. These deadly floods are yet another reminder of how dangerous climate change has already become at just 1.3C of warming. But last week the UN warned that we are on track to experience up to 3.1C of warming by the end of the century.” There were similar, if differently expressed, sentiments in Utiel on Wednesday. “There was one guy here with me yesterday who’s 73, and he said he’d never seen anything like this in all his years,” said Remedios. “Never.” | ['world/spain', 'environment/flooding', 'world/extreme-weather', 'environment/drought', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'environment/water', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tone/features', 'profile/samjones', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2024-10-30T17:41:11Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2020/dec/24/even-slow-moving-boats-likely-to-kill-endangered-right-whales-in-a-collision-study-finds | Even slow-moving boats likely to kill endangered right whales in a collision, study finds | For North Atlantic right whales, collisions with large cargo vessels are one of the deadliest threats to an endangered population. But new research from Canada has found even under the government’s current maritime speed restrictions, strikes are likely to be fatal. In a new paper published in Marine Mammal Science, biologists found that collisions between large vessels and whales at a speed of just 10 knots had an 80% chance of producing a fatality. “Speed restrictions do reduce the probability of lethality if a vessel strike occurs, but they’re just not doing it enough. We need to be cautious in thinking that we’ve solved the problem when the reality is that we haven’t,” said the study’s lead author, Sean Brillant, a conservation biologist for the Canadian Wildlife Federation and adjunct professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax. According to estimates, only 356 North Atlantic right whales remain. Most of their deaths are caused by human action. In recent years, the Canadian government has taken steps to reduce whale fatalities, including limiting the speed of large ships and closing commercial fishing areas where the whales are often spotted. In addition to demonstrating that collisions are often fatal at relatively slow speeds, Brillant and his team were surprised to find that smaller vessels like lobster boats still had a chance of killing whales if the two collided. “If you put two objects of similar sizes and one of them is soft and squishy and the other one doesn’t break form when it collides with something, the chances of a serious injury are pretty good,” said Brillant. The government’s transportation agency, Transport Canada, and commercial fishermen have been interested in the findings, said Brillant. Transport Canada requires that smaller ships – those more than 13 meters long – reduce speeds, probably reflecting the new information. While researchers identified a “threshold speed” of 5 knots for large cargo ships as the point at which collisions lessen the chance of being fatal, slow speeds make it difficult for large ships to maintain safe control. And the physics of large vessels means speed restrictions alone aren’t enough to ward off the threat of extinction. Instead, the federal government and marine industries need to be more ambitious in how they respond to the prospect of more fatalities, says Brillant, acknowledging that further action is a “difficult prospect”. As well as closing off shipping to areas frequented by the whales, he points to early warning systems or rethinking how ships are constructed as ways of lessening the chance that human action – or inaction – kills right whales. “We obviously need to evolve our industries on the ocean in a way that doesn’t accidentally drive species to extinction,” said Brillant. “Just because it’s being done by mistake doesn’t mean it’s an acceptable outcome.” | ['environment/series/seascape-the-state-of-our-oceans', 'environment/whales', 'environment/cetaceans', 'environment/environment', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/leyland-cecco', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/series/seascape-the-state-of-our-oceans | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-12-24T11:00:11Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
technology/2015/jun/22/amazon-kindle-payment-how-much-customers-read | Pay-per-page: Amazon to align payment with how much customers read | Amazon will start paying some authors according to how many pages of their books are actually read, the company has announced. The change will affect self-published writers who make their books available through Amazon’s Kindle Owner’s Lending Library and Kindle Unlimited services, which offer readers who subscribe to Amazon Prime a selection of free ebooks. Amazon says: “We’re making this switch in response to great feedback we received from authors who asked us to better align payout with the length of books and how much customers read. Under the new payment method, you’ll be paid for each page individual customers read of your book, the first time they read it.” The author of a 100-page book will thus be paid half as much as the author of a 200-page book, assuming they have the same amount of readers who all finish the entire book. But if the readers give up halfway through the longer book, the two writers will receive the same payment at the end. The total amount paid out to authors will remain the same, since Amazon funds its all-you-can-read services by setting a total fund and then dividing it up between authors proportionally. But the change serves to reward authors of long, engrossing books, while punishing those who write shorter books, or books that readers give up on. | ['technology/kindle', 'technology/amazon', 'technology/efinance', 'technology/ereaders', 'technology/gadgets', 'technology/internet', 'technology/technology', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/alex-hern'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2015-06-22T11:19:52Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2023/mar/15/india-gujarat-state-open-new-lion-sanctuary-numbers-soar | Indian state to open new Asiatic lion sanctuary as numbers soar | Lion conservation efforts in the Indian state of Gujarat have been so successful that a new sanctuary will be opened to house the abundant numbers of big cats. Gir national park is home to the world’s only Asiatic lion population and the only place outside Africa where a lion can be seen in its natural habitat. The number of the endangered animals has risen so high – with about 400 in Gir and 300 in other parts of the state – that Gir has been overcrowded for years. Lack of space has forced lions to stray into villages and coastal areas. Conservationists have been pleading with the Gujarat government to move some lions to other parts of India to give those in Gir enough breathing space. Keeping so many of one species in the same place also makes the animal vulnerable to infectious diseases. But the state government has resisted the demand, prompting criticism it is being possessive about the lions to the point of disregarding their best interests. Authorities resisted a 2013 supreme court ruling ordering them to move some lions to a sanctuary in the neighbouring state of Madhya Pradesh. The ruling said a move was essential to prevent a disease from potentially wiping out the entire population. Now Gujarat has said some lions will be moved out of Gir, although only to another place within the state, Barda Wildlife Sanctuary. The new home will take about 40 lions and is being prepared for its new residents. Officials told local media the herbivore population was being increased and some of the thickly forested areas, displeasing to lions, would be pruned to make the vegetation sparser. | ['environment/endangeredspecies', 'environment/wildlife', 'world/india', 'environment/conservation', 'world/world', 'world/south-and-central-asia', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/amrit-dhillon', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-03-15T11:14:07Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2018/sep/19/weatherwatch-the-storm-that-launched-alexander-hamilton-career | Weatherwatch: the storm that launched Hamilton's career | Few can adequately express the power of a hurricane in words. The career of one young man was founded on an account he sent to the Royal Danish American Gazette in September 1772 of a hurricane he witnessed in the Virgin Islands: “The roaring of the sea and wind, fiery meteors flying about it in the air, the prodigious glare of almost perpetual lightning, the crash of the falling houses, and the ear-piercing shrieks of the distressed, were sufficient to strike astonishment into Angels.” He calls the hurricane the wrath of the deity – “He who gave the winds to blow, and the lightnings to rage” – and ends with a plea for aid for the survivors: “O ye, who revel in affluence, see the afflictions of humanity and bestow your superfluity to ease them.” The author was a lowly 17-year-old clerk called Alexander Hamilton. Some businessmen were so impressed by his writing that they raised a subscription to send the young man north to complete his education. In New York, Hamilton studied law, and was attracted to revolutionary politics. He became one of the founding fathers of the US, and the subject of a hit musical. Even a hurricane can blow some good. | ['world/hurricanes', 'weather/virginislands', 'stage/hamilton', 'us-news/us-weather', 'uk/weather', 'news/series/weatherwatch', 'science/meteorology', 'culture/culture', 'uk/uk', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/davidhambling', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2018-09-19T20:30:05Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2012/jun/27/colorado-springs-waldo-canyon-wildfire | Colorado Springs Waldo Canyon wildfire forces thousands to flee flames | The thick black smoke pouring over the hills forced Mandy Ostebuhr to a snap decision: pets, kids' toys into the car, pretty much everything else left to its chances in Colorado's Waldo Canyon wildfire. The smoke was so thick it gave her daughter Camile, 9, coughing fits and a nosebleed, and left a deposit of ash on the front step. An exodus of neighbourhoods north and west of Colorado Springs expanded on Wednesday, as the wildfire broke through containment barriers, triggering a new round of evacuations. "It's nerve wracking, just so scary," said Ostebuhr, carrying a plastic tub of kids' toys out to the car. More than 25,000 people were ordered out of their homes on Tuesday when the fire, fed by strong winds and extreme heat wave, drove towards the air force academy and neighbourhoods north of Colorado Springs. By early afternoon on Wednesday, the number on the move had risen to 32,000 after the authorities expanded the evacuation zone and ordered residents of other areas to be prepared to move out at short notice. "It was like looking at the worst movie set you could imagine," governor John Hickenlooper said after flying over the Waldo Canyon blaze late on Tuesday. "It's almost surreal. You look at that, and it's like nothing I've seen before." As more than 600 firefighters battled in vain to bring the blaze under control, the White House announced that Barack Obama will visit the area on Friday to thank them for their efforts and to see the damage. Meanwhile in the Pleasant Valley neighbourhood, Ostebuhr was not hanging around. Within an hour of the alert, she had recruited her parents to help her pack, and organised a convoy of four vehicles to ferry her, her daughter and pets – a cat, a turtle and a fish – as well as their belongings to safety. Her rented house, like most of the others on her street, was wood-framed and old. "If the winds pick up or change direction, it could be really fast," her father, Herman Ostebuhr, said. "This neighbourhood could get attacked from two directions. There would be only one way out." But what to save? Ostebuhr was just this side of panic. The jeep was entirely full of clothes and things of sentimental value. An SUV was filling up rapidly with plastic tubs of stuffed animals and toys. "I don't want to leave any of the kids' toys behind," she said. "You know, just in case." Further down her street, her neighbours were making similar calculations, stacking suitcases by the front door, or ferrying documents and photo albums to the car. "It's getting close," said Coralee Doyle. Her adult children and other relatives had been phoning every few minutes begging her to get out; Doyle was waiting for her husband to get off work and join her. She wasn't taking much; her only vehicle was a two-seat convertible. Others were worse off though, Doyle said. "I feel so bad for all the people who have already lost their homes," she said. "And you've got to wonder: what happens to all the homeless people? Not everyone has someplace to go." Starbucks: 'The last stop to Armageddon' Across the northern and western edges of Colorado Springs, residents were preoccupied with their own preparations: taking dogs for walks, strapping bicycles to cars, even stopping off for drinks and snacks. "We're the last stop to Armageddon," a server at the local Starbucks joked. "Every time they are told to evacuate they stop in here at the window for a caramel frappuccino." The fires, which started on Saturday, has burned more than 15,000 acres in the foothills around Colorado Springs, with the flames fed by strong winds and record temperatures. It is the most serious of the dozens of wildfires across the American west, because of its proximity to Colorado Springs, the state's second biggest city, and major tourist destinations. State officials have admitted there is little relief in sight because of the heat wave and high winds, deepening the sense of fear in neighbourhoos now threatened by the fire. Douglas Lingle, standing shirtless in his front yard, was reduced to helpless fury by the evacuation warning. "I hope the whole thing burns to prove the government should have put out the fire a long time ago instead of pussy footing around. They let it get out of control," said Lingle, who divides his time between homes in Colorado and Texas. "If they can't put out a little bitty fire, how are they going to put out one that is in the whole town?" | ['world/wildfires', 'us-news/us-news', 'us-news/colorado', 'us-news/barack-obama', 'world/natural-disasters', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'us-news/colorado-wildfires', 'type/article', 'profile/suzannegoldenberg'] | us-news/colorado-wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-06-27T22:46:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/2018/dec/18/carmakers-criticise-unrealistic-eu-plan-slash-vehicle-emissions | Carmakers criticise 'unrealistic' EU plan to slash vehicle emissions | An EU agreement to cut emissions from cars by over a third by 2030 has faced opposition from Europe’s car industry for being “unrealistic”, as well as criticism from environmental groups for being insufficient to achieve climate change targets. EU countries will aim to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from new cars by 37.5% by 2030 compared with 2021, while emissions from new vans will have to be 31% lower. There was also an interim target of a 15% cut for cars and vans by 2025. Europe’s car industry reacted with fury, saying the commitment was driven purely by political motives and “totally unrealistic”. Erik Jonnaert, the secretary general of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), which represents companies such as Renault and BMW, said the targets “will be extremely demanding on Europe’s auto industry”, with a “seismic impact” on jobs. The agreement on Monday night, which aims to spur the move towards electric vehicles and other alternatives to diesel and petrol, was described by European policymakers as a compromise between environmental concerns and representatives of countries with large car industries that had pushed for a much smaller cut, including Germany. Maroš Šefčovič, the European commission’s vice-president for energy union, described the move as “another credible step in the implementation of the Paris agreement but also another decisive step in support of the long-term competitiveness of European industry”. Europe is aiming for the transport industry to be climate neutral in the second half of the century, while countries including France and the UK have announced plans to ban sales of petrol and diesel cars by 2040. Carbon emissions from the EU’s transport sector increased by 28.3% between 1990 and 2016, according to the European Environment Agency. However, the take-up of electric vehicles in Europe has been relatively slow, with political pressure to keep the cost of motoring low spilling into widespread protests in France. Electrically chargeable vehicles made up 1.5% of all cars sold in the EU last year, according to ACEA. Transport and Environment, a Brussels-based thinktank, said the reduction in emissions would not be enough to limit climate change. Under the Paris agreement countries including the EU member states have committed to limit global warming to well below 2C (35.6F) and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5C. Greg Archer, T&E’s clean vehicles director, said: “Europe is shifting up a gear in the race to produce zero-emission cars. The new law means by 2030 around a third of new cars will be electric- or hydrogen-powered. That’s progress but it’s not fast enough to hit our climate goals.” | ['business/automotive-industry', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/air-pollution', 'world/eu', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'world/europe-news', 'uk/uk', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jasper-jolly', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-12-18T14:19:13Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
news/2011/apr/16/weatherwatch-dorothy-wordsworth-daffodils | Weatherwatch: Dorothy Wordsworth on daffodils | It was a "threatening, misty morning – but mild," on 15 April 1802, when William and Dorothy Wordsworth set off. "The wind seized our breath the Lake was rough," wrote the poet's sister, a little breathlessly, in the Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth, edited by Marion Moorman (Oxford). She observes primroses, wood sorrel, anemone, scentless violet and "that starry yellow flower which Mrs C calls pile wort. When we were in the woods beyond Gowbarrow park we saw a few daffodils close to the water side. We fancied that the lake had floated the seeds ashore and that the little colony had so sprung up. But as we went along there were more and yet more and at last under the boughs of the trees, we saw that there was a long belt of them along the shore, about the breadth of a country turnpike road. "I never saw daffodils so beautiful they grew among mossy stones about and about them, some rested their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness and the rest tossed and reeled and danced and seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the lake, they looked so gay ever glancing ever changing. The wind blew directly over the lake to them. There was here and there a little knot and a few stragglers a few yards higher up but they were so few as not to disturb the simplicity and unity and life of that one busy highway." Rain came on. So, two years later, did one of the most famous poems in the English language. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'tone/features', 'environment/spring', 'environment/environment', 'books/books', 'culture/culture', 'books/poetry', 'books/williamwordsworth', 'uk/weather', 'type/article', 'profile/timradford', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-04-15T23:08:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
australia-news/2016/sep/09/nick-xenophon-seeks-labor-support-for-compromise-to-save-arena-renewable-fund | Nick Xenophon seeks Labor support for compromise to save Arena renewable fund | Nick Xenophon has revealed his party will oppose cuts to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena) and propose amendments to allow the agency to recoup some funds or take equity in projects it invests in. The compromise comes after sustained Greens opposition and uncertainty within Labor over whether to accept the $1.3bn cut to Arena contained in the government’s omnibus savings bill. Xenophon told Guardian Australia on Friday he will write to shadow climate change and energy minister, Mark Butler, seeking Labor support for the compromise when parliament returns next week. It follows concern about the cut expressed at Labor’s left caucus in the first sitting week of parliament. The government plans to cut $1.3bn from Arena, which gives out funding in the form of grants. It has promised to create a separate $1bn fund that will give loans or take an equity stake in emerging clean energy technologies, funded from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation’s existing allocation for borrowing. On Friday Xenophon announced he and his colleagues would vote against the cut and put up an alternative to save Arena. The plan is to change Arena’s funding rules to allow it to have grants repaid with interest, if the project funded becomes a commercial success. Alternatively, Arena would be given the option of taking equity in the project and reap returns. “Under both proposals money would be ploughed back into the fund to replenish it,” Xenophon said in a statement. “If the Turnbull government is fair dinkum about innovation and agility, this proposed change to the funding mechanism will be a game changer in the innovative renewable energy space.” Xenophon said ditching the Arena grants fund ignored its role in driving early-stage innovation. Labor, the Greens and NXT’s three senators are sufficient to block the omnibus savings bill or insist on changes to the Arena cuts, if the government is amenable. Before the election Labor proposed accepting the $1.3bn cut but to offset it with a $300m increase in funding for renewable energy. Last week, manager of opposition business, Tony Burke, said those two elements of the policy went together, leaving Labor room to oppose the $1.3bn cut to Arena when it decides its stance on the omnibus bill next week. Labor is also yet to decide on the $1.4bn cut to the clean energy supplement, which would decrease the benefits of new welfare recipients. It backed the cut before the election, but is signalling it could now oppose it due to its effect on those on already-low welfare payments like the pension and the dole. On Friday morning the finance minister, Mathias Cormann, called on Labor to back all the measures in the omnibus savings bill which “received bipartisan support during the course of the election campaign”. Asked on Sky News if the government would accept some measures being broken out of the savings bill to pass the rest of the measures, Cormann repeated that he expected Bill Shorten to “deliver on his word” and pass the lot. On Thursday the Greens energy and climate spokesman, Adam Bandt, called on Labor to “to listen to energy companies, the CSIRO, university solar researchers and the Australian people who all say Arena’s funding should continue”. “Australia could be a renewable energy superpower, yet we have a government intent on sending us back to the dark ages by cutting clean energy ... and an opposition who may wave through these cuts,” he said. • Correction: An earlier version of this article suggested $1.3bn would be cut from Arena’s budget and added to a new renewable energy fund. In fact, the $1bn for the Clean Energy Innovation Fund will come from CEFC’s existing borrowings. | ['australia-news/nick-xenophon', 'australia-news/nick-xenophon-team', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'australia-news/labor-party', 'australia-news/australian-greens', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/coalition', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/paul-karp', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2016-09-09T23:05:27Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2022/nov/05/lula-brazil-globalised-greed-cop15-aoe | Lula’s victory in Brazil is a relief but it won’t solve the problem of globalised greed | The Secret Negotiator | We are a month away from Cop15 and money is on my mind. The election of President Lula da Silva in Brazil is good news for the chances of success in Montreal. But optimism must always consider reality: huge financial resources are needed to halt the destruction of the planet’s ecosystems, and we are still very far from a credible plan for raising the necessary funds. Across the globe, almost without exception, nature is worth more dead than alive. That is the unfortunate truth. There is not yet a mechanism for tilting the playing field in favour of biodiversity and the climate, something I am sure will come up frequently at Cop27, too. To change that, we need to tackle two key issues: rural poverty and globalised greed. Rural poverty is, in many ways, the easier problem to fix. Wildlife conservation is often most successful where there is a financial incentive for communities to protect it. We need ways to support this, without asking the poorest to bear the cost. In Brazil, the short-term economic incentives to clear trees for agriculture have not disappeared with the election of Lula. That is true of Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia – everywhere – and the world will need to come together to tip the balance in favour of nature. There are no profits on a dead planet, as even the international financial sector belatedly seems to have realised. The “natural capital” case for protecting nature is clear and strong. The problem, however, is one of cashflow: people are poor and hungry now – they can’t wait for the huge gains to accrue in the long term. That is why I think the proposal by African countries for a 1% retail levy on all products that rely on nature is worthy of serious consideration at Cop15. Protecting ecosystems is expensive. Choosing not to drain wetlands or hunt wildlife frequently comes at a cost to communities living alongside them while benefiting the rest of humanity. Paying people to protect ecosystems would be recognition of how these communities look after a global good on behalf of us all, and the money would come directly from consumers. Without a secure and steady flow of money, we are in danger of agreeing a list of targets in December, heading home for the Christmas holidays, then finding that we cannot afford to implement them. The second, more complicated issue is that of globalised greed. Overconsumption of the world’s resources is a major driver of biodiversity loss, and not all humans are equally to blame. Citizens in rich, western countries are living lives that planet Earth cannot sustain, the elites of all countries are emulating these unsustainable lifestyles, and we are collectively suffering the consequences of this avarice. So far, mentions of overconsumption have been watered down or challenged in UN talks. But if we are to reach a final agreement that really tackles the drivers of biodiversity loss, it must include references to the unsustainable use of nature by the world’s rich. Scrutiny of beef companies with links to deforestation or firms that use palm oil from destroyed orangutan habitat have produced real-world changes. This must now happen at a global level. Money alone will not solve all the problems with implementing this agreement, but without money hardly any will be solved. We are still pitifully short of the multi-billion dollar package we really need to make this decade’s global biodiversity framework a success, and broken funding promises by developed countries in UN climate talks have caused widespread mistrust. It is time for that to change. In a series of dispatches ahead of the Cop15 UN biodiversity conference in Montreal in December, we will be hearing from a secret negotiator who is from a developing country involved in the post-2020 global biodiversity framework negotiations. | ['environment/series/the-cop15-secret-negotiator', 'environment/series/the-age-of-extinction', 'environment/series/the-road-to-kunming', 'global-development/series/opinion--global-development-', 'environment/deforestation', 'environment/environment', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/biodiversity', 'environment/wildlife', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'environment/cop15', 'profile/the-secret-negotiator', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-age-of-extinction'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-11-05T12:00:09Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/2018/jan/29/vw-condemned-for-testing-diesel-fumes-on-humans-and-monkeys | VW condemned for testing diesel fumes on humans and monkeys | Volkswagen, the world’s biggest carmaker, is under fire globally from politicians and environmentalists following revelations it helped to fund experiments in which monkeys and humans breathed in car fumes for hours at a time. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said there was an urgent need for the company to reveal the true extent of the experiments, which were commissioned by the European Research Group of Environment and Health in the Transport Sector (EUGT), a body funded by Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW. “These tests on monkeys or even on humans are not ethically justifiable in any shape or form,” her spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said on Monday. “The indignation of many people is absolutely understandable.” VW is already under heavy scrutiny over its role in the “dieselgate” scandal, in which the carmaker manipulated tests on about 11m cars worldwide to make it appear they met air emissions tests, when in reality they exceeded them many times over when used on the road. The company said on Monday a small internal group had mistakenly pushed for the tests to be carried out and that they did not reflect VW’s ethos. But industry observers said VW’s excuses held little water, as the experiments had been well-documented and the results presented to managers at BMW, Daimler and VW, all of whom belonged to the EUGT, a car lobby group, which has since been disbanded. VW’s supervisory board representative and chief controller, Hans Dieter Pötsch, said on Monday he was struggling to understand how the tests had been allowed to be carried out, calling them “in no way understandable”. Daimler and BMW tried to distance themselves from the tests, stressing that none of their cars had been used in the experiments. Initially reported in the New York Times, the tests, carried out in May 2015 by the New Mexico-based Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute (LRRI), involved locking 10 Java monkeys in small airtight chambers for four hours at a time. The animals were left to watch cartoons as they breathed in diesel fumes from a VW Beetle. The ultimate aim of the tests was to prove that the pollutant load of nitrogen oxide car emissions from diesel motors had measurably decreased, thanks to modern cleaning technology. In a second round of tests, the animals were forced to breathe in the fumes of a Ford F-250 used for the purposes of comparison, because the car was an older model with apparently less sophisticated filter technology. According to some reports in the Süddeutsche Zeitung and the broadcaster NDR, the monkeys were subsequently anaesthetised and intubated, so their blood could be examined for inflammatory markers. Their lungs were then washed out and their bronchial tubes examined. According to the LRRI, the Java monkey species was chosen by the EUGT itself. The Süddeutsche Zeitung reported the experiments were also carried out on 25 young and healthy human beings. According to the Stuttgarter Zeitung, the experiments were carried out at an institute of the University Clinic Aachen and involved the group having to breathe in varying different concentrations of nitric oxide after which they were physically examined for any side-effects. Revelations about the tests have only served to deepen suspicions that the industry is looking to increase the acceptance of diesel as a clean source of energy even as increasing numbers of scientific studies show the opposite to be the case. LRRI said it decided to withdraw from the EUGT-commissioned study in the autumn of 2015 following the emergence of the dieselgate scandal. “After we learned about this fraud, we decided that the study was flawed,” the LRRI’s president Robert Rubin told a German newspaper. Barbara Hendricks, the German environment minister, said what was known about the tests so far was “vile”. “That a whole branch of industry has apparently tried to discard scientific facts with such brazen and dubious methods makes the entire thing even more horrific,” she said. Those responsible, she added “have not understood what is on the agenda here – to finally accept full responsibility in the diesel scandal”. She said she was “appalled” that scientists had “made themselves available as willing supporters of such despicable experiments”. | ['business/vw-volkswagen', 'business/automotive-industry', 'world/angela-merkel', 'environment/pollution', 'world/germany', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/kateconnolly', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-01-29T15:21:54Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
business/2023/oct/09/worlds-largest-offshore-windfarm-project-starts-powering-uk-grid | World’s largest offshore windfarm project starts powering UK grid | The first turbine to be completed in a project to build the world’s largest offshore windfarm, in the North Sea, has begun powering British homes and businesses. Developers confirmed on Monday that Dogger Bank, which sits 70 nautical miles off the coast of Yorkshire, started producing power over the weekend as the first of 277 turbines was connected to the electricity grid. The project, jointly developed by Britain’s SSE and Norway’s Equinor and Vårgrønn, will produce 3.6 gigawatts of power, enough for 6m homes, when it is completed in 2026. Rishi Sunak said the project was “critical to generating renewable, efficient energy that can power British homes from British seas”. The prime minister’s endorsement comes weeks after he drew heavy criticism from green campaigners for rowing back on net zero policies as he seeks to make the energy transition a key political battleground. The government was also condemned last month when a disastrous energy auction saw no new offshore windfarms secure contracts despite there being the potential for 5GW of projects – enough to power 8m homes. Keir Starmer, who will address the Labour party conference in Liverpool on Tuesday, has said Sunak’s lack of investment in wind power is a “gift to Putin, who has strangled the international gas market we are hooked to”. The costs of material, labour and finance have risen sharply for windfarm developers over the past year. Earlier this year, the Swedish energy company Vattenfall said it would cease working on the multibillion-pound Norfolk Boreas windfarm because rising costs meant it was no longer profitable. Sunak said the £9bn Dogger Bank development would “not only bolster our energy security but create jobs, lower electricity bills and keep us on track for net zero”. Alistair Phillips-Davies, the chief executive of SSE, said: “There’s been lots of talk about the need to build homegrown energy supplies, but we are taking action on a massive scale.” The developers said each rotation of the 107-metre-long blades on Dogger Bank’s first turbine could produce enough energy to power an average British home for two days. Last year, SSE switched on another huge wind project – Scotland’s largest offshore windfarm, Seagreen. The surge in gas and electricity bills over the past two years, in part linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has thrown the spotlight on Britain’s domestic energy system. The government has set a target to decarbonise the UK electricity system by 2035, while Labour has pledged to achieve the same feat by 2030. However, they face a considerable task to achieve those targets in a market currently reliant on fossil fuel power generation. • This article was amended on 10 October 2023. The capacity of the completed farm will be enough to supply 6m homes, rather than 6m homes “a year”. | ['business/energy-industry', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'technology/energy', 'business/scottishandsouthernenergy', 'business/business', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'business/utilities', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/alex-lawson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2023-10-09T21:30:21Z | true | ENERGY |
australia-news/commentisfree/2022/apr/20/coalition-news-corp-attack-on-labor-energy-policy-is-all-too-familiar | The Coalition-News Corp attack on Labor’s energy policy is all too familiar | Adam Morton | Stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before: the Coalition, abetted by News Corp, claims a Labor policy to accelerate the rollout of renewable energy and do more to tackle the climate crisis would trigger a damaging jump in electricity prices. The full horror was splashed across the tabloids on Tuesday. “Labor’s price surge,” shouted the Daily Telegraph. “Bill shock war,” said the Herald Sun. You get the idea. The story itself was a bit more nuanced, but emphasised the Coalition’s framing – that government modelling estimated an average annual power bill would leap by $560 over the next decade if the ALP was running the show. No mention was made of what would happen if the Morrison government was returned. This will all be familiar to anyone traumatised by scare campaigns run in Australia’s decade-plus climate wars. This is how confusion and doubt get seeded – an easy-to-understand claim about cost based on “modelling”, an outraged page one headline, questions that “need to be answered”. Whatever follows, well argued or otherwise, struggles to compete for attention. Discussion about the cost of delaying action on climate change? Evidence that there are economic benefits in cutting greenhouse gas emissions even more rapidly? Much less likely to get a look in. But the details should matter, so let’s act like they do. A cursory glance reveals what Angus Taylor, the energy and emissions reduction minister, released on Tuesday did not prove what the story claimed. No modelling was immediately produced and Taylor did not publicly claim there was any. The word “modelling” does not appear in the two-page press release issued by his office. The release does not go into any significant detail about how the claimed $560 power price hike was calculated. Taylor’s statement claims there is a “hidden cost” to an ALP commitment to create a $20bn “rewiring the nation corporation” to accelerate new transmission links to allow a faster influx of large-scale solar, wind and batteries. The corporation is part of Labor’s “Powering Australia” climate policy, which the opposition claims would reduce average annual power bills by $378 and cut emissions by 43% compared with 2005 levels by 2030 – well beyond the Coalition target of 26-28%, but still less than what scientific advice says is necessary. In his press release and at the media conference that followed, Taylor claimed Labor wanted to increase the value of the electricity transmission network by $78bn by spending big on new connections that were not recommended by the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo), and would be bad for the economy and for consumers. Some experts wondered whether Taylor’s office may have reached the $560 hike just by taking this $78bn and spreading it across the country’s power bills. If this is right, it is a simplistic back-of-the-envelope calculation. The $78bn claim comes from a line in the ALP’s modelling, carried out by the consultants RepuTex, that says the party’s commitment to spend $20bn would “unlock $58bn of private co-financing”. The Labor policy does not say this would all be spent on poles and wires, or suggest what proportion would be expected to be passed on to consumers. It also does not say Labor would go against Aemo’s advice, but that it would offer support to projects beyond those earmarked as priorities. Some experts said if investment commitments were made in line with Aemo’s evolving integrated system plan – its blueprint for an optimal grid – an increasing number were likely to make economic sense. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning In a clear misrepresentation by the government on Tuesday, Scott Morrison and Taylor attempted to co-opt the views of several experts as supporting their position. All had raised doubts about Labor’s claims, but some made clear that they had been selectively quoted in Taylor’s press release. At a press conference in Western Australia, Morrison claimed Tony Wood, the energy policy director from the Grattan Institute, had said Labor’s policy was a “mess” that would end up in connections being “at the wrong place at the wrong time”. Wood later told Guardian Australia that was “not what I said”. “I did not describe Labor’s policy as a mess,” he said. “The regulatory process, the process of building transmission, is a mess. I said putting all this emphasis on lowering the cost of transmission is wrong, and that we need to get the regulation of transmission sorted out.” None of this is straightforward, and energy market experts say there are unanswered questions about the ALP’s policy. Some disagree that new transmission links will lead to prices coming down as much as RepuTex found, if at all. While public involvement in driving the investment needed could lower capital costs, and everyone acknowledges solar and wind are the cheapest forms of generation once built, the scale of the proposed spending is massive. But a key point overlooked in the government’s attack on Tuesday was that Labor is proposing little that would not also be on the table if the Coalition was returned to power. For all the rhetoric and hot air, the most significant difference between the two is that the incumbents say they will make the change at a slower pace and are taking further steps to put the brakes on. They have not explained how this will lead to Australia reaching net zero emissions by 2050, as promised. The key questions for all should be to explain how quickly and efficiently they will help drive what is an inevitable transformation, and what they will do to help harness the economic opportunities it can bring. The rest is just noise. | ['australia-news/energy-australia', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'australia-news/australian-election-2022', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'australia-news/coalition', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'media/news-corporation', 'media/australia-media', 'australia-news/angus-taylor', 'australia-news/scott-morrison', 'commentisfree/commentisfree', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/adam-morton', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2022-04-19T20:43:27Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2023/sep/04/climate-crisis-poses-greatest-risk-to-people-with-respiratory-illnesses-experts-warn | Climate crisis poses greatest risk to people with respiratory illnesses, experts warn | The climate crisis may pose the greatest risks to people with respiratory illnesses, with high temperatures and changing weather patterns exacerbating lung health problems, experts have said. Respiratory experts have called on the EU to lower its regulatory limits for air pollution in line with the World Health Organization (WHO). In a European Respiratory Journal editorial, they said: “We need to do all we can to help alleviate patients’ suffering.” They added that the impact of the climate emergency and human health had become interlinked and was now “irreversible”. An increase in pollen and other allergens as well as wildfires, dust storms and fossil fuel-based traffic all worsen existing respiratory conditions or can create new ones, the authors wrote in the peer-reviewed paper. Air pollution is estimated to have killed 6.7 million people globally in 2019 and 373,000 in Europe, with greenhouse gases and air pollution sharing many of the same sources. “Climate change affects everyone’s health, but arguably, respiratory patients are among the most vulnerable,” said Zorana Jovanovic Andersen, a professor of environmental epidemiology at the University of Copenhagen and an author of the report. “These are people who already experience breathing difficulties and they are far more sensitive to our changing climate. Their symptoms will become worse, and for some this will be fatal.” Children are more affected by the climate crisis and air pollution because their lungs are still developing, they breathe faster and they inhale two to three times more air than adults while spending more time outdoors. Exposure to air pollution early in life could make it more likely that people develop chronic lung diseases later on, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or bronchitis from smoking, the authors said. Cutting greenhouse gas emissions and stopping the planet from further heating would lead to “substantially larger and more immediate benefits”, the authors wrote, as people’s health would swiftly improve as air becomes cleaner. Jovanovic Andersen added: “We all need to breathe clean, safe air. That means we need action from policymakers to mitigate impacts of climate change on our planet and our health. As respiratory doctors and nurses, we need to be aware of these new risks and do all we can to help alleviate patients’ suffering.” Recent WHO reports have said that reducing emissions would result in better air quality, therefore regulating air pollution should be “at the heart” of any climate strategy, the authors wrote. On behalf of the European Respiratory Society, which represents more than 30,000 lung specialists from 160 countries, the authors want the EU to bring its air quality standards in line with the WHO. The EU’s limits are 25 micrograms a cubic metre for fine particles (PM2.5) and 40 micrograms a cubic metre for nitrogen dioxide, compared with the WHO’s five micrograms a cubic metre for PM2.5 and 10 micrograms a cubic metre for nitrogen dioxide. The UK government has set a target of 10 micrograms a cubic metre for PM2.5 by 2040, claiming it was impossible to match the WHO guidelines because of emissions blowing over the English Channel and from shipping. “As recent extreme weather events have shown, we need to prepare our community for a much more complex future adapting to the ever-increasing impact of climate-related respiratory disease,” Jovanovic Andersen co-wrote in another recent review. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/air-pollution', 'world/eu', 'environment/environment', 'world/europe-news', 'uk/uk', 'world/world-health-organization', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/mattha-busby', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2023-09-04T05:00:34Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
world/2001/aug/08/japan.whaling | Japan lauds whaling haul | Japanese whalers received a hero's welcome yesterday when they returned to port from a three-month "scientific" hunt with the carcasses of 158 whales that will be sold off as gourmet meat and blubber. Government officials presented bouquets to the 180 crew members of the Nisshin Maru, who celebrated their larger-than-expected catch with a breakfast of beer and whale sashimi. Despite condemnation from conservation groups who claim that Japan's research kills are a front to sustain the nation's whaling industry, government officials congratulated the harpoon fleet and vowed to protect its activities. "We are committed to continue the whaling programme because our research benefits the marine resources of the entire world," said Yoshiaki Watanabe, the head of the fishery agency, during a welcome ceremony on board the 7,575-tonne ship at the Oi docks in Tokyo. The Nisshin Maru was the last of a six-vessel fleet to return from a controversial hunt in the north-west Pacific. Equipped with new high-powered harpoons, the fleet took 100 minke whales, 50 Bryde's whales and eight sperm whales. This was eight more than its target and a substantial increase in the number of Bryde's and sperm whales, both of which are designated as protected species by many countries. Japan is a signatory to a moratorium on commercial whaling that has been in place since 1987, but it continues to kill about 500 of the mammals each year in the name of research. As usual, the quarry brought in yesterday will be sold this morning at the huge Tsukiji fish market at high prices to representatives of restaurants and supermarket chains. According to the Japan Whaling Association, more than 2,500 tonnes of whale meat were consumed in the country last year. At a wholesale level, this industry is estimated to be worth 4bn yen (£22 million) a year. "Japan's claim to be conducting research is deceitful," said Motoji Nagasawa of Greenpeace Japan. "This is a lucrative commercial operation that is subsidised by the government to sustain the market for whale meat even though most Japanese are indifferent." At a meeting in London last month of the International Whaling Commission, Japan resisted calls for an end to scientific hunts. | ['world/world', 'world/japan', 'environment/whaling', 'environment/whales', 'world/asia-pacific', 'environment/cetaceans', 'type/article', 'profile/jonathanwatts'] | environment/cetaceans | BIODIVERSITY | 2001-08-07T23:42:13Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
news/datablog/2012/oct/31/hurricane-sandy-death-toll | Hurricane Sandy: the death toll detailed | The aftermath of Hurricane Sandy has left at least 55 people dead across the US. President Obama has called the storm "heartbreaking for the nation". In New York, the death toll in the city from storm has now reached 22, according to the New York Police Department (NYPD). Those who died include an off-duty police officer, who drowned after rescuing his family, a man who died after a tree fell into his home and a woman who was was killed after stepping on a live electrical wire outside her home. But the first US victim was also one of the first victims of the Hurricane. Bronx resident Kenah Huggins died, not on the mainland US but in Puerto Rico, drowned by a flooded river five days ago. Since then at least another 132 people have died, from the Caribbean up to the east coast of the United States. This makes it a total of 133 people or more who have died. This map shows the locations of all the deaths we could locate. The greatest number were in Haiti - which was not in the path of the hurricane but hit by extreme flooding in a country still recovering from the earthquake in 2010. If you look at the rate per million population it shows just how hard the smaller countries of the Caribbean were hit: We are updating these details everyday while the crisis continues - and you can download the Fusion table below (to export it as a CSV file, click 'file' then 'download'). You can also see a complete guide to all verified incidents here. Download the data • DATA: download details of deaths • DATA: download details of Hurricane Sandy events More data More data journalism and data visualisations from the Guardian World government data • Search the world's government data with our gateway Development and aid data • Search the world's global development data with our gateway Can you do something with this data? • Flickr Please post your visualisations and mash-ups on our Flickr group • Contact us at data@guardian.co.uk • Get the A-Z of data • More at the Datastore directory • Follow us on Twitter • Like us on Facebook | ['news/datablog', 'tone/blog', 'world/world', 'us-news/us-news', 'us-news/hurricane-sandy', 'world/hurricanes', 'world/natural-disasters', 'tone/graphics', 'type/data', 'type/graphic', 'type/article', 'profile/simonrogers'] | us-news/hurricane-sandy | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-10-31T06:00:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2022/jun/07/flood-alerts-issued-as-more-torrential-rain-forecast-to-hit-china | Flood alerts issued as more torrential rain forecast to hit China | Record-breaking rains that have battered parts of China and east Asia in the last week are expected to worsen, with authorities warning of an increased risk of floods. In the first week of China’s flood season, extreme rainfalls have caused floods and landslides, destroyed roads and infrastructure, and led to the deaths of at least 15 people. Floods, landslides and disruptions to water and electricity were reported in Shaoguan, in northern Guangdong province, and more than 800,000 people in Jiangxi were reportedly affected by torrential rains that have so far hit 80 of the province’s counties and damaged more than 76,000 hectares (188,000 acres) of cropland. Meteorologists are now predicting that a low pressure system across east Asia will bring even more heavy rain in the coming days to eastern China, northern Taiwan and Japan. On Tuesday, China’s central weather agency issued a yellow rainstorm warning, with predictions of up to 180mm of rain in some areas, accompanied by thunderstorms and gale force winds. In Taiwan, authorities issued warnings for extremely heavy rain in western counties, lasting through the night. The fatalities in the devastating week of torrential rains have included eight people caught in building collapses in Fujian, and three children in flood water in Guangxi. Rivers in central provincial regions exceeded flood warning levels over the weekend, inundating some low-lying areas. On Sunday, rescuers in Jiangxi were forced to break into flooded houses to free trapped people. “The water rose so fast that it only took 10 minutes to get above my knees. Thankfully, the rescuers arrived in time,” said Xu Juhua, a 73-year-old resident. In Hunan province, hourly rainfall indicators exceeded historical records last week, with Taojiang county recording more than 312mm in 24 hours. “I’ve never seen such a big rain,” Li Hexian, a villager near Yiyang city told state media. China experiences extreme weather events, in particular flooding during the rainy seasons, but the climate crisis is exacerbating the severity and impact. Authorities appear to be taking stricter action on severe rain warnings after a flooding disaster in Henan province last year killed at least 398 people. Most deaths occurred in Zhengzhou, where more than 600mm of rain – equivalent to an average year’s rainfall – fell in just three days. Officials were later punished or arrested for concealing the death toll or over inadequate responses. “Although the disaster was triggered by extreme weather, many problems and deficiencies were exposed,” a report said. The weaknesses also exist to varying degrees in many parts of the country, [the investigation] noted, urging close attention and solid deeds to rectify them. Additional reporting by Xiaoqian Zhu | ['world/asia-pacific', 'world/china', 'world/japan', 'world/taiwan', 'environment/flooding', 'environment/environment', 'world/natural--disasters', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/helen-davidson', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2022-06-07T13:41:31Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2021/jul/22/australia-has-huge-potential-to-develop-offshore-windfarms-near-existing-substations-report-says | Australia has huge potential to develop offshore windfarms near existing substations, report says | Australia has the potential to develop a substantial offshore wind energy industry from scratch, with abundant resources available near existing electricity substations across the continent, according to a new report. The Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre said Australia was yet to capitalise on significant offshore wind capacity despite the International Energy Agency nominating it as one of the “big three” likely sources of renewable energy globally alongside solar and onshore wind. It found more than 2,000GW of offshore wind turbines – far more than Australia’s existing generation capacity – could be installed in areas within 100km of substations. Environmentally restricted and low-wind areas were excluded from the assessment. Sites that have traditionally been electricity generation hubs, such as the Hunter and Latrobe valleys and Gladstone, were found to be particularly suitable as they were close to transmission grids and had strong offshore winds at times when solar and onshore wind output was limited. Dr Chris Briggs, research director at the University of Technology Sydney’s Institute for Sustainable Futures and a contributor to the report, said there had been a view in the energy industry that offshore wind energy would not play as significant a role in Australia as some other countries due to the availability of much cheaper solar and onshore wind energy. He said that was starting to change as people recognised the scale of the clean energy transition required and what offshore wind could deliver. “The combination of the scale, falling cost and the development of floating wind turbines means it has come into focus,” he said. Briggs said offshore wind could be built on a much larger scale than solar or onshore wind – up to 2GW for a project – and could generate more electricity per megawatt of capacity. “This could be very valuable in the late 2020s and 2030s as we see coal plants retiring,” he said. The project’s leader, Dr Mark Hemer of the CSIRO, said offshore wind could be particularly important under “energy superpower” scenarios that involved mass electrification of industry and transport and hydrogen production for domestic use and export. The report said there were 10 offshore wind projects with a combined capacity of 25GW in development in Australia, all at an early stage. The most advanced is the $10bn Star of the South – a 2.2GW windfarm planned for between 7km and 25km offshore in South Gippsland. The federal government is yet to finalise the regulatory framework necessary for an offshore wind industry to develop. The report said it could help develop an industry by supporting the technology through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, incorporating it into planning for the national hydrogen strategy, and considering allocation of marine space in commonwealth waters. The work was partly funded by the maritime, electrical and manufacturing unions. They called on federal and state governments to take immediate steps to support the development of an industry, saying it had the potential to create jobs for workers in fossil fuel industries. Paddy Crumlin, the national secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia, said the development of an offshore wind industry would give seafarers and offshore oil and gas workers an opportunity “to transition into the important work of delivering Australia’s clean energy future”. Offshore wind is more advanced in countries with limited capacity to develop renewable energy on land. The report said 2030 targets for offshore wind energy totalled about 200GW, including 60GW in the European Union, 40GW in Britain and 12 GW in South Korea. Japan plans to reach 45GW by 2040. Solar and onshore wind have grown substantially in recent years, leading to renewable energy providing nearly 30% of generation in the national electricity market. But the Morrison government also continues to support fossil fuels. A report by BloombergNEF and Bloomberg Philanthropies this week found Australia increased support for fossil fuel by 48% between 2015 and 2019, the largest rise in the G20. It said most of the support had been delivered in the form of tax breaks to oil and gas projects. They included tax capex deductions for mining and petroleum operations, fuel-tax credits and reductions in fuel-excise rates and offset schemes. Australia “lost out on nearly US$6bn in foregone taxes” over the five years, it said. The Bloomberg report did not include the Morrison government’s support for a “gas-fired recovery” from the pandemic. The government dedicated hundreds of millions of dollars to gas projects in the May budget, including up to $600m for a new power plant in the Hunter Valley that experts say is not needed. | ['environment/windpower', 'australia-news/energy-australia', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/environment', 'environment/energy', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/adam-morton', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2021-07-21T17:30:02Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2019/aug/28/mitsubishi-invests-in-uk-company-to-bring-off-grid-solar-to-asia | Mitsubishi invests in UK company to bring off-grid solar to Asia | A British energy firm lighting up homes in Africa with pay-as-you-go solar power has secured £40m to extend its reach to Asia with the help of Japan’s Mitsubishi. The conglomerate has taken a stake in off-grid solar company BBOXX through the start-up’s latest funding round, which will power the Africa-focused company deeper into Asia. The funds will also help BBOXX, which operates in Rwanda, Kenya, Togo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to break into new African markets, where an estimated one in three people live without reliable access to electricity. BBOXX is one of a growing number of energy companies to plug into the demand for energy across Africa and south Asia. The falling cost of solar technology and the strength of mobile banking across Africa have encouraged major investments from global energy companies including US giant General Electric and France’s EDF and Engie. Mansoor Hamayun, BBOXX’s chief executive and co-founder, said Mitsubishi’s “extensive reach” and “technological expertise” would help the company to supply more people living without access to modern utilities and services. “The funding is further evidence of Japanese interest in Africa and in PAYG [pay as you go] solar energy globally,” he said. BBOXX and its rivals use mobile money to charge customers a monthly fee for the use of mini solar panels and ultra-efficient lighting strips. The fixed-period contracts usually run for about two years, until the equipment is paid off. Customers can then choose to keep their existing kit and use the electricity for free, or upgrade their system to include more panels and extra appliances under a new contract. Earlier this year, BBOXX sold a 50% stake in its Togo-based business to EDF Energy in return for funding to help grow the company. It operates about 270,000 solar systems, of which 200,000 are monitored remotely by software that uses machine learning to track customers’ energy use and payments. In time, BBOXX hopes to broaden its reach beyond energy to include gas, water, internet and loans. The company’s largest rival, Fenix International, supplies 500,000 homes and was snapped up by Engie in late 2017. Hamayun said: “We look forward to this next phase of growth that will help us to transform more lives, unlock potential and grow our already global footprint by opening up new markets, and develop our product range.” The funding round also included Bamboo Capital Partners, a Luxembourg-based impact investor; DOEN Participaties, a Dutch impact investment fund; and Canadian growth equity firm MacKinnon, Bennett & Company. | ['environment/solarpower', 'business/energy-industry', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'world/africa', 'world/south-and-central-asia', 'world/world', 'technology/energy', 'business/business', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2019-08-27T23:00:24Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2022/apr/20/uk-consumers-able-to-track-renewable-energy-hourly-under-new-plans | UK consumers able to track renewable energy hourly under new plans | Consumers will soon be able to check where their energy is coming from hourly, and get a discount on bills if they use electricity when renewables are in surplus. Under plans by the startup Granular and energy giants including Elexon and National Grid, energy companies will allow UK consumers to track their power source. This could help the country reduce emissions, as it will be easier for people to choose energy companies that are transparent about exactly how much renewable energy they use. Because there are times of day when renewable energy is less available – for example when it is less windy or sunny – consumers could be incentivised to use power when it is in oversupply by offering a discount on their bills. This could lead to less gas being used. The current system is based on annual matching, in which the energy provider looks at the previous year’s energy use and matches it with the equivalent amount of renewable energy, but there is a growing trend to move to hourly matching instead. Companies including Google and Microsoft have been calling for the move as it could lead to organisations being able to definitively say they use renewable energy 24/7. It will also increase consumer demand, say experts, as they will be able to choose more renewable options. This is likely to lead to companies investing in renewables, and in battery technology for more efficient storage. Toby Ferenczi, a co-founder of Granular, said consumers could be seeing this change by the end of the year. He said: “Long term, what this is enabling an acceleration towards a completely carbon-free grid as it is harnessing consumer spending power to source energy from carbon-free sources each hour. “This drives investment in not just renewables but in energy storage and flexibility. Eventually customers will be able to buy green energy from their energy supplier by the hour.” He said the method could allow people to get discounts on their bills. “It’s an incentive for load shifting and demand response so we want to provide a revenue stream for people who do that – renewable energy should be cheap when it’s in oversupply and more expensive when undersupplied, so it would give an incentive for consumers to shift their demand towards when it’s oversupplied.” | ['environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'money/money', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'environment/gas', 'money/energy', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/helena-horton', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2022-04-20T10:11:59Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2021/feb/26/not-just-oceans-plastic-polluting-air-delhi-smog | It's not just oceans: scientists find plastic is also polluting the air | Plastic waste in our oceans is now a well-known issue but new data shows that plastic is adding to air pollution in Indian cities too. For several years scientists were puzzled why Delhi was more susceptible to thick smogs than other polluted cities such as Beijing. New research links this to tiny chloride particles in the air that help water droplets to form. Globally, chloride particles are mainly found close to coasts, due to sea spray, but the air in Delhi and over inland India contains much more than expected. At first, the sources were thought to be illegal factory units around Delhi that recycle electronics and those that use strong hydrochloric acid to clean and process metals. These are certainly part of the problem, but new measurements have revealed another source. Researchers looked at the other pollutants that increased at the same time as the chloride particles. This chemical fingerprint matched the burning of household waste containing plastics and the burning of plastics themselves. These large amounts of chloride are estimated to be responsible for around half of Delhi’s smog events. In low-income countries about 90% of waste ends up in open dumps or is burned in the open air. If you set fire to plastic, it rapidly reveals its origins as an oil-based product by producing copious amounts of black smoke. Using data on the contents of rubbish from around the world, researchers from London’s King’s and Imperial Colleges have estimated that the soot from open waste burning has a global warming impact equivalent to between 2% and 10% of the global emissions of carbon dioxide. Burning plastics also produces large amounts of dioxins and other highly toxic pollutants that can persist in the food chain. Modern waste incinerators in the UK and Europe go to great lengths to reduce these toxic emissions but there are no protections when waste is burned at home or in the open. The waste burning problems in Indian cities do not end there. As James Allan from the University of Manchester, who took part in the latest Indian study, explained, the extra chloride could be promoting chemical reactions between different air pollutants. This includes adding to the ground-level ozone across India. Already this is estimated to reduce yields of some Indian crops by 20% to 30%. Better waste management needs to be a priority but eliminating plastic pollution also requires a rethink of global plastic production and use. | ['environment/series/pollutionwatch', 'environment/air-pollution', 'environment/environment', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/plastic', 'world/india', 'world/south-and-central-asia', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/gary-fuller', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-02-26T06:00:08Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2023/feb/25/vegetable-shortages-in-uk-could-be-tip-of-iceberg-says-farming-union | Vegetable shortages in UK could be ‘tip of iceberg’, says farming union | Shortages of some fresh fruit and vegetables such as tomatoes and cucumbers could be the “tip of the iceberg”, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has said. Certain products are hard to come by in UK supermarkets due to poor weather reducing the harvest in Europe and north Africa, Brexit rules and lower supplies from UK and Dutch producers hit by the jump in energy bills to heat glasshouses. The NFU’s deputy president, Tom Bradshaw, said a reliance on imports had left the UK particularly exposed to “shock weather events”. He said the UK had now “hit a tipping point” and needed to “take command of the food we produce” amid “volatility around the world” caused by the war in Europe and the climate crisis. “We’ve been warning about this moment for the past year,” Bradshaw told Times Radio on Saturday. “The tragic events in Ukraine have driven inflation, particularly energy inflation, to levels that we haven’t seen before. “There’s a lack of confidence from the growers that they’re going to get the returns that justify planting their glasshouses, and at the moment we’ve got a lot of glasshouses that would be growing the tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, aubergine that are sitting there empty because they simply couldn’t take the risk to plant them with the crops, not thinking they’d get the returns from the marketplace. “And with them being completely reliant on imports – we’d always have some imports – but we’ve been completely reliant on imports [now]. And when there’s been some shock weather events in Morocco and Spain, it’s meant that we’ve had these shortages.” Bradshaw also acknowledged that the current shortage was an indirect result of the UK’s decision to leave the EU. He added: “It’s really interesting that before Brexit we didn’t used to source anything, or very little, from Morocco but we’ve been forced to go further afield and now these climatic shocks becoming more prevalent have had a real impact on the food available on our shelves today.” On Wednesday, Tesco followed Aldi, Asda and Morrisons in introducing customer limits on certain fresh produce as shortages left supermarket shelves bare. Tesco and Aldi are limiting customers to three units of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers as a precautionary measure, while Asda is also limiting customers on lettuce, salad bags, broccoli, cauliflower and raspberries. Meanwhile, Morrisons has set a limit of two items per customer across tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and peppers. It comes as the shortage of tomatoes in UK supermarkets has widened to other fruit and vegetables due to the combination of bad weather and transport issues. The environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, caused a furore after she suggested people should “cherish” seasonal foods such as turnips as bad weather cleared supermarket shelves of tomatoes and other fresh produce. She told MPs: “A lot of people would be eating turnips right now rather than thinking necessarily about aspects of lettuce, and tomatoes and similar. “But I’m conscious that consumers want a year-round choice and that is what our supermarkets, food producers and growers around the world try to satisfy.” However, there have been reports of a shortage in turnips since the environment secretary’s comments. While Waitrose has reportedly discontinued selling the root vegetable, shoppers at Sainsbury’s complained of a lack of turnips in their stores. | ['environment/farming', 'food/food', 'business/fooddrinks', 'uk/uk', 'business/supermarkets', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'politics/eu-referendum', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/tom-ambrose', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-02-25T14:39:37Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
society/2010/oct/24/local-authorities-drop-pest-control | Councils 'walk away' from provision of pest control services | One in 10 councils no longer offers pest control services, a tenfold increase over seven years. The rise has sparked fears that rodent and bed bug populations are being allowed to grow unchecked. The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) today warns that an increasing number of councils are "walking away" from the control of rats, mice and insect pests. A survey conducted by the institute's National Pest Advisory Panel shows that 26 councils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland did not provide pest control services last year, and of those that did 29% relied on private contractors for their services. The institute's last survey, conducted in 2002, revealed that just three councils – 1% of the total number – failed to provide such services. Environmental health experts said this came at a time when they were increasingly in demand. "Action in the UK against our most significant pests is declining when factors such as irresponsibly discarded litter, international travel and climate change are increasing our risk of exposure to pests and pest-related diseases," said Tim Everett, CIEH director of professional services. In the last seven years there has been a 38% increase in bed bug infestations, according to the CIEH. There are also concerns that the UK's rat population is growing rapidly in several cities. | ['society/localgovernment', 'environment/environment', 'environment/waste', 'politics/localgovernment', 'society/society', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/jamiedoward', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/uknews'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2010-10-23T23:07:33Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
uk-news/2018/aug/06/quad-bike-theft-farmers-suffer-epidemic-vital-vehicles | 'It's an epidemic' – farmers suffer from the theft of vital quad bikes | Jamie Smith’s Worcestershire farm has been broken into three times in 15 months. On the first two occasions, he had a quad bike stolen. In the most recent burglary, two months ago, his workshop was broken into but fortunately his quad bike was not there. The 65-year-old, who has been a farmer for 30 years, estimates that over the same 15-month period about 35 quad bikes have been stolen from farms in a 20-mile stretch from Pershore through to Moreton-in-Marsh in Gloucestershire. “It’s the worst, I have ever known it,” he said. “It’s an epidemic, mainly of quad bikes being stolen. All three of my neighbours have had their quads stolen. We have all been suffering from the same problem. “I hear a noise in the night and I am in the yard with a torch and a crowbar because I know they’re going to come back. I feel really vulnerable and anxious.” Quad bikes and all-terrain vehicles were the items most commonly targeted on farms by criminals last year, accounting for £2.3m of claims to the insurer NFU Mutual. Smith said: “We are very proactive in making our sites as secure as possible, with steel reinforcement on sheds and double locks, but we are also working farms that need the vehicles every day, so it can make life difficult and some of the security measures can be very expensive. “The thieves also take smaller equipment such as chainsaws and strimmers, but the quad bikes are a vital part of farming, we could not look after the sheep without them.” Smith has reluctantly installed electric gates on his farm. “I don’t like doing that because it’s a footpath,” he said. “I don’t want people feeling we are locking them out.” Despite his efforts and those of other farmers, he said many of the security measures have been rendered obsolete by the increasing use of power grinders by thieves. A WhatsApp group among farmers has had some success in alerting neighbours to suspicious behaviour, including tracking vehicles driving around the area, but Smith said the police response has been limited. “They know who’s doing it,” he said. “They [the police] are suffering because they’ve had cuts to their budget. I sympathise with the police because I think they’re trying, but I think they’re not sufficiently focused on the problem.” | ['uk/ukcrime', 'environment/farming', 'uk/uk', 'uk/police', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/haroonsiddique', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2018-08-06T00:00:22Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
commentisfree/2019/apr/05/school-parents-polluting-pupil-power-council-police | Don’t sneer at pupil power: it stopped parents polluting at my school gates | Steve Marsland | Air pollution is making our children ill. It’s shortening their lives. It’s even killing them. And yet we continue to let cars pump out toxins at the school gates regardless. Government might sneer at children striking over global warming, but give them a voice and we might actually achieve change. At Russell Scott primary school in Denton, Tameside, in Greater Manchester, we are trying to do our bit to show that communities can help solve their own problems by taking direct action and involving children. With the M60 and M67 motorways on our doorstep, and a major retail park with its associated traffic right next door, our children walk along very congested, polluted roads every day. These are the same roads that have been branded a “public health crisis” due to the harmful levels of nitrogen dioxide we are breathing in as we walk to school. This is only exacerbated by the parents who selfishly insist on parking as close to the school gates as they possibly can – competing for the best position, whether it be on double yellow lines, the school entrance or over pedestrian-dropped kerbs, because it’s more convenient for them. Episodes of Wacky Racers have been re-enacted at drop-off and pick-up times around schools up and down the country for years. It’s endangering our children. All schools seem to have the same problems, and Russell Scott was no different. But it was the danger of vehicle emissions that drove us to do something about inconsiderate parking, and the use of cars around the school. We began our campaign by holding an open meeting after school, to which we invited the parents, the community police officer and highways engineers. We suggested freshening up road markings and encouraging motorists to turn off their idling engines, and parents took the lead in asking traffic enforcement to crack down on the hazardous parking around the school. At the same time, all the children were spoken to in assembly by a traffic officer, police officer and the council’s lead on clean air and pollution. The children were briefed on the danger of leaving engines running. This was pester power put to good use, as they began nagging their own parents to shut down their engines well before the campaign had even begun. Education or embarrassment, we don’t mind – as long as it’s successful. The children’s understanding and engagement was the key to our success; but equally important was educating the wider school community on the dangers to the children from car emissions. The UK has some of the worst death rates from asthma in Europe, with doctors shocked at the number of children ending up in hospital apparently as a result of air pollution. It is imperative for the health of the nation that we all take action. On that first morning, our police officer, a police community support officer and traffic enforcement accompanied the children out on to the streets outside school. It needs commitment each morning and afternoon from senior members of staff to build up the rapport with the parents, to keep it lighthearted. The majority of parents are on your side, they certainly don’t want to be part of the problem. With the children keen to offer advice in a charming and mature way, the parents listened and engaged. And it worked. The vast majority of parents listened to their children with good grace, and turned off their engines or moved away from the front of school. Within a few days, the streets around school were free from parked cars, with the majority of families now choosing to walk to school. After a few weeks, the need for enforcement tickets was few and far between, so we swapped them with “Thank you” stickers for walking to school. The reason this worked was because the school and the community was at the centre of the campaign: we started it. And it was an appeal directly to the cause of the problem – the parents. I don’t think the council or police would have had anywhere near the impact we did had they gone down a formal enforcement route. It was education and engagement that won the day – perfectly apt coming from a school. Russell Scott has since helped Tameside council to create a pilot scheme at three other primary schools, which began during Road Safety Week. If it works, it will be rolled out to other schools across the borough. I hope many other schools in other cities, even other countries, will follow our lead and help end this problem for generations to come. • Steve Marsland is the headteacher of Russell Scott primary school | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/air-pollution', 'environment/environment', 'tone/comment', 'environment/pollution', 'education/education', 'society/youngpeople', 'type/article', 'profile/steve-marsland', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/opinion', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-04-05T07:00:27Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2009/jun/11/us-nuclear-industry-plans-new-reactors | US nuclear industry tries to hijack Obama's climate change bill | America's nuclear industry and its supporters in Congress have moved to hijack Barack Obama's agenda for greening the economy by producing a rival plan to build 100 new reactors in 20 years, and staking a claim for the money to come from a proposed clean energy development bank. Republicans in the House of Representatives produced a spoiler version of the Democrats' climate change bill this week, calling for a doubling of the number of nuclear reactors in the US by 2030. The 152-page Republican bill contains just one reference to climate change, and proposes easing controls for new nuclear plants. In the Senate, Republican leaders, including the former presidential candidate John McCain, also called this week for loan guarantees for building new reactors to rise from $18.5bn (£11.2bn) to $38bn. Other Republicans have called on the administration to underwrite the $122bn start-up costs of 19 nuclear reactors, whose applications are now under review by the department of energy. "If you care about climate change ... 100 new nuclear power plants is the place to start," said Lamar Alexander, a Republican from Tennessee who is the strongest proponent of nuclear power in the Senate. Another crucial element of the Republicans' "nuclear renaissance" are two rival proposals for a "clean energy bank" now before Congress. One version, under consideration by the Senate, envisages almost unlimited federal loan guarantees to encourage wind and solar power and, nuclear proponents hope, new reactors. Ellen Vancko, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said: "The nuclear industry would like to be able to finance the next generation of nuclear reactors using the faith and credit of the US taxpayer to underwrite the expansion. They don't want to be responsible for any risk of financing these plants and neither do their lenders." No new reactors have been ordered in 30 years, not least due to the challenges of raising $5bn-$12bn to build a new plant. But the industry is hoping for a surge in orders for new reactors around the world and assurances from Obama's energy secretary, Steven Chu, of nuclear power's place in America's long-term energy mix. Nuclear industry executives told Congress this week that 429 new nuclear plants were planned or under construction around the world. In the US, the energy department is reviewing 19 applications for new nuclear reactors. Construction, if they are approved, could begin in 2011. Much of the push for nuclear power comes from the conservative south, which has more reactors than anywhere else in the US and which is less suited than other regions for wind or solar development. The campaign faces two challenges: the huge cost of construction and the lack of permanent storage for nuclear waste. The Obama administration has blocked a 22-year project to dump waste from reactors in Nevada's Yucca Mountain. But the biggest obstacle to Republican dreams of a nuclear renaissance is start-up costs. Last month, John Rowe, chairman of Exelon, which operates 17 nuclear reactors, said he would cancel or delay construction of two new reactors in Texas without federal loan guarantees. He said the government assurances were "imperative" because of the high capital costs of nuclear reactors. Obama's $787bn economic recovery plan set aside $50bn for the nuclear industry but Democrats in Congress cut out the funds. Frustrated fans of nuclear power, such as McCain, accused Obama and Chu of ignoring its potential. "They remember Chernobyl and Three Mile Island and all those scenes in the movies that are apocalyptic about nuclear power," he said. If Republican efforts in Congress for a nuclear energy bill and a clean energy bank fail, the US nuclear renaissance is likely to be restricted to new reactors already being built. Jim Riccio, Greenpeace nuclear analyst, said: "The renaissance is on hold or maybe dead on arrival." | ['environment/nuclearpower', 'business/business', 'environment/nuclear-waste', 'us-news/obama-administration', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'us-news/us-news', 'us-news/us-congress', 'us-news/democrats', 'us-news/republicans', 'us-news/johnmccain', 'tone/news', 'us-news/us-politics', 'type/article', 'profile/suzannegoldenberg'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2009-06-11T17:46:10Z | true | ENERGY |
sport/2021/jul/01/weatherwatch-wimbledon-how-weather-conditions-affect-tennis-matches | Wimbledon: how weather conditions affect tennis matches | Every factor that could affect the outcome of a tennis match comes under minute scrutiny, including the weather. Temperature is fairly straightforward. On a hot day, the pressure inside the ball increases, it bounces better and the game is faster. Heat also fractionally increases string tension in the racket. Humidity is more complex. Some players believe that humid, heavy air slows the ball down. Technically though, humid air is lighter than dry air. Nor does humidity fluff up the fuzz on a tennis ball, increasing air friction, as some claim. Humidity mainly affects the players themselves, making them sweat more, and playing takes more effort. This may give an impression of “heavy air”. Light drizzle has several effects. A saturated tennis ball is about 1% heavier than a dry one, fractionally slowing play. It is also harder to impart spin to a wet surface, blunting the edge of a skilled player and making rallies longer. Whenever there is a competition at Wimbledon though, one type of weather is usually the biggest concern. Centre Court has had a retractable rain cover since 2009; this also requires an extensive air circulation system to keep the temperature and humidity inside at tolerable levels. At least play can continue at Centre Court when other matches are rained off. | ['sport/tennis', 'sport/wimbledon', 'uk/weather', 'sport/sport', 'uk/uk', 'news/series/weatherwatch', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/davidhambling', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2021-07-01T05:00:05Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/georgemonbiot/2011/dec/16/durban-banks-climate-change | Why is it so easy to save the banks – but so hard to save the biosphere? | George Monbiot | They bailed out the banks in days. But even deciding to bail out the planet is taking decades. Nicholas Stern estimated that capping climate change would cost around 1% of global GDP, while sitting back and letting it hit us would cost between 5 and 20%. One per cent of GDP is, at the moment, $630bn. By March 2009, Bloomberg has revealed, the US Federal Reserve had committed $7.77 trillion to the banks. That is just one government's contribution: yet it amounts to 12 times the annual global climate change bill. Add the bailouts in other countries, and it rises several more times. This support was issued on demand: as soon as the banks said they wanted help, they got it. On just one day the Federal Reserve made $1.2tr available – more than the world has committed to tackling climate change in 20 years. Much of this was done both unconditionally and secretly: it took journalists two years to winkle out the detail. The banks shouted "help" and the government just opened its wallet. This all took place, remember, under George W Bush, whose administration claimed to be fiscally conservative. But getting the US government to commit to any form of bailout for the planet – even a couple of billion – is like pulling teeth. "Unaffordable!" the Republicans (and many of the Democrats) shriek. It will wreck the economy! We'll go back to living in caves! I'm often struck by the wildly inflated rhetoric of those who accuse environmentalists of scaremongering. "If those scaremongers have their way they'll destroy the entire economy" is the kind of claim uttered almost daily, without any apparent irony. No legislator, as far as I know, has yet been able to explain why making $7.7tr available to the banks is affordable, while investing far smaller sums in new technologies and energy saving is not. The US and other nations began talking seriously about tackling climate change in 1988. Yet we still don't have a legally binding global agreement, and we are unlikely to get one until 2020, if at all. Agreements to help the banks are struck at economic summits without breaking sweat, yet making progress at climate summits looks like using a donkey to tow a 44-tonne truck. That said, the outcome at Durban, after some superhuman feats of traction, was better than most environmentalists expected. After Copenhagen and Cancún, it seemed implausible that rich and poor nations would ever agree that they would one day strike a legally binding treaty, but they have. That doesn't mean that the outcome was good: even if everything happens as planned, we are still likely to end up with more than 2C of warming, which threatens great harm to many of the world's people and places. The clearest account of the negotiations and the outcome of the Durban meeting that I have read so far has been written by Mark Lynas, who attended as an adviser to the president of the Maldives. The byzantine complexity he documents is the result of 20 years of foot-dragging and obstruction. When powerful countries want to do something, they do it swiftly and simply. When they don't, their agreements with other nations turn into a cat's cradle. Here are some of the key points: • The most important negotiations boiled down to a battle between two groups: the European Union, least developed countries (LDCs) and small island states on one side, which pressed for steeper, faster cuts, and the US, Brazil, South Africa, India and China on the other side, seeking to resist that pressure. • The first group (EU + LDCs) succeeded in one respect: the other nations agreed to work towards a legally binding deal "applicable to all parties". In other words, unlike the Kyoto protocol, which governs only the greenhouse gas emissions of a group of rich nations, this will apply to everyone. (It doesn't necessarily mean that all nations will have to reduce their emissions however). • The first group failed in its attempt to get this done quickly. The poorest nations wanted a legally binding outcome by the end of next year. But the US-China group held out for 2020, and got it. Unless this changes, it makes limiting the global temperature rise to 2C or less much harder - perhaps impossible. • The Kyoto protocol, though it will remain in force until either 2017 or 2020, is now a dead letter. In fact, Lynas suggests, unless the loopholes it contains are closed it could be worse than useless, as they could undermine the voluntary commitments that its signatory nations have made. • The countries agreed to create a green climate fund to help developing nations limit their greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of global warming. But, with three exceptions - South Korea, Germany and Denmark - they didn't agree to put any money into it. The fund is supposed to receive $100bn a year: a lot of money, until you compare it to what the banks got. • Between now and 2020, all we have to rely on are countries' voluntary commitments. According to a UN study, these fall short of the cuts required to prevent more than 2C of global warming - by some 6bn tonnes of carbon dioxide. • But as the Durban agreement conceded, 2C is still too high. It raised the possibility of pledging to keep the rise to no more than 1.5C. This would require a much faster programme of cuts than it envisages. So why is it so easy to save the banks and so hard to save biosphere? If ever you needed evidence that our governments operate in the interests of the elite, rather than the world as a whole, here it is. www.monbiot.com | ['environment/georgemonbiot', 'environment/environment', 'tone/blog', 'environment/durban-climate-change-conference-2011', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'business/business', 'business/banking', 'world/world', 'environment/green-politics', 'type/article', 'profile/georgemonbiot'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2011-12-16T11:44:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
world/2020/apr/16/the-trees-are-my-grandparents-the-ecuador-tribe-trying-to-save-its-culture | 'The trees are my grandparents': the Ecuador tribe trying to save its culture | The Amazon rainforest has been home to the Achuar people for thousands of years. Skilled hunters and fishermen, they have a spiritual connection with nature and consider themselves the forest’s greatest protectors. Life is governed by their ancestors, with family history passed down orally from generation to generation. Yet traditions are being undermined as the young are tempted away by modernity, while their fragile ecosystem faces man-made destruction. But now, the same technological developments so often deemed a threat to traditional ways of life, have offered the Achuar people, and other remote tribal people, the opportunity to preserve their legacy and fight back against the eradication of their histories. A team from the global genealogy website MyHeritage has been spending time with groups like the Achuar in an attempt to preserve their family heritage. Entsakua Yunkar, shaman of the Achuar Sharamentsa community in Ecuador, said the project was helping to assuage his fears that “history can disappear” very quickly. “I feel like the father of this community,” Yunkar said. “If I don’t exist here, this community can’t have power and be successful. I feel that I give positive energy to the communities and families here. “The big trees are my grandparents. They speak to me. I feel very sad when I think about what will happen in a long time. The world is changing. Our goal is to protect this area and our culture so it will be alive for many years.” The very existence of tribal communities around the world is threatened by a whole host of factors. Imported diseases, such as influenza, measles and chickenpox, can prove deadly when tribespeople have not had the chance to develop any immunity, according to Survival International, the global charity for tribal people’s rights. Deforestation and climate change are also huge threats, while technology and modernity risk destroying communities by luring younger members away to urban regions. The genealogy project is the brainchild of Golan Levi, a qualified architect who earlier in his career spent years creating giant sculptures with tribes around the world. “I heard fascinating stories [during his time as an architect],” he said. “They had a history of oral tradition, but they didn’t have a means to preserve their heritage. “The oral tradition keeps the essence of their communities but they’re losing the pieces. They might know the meaning behind a ceremony but they wouldn’t be able to tell you the name of their great great grandparents. “When I started working at MyHeritage I realised it was the perfect fit to document those stories.” The group’s first project was with the Himba people of Namibia in 2015, with subsequent delegations visiting the Nenets in Siberia, the Emberá, Ngäbe, Naso and Guna in Panama, and several tribes in Papua New Guinea. “Everything varies from tribe to tribe … but family and how they collaborate with each other is key,” said Levi. He explains the groups have initially been met with scepticism, but their willingness to muck in breaks down barriers with the tribespeople, who eventually agree to be photographed, filmed and interviewed. “It takes time to build trust,” he adds. “We live as they live in order to understand how they view the world and this is something they greatly appreciate.” Franklin Wasump, an Achuar who hails from the Wayusentsa community, echoed Entsakua Yunkar’s concerns about his culture disappearing. “In many years the Achuar culture may disappear, as happened with other nationalities, because there are many young people that don’t want to preserve the culture,” he said. “I am sad because although today it is still preserved, in the future it might not. “It is the responsibility of the father to teach, to talk to the young children in order not to lose the culture.” Yampia Santi, an Achuar leader from the Wayusentsa community, said he hoped the project would raise awareness. “The Achuar tribe will be around for many more generations, which is why we ask you tell your friends about the rainforest and the Achuar people who live there.” | ['world/ecuador', 'environment/deforestation', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'world/americas', 'world/world', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/forests', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tone/features', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/deforestation | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-04-16T04:00:33Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
technology/2020/oct/09/ball-launchers-activity-trackers-pet-tech-gadgets-dogs-cats | From ball launchers to activity trackers: the new breed of pet tech | Technology for pets is increasingly popular, with gadgets entering the market that promise to keep our dogs and cats in trim, healthy and occupied, and we pet owners in sync with their needs. The increasing humanisation of pets means more and more of us are treating them as fluffy family members. Spending on cats and dogs has increased hand in hand with this trend. Total spending on pets in the UK reached a record high of £6.9bn in 2019, an increase of about £3.5bn since 2009, according to the Office for National Statistics. Many gadgets that started out as human tech, such as activity trackers, have made the transition to the pet market. The excellent PitPat dog activity tracker has been designed in collaboration with vets. It clips on to collars and measures the time (rather than steps) your dog devotes to play, rest and activities such as running or walking. It also clocks the pet’s weight, if you are looking for him or her to shed the pounds, and you can even add activity goals for your dog to achieve to gain points and win prizes. PitPat has a subscription service that features veterinary advice. The device costs £39 with a monthly payment of £4 for the more advanced features. www.pitpat.com Whistle FIT tracks your dog’s activity and health behaviours such as licking, scratching, night sleep and drinking. Depending on your dog’s age, weight and breed, Whistle will determine how much food they should eat and how much exercise they should get in order to stay healthy. It fits on to a range of funky collars that Whistle also sells and activity is measured via a downloadable app. The device measures distance in miles/kilometres, rest time and calories burned. The tracker is stylish and lightweight, making it a good choice for cats and small dogs. It costs £60 for the tracker and there is also a subscription service including vet advice. www.whistle.com SureFlap Microchip Cat Flap and SureFlap Microchip Cat Flap Connect are innovative cat flaps that use microchips to let the registered pet into your home. The Connect version can also be controlled via smartphone using the Sure Petcare app – this allows you to lock or unlock the cat flap if there is a change in the weather or you are late home after dark. The recommended retail price (RRP) is £60 to £125, depending on the features. www.surepetcare.com/en-gb/pet-doors The PetSafe Automatic Ball Launcher provides a game of fetch for dogs. The toy is suitable for all breeds and keeps dogs entertained while encouraging mental and physical activity. The launcher has nine distance settings up to 9 metres and six ball angle settings up to 45 degrees, as well as a built-in delay after ball placement to teach waiting skills. It has an RRP of £141.99. www.petsafe.com/uk Butternut Box is a dog food subscription service that gives a dog its own online meal portal, with the optimum measurements of freshly prepared food to keep them in top condition. There is a comprehensive profile section for each pet to keep tabs on their weight, eating habits, quirks and activity levels, all of which can be updated if anything changes. Butternut Box’s plans are calculated to a dog’s individual requirements including their age, weight and activity levels, and take into account any health conditions. Butternutbox.com The Furbo Dog Camera lets you check up on your pet while he or she is home alone. You can also dispense treats remotely your via an app: there is room for about 100 small treats to keep your dog occupied. The HD super-wide image offers a 160-degree view of the room in which you place it. It features night vision and a high-quality two-way microphone, so you and your dog can hear each other. The Furbo is compatible with Alexa, which means it is voice-activated. It can detect your dog’s barks and will send an automatic push notification to your phone. You can then decide whether to remotely dispense a treat, speak to your dog or even sing to him. The RRP is £189. Shopuk.furbo.com/products/furbo-dog-camera Marie Carter-Robb is the editor and publisher of Pets Magazine. She road-tested technology with her cavalier King Charles spaniels Sophie, Nell and Rufus | ['technology/gadgets', 'money/money', 'lifeandstyle/pets', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'technology/wearable-technology', 'lifeandstyle/dogs', 'lifeandstyle/cats', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'technology/technology', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/money', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-money'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2020-10-09T15:00:52Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
world/2014/may/14/california-wildfires-dry-winds-keep-region-alert | California battles fresh wildfires | Fresh wildfires have broken out across parts of southern California, burning down dozens of homes and prompting authorities in San Diego county to evacuate thousands of people and declare a state of emergency. Scorching temperatures and dry winds fanned at least five fast-moving blazes on Wednesday near San Diego just a day after firefighters contained two other fires in the region. The worst blaze burned 30 homes in Carlsbad, north of San Diego, and triggered 11,500 evacuation notices. A heat wave and tinder-dry brush had created a dynamic, dangerous situation, California fire captain Mike Mohler told local television reporters. “It's just unfortunately a recipe for a large fire and that’s what we’re seeing right now.” Television news footage showed homes reduced to smoking ruins as flames crackled through canyons, with smoke billowing so thick it blotted out the sun and motorists having to use headlights. "At times it looks like there’s fire in the sky with the wind whipping back and forth," one witness, Ryan Marble, told the Los Angeles Times. A fire near the Camp Pendleton military base burnt out 700 acres (280 hectares), prompting evacuations of homes and parts of the San Onofre nuclear power plant. Ground crews backed by helicopters and air tankers contained two fires on Tuesday near San Diego and Santa Barbara, 250 miles north, but knew to expect more. "Santa Ana winds, record heat and low humidity will persist in southern California through Thursday," said Jon Erdman, a meteorologist with weather.com. "Beginning Friday winds will begin to turn onshore, with much cooler 60s and 70s returning to the coast this weekend." The fire in northern San Diego county flared on Tuesday morning near Rancho Bernado and by evening had burned 1,550 acres of canyons and ridges, threatening rural homes and triggering evacuation orders for 20,000 people, including several hundred within San Diego city limits. Local fire departments and the state department of forestry and fire protection cut fires lines and used fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters to douse the flames before they damaged property. San Diego's mayor, Kevin Faulconer, praised the “fantastic teamwork” of local fire departments and the state department of forestry and fire protection. "Obviously the battle is not over." The cause of the fires was not immediately known but this week's heatwave combined with brush left tinder-dry by years of drought created ideal conditions for wildfires. The National Weather Service issued red-flag fire warnings and heat advisories for the region earlier in the week. Some forest roads were closed because of the danger. California, braced for a worsening drought and water shortages this summer, received potentially good news last week: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration increased the probability for El Niño conditions developing next winter to 78%, up from 66% last month and 36% last November. The El Niño weather phenomenon can produce wetter winters in California as warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean affect the jet stream. | ['world/wildfires', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'world/natural-disasters', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/rorycarroll'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2014-05-15T02:00:10Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
commentisfree/2015/mar/12/mourn-robotic-dog-human-sony | To mourn a robotic dog is to be truly human | Andrew Brown | When a Japanese pet is ceremonially cremated, the owners return after the ashes have cooled to sift through them with special chopsticks, picking out the bones one by one and transferring them to their final resting urn. This was the strangest thing I knew about Japanese funeral rites until I discovered that Buddhist priests there now hold services for robot pets as well. Between 1999 and 2006, the Sony corporation made and sold 150,000 small robot dogs, known as Aibos, which animated at the joints, and were equipped with a microphone and speakers so that they could respond to simple commands. Unlike real dogs, they required no exercise and no food, and they never excreted either. They did, however, mime peeing, lifting their legs and producing what one owner described as “an indescribably beautiful tinkling sound”. But what really made Aibos resemble real dogs was not their shape or their behaviour. It was that their owners loved them. When Sony discontinued the product line, the dogs already made continued to work, and to be loved, and the company would replace the parts that wore out until as late as last year. One company, made from former Sony engineers, specialised in reviving defunct robot pets. Then the supply failed. Dogs that stopped working would never start again. Buddhist priests, who already perform most of the pet cremations in Japan, are now combining two existing traditions – the love with which pets are treated as family members, and the newer habits of mourning toys or dolls when their time is over. A photo essay shows the result: elderly Japanese holding their defunct Aibos in a line, and the later shelving of the bodies, each labelled carefully with their name and place of origin. A prayer is also said, to release the spirit from its metal carcass. After that, the Aibos can become “organ donors” and be plundered for spare parts. This isn’t just a story about Japan. It’s really about the question of what makes things alive to us. The answer is surely that anything that can die seems alive, and anything that seems alive will sometime die. One way of asking what is going on is to ask why exactly we are so sure that the robot dogs never were alive. It can’t be purely because they are robots, working according to mechanical and chemical laws. So are we, so far as we can tell. Certainly, the “mentalistic behaviourism” espoused by Dan Dennett holds that life is no more than mechanism of a particular sort, which we, ourselves mechanisms, interpret as something more: thought is merely behaviour that we think is thought. So, if computers can some day be intelligent, and appear to us as persons, why shouldn’t robot dogs? It is true that an Aibo has a behavioural repertoire more limited than that of even the most stupid dog. But plenty of living things have even less of a range of behaviour. We don’t doubt that slime moulds or nematode worms are alive, even though they do very little with their lives. Presumably, the real difference is concealed by the indescribably beautiful tinkling sounds: an Aibo does not have any physical transactions with the universe. It does not feed itself or reproduce. It is possible to imagine a robot doing all of these things, or their analogues, but Aibos do not. They do, however, die. They are, as the funerals make quite clear, entirely loved by some of their owners at least. In this their nearest analogue is actually the Velveteen Rabbit in a wonderful children’s classic – or the altogether grimmer, darker and more realistic version of Russell Hoban’s Mouse and His Child. Both stories deal with children’s toys who come alive because they are loved and which can properly be mourned as a result. The funerals of the robot dogs are in this sense a perfectly religious act. The priests don’t promise that the Aibos will go to heaven, any more than they do for real pets. But the ceremonial gives shape and habitation to a grief. We’re seldom more completely human than when we mourn things that could never mourn us in return. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'lifeandstyle/bereavement', 'technology/sony', 'technology/technology', 'technology/gadgets', 'lifeandstyle/pets', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'world/japan', 'world/asia-pacific', 'world/world', 'tone/comment', 'type/article', 'profile/andrewbrown'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2015-03-12T08:56:09Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2019/jul/11/australia-urged-to-invest-in-recycling-manufacturing-after-indonesia-sends-rubbish-back | Australia urged to invest in recycling manufacturing after Indonesia sends rubbish back | Australia could quickly solve the problem of Indonesia and other countries rejecting its waste if governments invested in recycling manufacturing as promised and required the use of recycled material in public projects, industry and environmental groups say. Jakarta announced on Tuesday it would return 210 tonnes of Australian household rubbish – the latest demonstration of opposition in south-east Asia to receiving exported waste. Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia have each turned back shipments and warned they would not become dumping grounds for developed countries after China banned imports of foreign plastic rubbish. Peter Shmigel, the head of the Australian Council of Recycling, which represents about 70 companies, said countries in the region were increasingly focused on their own waste issues and less inclined to accept it from overseas. “Indonesia has not changed the level of contamination in the waste it will take, it’s just enforcing the rules,” he said. He said federal and state governments could address the issue by helping finance new plants and introducing procurement rules that required departments and agencies to use recycled material. He said it would kickstart a domestic recycling market that would prevent recyclable material kept in Australia sitting in stockpiles or going to landfill. About 90% of waste that does not go to landfill stays in Australia and 10% is exported. “Invest and buy – they are the two big things,” he said. Shmigel said one major project could be enough to make a difference to the industry. “If the federal government decided tomorrow that the 27km of roads and tunnels required for Snowy Hydro 2.0 was to be built out of recycled products you wouldn’t have an export problem,” he said. The Morrison government has promised a $100m recycling investment fund to support manufacturing of recycled-content products, including plastics, paper and pulp. Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia have made multimillion-dollar recycling investment pledges. Shmigel’s call was backed by Jeff Angel, the director of advocacy group the Total Environment Centre. Angel said investment in glass and aluminium reprocessing plants, both new and existing, was important but did not address the biggest problem. “It’s not that we don’t have the reprocessing facilities but they lack access to clean material and markets to sell their products,” he said. Sign up to receive the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Angel said the success of container deposit schemes, under which people are paid for bottles and cans returned for recycling, showed a way ahead. Victoria is the only state or territory that does not have a container deposit scheme or is not promising one. “This is exactly what should be happening for a range of items that are being put in a yellow (recycling) bin,” he said. The assistant minister for waste reduction and environmental management, Trevor Evans, said tackling waste was a key priority for the government, pointing to a promised $167m in investment that included developing recycling schemes for batteries, electrical and electronic products, solar systems and plastic oil containers. Evans said the government wanted to reduce waste and increase recycling to help the environment, ensure the integrity of recycling exports and promote local industries and jobs. Shmigel said the federal and state governments needed to move beyond a system of voluntary targets such as increasing recycling or composting of plastic packaging to 70% by 2025. “Nowhere in the world have we seen a voluntary system get to that sort of number,” he said. Evans said the government had asked Indonesian authorities for further information about any concerns they have with recyclable material shipped from Australia. “If companies are breaching the rules when trading recyclables here or in Indonesia, then they are letting their industry and all Australians down, and there needs to be appropriate compliance and enforcement,” Evans said. | ['environment/recycling', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'environment/ethical-living', 'world/indonesia', 'world/philippines', 'world/malaysia', 'world/asia-pacific', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/adam-morton', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-07-10T18:00:38Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
commentisfree/2020/mar/10/yahoo-deleted-all-my-emails-and-theres-nothing-i-can-do-about-it | Yahoo deleted all my emails – and there's nothing I can do about it | Arwa Mahdawi | At about 4pm on Sunday, a decade of my life disappeared for ever. I logged into my ancient Yahoo email account to try to find an old message from a university friend. A notice curtly informed me that, as I had not used the account for a year, my inbox had been wiped. Yahoo was my first “adult” email account, an upgrade from my halcyon Hotmail years. It chronicled my life from 2000 to 2010; suddenly, all those contacts, conversations and memories were gone – just like that. Yahoo had not warned me, even though I had given it my Gmail details as an alternative address. Surely there was someone I could talk to about this. There was – but I would have to sign up to a premium service and pay $4.99 (£3.80) a month for the privilege of speaking to a human being. Instead, I contacted the company on Twitter. “This is normal and the emails cannot be restored,” a representative informed me. Yahoo then ignored all my desperate follow-up messages. I was ghosted by a web services provider. I am not the only person who was blindsided by Yahoo’s clear-out; lots of people are in my position. We have only ourselves to blame, of course: we should have archived anything important; and we should not have trusted a company that styles its name with an exclamation mark. But that doesn’t make the perfunctory deletion of so much personal history any easier. On Twitter, one former Yahoo user noted that their erased inbox included emails from a loved one who had since died; someone else mourned the loss of their angsty teenage conversations. The moral of this story is: “Back up your stuff.” Many of us treat the internet as if it is a big filing cabinet in the sky, but we forget that we do not have the master key. We forget that most of us have thoughtlessly agreed to terms and conditions that let companies do whatever they see fit with our personal information. Often, we give big tech carte blanche to mine, share and delete our data – and there is nothing we can do about it, because we have given our permission. The digital economy has fundamentally changed the nature of ownership. Many of the digital things that we think we own are merely being rented: one policy change and our “possessions” become inaccessible or useless. Last year, for example, Microsoft closed its ebook store; all books bought through the service became unreadable. Earlier this year, the wireless speaker maker Sonos announced that it would no longer provide software updates for older equipment, including hardware sold as recently as 2015. This meant that some speakers would become unusable. After an outcry, Sonos backtracked. However, owners of several other internet-connected devices have had their smart products suddenly become dumb. In 2019, the US electronics retailer Best Buy discontinued its line of Insignia Connect products. It offered gift cards to the people who had purchased these gadgets, but not full refunds. In the grand scheme of things, the loss of a decade’s worth of emails is not the biggest tragedy in the world. But it is a cautionary tale. It is a reminder of how little we own in the digital economy – not even own our memories. •Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'technology/yahoo', 'technology/internet', 'technology/technology', 'technology/big-data', 'technology/cloud-computing', 'technology/computing', 'technology/email', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/arwa-mahdawi', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/g2', 'theguardian/g2/features', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-g2-features'] | technology/big-data | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2020-03-10T13:00:32Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
commentisfree/2021/sep/17/the-guardian-view-on-autumn-as-summer-ends-fresh-starts-abound | The Guardian view on autumn: as summer ends, fresh starts abound | So, after a late short blaze of summer, autumn is here. The leaves are turning, the blackberries are mostly eaten. So much of our approach to the season in literature and music has a dying fall: “Nothing gold can stay”, as Robert Frost put it. Not that summer was especially golden in the UK this year. Many, deprived of the long warm days of beach-going and picnics they had hoped for, feel it never happened at all. And now there is a rising drumroll of warning about winter infection rates, NHS overwhelm and rocketing heating costs. True, the swifts are leaving, and geese honk across the sky. The mornings are darker and evenings shorter – one definition of autumn is that it begins on the equinox, 21 September, when dark and light are equal; another is based on average temperature, and kicks the season off on 1 September – but a flock of swallows waiting for the signal to go is a wonderful thing. And other birds, including knots, waxwings, fieldfares, light-bellied brent geese and redwings are just arriving. The trees will soon be in their autumn beauty – so beautiful that tourists travel great distances, to Canada, the eastern US seaboard and Transylvania, to marvel at the sight. Scientists believe that climate change will gradually drag leaf fall earlier, but they don’t seem to suggest that the cycle itself, of green giving way to golds and russets and reds, will cease. Forest bathing – or simply being, with attention and sensory intent, in the nearest wood – has such health benefits that the Woodland Trust has argued it should be prescribed on the NHS. Abundance is everywhere: berries (rowan, bryony, hawthorne, dog rose); a smörgåsbord of fungi; apples, pears, damsons, pumpkins, squashes, all the grains. The ultimate celebration of the season in English is arguably Keats’s To Autumn – “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness/ Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun” – which was written after a Sunday walk in harvest-time. “How fine the air,” he wrote to his friend JH Reynolds, “I never liked stubble-fields so much as now – Aye, better than the chilly green of the Spring. Somehow, a stubble-field looks warm – in the same way that some pictures look warm.” There is something about noting that contradiction, between stubble and warmth, the simultaneity of death and life, the days dwindling down to a precious few, that catches at the essence of this time. Autumn is more subtle than summer, less overdetermined. It is full of beginnings, too. Even for those who now have nothing to do with schools there is a sense of starting again – new books, new clothes, new thoughts; cooler, brisker air. Berries are food for wildlife – and then seeds on the ground, to grow into new plants next year. Leaves will return to Earth, and feed more trees. Hibernation is sleep, a conservation, and a promise. What feels like falling (pine cones, acorns, conkers, leaves) is also about starting again, a kind of – to use Alice Oswald’s lovely phrase – falling awake. So yes, autumn is here. And that is cause for celebration. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/autumn', 'environment/environment', 'environment/forests', 'lifeandstyle/health-and-wellbeing', '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 | 2021-09-17T17:12:20Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
sport/2024/feb/10/england-16-14-wales-six-nations-player-ratings-from-twickenham | England 16-14 Wales: Six Nations player ratings from Twickenham | ENGLAND Freddie Steward An early slashing break was the last that was seen of the full-back as an attacking force, but safe as ever under the high ball. 5 Tommy Freeman A try-saving tackle on Josh Adams was a highlight but denied chances to repeat the attacking threat shown in Rome. 5 Henry Slade A steady display and very strong in defence but few opportunities to show his attacking prowess. 6 Fraser Dingwall Northampton centre’s first senior try hauled England back into the game and he played an important role in the comeback. 6 Elliot Daly Denied a second-half try and failed to make much impression in attack. May come under pressure for place in Scotland. 5 George Ford His 93rd Test began farcically with that non-conversion. Recovered well, tactical kicking was particularly impressive. 6 Alex Mitchell Scrum-half improved as game wore on and he made some vital attacking breaks before being replaced by Danny Care. 6 Joe Marler Very strong in the scrum as expected and an important part in an imposing physical display by the England pack. 6 Jamie George (capt) A powerful performance in the front row. He is proving an inspirational leader of a team in transition. 6 Will Stuart The Bath man was terrific in defence and helped give the England pack real solidity, particularly at scrum time. 7 Maro Itoje Made some vital tackles and was always an imposing presence. One of his best games for a long time. 7 Ollie Chessum His early yellow card looked harsh. Returned to the field to be taken off with head injury assessment but recovered well. 6 Ethan Roots Left England with 13 players after he was sent to the sin-bin, but impressive once he returned to the field. 7 Sam Underhill Thumping tackle on Gareth Thomas. Performed gamely in the back row but not quite back to his destructive best. 6 Ben Earl Brilliant work to power over at the scrum for England’s first try and was his side’s most influential forward. 8 Replacements Theo Dan (for George, 72) 5; Ellis Genge (for Marler, 52) Had an instant impact in the scrum 6; Dan Cole (for Stuart, 52) 5; Alex Coles (for Chessum, 74) 5; Chandler Cunningham-South (for Underhill, 64) Made some important late tackles 6; Danny Care (for Mitchell, 68) 7 WALES Cameron Winnett The full-back was particularly impressive in the first half and despite his inexperience looks a natural at this level. 6 Josh Adams Would have liked to have made more of an attacking impression but still looks a natural in the right-wing slot. 6 George North His return from injury was a boon to his country but this was a flat evening from Wales’s most experienced player. 5 Nick Tompkins A steady and unfussy game against many of his Saracens clubmates. Was outstanding defensively. 6 Rio Dyer The wing, just as he had been against Scotland, was Wales’s best back. He was particularly threatening in the first half. 7 Ioan Lloyd A difficult evening for the latest occupant of Wales’s No 10 shirt, who was outplayed by George Ford. 5 Tomos Williams Another strong display from the man who almost turned the game against Scotland. He has nailed down the No 9 slot. 6 Gareth Thomas He made some important carries and more than held his own in the scrum. A strong performance. 6 Elliot Dee Made a nuisance of himself throughout the game and was strong in the set-piece against Jamie George. 6 Keiron Assiratti Injured early on after that tackle from Ollie Chessum and struggled to impose himself in the scrum. 4 Dafydd Jenkins (capt) Despite his tender years is leading by example and was really impressive in the lineout. An outstanding display. 7 Adam Beard The lock rarely earns the plaudits but was excellent in a hard-grafting display and made some vital tackles. 6 Alex Mann A try on his first Test start turned the game Wales’s way before the break and he never looked fazed by the occasion. 6 Tommy Reffell The Leicester flanker was a real force at the breakdown and Wales’s best performer in the pack. A real menace. 7 Aaron Wainwright Man-of-the-match against Scotland and at the heart of the penalty try that began Wales’s early assault. Very strong. 7 Replacements Ryan Elias (for Dee, 55min) 6; Corey Domachowski (for Thomas, 58) 6; Archie Griffin (for Assiratti, 55) 6; Will Rowlands (for Beard, 68) 6; Taine Basham (for Marin, 68) 6; Kieran Hardy (for Williams, 72) 6; Cai Evans (for Lloyd, 79) 5; Mason Grady (for Adams, 62) Yellow card gifted England late chance of victory 3 | ['sport/six-nations-2024', 'sport/england-rugby-union-team', 'sport/wales-rugby-union-team', 'sport/sixnations', 'sport/rugby-union', 'sport/sport', 'campaign/email/the-breakdown', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/ianmalin', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/sport', 'theguardian/sport/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-sport'] | sport/wales-rugby-union-team | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2024-02-10T20:01:11Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
politics/2019/dec/01/tories-labour-and-lib-dems-all-lack-plan-for-transport-emissions | Tories, Labour and Lib Dems 'lack clear plan to tackle transport emissions' | None of the main parties in the general election has a coherent plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transport, the biggest source of carbon in the UK, according to Friends of the Earth. The Conservative manifesto highlights the need to repair potholes, but the nearly £30bn pledge to be spent on roads is likely to add to greenhouse gases at a time when they need to be reduced drastically. Labour and the Liberal Democrats have pledges to invest in rail and other public transport, with Labour doing so through nationalising the railways, but they also fall short. Transport has become the biggest source of UK emissions and is on the increase, rising by 3% a year, while carbon from energy generation has fallen. The Department for Transport has been criticised for “going rogue” by planning for big increases in road transport while neglecting public transport and the need to invest for a low-carbon future. Mike Childs, the head of science at Friends of the Earth, said: “While the Conservatives have warm words on buses and trams, they do not spell out spending commitments, and the £350m they promise for cycling is a fraction of what’s needed. Meanwhile, their promise to spend £28.8bn on roads will exacerbate the climate emergency.” However, despite much more focus on the climate emergency in their manifestos, Labour and the Lib Dems also failed to grasp the opportunities needed, he said. “Labour and the Lib Dems are both much stronger on transport but neither have faced up to the fact that we need to stop spending on roads and make motoring more expensive. Transport is the largest source of carbon emissions and growing – if we are to take the climate emergency seriously, we need carrots and sticks.” A report by Transport for Quality of Life, Friends of the Earthand Greenpeace, prepared before all details of the main parties’ policies were available, has found that the UK could drastically reduce emissions from transport through investment in infrastructure, regulation on emissions from vehicles and encouraging people out of their cars. They found that government departments responsible for all other sectors of the economy, from energy and waste to agriculture and housing, had cut greenhouse gas emissions – but the DfT had presided over a rise in emissions. “A policy prescription for slow and steady carbon reduction that might have been sufficient 25 years ago is no longer fit for purpose,” the authors said. “Because we have left it so late to tackle carbon from transport, we now have to take urgent action.” Under the UK’s current target of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 – a target that would be brought forward by the Lib Dems, Labour and the Green party – the rising emissions from transport would have to be brought under control swiftly. The main parties have differing aims on when to ban the sale of combustion engines, and this will be crucial, according to the report. Theresa May’s government reversed some of the incentives for buying electric cars, resulting in a steep fall in sales. The NGOs are calling for a radical rethink of public transport that would require it to be universal, comprehensive, affordable – or free, in the case of local travel – and low-carbon. They point to examples in other countries where public transport systems are coordinated so that trains, trams and buses are under a single authority. Adopting a similar approach in regions of the UK would cut car mileage by about 10%, the report predicts. The potential for cycliing would be much larger if infrastructure was improved, according to the report. The authors cite a recent study suggesting more than a quarter of commuters in the West Midlands would cycle to work if e-bikes were widely available and the routes more cycle-friendly. The most obvious ways of funding new low-carbon infrastructure are to reallocate existing road transport funding, and to put levies on driving on motorways and some built-up areas and on road haulage. However, the report suggests that methods common in other countries could also be used: for instance, a levy paid by employers to pay for public transport and a small tourist or lodging tax for overnight visitors, common in other European countries, to go towards local public transport. Public expenditure on walking, cycling and local public transport in the UK is about £2.3bn a year. But if all these measures were taken, the expenditure could be raised to £40bn a year, making possible the radical changes needed to the transport system to allow for a low-carbon future, the report found. “The next government should bring in pay-per-mile for driving in towns, cities and on motorways, balanced by free local public transport,” said Lynn Sloman, director of Transport for Quality of Life. “It should regulate all public transport, as in London, and as Manchester is considering, so that every town and city can have a comprehensive public transport service. “There must be a massive increase in funding for bus services, tram lines and cycleways, but much of that can be paid for by cancelling the last government’s £29bn climate-destroying roads programme. The climate emergency should be the top priority of the next transport secretary, and every penny of public money must be used to cut traffic and enable everyone to live decently without having to own or drive a car.” • This article was amended on 3 December 2019 to make it clear that the campaigning group who commented on the party manifestos was Friends of the Earth. | ['politics/general-election-2019', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'politics/conservatives', 'politics/labour', 'politics/liberaldemocrats', 'uk/uk', 'politics/politics', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2019-12-01T18:05:02Z | true | EMISSIONS |
commentisfree/2013/dec/27/human-rights-are-under-attack-in-post-tsunami-indonesia | Human rights are under attack in post-tsunami Indonesia | Andreas Harsono | Here’s a seasonal snapshot from Indonesia’s Aceh province: on 20 December, dozens of militant Islamists rallied outside one of the largest hotels in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, threatening violence if the hotel management attempted to organise Christmas or New Year’s Eve celebrations. The protest was to support an edict from the province’s leading Islamic cleric’s organization, the Consultative Ulama Council, prohibiting Muslims from any recognition of the Christmas season. Welcome to Aceh, nine years after the Indian Ocean tsunami that devastated the province and left 221,000 of its people dead or missing. The unprecedented international response to the tsunami, which affected 14 countries including Indonesia, included US$8bn for emergency assistance to Aceh’s survivors and to fund reconstruction of roads, schools and housing. The massive destruction also jump-started peace talks between the Indonesian government and the insurgent Free Aceh Movement, or GAM, which ended the province’s long-running civil war in return for significant autonomy for its provincial government. Australian military personnel were among the first foreign responders to the Aceh tsunami zone, quickly establishing an emergency field hospital. Since then, the Australian government has spent or pledged at least A$151m to deliver what it described as “real impact in the quality of people’s lives” in Aceh. The quality and security of the lives of many Acehnese remains in peril, though, and this time the threat isn’t a natural disaster. Instead, women and religious minorities are the target of discriminatory laws, intolerance and abuse. An October 2007 regulation in Aceh on the construction of houses of worship has resulted in unreasonable limitations on the ability of religious minorities to build and renovate churches and temples. In May 2012 alone, that law prompted authorities to forcibly close 17 Christian churches and a house of worship for one of Aceh’s many indigenous native faiths. On 17 June 2012 Islamist militants destroyed the GBI Peunayong Protestant church on the pretext that it was illegal. Governor Irwandi Yusuf had inflamed the situation by declaring in May 2011 that several non-Sunni sects and religions followed “deviant teachings.” Such intolerance is becoming distressingly common across Indonesia. Indonesia's Setara Institute, which monitors religious freedom in Indonesia, documented 243 incidents of physical violence in the first 10 months of 2013, compared with 264 in all of 2012, up from 216 in 2010. Women in Aceh are under siege from four Sharia-inspired criminal bylaws enacted in July 2003 that impose punitive restrictions on freedom of association and expression. These laws apply to both women and men, but local activists say that the Sharia police, who enforce them, apply them more often and more harshly against women and girls. One of the laws imposes “seclusion,” making it a crime for two adults of the opposite sex who are not married or related by blood to be together in an isolated place. This broadly worded law has been interpreted to prohibit merely sitting and talking in a quiet space with a member of the opposite sex. The authorities have even targeted people eating or studying together. Sharia police officials say they sometimes force women and girls suspected of violating the seclusion law to submit to “virginity exams,” which are invasive and demeaning. Violators face between three and nine lashes from a rattan cane. Another restrictive bylaw imposes “Islamic” public dress requirements for Muslims. In practice it imposes far more onerous restrictions on women, requiring them to cover their hair with the hijab headscarf in public and forbidding them from wearing body-hugging clothing. In Banda Aceh, the Sharia police regularly organise sweeps against women with tight jeans. Aceh’s Sharia police chief told Human Rights Watch, “We focus on everybody, but it’s usually women that make mistakes.” Police arrested Putri Erlina, 16, in 2012, allegedly for violating her town’s seclusion law. After local media reported her arrest, Erlina wrote a note saying she could not endure the shame and hanged herself. A series of bylaws enacted in recent years in Aceh’s 23 regencies have further restricted women’s rights. The city of Lhokseumawe rolled out a regulation last January banning women from straddling motorcycles – only riding side-saddle is permitted. In neighboring Bireuen, a local regulation enacted in May prohibits women from dancing. In Meulaboh, in western Aceh, a decree imposed in January 2010 forbids women from wearing pants. These discriminatory laws have become increasingly common across Indonesia. An August 2013 update by Indonesia's official Commission on Violence against Women reported that the national and local governments have passed 342 discriminatory regulations since 1999, including 79 local bylaws requiring women to wear the hijab, backed by various sanctions. At the nine-year anniversary of the tsunami that hit Aceh, Australia can take pride in the spirit of generosity and friendship it expressed through assistance to survivors and reconstruction efforts. But Australia’s substantial investment in post-tsunami Aceh is under attack from intolerant forces intent on depriving the province’s women and religious minorities of “real impact in the quality of people’s lives.” The Australian government should bolster its financial investment in Aceh with a human rights one by making clear to the Indonesian government that discriminatory laws and rights violations against women and religious minorities in Aceh and across Indonesia are unacceptable. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'world/indonesia', 'world/tsunamis', 'world/islam', 'world/religion', 'world/freedom-of-religion', 'world/gender', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/andreas-harsono'] | world/tsunamis | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2013-12-27T01:00:11Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
media/2008/jan/18/pressandpublishing.newsinternational | London freesheets honour recycling pledge | The publishers of the rival London afternoon freesheets have installed 70 recycling bins in central London to honour the deal struck with Westminster Council last year. Associated Newspapers, publisher of London Lite, and News International, publisher of the London Paper, have each installed 35 bins in the West End and Victoria at a cost of £500 each. This exceeds the commitment made last August to install 32 bins each, after Westminster Council threatened to restrict distribution of the papers within its boundaries. The mountain of discarded newspapers in the capital has been a big issue since the freesheets launched in September 2006, with councils in central London and London Underground complaining about the increased clean-up bill. The two papers distribute about 900,000 copies across London every day between them and newspapers account for 24% of street waste in the West End. Westminster Council expects the scheme to ensure the emptying and recycling of nearly 400 tonnes of free newspapers a year, the equivalent of 6,400 trees. News International has taken responsibility for the bins in the Oxford Circus and Charing Cross Station areas, while Associated Newspapers is looking after Leicester Square and Victoria Station. John Leitch, the circulation director of London Lite, said: "This new recycling initiative further reinforces our green credentials and our litter picker operation which has run since the launch." Ian Clark, the managing director of the London Paper, said: "This is part of our ongoing efforts to minimise impact on the environment. "The London Paper is printed on recycled paper and uses environmentally friendly ink that can be broken down without specialist recycling techniques." · To contact the MediaGuardian newsdesk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 7239 9857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 7278 2332. · If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". | ['media/pressandpublishing', 'media/media', 'media/newsinternational', 'media/associated-newspapers', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'profile/caitlinfitzsimmons'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2008-01-18T12:23:13Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2021/apr/29/world-lose-glacier-ice-climate-targets | World will lose 10% of glacier ice even if it hits climate targets | A tenth of the world’s mountain glacier ice will have melted by the middle of this century even if humanity meets the goals of the Paris climate agreement, according to figures compiled exclusively for the Guardian. The loss is equivalent to more than 13,200 cubic kilometres of water – enough to fill Lake Superior, or more than 10m Wembley Stadiums – with knock-on effects on highly populated river deltas, wildlife habitats and sea levels. In some particularly hard-hit areas, including central Europe, North America and low latitudes, glacier mass is expected to decline by more than half. Scientists said the overwhelming bulk of this melt-off, which does not include Greenland or Antarctica, is unavoidable because it has been locked in by the global heating caused by humans in recent years. However, they say the actions governments take today – including the recent announcements of more ambitious emissions-cutting goals by the US, the UK and others – can make a big difference to the landscape in the second half of this century. “What we see in the mountains now was caused by greenhouse gases two or three decades ago,” said the glaciologist Ben Marzeion from the University of Bremen. “In one way, we could see it as a doomsday because it is already too late to stop many glaciers melting. But it is also important that people are aware of how decisions taken now can affect how our world will look two or three generations from now.” Marzeion extracted the data from a synthesis last year of more than 100 computer models generated by research institutes around the world. These studies projected various possible behaviours of the planet’s roughly 200,000 mountain glaciers, depending on different emissions pathways and weather circulation patterns. The compiled results are considered the most accurate estimate yet of how mountains will lose their white snow-caps and blue ice-rivers. Between 2021 and 2050, Marzeion calculated the average mass loss over the various scenarios is 13,200 Gt. This is equivalent to melting almost five Olympic swimming pools of ice every second over the next 30 years. Aggressive emissions cuts would barely slow this. The difference between the best and worst-case scenarios was less than 20%. The remaining 80% is already locked in. That contrasts with projections for the second half of the century, when the decisions taken now will make a huge difference. In a low-emissions scenario, current glacier mass is projected to diminish by about 18% by 2100, which would be a slowdown. By contrast, in a high-emissions scenario, the loss would accelerate to reach 36%. This has multiple consequences. Mountain glacier melt contributes more than a third of sea-level rise, a higher contribution than the Antarctic, according to the latest European State of the Climate Report, which was released last week. This is steadily raising the risk of floods and inundations along coastal regions and rivers. Depending on how quickly emissions can be cut, the extra runoff is likely to add 79-159mm to sea levels by 2100, according to the synthesis paper. At a local and regional level, it can also reduce the stability of river systems. On a seasonal level, Alpine glaciers help to regulate water supply by storing precipitation in winter and releasing it in summer. But as they melt away over decades due to global heating, more downstream areas will first experience a water boom, then a bust. Previous studies suggest 1.9 billion people are at risk of mountain water shortages, most of them in China and India. The urgency varies according to altitude, ice thickness, weather patterns and a host of other factors. Lower mountain ranges, such as the European Alps or the Pyrenees, are expected to be among the worst affected. In Switzerland and Italy, there are already cases of famous glaciers retreating rapidly or melting completely. Scientists predict there could even be more glaciers in the world by 2050 because many of the current big bodies of ice will split into smaller fragments, but they stress the number and area of glaciers is less important than the trends affecting mass and volume over decades. “It is very important to think long term,” said Samuel Nussbaumer of the World Glacier Monitoring Service and the University of Zurich. “Glaciers have a long memory.” | ['environment/series/our-disappearing-glaciers', 'environment/environment', 'environment/glaciers', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/rivers', 'environment/water', 'world/world', 'environment/poles', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jonathanwatts', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/poles | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2021-04-29T09:22:05Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2021/jun/10/takeaway-food-and-drink-litter-dominates-ocean-plastic-study-shows | Takeaway food and drink litter dominates ocean plastic, study shows | Plastic items from takeaway food and drink dominate the litter in the world’s oceans, according to the most comprehensive study to date. Single-use bags, plastic bottles, food containers and food wrappers are the four most widespread items polluting the seas, making up almost half of the human-made waste, the researchers found. Just 10 plastic products, also including plastic lids and fishing gear, accounted for three-quarters of the litter, due to their widespread use and extremely slow degradation. The scientists said identifying the key sources of ocean plastic made it clear where action was needed to stop the stream of litter at its source. They called for bans on some common throwaway items and for producers to be made to take more responsibility. Action on plastic straws and cotton buds in Europe was welcome, the researchers said, but risked being a distraction from tackling far more common types of litter. Their results were based on carefully combining 12m data points from 36 databases across the planet. “We were not surprised about plastic being 80% of the litter, but the high proportion of takeaway items did surprise us, which will not just be McDonald’s litter, but water bottles, beverage bottles like Coca-Cola, and cans,” said Carmen Morales-Caselles, at the University of Cádiz, Spain, who led the new research. “This information will make it easier for policymakers to actually take action to try to turn off the tap of marine litter flowing into the ocean, rather than just clean it up,” she said. Straws and stirrers made up 2.3% of the litter and cotton buds and lolly sticks were 0.16%. “It’s good that there is action against plastic cotton buds, but if we don’t add to this action the top litter items, then we are not dealing with the core of the problem – we’re getting distracted,” Morales-Caselles said. Prof Richard Thompson, of the University of Plymouth in the UK, who was not part of the research team, said: “Having [this data] recorded in a proper scientific way is incredibly useful. There can be a reluctance to take action on something that seems very obvious because there isn’t a published study on it.” The research, published in the journal Nature Sustainability and funded by the BBVA Foundation and Spanish science ministry, concluded: “In terms of litter origins, take-out consumer items – mainly plastic bags and wrappers, food containers and cutlery, plastic and glass bottles, and cans – made up the largest share.” The analysis included items bigger than 3cm and identifiable, excluding fragments and microplastics. It distinguished between take-out plastic items and toiletry and household product containers. The highest concentration of litter was found on shorelines and sea floors near coasts. The scientists said wind and waves repeatedly sweep litter to the coasts, where it accumulates on the nearby seafloor. Fishing material, such as ropes and nets, were significant only in the open oceans, where they made up about half the total litter. A second study in the same journal examined the litter entering the ocean from 42 rivers in Europe, and was one of the datasets Morales and colleagues used. It found Turkey, Italy and the UK were the top three contributors to floating marine litter. “Mitigation measures cannot mean cleaning up at the river mouth,” said Daniel González-Fernández of the University of Cádiz, who led the second study. “You have to stop the litter at the source so the plastic doesn’t even enter the environment in the first place.” In May, Greenpeace revealed that UK plastic waste sent to Turkey for recycling had been burned or dumped and left to pollute the ocean. US and UK citizens produce more plastic waste per person than any other major countries, according to other recent research. The researchers recommended bans on avoidable take-out plastic items, such as single-use bags, as the best option. For products deemed essential, they said the producers should be made to take more responsibility for the collection and safe disposal of products and they also backed deposit return schemes. “This comprehensive study concludes that the best way to confront plastic pollution is for governments to severely restrict single-use plastic packaging,” said Nina Schrank plastics campaigner at Greenpeace UK. “This seems undeniable. We will never recycle the quantity of waste plastic we’re currently producing.” Thompson said: “What’s going on in the sea is a symptom of the problem – the origin of the problem and the solution are back on land and that’s where we’ve got to take action.” | ['environment/plastic', 'environment/plastic-bags', 'environment/oceans', 'environment/waste', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damiancarrington', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-06-10T15:41:06Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
uk-news/2020/apr/21/campaigners-take-legal-action-over-27bn-uk-road-building-scheme | Campaigners take legal action over £27bn UK road-building scheme | Campaigners have launched a legal challenge to try to prevent billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money being spent on a huge road-building programme, which they say breaches the UK’s legal commitments to tackle the climate crisis and air pollution. Lawyers acting for the Transport Action Network (Tan) have begun legal proceedings against the Department for Transport calling for the road-building scheme, which was confirmed last month by the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to be suspended. They argue that ministers did not take into account the government’s legally binding commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050. They also say the government has not considered whether the £27bn programme is in line with its obligations under the Paris climate agreement. The move follows a successful challenge to the proposed third runway at Heathrow. In that case the court ruled that the planned airport expansion was illegal because ministers did not adequately take into account the government’s commitments to tackle the climate crisis. The road-building programme is thought to be the UK’s largest and would lead to thousands of miles of new roads being built across the country in the coming years – with at least 50 projects due to be under way in the next two years. The UK’s road network and its wider transport infrastructure are crucial in the country’s efforts to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis. The transport sector is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases and the only one to have increased its emissions in recent years. Chris Todd, Tan’s director, said it was impossible to take the government seriously on the threat posed by climate change when it is “set to burn billions on the largest ever roads programme”. “This massive roads programme has become like a juggernaut that’s out of control, that no one can stop. We now have no choice but to go to court to prevent an unfolding disaster.” Tan wrote to the secretary of state following the court of appeal’s Heathrow decision in February requesting a pause in the road-building programme to allow time to reconsider its environmental effects. It said it did not receive a response to that letter. Lawyers have sent a pre-action protocol letter that is the official start of legal proceedings. Rowan Smith, from the solicitors Leigh Day, which is pursuing the case on behalf of Tan, said the group was raising “legitimate concerns” at a time when it was widely established that the climate emergency “demands a move away from a continued reliance on fossil fuels towards more sustainable transport”. The government’s climate change adviser has joined calls for ministers to reconsider its road-building plans. Chris Stark, the head of the Committee on Climate Change, said it would be better for the economy and the fight against climate breakdown for the billions of pounds allocated for road-building to be invested in broadband – especially in light of the coronavirus crisis, which has led to many more people working from home. “The government mustn’t be investing in anything likely to increase carbon emissions,” Stark told the BBC. “I expect that video-conferencing will become the new normal and we won’t return to travelling the way we did. I would spend the roads budget on fibre. You would get a huge return to the economy with people having better connections. You would save people’s time and increase their productivity.” His comments echo those of the head of the motoring organisation the AA, who said this month that government money would be better invested in broadband than roads. In response to the legal challenge, a spokesperson for the Department for Transport defended its plans. “The second road investment strategy is consistent with our ambitions to improve air quality and decarbonise transport,” they said. “We have received the letter and will respond formally in due course.’’ | ['politics/transport', 'uk/transport', 'environment/green-politics', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment', 'politics/politics', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/matthewtaylor', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/green-politics | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2020-04-21T14:33:25Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
technology/2008/nov/06/yahoo-google | Yang 'disappointed' after Google deal collapses | Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang says he felt let down by Google's decision to pull out of a controversial advertising agreement between the two internet rivals. The $800m deal – which would have enabled Google to sell advertising on some parts of Yahoo's search engine listings - had been subject to a formal investigation by the US Department of Justice over potential antitrust concerns. However, despite recently renegotiating some of the terms to allay fears, Google decided on Wednesday that it would pull the plug on the agreement. "We were disappointed," said Yang, speaking at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. "It was disappointing to us that they didn't want to defend this deal." "We were going through a process with the Department of Justice to get them to understand how this was a good deal [and] Google clearly felt they didn't want to stay in." Yang insisted that the deal – if it had gone through – would have allowed both companies to benefit from exploiting each other's weaknesses, rather than further increase Google's dominance in the search engine market. He also added that he believed the US government's interpretation was inaccurate and damaging. "It's incredibly important to participate and compete for the search marketplace… in fact, we are doing better in search today than when this whole thing started," he said. "I really thought that the government, in this case, does not understand our industry and has a market definition that is too narrow." Google had announced its surprise decision by saying that it did not want to take part in a drawn-out and complicated fight. "After four months of review, including discussions of various possible changes to the agreement, it's clear that government regulators and some advertisers continue to have concerns about the agreement," said Google's chief legal officer David Drummond in a statement. "Pressing ahead risked not only a protracted legal battle but also damage to relationships with valued partners." The pact had been widely seen as an attempt to ward off Microsoft's $44bn attempt to buy Yahoo, which ended in acrimony after the two companies failed to come to an agreement. But Yang rejected that characterisation of the deal, saying there was no "poison pill approach" taken by Yahoo executives. Instead, he accused Microsoft of going cold on the deal at a crucial point in the negotiations. "Everybody's replayed that in their minds – I'm no exception," he said. "To this day I'd say that the best thing for Microsoft to do is to buy Yahoo… at the right price. They walked away from a public offer. We were ready to negotiate, and we felt that we weren't that far apart." "I don't know what else we could have done," he added. Yang – who started the company in 1995 with his co-founder David Filo – has come under a series of attacks since taking over the helm after the departure of former CEO Terry Semel in 2007. The criticism became increasingly extreme after Microsoft tabled its bid in February, resulting in an attempted boardroom coup by dissident investor Carl Icahn, and a number of vocal attacks from smaller shareholders. But talking to an audience of internet entrepreneurs and investors, Yang said the collapse of takeover talks was "not personal" and that he harboured no ill will towards Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer. "People who know me will know that I don't have an ego about remaining independent," he said. "I have a lot of respect for Steve and we'd had a lot of good conversations. From my perspective, it's not personal." | ['technology/yahoo', 'technology/google', 'technology/yahoo-takeover', 'technology/internet', 'tone/news', 'technology/technology', 'media/media', 'business/business', 'law/law', 'type/article', 'profile/bobbiejohnson'] | technology/yahoo-takeover | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2008-11-06T03:31:30Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2013/jun/28/bee-crisis-urgent-review | Bee crisis: UK government launches 'urgent' review | The government has launched an "urgent" review of the crisis facing bees and other pollinators in the UK and pledged to introduce a national pollinator strategy. "As we all recognise, pollinators play a vital role in the security of our food supply and the quality of our natural environment," said Lord Rupert de Mauley, minister at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). "In safeguarding their future, we can secure our own." Friends of the Earth's executive director Andy Atkins said: "We're delighted that enormous pressure for a bee action plan from scientists, businesses and the public has stung the government into action. The minister's plan of action must be in place when bees emerge from hibernation next spring: we can't afford to gamble any longer with our food, countryside and economy." Bees and other pollinators fertilise three-quarters of global food crops and have seen severe declines in recent decades, due to loss of habitat, disease and harmful pesticides. In the UK, wild honey bees are nearly extinct, solitary bees are declining in more than half the areas studied and some species of bumblebee have been lost altogether. Poor weather last winter led to the death of a third of all honeybee colonies in England. In April, the European Union suspended the use of three neonicotinoid pesticides linked to serious harm in bees, despite the opposition of the UK ministers. De Mauley said: "We know there are gaps in the evidence. That is why I am launching an urgent and comprehensive review of current policy, evidence and civil society action on pollinators to identify what needs to be done to integrate and step up our approach. This urgent review will form the basis of a national pollinator strategy, which will bring together all the pollinator-friendly initiatives already underway and provide an umbrella for new action." An independent group of experts convened by Defra's chief scientific adviser, Prof Ian Boyd, met for the first time earlier in June to identify gaps in knowledge about the state of the UK's pollinators. De Mauley noted existing government initiatives including 12 new Nature Improvement Areas to create more and better-connected habitats at a landscape scale and the promotion and funding of the sowing of nectar flower mixes on farmland. On pesticides, he said: "I do not deny for a moment that it is important to regulate pesticides effectively and to avoid unnecessary pesticide use. However, we all know that bees will be vulnerable, whether or not we put more restrictions on insecticides." Pressure on the government to act has grown rapidly in recent months and included calls from over 200 MPs, businesses including Marks and Spencers. B&Q and the Co-operative and 70,000 members of the public. Lynne Dicks, an expert on wild pollinators at the University of Cambridge , said enhancing the food and nesting sites available to pollinators was one key problem that had to be addressed. "All pollinators, not just bees but also many flies, butterflies, moths, wasps and beetles, rely on flowers," she said. "But the number of flowers in the countryside declined calamitously in the 20th century: we lost 97% of our flower-rich meadows between 1930 and 1984." The Common Agricultural Policy should be used to restore grassland and planting more flowers on farmland, she said. "Through enhancing the yield of many high value crops, pollination is worth between £430m and £510 m to the UK economy," Dicks said. "But amazingly, pollination doesn't seem to be considered as an important agricultural input." She added that basic monitoring of pollinators was lacking: "At the moment, it is almost impossible for us to know whether actions to help bees and flies are having an effect, because we have no long-term monitoring." Finally she said overall pesticide use must be reduced, rather than increasing as it did by 6.5% between 2005 and 2010. The government's national action plan on pesticides, published in March, was required to establish timetables and targets for reductions but did not. Paul de Zylva, at Friends of the Earth, said: "This was more of an inaction plan." | ['environment/bees', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/insects', 'environment/environment', 'environment/farming', 'tone/news', 'uk/uk', 'environment/endangeredspecies', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'environment/conservation', 'type/article', 'profile/damiancarrington', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/endangered-habitats | BIODIVERSITY | 2013-06-28T10:19:42Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2020/sep/21/wrapped-up-in-sustainability | Wrapped up in sustainability | Brief letters | A word of cheer to anyone saddened by Prof Brian Butterworth’s letter (20 September): dyscalculia being unheard of in the 1950s and 60s, I struggled miserably with maths at school. As a mature student, I achieved a BA in English literature and history, and later in life studied for an MA in history. Within words I swim as easily as an otter, and thankfully you don’t have to be able to read music in order to sing. Rita Gallard Norwich • Re your article (Ministers to pilot New York-style courts in reforms to sentencing, 16 September), 20 years ago we had a more personal and effective system – the probation service. John Griffiths Monmouth, Monmouthshire • I would be sorry to lose your paper wrapper for Saturday’s sections: it can be reused (Letters, 20 September). Every week, I make a book for my preschool granddaughter and your paper wrapper, cut in half and shaped to fit, makes a perfect A5 envelope. Doreen Fryer Birmingham • Contrary to Derek Greatorex, extensive research using the starch-based bags in our household revealed that they fail faster than their paper replacements. Perhaps our waste contains more amylase. Dr Roger Merry Marshfield, Wiltshire • To paraphrase John Ruskin (who dug the footings for the work of William Morris and co), the highest reward for good design is not what we get for it, but what we become by it (Editorial, 20 September). Austen Lynch Garstang, Lancashire | ['environment/recycling', 'society/dyslexia', 'environment/environment', 'society/society', 'society/prisons-and-probation', 'environment/waste', 'education/sustainability', 'culture/william-morris', 'artanddesign/artanddesign', 'culture/culture', 'environment/ethical-living', 'uk/uk', 'commentisfree/series/brief-letters', 'education/education', 'tone/letters', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2020-09-21T14:48:23Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
us-news/2019/nov/23/harvard-yale-football-game-protest-fossil-fuels | Harvard and Yale students disrupt football game for fossil fuel protest | Students and alumni from Harvard and Yale disrupted the annual football game between the two elite universities on Saturday, occupying the field in New Haven, Connecticut, at half-time and demanding the colleges divest from investment in fossil fuels. More than 200 protesters stalled the high-profile game for around an hour, many chanting: “Hey Hey! Ho Ho! Fossil fuels have got to go!” The protest was briefly booed by some in a crowd of 44,989 and discussed widely on social media. After the protest had delayed the TV broadcast of the game and pushed it toward sunset in a venue without floodlights, most of the protesters left the field voluntarily, escorted by police officers. A handful who remained were told they would be arrested. The number of arrests made was not immediately available. Students began campaigning in 2012 for both schools to stop investing in oil and gas and coal companies that contribute to the climate crisis. Both universities refused, arguing that they would be in a better position to encourage corporate climate action if they remained shareholders. “They believe that they can engage with these companies and get them to change their fundamentally extractive business models, which we think comes from a place of naivety amounting to gross negligence,” Nora Heaphy, an undergraduate at Yale, said. “It’s absurd to make those kinds of claims. So since then our campaign has moved away from administrative engagement, recognizing that it is often a stalling tactic.” A few months ago, hundreds of students at both universities walked out of class for a global climate strike. Last year at Yale about 50 students, community members and professors occupied the investment office until they were arrested. Heaphy has been arrested twice. Both schools have massive endowments invested across the economy, including in fossil fuels. Harvard’s is worth $39bn, Yale’s $29bn. Activists believe that if the universities divest, hundreds of institutions will follow them. Students at other prestigious schools are locked in similar battles. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), one group is opposing the decision to accept $3m and name an auditorium after the oil company Shell, which some experts call an example of the “colonization of academia” by fossil fuel corporations. A recent Guardian investigation revealed that 20 companies are responsible for a third of all carbon emissions since 1965. Internal documents from Exxon show the company knew the oil and gas industry would drastically alter the Earth’s climate decades ago and launched sophisticated campaigns to convince the public otherwise. Caleb Schwartz, a Harvard undergraduate, said no shareholder resolution could “sufficiently address the impact that Exxon has had on the climate crisis and on our politics” and added: “Ultimately, these companies need to go out of business in order for us to have a safe and livable future.” MIT has accepted funding from Shell to renovate a lecture hall in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, a highly visible space used for large classes for first-year students. “The significance of this is not the $3m in and of itself, which is pennies both to Shell and, frankly to MIT,” said Geoffrey Supran, an MIT alum who studies the history of global warming politics with Naomi Oreskes at Harvard. “The significance of this is this is part of a systemic trend – the invisible colonization of academia by the fossil fuel industry.” Supran said MIT received more industry funding than any other non-medical university in America. Students at MIT say they are offended by the message the naming of the auditorium will send to the academic community. The department is home to both climate scientists and researchers exploring more efficient ways for drillers to extract oil and gas. Advocates at MIT have pushed for the university to divest from fossil fuels. “Many of the things that MIT has said they would do, they haven’t done,” said Catherine Wilka, a graduate student in climate physics and chemistry. Wilka said she was “frustrated with the lack of evidence we’ve seen that this strategy of constructive engagement has changed anything about the fossil fuel companies’ intended business plans for oil and gas extraction – even as the science has painted an incredibly direct picture of the consequences if we don’t transition away from fossil fuels soon”. | ['us-news/us-universities', 'education/harvard-university', 'education/yale-university', 'environment/fossil-fuel-divestment', 'world/protest', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'education/higher-education', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/environment', 'sport/college-sports', 'sport/us-sport', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/emily-holden', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/fossil-fuel-divestment | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2019-11-23T21:16:15Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
environment/ethicallivingblog/2007/nov/21/winwinsituationsdonttrustt | Win-win situations? Don't trust them | Before industrialised food kicked in, Scots enjoyed a diet based on kale (every Scotsman had his kale patch), barley, oats (porridge for breakfast is the healthiest start you can possibly have), turnips, butter and cheese - a poor diet but surprisingly well balanced and rich in complex carbohydrates and fibre. Then they were eating white bread, sausages, potatoes, condensed milk, sugar, margarine and jam. More calories, more fat, more protein, but far, far fewer nutrients. By the end of the twentieth century the Scots were the sick men of Europe; eating almost the lowest rates of fruit and vegetables in the world, and doctors were discovering that Scottish babies were being hardwired for obesity by the poor diet of their mothers. What does the Fife 'local produce' Diet, - no tea, coffee, wine or soya - in today's Guardian, have to do with this? You may have noticed that, as well as being low-carbon, this is an impressively healthy diet. Pumpkin is a great source of vitamin A; organic beef from cattle who've grazed on clover and mixed grasses in the Scottish highlands will be packed with vitamins B6 and B12, as well as minerals like selenium and zinc; cabbage is the perfect vitamin C source which kept sailors from dying of scurvy. And all these nutrient levels will be high because the food has not travelled far: the quicker you eat it out of the ground the better. It's hard not to perceive this as a win-win situation and I've noticed these cropping up more and more in my ongoing investigations on your behalf into how to be a goody two shoes with low carbon emissions. I've been making a big effort, for example, to use up everything in my vegetable box recently: we roasted a chicken with potatoes, cabbage and carrots on Sunday, on Monday I baked white beetroot with cheese, onions, garlic and rice, on Tuesday we had a weird parsnip, chicken scrap and potato medley, and today... well who knows? Along the way I'm trying to eat with the children every night, and the result is that I'm eating more vegetables, sitting down and talking to the kids instead of tidying up while they eat, and eating early so not going to bed with a full stomach. I'm using half as much energy for the cooking, throwing away less food and spending less money. Frankly, it seems too good to be true. Win-win situation number two: cycling or walking to work is saving me money, making me fitter and reducing my carbon emissions. (And this nice trio has been picked up by the government recently , which has caught on to the fact that it can simultaneously target the country's obesity problems and their emissions if we all get on our bikes.) Win-win situations, I must say, make me suspicious. It doesn't seem quite right that no one is losing out here - apart from the ready-meal, and car, manufacturers I suppose). So I'm looking out for problems and will report back with them. There must be a flaw in the reasoning here somewhere. This is not how the world, as I have always understood it, really functions... | ['environment/ethical-living', 'environment/environment', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'tone/blog', 'environment/carbonfootprints', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/green-living-blog', 'type/article', 'profile/bibivanderzee'] | environment/carbonfootprints | EMISSIONS | 2007-11-21T12:07:40Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/2019/sep/20/from-alan-jones-to-the-daily-mail-the-australian-medias-bizarre-reactions-to-the-climate-strike | From Alan Jones to the Daily Mail: the Australian media's bizarre reactions to the climate strike | The Daily Mail found a child at the climate strike who said they just wanted the day off school and Alan Jones quoted Joseph Goebbels. Those were just some of the more bizarre takes on the climate strike from sections of the media on Friday. Hundreds of thousands of people rallied across Australia in what were overwhelmingly peaceful events but on Sydney’s most popular breakfast program Jones interviewed climate sceptics and claimed school children were being brainwashed by adults with a political agenda. “This sort of stuff is frightening young people,” Jones told his audience. “Young people are going to be concerned, they believe their teachers, they actually think that they’re at school and what they’re being told is true. “The notion of using children in all of this is scandalous and the politics of climate change has become poisonous.” When an elderly caller suggested the children’s minds were being manipulated just like those of the Hitler Youth in Germany decades ago, Jones was in furious agreement. “I will remind our listeners that [Hitler’s] minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, also said it would not be impossible to prove with sufficient repetition and the psychological understanding of the people concerned that a square is in fact a circle. “They are mere words and words can be moulded until they clothe ideas in disguise. This is what’s going on here isn’t it? Immensely disturbing I have to say. Immensely disturbing.” Jones interviewed climate denier Christopher Monckton, who claimed the science was falling apart. “There’s a very large political element in this climate storyline but the science is collapsing in all directions,” he said. Nine’s Melbourne bureau had a questionable angle on the strikes, which provoked some serious mocking after the reporter tweeted the angle as “breaking” news. The Daily Mail has to be congratulated for allegedly finding children at the rally who said they did not care about climate change and they just wanted to go to Subway. The headline was dramatic: “School children admit that they don’t CARE about climate change and just want the day off – as violence erupts during mass protests”. “As the sea of people made their way to the event at midday on Friday, some school students on scooters could be seen heading in the opposite direction – appearing disinterested in the event,” the reporter said. But if you drilled down the story there was a single quote, from an unidentified child: “I just wanted the day off school.” A Sky News reporter covering the climate strike in Sydney said she was insulted by a protester after revealing who she worked for. While the Daily Telegraph’s news coverage on the website was straight, the editor, Ben English, made his position clear in an email to readers, saying the paper had “consistently condemned so-called climate strikes as wastes of valuable school time”. “To make up for lost classroom hours, perhaps those schools could set weekend assignments on the subjects of climate, coal and responsible governance,” English said. “All of those themes were addressed in many protest signs, so the children will obviously have a handy head start on their research. “Students could be invited to answer some of the most complicated questions involving these topics. Questions such as: Where is the proposed Adani mine? (Hint: not the Barrier Reef.)” | ['environment/school-climate-strikes', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'media/media', 'environment/environment', 'environment/activism', 'world/protest', 'media/sky-news-australia', 'media/dailymail', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/amanda-meade', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/school-climate-strikes | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2019-09-20T09:21:57Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
commentisfree/2019/apr/19/extinction-rebellion-climate-change-protests-london | The Extinction Rebels have got their tactics badly wrong. Here’s why | André Spicer | Over the past few days, I have watched members of the Extinction Rebellion movement block bridges, disrupt public transport and lock themselves to lorries. I have been moved by their bravery and inspired by their message, but puzzled by their strategy. On the face of it, the rebels have been effective. They have disrupted major cities, gained publicity and built bonds of solidarity. But are they achieving their aim of building a more sustainable world? According to Stanford University’s Doug McAdam, the climate change movement has historically been a failure when compared with other movements. Climate activists have struggled to engage politicians, been unable to build influential organisations, and failed to connect with the wider public. The Extinction Rebellion may mark a turning point. The rebels have injected a sense of urgency and emotion back into the issue of climate change, but creating meaningful and long-lasting change requires more. A movement must reach out beyond true believers and connect with a wider base of potential supporters – wherever they might be found on the political spectrum. Climate activists talk about saving the natural environment from “harm”, “caring” for the planet and working towards climate “justice”. Such language appeals to the left but antagonises the right. Researchers have found that conservatives heed messages about climate change when they are couched in values they hold dear – that means talking about saving the climate as obeying authority, preserving the purity of nature or defending your country. A recent study published in the journal Nature: Climate Change found that “interventions that increase angry opposition to action on climate change are especially problematic”. The only sound way forward was to “transform intergroup relations”. That meant being able to reach out beyond one’s political tribe and draw in other groups. You do that through their values, their language and their rituals. Extinction Rebellion’s call for “ecological justice” will appeal to people on the left, but it will miss out those in the centre and alienate folks on the right. If the rebels want to reach out, they could instead talk about “preserving the purity of nature” or “saving our national natural heritage”. Their tactics are also likely to push away many potential supporters. Acts of civil disobedience such as occupying bridges, guerrilla gardening and protest puppetry may appeal to seasoned activists, but are a turnoff for thousands of potential supporters who might walk past such occupations. If the rebels want to reach out, they should use social rituals which other groups are familiar with – instead of glueing themselves to DLR trains, they might hold tea parties at local fetes. The identity offered by the Extinction Rebellion movement will resonate with would-be rebels, but the majority of people who could potentially be won over to their cause don’t see themselves as “rebels”. Instead they identify as parents, workers, neighbours, members of ethnic or religious groups and many other things. To effectively reach out, the climate change movement needs to connect with these identities. After all, one of the main reasons people change their minds is when they have an extended conversation with someone who is like them but who has changed an opinion. But perhaps the Extinction Rebels do not want to reach out. Their avowed aim is to encourage 3.5% of population to undertake system change. If the Extinction Rebels continue to focus on attracting a relatively small group of activists they will open up a space for a mass movement which can appeal across political boundaries. If such a mass movement does indeed come about, the Extinction Rebels are likely to provide an important service. This will be due to what’s called the radical flank effect. This is when more extreme groups make us aware of the problem, in turn forcing the authorities to work with more moderate movements to create the solutions. • André Spicer is professor of organisational behaviour at the Cass Business School at City, University of London | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/extinction-rebellion', 'tone/comment', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'science/science', 'environment/activism', 'world/protest', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'profile/andre-spicer', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/opinion', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/extinction-rebellion | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2019-04-19T06:00:47Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
environment/2022/sep/04/spare-a-thought-for-us-arachnophobes-this-autumn | Spare a thought for us arachnophobes this autumn | Brief letters | Another spider horror story to terrify us arachnophobes (Country diary, 1 September). I did not need to be told that “the male giant house spider” can sprint at half a metre a second. I’ve seen the buggers do it – towards me. I’m an old bloke and it barely gives me time to scream and leap on the sofa, hoping my wife can head it off before it escapes. Prof Bev Littlewood London • I am grateful for all the helpful suggestions to avoid hypothermia this coming winter (Letters, 1 September). It still seems, though, that the best way to stay warm is to have lots of money. Tracey Gilbert Exeter • Wyn Jeffery remembers waiting until October for blackberries in the north-east, but I’ve have been picking them on my walks for the last three weeks (Letters, 2 September). If I only started in October I would miss this treat. Is this another sign of climate change? Laura Askew Morpeth, Northumberland • I can assure Michael Cunningham that What’s Going On? is by far and away the most appropriate Marvin Gaye classic for some of us to “get it on” to (Letters, 2 September). Ian Grieve Gordon Bennett, Shropshire Union canal • At the age of nearly 71, I still write letters to old friends (Letters, 31 August) and receive their replies. One arrived today from a friend in the north-west of England, enclosed with my birthday card. I would be very happy to correspond with any budding letter writers. Hilarie Chantler London • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication. | ['environment/spiders', 'type/article', 'tone/letters', 'commentisfree/series/brief-letters', 'business/cost-of-living-crisis', 'lifeandstyle/foraging', 'music/marvin-gaye', 'lifeandstyle/hobbies', 'environment/environment', 'environment/wildlife', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-09-04T16:17:31Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
uk/2010/mar/26/judge-plea-deal-fine-corrupt-innospec | Judge says plea deal tied his hands over fine for corrupt firm | A senior judge today criticised the Serious Fraud Office for striking plea bargains which let off corrupt companies too lightly. Lord Justice Thomas, deputy head of criminal justice, complained that he had wanted to impose a fine running into "tens of millions" on the Cheshire-based chemical firm Innospec for bribing senior Indonesian officials but had only been able to make it pay a "wholly inadequate" £8m. He said prosecutors should not be able to agree plea bargains after deciding that Richard Alderman, the SFO director, had no legal power to agree such a deal with the multi-national firm. The judgment casts doubt on whether a similar plea bargain with BAE – criticised by campaigners for being too gentle on the arms giant – can go ahead. Alderman had encouraged companies to cut such US-style plea bargains as a way of admitting their corruption and starting afresh while avoiding a long and costly court case. His agency has only recently started to make any headway in prosecuting bribery after years of criticism that the government was turning a blind eye to it. Thomas said the payment of bribes by British firms abroad was one of the worst corporate crimes in the book. Innospec's corruption involved "the payment of very substantial amounts to senior officials of the government of Indonesia over a long period of time". He said the firm had also paid bribes to delay Indonesia outlawing one of its poisonous products prolonging "damage to the people of Indonesia and the environment". The product, used in leaded petrol, had already been banned in Britain and other countries for being too harmful to humans. His hands had in effect been tied, the judge said, by a plea bargain struck before Innospec had come before the court. The firm had agreed to admit its bribery and in return, prosecutors had agreed a specific penalty to recommend to the judge. Sentencing the firm at Southwark crown court, Thomas underlined that it was a constitutional principle that judges in England and Wales were responsible for deciding sentences. "The director of the SFO had no power to enter into the arrangements made and no such arrangements should be made again," he said. Anti-corruption campaigners have criticised the SFO for letting BAE plead guilty to minor offences and a small penalty to end years of bribery investigations. That deal, announced in February, has yet to come before a court. Susan Hawley of campaigners Corruption Watch said the BAE deal would have to be renegotiated following a "remarkable and ground-breaking judgement" by Thomas. "The SFO's plea-bargain approach over overseas corruption has been shown to be far too lenient, utterly untransparent and potentially unconstitutional." | ['law/serious-fraud-office', 'business/business', 'environment/corporatesocialresponsibility', 'world/indonesia', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'law/law', 'world/asia-pacific', 'type/article', 'profile/robevans', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/corporatesocialresponsibility | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2010-03-26T19:29:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
australia-news/2023/apr/27/water-testing-after-the-menindee-fish-kill-shows-a-chronically-sick-river | Water testing after Menindee fish kill shows a ‘chronically sick’ river | Water testing results from the Darling-Baaka River at Menindee indicate the river is “chronically sick” and raise concerns about the health of the Murray-Darling basin, experts say. The New South Wales Environment Protection Authority released the second round of test results days after the state government declared it would investigate the deaths of millions of fish at Menindee in far-west NSW as a “pollution incident”. The latest results were from seven samples collected by WaterNSW and the EPA on 30 March. Five were taken at Menindee and two downstream at Pooncarie. High levels of ammonia were detected in samples collected on 21 March, five days after the fish kill began. One detected ammonia at 56 times higher than the national guidelines for fresh and marine water quality. Dr Ian Wright, a professor of environmental science at Western Sydney University, said the first results showed a toxic level of ammonia and it was heartening to see that the levels had decreased. “It’s … up to five times higher than it should be at some sites but it’s nothing like the 56 times that it was before,” he said. Sign up to receive Guardian Australia’s fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter Wright said nitrogen and phosphorus levels were still “sky high”. The EPA said it suspected the high nutrient levels were due to the rotting fish. . “The system is supercharged with nutrients,” Wright said. “I think it’s a chronically sick river and it doesn’t take much to tip over.” That nutrient load led to algae blooms, he said: “I don’t know if a lot of these problems are manageable. The nutrients reflect everything that’s going on, right up into Queensland, all over New South Wales. It’s a massive catchment … all soil erosion, fertiliser, animal wastes, sewage.” Blue-green algae was detected in both sets of samples. An amber alert remains in place for the river at Menindee and Pooncarie. This means people should not drink untreated water but there are no restrictions on recreational use such as swimming. Wright advised people against having contact with the water when an amber alert was in place. “When you’ve got a fish kill, there’s likely to be bacteria, as in faecal bacteria,” he said. In response to concerns raised by Wright about the first round of test results – which included not testing for certain bacteria – the EPA told Guardian Australia that more samples had been taken on 4 and 11 April and would be tested for bacteria. “The first round of testing on 21 March was to respond to the emergency and the immediate concerns around pesticides,” a spokesperson said. “Additional testing rounds will investigate other potential causes.” The EPA also clarified the number of water samples taken, in response to criticism about a lack of samples. Six samples were collected on 21 March by WaterNSW, seven on 30 March by WaterNSW and EPA officers, five on 3 April by WaterNSW, two on 4 April by EPA officers, and six on 11 April by WaterNSW. Wright said he was happy to see sample sites added at Pooncarie but there still were not enough. “We’re not seeing results upstream from well above the fish kill,” he said. The results were an important reminder of how “finely balanced” river health could be. An EPA spokesperson said it had access to upstream data from WaterNSW: “The … investigation is continuing and water quality data from before the fish kill will form a part of that investigation.” Sign up for the Rural Network email newsletter Join the Rural Network group on Facebook to be part of the community | ['australia-news/series/the-rural-network', 'australia-news/murray-darling-basin', 'environment/rivers', 'environment/water', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/new-south-wales', 'australia-news/rural-australia', 'environment/pollution', 'campaign/email/afternoon-update', 'environment/fish', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'australia-news/series/rural-network', 'profile/fleur-connick', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/the-rural-network'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2023-04-26T15:00:05Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
world/2020/may/03/hostile-states-trying-to-steal-coronavirus-research-says-uk-agency | Hostile states trying to steal coronavirus research, says UK agency | Hostile states are attempting to hack British universities and scientific facilities to steal research related to Covid-19, including vaccine development, cybersecurity experts have warned. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said the proportion of such targeted cyber-attacks had increased, branding the criminal activity “reprehensible”. It is understood that nations including Iran and Russia are behind the hacking attempts, while experts have said China is also a likely perpetrator. There are thought to be dozens of universities and institutions with biomedical capacity working on Covid-19 research, ranging from new diagnostic and antibody tests to experimental treatment. However, it is understood there have been no successful attacks on universities or research institutions to date. A spokesperson for the NCSC said: “Any attack against efforts to combat the coronavirus crisis is utterly reprehensible. We have seen an increased proportion of cyber-attacks related to coronavirus and our experts work around the clock to help organisations targeted. “However, the overall level of cyber-attacks from both criminals and states against the UK has remained stable during the pandemic.” The University of Oxford, which is making world-leading efforts on vaccine development and recently started human trials, said it was working with the NCSC to protect its research. AstraZeneca, the Cambridge-based pharmaceutical group, is teaming up with the university to manufacture and distribute the vaccine if the clinical trials show it is effective. A university spokesperson said: “Oxford University is working closely with the NCSC to ensure our Covid-19 research has the best possible cybersecurity and protection.” James Sullivan, a former cyber-analyst for the National Crime Agency and head of cyber research at the Royal United Services Institute, the international defence and security thinktank, said it was not surprising that hostile states were targeting Covid-19 research. “The pandemic will lead to a general increase in hostile state cyber-activity,” he said. “It is a new opportunity for intelligence gathering and disruption. We’ve seen this with disinformation campaigns, cyber-espionage; there’s a risk of these all exacerbating political tension and it’s no surprise this is happening in an area such as the development of a vaccine.” He added: “As we’ve seen with cyber-attacks, whether it’s a hostile nation state or an organised criminal, there’s no real boundaries to the types of data they try to steal, so why would this be any different if the development of a vaccine is a very competitive area? We’re seeing those geopolitical tensions played out in this space.” Sullivan said the attacks highlighted the problems with cybersecurity in the healthcare sector. In 2017, the NHS fell victim to the global WannaCry ransomware attack, with tens of thousands of devices affected. Earlier this month the health secretary, Matt Hancock, signed off a directive giving GCHQ, the intelligence service, access and oversight to the NHS IT network. Meanwhile, a dossier prepared by governments for the so-called Five Eyes nations, an intelligence alliance between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US, alleges that China deliberately suppressed or destroyed evidence of the coronavirus outbreak. The move cost tens of thousands of lives, according to the document obtained by the Australian Daily Telegraph, which lays the foundation for a case of negligence being mounted against China. It states that to the “endangerment of other countries” the Chinese government covered-up the virus by silencing or “disappearing” doctors who spoke out, destroying evidence of it in laboratories and refusing to provide live samples to international scientists who were working on a vaccine. | ['world/espionage', 'technology/cybercrime', 'technology/cyberwar', 'world/coronavirus-outbreak', 'world/russia', 'world/iran', 'world/china', 'uk/uk', 'science/science', 'education/oxforduniversity', 'technology/hacking', 'education/higher-education', 'technology/internet', 'science/infectiousdiseases', 'world/world', 'technology/technology', 'uk/police', 'uk/mi5', 'uk/uksecurity', 'type/article', 'profile/jamie-grierson', 'profile/hannah-devlin', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | technology/hacking | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2020-05-03T15:12:45Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
sustainable-business/technology-environment-batteries-aquion-katerva-landfills-recycling | The Pittsburgh startup that has big plans for batteries | From cell phones to laptops to electric cars, the world is becoming increasingly dependent on batteries. Unfortunately, this convenience comes at a cost: some common battery materials are toxic and require special treatment after their end of life. A new company is hoping to combat this cycle: It has begun using more benign materials to make its energy cells. Aquion Energy, a Pittsburgh-based startup that uses water and salt for some of the key components in its batteries, recently won a Katerva Award in the energy and power category. (Katerva, which spotlights innovation in sustainability, also honored several other organizations, including Archive Global, in the urban design category, and MBA Polymers, which won the overall award). There's a big market for more sustainable batteries. Aquion, along with several other battery companies, has received billions of federal research dollars since 2009. It isn't hard to see why the US government would be interested in battery development. The success of Aquion, and other advanced battery developers, could have long-reaching sustainability implications. Among other things, new, safer and more efficient batteries could be key for electric cars, and for enabling more solar and wind power. In the case of solar and wind power, batteries could help add reliability to an inconsistent energy source. While production of electricity from the wind and sun can vary, based on weather conditions and time of day, the electric grid that they flow into must maintain a constant balance of supply and demand in order to avoid blackouts and other problems. That makes energy storage a key consideration for any effort to promote renewable energy development. Some energy storage project developers are targeting corporate customers. Among other things, batteries make it possible for businesses with rooftop solar panels to bank some of that electricity for use at another time, such as for backup power during a storm. Companies could also use battery systems to lower their monthly electric bills. Many utilities charge a higher rate during times of peak demand, in order to ensure that they have ample power on hand to serve any spike in demand. To avoid these fees, companies could charge their batteries when electricity is cheap, such as at night, and discharge them when the rates are high. But the payback period for such a system remains too long for many businesses, said Sam Jaffe, an analyst at Navigant Research. Prices will have to come down – and that's where battery research comes in. Some companies, such as SolarCity, Stem and Green Charge Networks, have raised funds to finance corporate battery projects. Their customers would forgo the expenses of buying the equipment. Instead, they would sign a long-term contract to pay a monthly fee for using the batteries. Aquion's contribution Aquion, which began as a spinoff of Carnegie Mellon University, is venture-capital funded. It has already moved its research out of the lab and into manufacturing: the company makes money by selling its batteries to distributors or project developers for stationary energy storage. One factor that distinguishes Aquion is the novel cocktail of materials that it uses in its batteries. Each cell has an electrode at each end, a separator to divide the two, and an electrolyte to create an electrochemical reaction with the electrodes to produce electricity. Aquion uses manganese oxide and activated carbon for the electrodes, and a sodium sulfate solution for the electrolyte. The separator is made from a synthetic material that has a structure similar to cotton. "We are using common and benign materials of salt water, dirt and carbon," said Ted Wiley, vice president of product and corporate strategy at Aquion. "We are using materials that are non-toxic and readily available in high volumes. And they won't be damaging to the environment." Jaffe agrees, noting that Aquion's materials are indeed more environmental friendly than some of the batteries on the market today, including the far more common lead-acid and nickel-cadmium cells. Lead-acid batteries are commonly used to power cars or for use as back-up power systems. Lead, which is toxic, requires special handling after the batteries are spent. In fact, 96% of lead acid automotive batteries are recycled, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. New batteries usually contain 60% to 80% recycled lead and plastic. Aquion's products also compete with lithium-ion batteries. These cells, which commonly power laptops and cell phones, are also used in electric cars because they can hold a lot of more energy in a given volume than lead-acid batteries. Many energy storage project developers also market lithium-ion batteries to businesses and utilities. The materials inside lithium-ion batteries pose fewer environmental risks than those of lead-acid or nickel-cadmium cells when they end up at landfills, Jaffe said. But lithium-ion batteries can pose ethical issues. Cobalt, a material that is commonly used for consumer electronics batteries, is often sourced from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where profits from selling minerals has helped fund its long-standing and bloody internal wars. Lithium-ion batteries also could pose a greater fire risk because their electrolytes are flammable. Part of the ongoing research to improve lithium-ion batteries involves coming up with less flammable electrolytes. Aquion's batteries, which Wiley says are safer and longer-lasting than lithium-ion ones, have already begun to find a market. The company is gearing up for mass production at its new factory, which will be able to produce 200MW hours of batteries per year. And, Wiley noted, it will reach that level by the second half of this year. Siemens has bought a system for its manufacturing and testing facility in Georgia, and several utilities are doing field testing of Aquion's systems. Aquion has already shipped to its first business customer: a ranch in California that is using a 60 kilowatt-hour system to run its daily operations, Wiley said. | ['sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'sustainable-business/technology', 'sustainable-business/waste-and-recycling', 'sustainable-business/innovation', 'business/business', 'business/ethicalbusiness', 'environment/environment', 'environment/corporatesocialresponsibility', 'type/article', 'profile/ucilia-wang'] | environment/corporatesocialresponsibility | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2014-04-18T14:25:10Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2015/feb/17/worlds-biggest-offshore-windfarm-approved-for-yorkshire-coast | World's biggest offshore windfarm approved for Yorkshire coast | Plans for the world’s biggest offshore windfarm have been given the green light by the energy secretary, with planning permission for an array of up to 400 turbines 80 miles off the Yorkshire coast on the Dogger Bank. The project, more than twice the size of the UK’s current biggest offshore windfarm, is expected to cost £6bn to £8bn and could fulfil 2.5% of the UK’s electricity needs. Covering about 430 sq miles, the Dogger Bank Creyke Beck project will - if fully constructed - generate enough electricity to power nearly 2m homes, and could support an estimated 900 jobs in Yorkshire and Humberside, according to the government. Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat energy and climate change secretary, said: “Making the most of Britain’s home-grown energy is creating jobs and businesses in the UK, getting the best deal for consumers and reducing our reliance on foreign imports. Wind power is vital to this plan, with £14.5bn invested since 2010 into an industry which supports 35,400 jobs.” Although the UK does not manufacture large wind turbines, the Department of Energy and Climate Change says half of the costs associated with building and operating a windfarm are spent buying services and products from UK businesses. Dogger has long been mooted as a possible location for offshore windfarms, because the shallow seabed, only about 30 metres deep, should make it easier to lay foundations and construct large turbines there, but no company has yet ventured into the area. If built, the Creyke Beck turbines would be the furthest offshore that have ever been attempted. They would be the first stage of a project that could eventually be three times the size, if further tranches are also constructed. Nick Medic, director of offshore renewables at RenewableUK, the wind industry association, said: “This is an awesome project and will surely be considered as one of the most significant infrastructure projects ever undertaken by the wind industry. Dogger Bank demonstrates the sheer potential of offshore technology to turn our vast ocean and wind resources into green energy. “It is a project that pushes the offshore engineering envelope, demonstrating how far this technology has evolved in the 10 short years since the first major offshore windfarm was installed in North Hoyle just five miles from shore.” Construction of the first turbines could still be years away, however. The Forewind consortium which is behind the 2400MW capacity project has yet to make a final investment decision. The consortium comprises Scottish and Southern Energy, Germany’s RWE, and Norway’s Statoil and Statkraft, the former the country’s majority state-owned oil business and the latter its state-owned electricity company. Though the granting of planning permission may encourage a positive decision, the falling oil price and uncertainty over what may happen to wind energy subsidies after the general election make long-term investments in the sector more fraught. About £60m has been spent by the companies so far on surveys alone. “Achieving consent for what is currently the world’s largest offshore wind project in development is a major achievement and will help confirm the UK’s position as the world leader in the industry,” said Tarald Gjerde, general manager for Forewind. The consortium said the Creyke Beck project could create up to 4,750 new direct and indirect full-time equivalent jobs and generate more than £1.5bn for the UK economy, especially in Yorkshire and Humberside owing to their “historic strengths, existing skills in large-scale production activities and a marine support legacy”. The UK’s last biggest offshore wind site, the London Array, ran into difficulties soon after gaining the government’s green light in a long drawn-out process from 2005 to 2007. Costs spiralled, investors withdrew backing and the future of the project for long periods hung in the balance. However, the windfarm, with 175 turbines, was inaugurated in 2013. The UK currently has about 1,200 offshore wind turbines, with a total generating capacity of about 4GW. | ['environment/windpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'uk-news/yorkshire', 'uk/uk', 'business/scottishandsouthernenergy', 'business/rwe-npower', 'type/article', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2015-02-17T18:37:30Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/ethicallivingblog/2007/nov/16/bioethicsisnowasubject | The murky waters of environmental ethics | Bioethics is now a subject so rich in complexity and debate that it boasts numerous academic courses and journals around the world in its name. By comparison, environmental ethics is still in its infancy, but we can bet with near certainty that it is a subject that is going to flourish in coming years. The more and more we concern ourselves with environmental issues, then the more we are going to have to make some very difficult decisions. Rare is an environmental problem that is solved with one, unambiguous solution. The area of energy supply is already vexing many of us, of course. Should we continue down the path to nuclear power, when we don't even have a clear strategy for dealing with the waste from our first foray into the technology? Should we invest in biofuels, when we already know that it will place pressures on global food supplies as well as lead to increased deforestation? Should we build tidal barrages, when they could disrupt estuary wildlife? Do wind farms kill too many birds? Do dams generating "carbon free" hydro power cause irreparable damage upstream? Much of the time, these debating points boil down to good old anthropocentrism - whether our species' needs are greater than those of others that share this planet. And there's no prize for guessing who the "winner" normally turns out to be. But a story in today's Guardian points to where the subject of environmental ethics might be headed now that we are at last placing a bit more attention on the wellbeing of other species. Alok Jha reports on a major EU-funded study that says that in order to stop further depleting fish stocks we might need to start growing genetically modified plants which produce omega-3 fish oils that can then be fed to livestock. This would, says the study, help us meet our public-health goals - a daily intake of about 450mg of omega-3 oils protects against cardiovascular diseases, for example - without needing to trawl the seas for oily fish such as mackerel, tuna and salmon as we could instead consume these oils via artificially enriched meats or dairy products. (Incidentally, it's a little known fact that seals are killed in Canada for their omega-3 rich oils, too. Look out for "marine oil" on the labels of omega-3 capsules as a potential source.) But where does this leave the average environmentalist? Should their instinct be to shun genetically modified technology, without exception? Or is it to protect global fish stocks? And should Western-oriented health concerns - was anyone popping omega-3 pills a decade or more ago? - even be forcing us to make these knotty decisions anyway? Furthermore, what other dilemmas will the field of environmental ethics throw up for us to confront next? Welcome to the future. | ['environment/environment', 'tone/blog', 'environment/carbonfootprints', 'world/ethics', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/green-living-blog', 'type/article', 'profile/leohickman'] | environment/carbonfootprints | EMISSIONS | 2007-11-16T11:58:51Z | true | EMISSIONS |
world/2005/oct/24/hurricanes2005.weather | Florida next after Wilma wreaks havoc in Mexico | Hurricane Wilma left the north-eastern tip of Mexico's Yucatán peninsula yesterday after inflicting two days of punishing storms that devastated the area's tourist resorts and badly damaged the homes of hundreds of thousands of local people. But despite the destructive power of the storm, the human cost appears relatively limited: tens of thousands of tourists and local residents kept safe in shelters, and initial reports put the death toll in Mexico at eight. Last week Wilma killed 13 people in Haiti and Jamaica. Continuing on its way yesterday, Wilma was expected to skirt Cuba's western tip and hit Florida's south-west coast early today. In its wake, the storm left widespread flooding with felled trees, power lines and street signs blocking roads, and roofless and mangled petrol stations. In the resort city of Cancún, the beachfront strip of hotel complexes was left completely under water, shop fronts disappeared and cars were submerged. "It looks like a giant passed by kicking the entire city. Cancún is destroyed," vice-admiral Martín Fernández told El Universal newspaper, after a trip to the affected area. Wilma made landfall on the Mexican coast on Friday morning, before inching across the peninsula at 3mph. As it advanced, it weakened from a category four to a category two storm, but dumped huge quantities of rain. Back in open sea last night, Wilma was expected to regain strength but also to speed up, raising hopes that its passage past Cuba and over Florida would be less destructive. As calm began to return to Mexico, locals and tourists emerged from shelters to survey a completely altered landscape. Meanwhile, local authorities admitted they were powerless to stop looting anywhere but at the largest shopping centres. President Vicente Fox said he would visit the scene as soon as possible, and the military promised to bring in food, water, medical kits and building materials. After days watching Wilma wreak havoc elsewhere, Florida was bracing for the arrival of the storm today. Cuba, too, appeared ready for the onslaught, with half a million people reportedly evacuated from vulnerable areas. Meanwhile, the 22nd named tropical storm of the Atlantic season formed over the weekend, breaking the record set in 1933. With all the pre-assigned storm names for this year used up, storm-namers have resorted to the Greek alphabet. Tropical storm Alpha struck the island of Hispaniola yesterday raising fears of mudslides and floods in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. | ['world/world', 'world/hurricanes', 'world/natural-disasters', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'world/mexico', 'us-news/florida', 'world/americas', 'type/article', 'profile/jotuckman', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international1'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2005-10-24T11:34:19Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
australia-news/2022/oct/29/im-not-leaving-rochester-renters-sent-eviction-notices-after-floods-are-hitting-back | ‘I’m not leaving’: Rochester renters sent eviction notices after floods are hitting back | At least 160 renters in the Victorian town of Rochester, whose homes have been destroyed by major flooding sweeping Australia’s south-east, have now been served with eviction notices. Most were evacuated during the massive weather event and remain in temporary accommodation where they have now been given 24 hours’ notice to “vacate” their properties. The owners of Pristine Property Management, the biggest independent real estate agent in the town, have evicted at least 160 people, living across 80 properties. But they say they have legally had no choice. Some of the tenants have hit back, saying their homes were still livable, and 24 hours was an unreasonable time frame to process an eviction when they had just been hit by a natural disaster. Sign up for our free morning and afternoon email newsletters from Guardian Australia for your daily news roundup Tammy Gavin lives with her four children, aged 21, 19, 16 and 14, and a 13-month-old grandson. She had to be evacuated from her house in Rochester by the SES and spent three nights in hospital because of stress. When she was discharged, she received an email telling her she had 24 hours to vacate her home. “We have all power, we have electricity, the toilets are working, bathrooms are working. Everything is working in the house,” she said. “I have not stopped cleaning this house so it’s clean for us and the real estate agent thinks I’m leaving, but not without a fight on her hands. On Thursday the emergency relief centre in Bendigo, which was housing about 280 people from central Victoria, will shut its doors, with residents from Rochester moving into caravans. Gavin said they could go there if they got desperate, but after staying in a motel for a few nights, they just want to be in their home. “A motel isn’t a home. I’m still paying rent – I’m $900 in front,” she said. “They offered me a refund and I said no.” She said there was confusion about when they would need to vacate. The owner has been to the property and said they can stay until the repairs start – while the estate agency said they had to leave straight away but could possibly stay in a caravan on the property as the repairs were done. “I’ve even asked, can we put a caravan in the driveway while they’re doing the repairs? The real estate said it would be OK, but we can’t cook inside,” Gavin said. “Bottom line is, I’m not leaving.” Sue Harrington is struggling to find a home for her father, Clive Renahan, 82, after he was also given 24 hours to vacate his unit, which was destroyed in the floods. After the flood swept through the town, Renahan was called by his landlord and told to leave the property, which he has lived in for eight years. The eviction email was then sent to Harrington, but no one will tell them when or if he will be able to go back to his home. “I think they haven’t been fair to him,” Harrington said. “He doesn’t understand it.” “Especially at his age, his health is not good. I can’t imagine how he would feel. He will always have a home with me, but everyone wants their own home. “And to not know when you can go back, that’s the hard part.” Renahan has been put on the Salvation Army waitlist for emergency housing, and they will try to find him a new rental if he cannot return. “We’re just worried he’ll have nowhere to live,” she said. “If we could find out if he would be allowed back in there, that would ease the burden.” Kristine Vance, director of Pristine Property Management, said they were only evicting tenants because they were legally required to do so. “We’ve finally got our head around how many properties that we’ve had to vacate tenants in and it’s about 80,” Vance said. “We’re trying to make contact with the renters before we serve that notice to vacate, just to soften the blow.” Vance said they have been criticised on social media for handing out vacate notices, but it was not something the agency wanted to do. “The legislation is really clear if the place is uninhabitable, where we have to give a notice to vacate. So when you’ve got black water gone through the property, you’ve got gas, electricity, all those sorts of issues. For us not to act is totally irresponsible, immoral.” “There’s still just a handful we’re trying to get out. All of them have been issued notices.” Vance said where they could they had been handing them out in person. She said they would put the same tenants back into their houses when it was safe to do so. She said she had contacted the Real Estate Institute of Victoria, who advised that evacuating tenants amid a natural disaster was the right thing to do. A spokesperson for REIV said, according to the Residential Tenancies Act, where the premises have been rendered unsafe, the agent should keep renter safety in mind and issue a notice to vacate. “From what we understand in this particular case, rent payments were stopped in time and bonds returned in full – the agent doing what they can to assist the renters in difficult circumstances,” the spokesperson said. “Unfortunately, the current situation does not leave many options for renters, agents or rental providers.” | ['australia-news/victoria', 'australia-news/australia-weather', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/flooding', 'environment/environment', 'campaign/email/afternoon-update', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/cait-kelly', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2022-10-28T19:00:39Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2007/sep/18/ukraine.nuclear | Chernobyl to get $505m metal cover to stop radiation | Ukraine is to cover the site of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor with a vast metal shelter in a long overdue operation designed to prevent the further leak of deadly radiation. Officials in Kiev yesterday said they had hired a French firm to replace the crumbling concrete sarcophagus that has stood at Chernobyl since 1986 - when it was the scene of the world's worst ever nuclear disaster. The new shelter is an arch-shaped metal structure 105m (345ft) tall and 150m (490ft) long. It will enclose the sarcophagus hastily put up after the accident. That precarious structure has been leaking radiation for more than a decade. "I am convinced that today, possibly for the first time, we can frankly tell the national and international community that the answer to the problem of sheltering the Chernobyl nuclear plant has been found," President Viktor Yushchenko said, according to his presidential website. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has funded the $505m deal with a French construction firm, Novarka. The plan is to eventually dismantle the sarcophagus and the exploded reactor inside the new shelter. According to official estimates, the reactor still contains about 95% of the original nuclear fuel from the plant. There are fears that if the sarcophagus collapses another cloud of lethal radioactive dust could escape. Chernobyl's reactor No 4 exploded on April 26, 1986, spewing radiation over a large swath of the former Soviet Union and much of northern Europe. An area roughly half the size of Italy was contaminated, forcing the resettlement of hundreds of thousands of people. Anton Usov, a spokesman for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, said it will take about 1½ years to design the shelter and another four to build it. Officials also signed a $200m contract with the US firm Holtec International to build a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel from the plant's three other reactors, which kept operating until the station was shut down in 2000. "The successful implementation of the project depends not only on the progress of the construction work, but also on the continued commitment of both the Ukrainian authorities and the international community," the European bank's president, Jean Lemierre, said in a statement. Within the first two months after the disaster, 31 people died from illnesses caused by radioactivity. But there is no consensus over the subsequent death toll. A 2005 report from the UN health agency estimated that about 9,300 people will die from cancers caused by Chernobyl's radiation. Some groups, such as Greenpeace, insist the toll could be 10 times higher. Some 200,000 residents were evacuated from Ukraine alone. | ['world/world', 'world/ukraine', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'uk/uk', 'world/europe-news', 'type/article', 'profile/lukeharding', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2007-09-18T22:59:02Z | true | ENERGY |
sport/2024/jan/16/louis-rees-zammit-quits-rugby-in-shock-move-to-pursue-dream-of-nfl-career-gloucester-wales | Louis Rees-Zammit quits rugby in shock move to pursue dream of NFL career | The Wales winger Louis Rees-Zammit has stunned the rugby world on the eve of the Six Nations by announcing a career switch to American football with immediate effect. The 22‑year‑old made the bombshell announcement shortly before the Wales squad was named and he will leave for Florida this week to join the NFL’s International Player Pathway. Aside from cross-code transfers to rugby league, few international players have quit rugby to play another sport in more abrupt fashion. Rees-Zammit said it had long been his “dream” to play in the NFL and his club Gloucester have agreed to release him. The NFL International Player Pathway offers elite athletes from around the world the opportunity to earn a place on an NFL roster. Even the Wales head coach, Warren Gatland, only discovered the news shortly before a scheduled lunchtime press conference. “I learned about it about an hour ago,” Gatland said. “There’s never a dull moment in Welsh rugby. I spoke to Louis probably about half an hour ago. It’s a little bit of a shock. Things have happened pretty quickly in the last 24 hours.” Gatland said that Rees-Zammit had been advised by his lawyers to reveal nothing to anyone. “Louis said he had an approach on Sunday to go and do a training camp with the NFL,” the Wales head coach said. “He rang me to give me that information and to say thanks for his time at the World Cup. He said he’s always dreamed of potentially playing in the NFL and feels that if he doesn’t take this opportunity now it might not happen again in the future. “I wished him all the best. I’ve always been a great believer in players taking opportunities that are presented for them. I said if it doesn’t work out, what are your next steps? He said he’d come back to rugby. He just feels there’s an opportunity for him and a time to do that.” Rees-Zammit must now hope that skipping rugby’s oldest international tournament pays longer‑term dividends. The British & Irish Lions winger scored a fine solo try for Gloucester against Edinburgh at the weekend but rather than heading into Wales’s pre-Six Nations camp he is now off to Miami in pursuit of a very different goal. “It is nothing about rugby, it is about my ambition to make my dream come true and play in the National Football League,” Rees‑Zammit told Gloucester’s website. “As a little boy my dad always brought me up to be a big NFL fan. He used to play American football … that is the sport he grew up loving. “I have had the incredible honour of playing rugby for my country which, as a proud Welshman, I’ve never taken for granted. However, I believe that this is the right time for me to realise another professional goal of playing American football in the US. Those opportunities don’t come around very often.” Gloucester’s chief executive, Alex Brown, said the club wished him well. “We understand the size of the opportunity. Whilst we are naturally sad to see him leave, ultimately, we are not able to dissuade him.” The timing, even so, is striking, with Wales due to open their Six Nations campaign against Scotland a sold-out Principality Stadium on 3 February. Rees-Zammit’s reasoning is that the 10-week training camp in Miami, which is set to determine if he has an immediate gridiron future, commences this month. He has until April to prove his worth and, if selected for an NFL practice squad, would join them in August. Several rugby players have tried their luck in American football over the years, the most recent being Christian Wade who earned a place on the Buffalo Bills pre-season roster for 2019 but never played an NFL regular‑season game. He has subsequently returned to rugby with Racing 92 in France. Rees-Zammit’s bolt from the blue overshadowed Gatland’s decision to pick a 21-year-old captain in Exeter’s Dafydd Jenkins, the second youngest Welshman to lead his country. There is also a recall for James Botham, grandson of the England cricket legend Lord (Ian) Botham, in the back row, alongside five uncapped players, the Cardiff quartet of Alex Mann, Mackenzie Martin, Evan Lloyd and Cameron Winnett plus the Bath tighthead prop Archie Griffin. The experienced Taulupe Faletau will sit out the Six Nations with a calf injury, however, with the influential Jac Morgan and Dewi Lake missing as well. The Cardiff-born Exeter wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso is a further absentee, the player having expressed his wish to represent England instead. Scotland, meanwhile, have named the former England prop Alec Hepburn in their Six Nations preliminary squad. The 30-year-old Exeter prop won six England caps in 2018 but, having not played Test rugby for three years, is now eligible via his Scottish-born father. Sale’s distinctly rapid ex-England U20 winger Arron Reed and Leicester’s tight-head prop Will Hurd of Leicester have also been included but there is no room for the recent British & Irish Lions Hamish Watson and Chris Harris. • This article was amended on 17 January 2024. A previous version referred to “Sir Ian Botham”, rather than Lord Botham. | ['sport/rugby-union', 'sport/wales-rugby-union-team', 'sport/gloucesterrugby', 'sport/nfl', 'sport/us-sport', 'campaign/email/the-breakdown', 'sport/sport', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/robertkitson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/sport', 'theguardian/sport/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-sport'] | sport/wales-rugby-union-team | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2024-01-16T13:00:48Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
global-development/2012/jun/15/rio20-voice-njombe-tanzania | Rio+20: A voice from Njombe, Tanzania | I don't know much about "sustainable", but I know that "development" is about moving forward to a better place. Twenty years ago development in Tanzania was only benefitting a few elite people, especially in town. But now, even in some remote villages, development is obvious. Twenty years back it was difficult to get medicines in our dispensaries, but now it is easier. Because of aid, medicines and mosquito nets from donor countries, most villages are now receiving free kits and nets, although still not enough to meet the need. Medical specialists are increasing because of various teaching institutions and the opportunities to study health-related courses outside the country, so it is better compared with past years. The frequency of epidemic diseases such as cholera has decreased. Even the spread of HIV/Aids and malaria is low because of sufficient awareness. This has been possible due to assistance from donor countries. Now we have better equipment in our health centres, dispensaries [and] hospitals compared with the past because of support from donors. I don't understand much about Rio+20, and international meetings, but what I know is that Tanzania gets aid from rich countries that helps people in the country. My message to Rio+20 is to ask all the donor countries to bring professionals into our country and do away with cash aid. Because of the widespread corruption in our poor nations, cash aid ends up in the pockets of corrupt technocrats. | ['global-development/series/global-development-voices', 'global-development/environmental-sustainability', 'global-development/global-development', 'environment/rio-20-earth-summit', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'environment/sustainable-development', 'environment/environment', 'tone/interview', 'type/article'] | environment/sustainable-development | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2012-06-15T09:19:10Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
world/2005/jan/09/tsunami2004.internationalaidanddevelopment | In the forgotten ghost town, thousands still wait for aid | They are still bringing out the dead in Meulaboh. Two weeks after the tidal wave that destroyed half the town, days after a stream of international dignitaries had their pictures taken in Banda Aceh, 200 miles to the north west, Meulaboh's ruined streets are still strewn with corpses. There is no clear-up operation. Shell-shocked residents picked through the rubble of their homes with their own hands. The Observer watched as one householder removed the putrid corpse of a child from a heap of splintered timber outside what was his living room, laying it gently in the street outside. Desultory fires sent acrid smoke pluming into the heavy tropical air. On street corners, heavily armed paramilitary police stood listlessly in the heat, on guard against the desperate and the hungry. In the overflowing refugee camps that ring the city, rice is rationed to four ounces daily. Aid workers and soldiers say there are thousands more victims outside the city, unable to travel, who have yet to receive any assistance at all since the tsunami struck. Though the world appears increasingly confident that the relief effort in the Indian Ocean is going well, there are pitifully few international aid agencies in Meulaboh. Médecins Sans Frontières has cleaned up one of the hospitals - where half a dozen septic limbs are amputated daily. Greenpeace's ship, the Rainbow Warrior, is bringing in some supplies. Indonesian naval vessels bring in rice. There are a couple of Singaporean military clinics. At one Indonesian army first-aid post, 400 victims had been treated every day since the doctors arrived eight days ago. The Indonesian Red Cross picks up corpses from the streets - when they can. But everywhere there is still horrific distress. A woman in yellow pyjamas wandered through the streets with tears streaming down her cheeks and a bewildered small girl holding her hand. Once a nurse, all she could do was point to where her house once stood and pronounce her only English word: 'trauma'. Sitting nearby was Herman, a volunteer body collector. His team had picked up nine bodies by nine o'clock. They had started at eight. Yet the plight of Meulaboh has been known almost since the beginning of the emergency relief effort. It is two hours from the nearest airport and the road from the major city of Medan is just about driveable in a light truck. The first Indonesian soldiers reached the town three days after the disaster. But it was only last week that the United Nations managed to get an assessment team into Meulaboh - and that was delayed by a day because of a bureaucratic mix-up. 'It's no big deal. It's only 24 hours,' said Alwi Shihab, the Indonesian social welfare minister. Meulaboh was a thriving town of around 60,000 people. No one knows how many of them died. 'It's all very confused. Some people say 5,000 died, others say 50,000. No one knows,' said one French aid worker. A lack of heavy equipment had stopped his team bringing in desperately needed water purification gear. 'No one knows how many people are dead.' Or how many people are alive. The Indonesian army says there are 60,000 in a dozen or so refugee camps around the city. At one, known as Base Camp One, more than 20,000 people are crammed into a former administrative office compound. Fetid water stands in pools outside. The concrete sweats in the heat. Those who salvaged a few belongings can trade them for extra food - vegetables or a bit of dried meat - but most subsist on the meagre rice handouts arranged by the government. 'It is rainy season, so we need blankets and more shelter,' said Alif Zailufnun, who lost his family and his home, and is now running Base Camp One. Faridah, 43, who lost five children and her parents in the disaster, said she was willing to go back and rebuild her home. 'I am not afraid,' she said. 'I am not afraid of the sea.' | ['world/world', 'world/tsunami2004', 'global-development/global-development', 'world/banda-aceh', 'type/article', 'profile/jasonburke'] | world/tsunami2004 | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2005-01-09T09:00:16Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
us-news/2024/oct/10/hurricane-milton-helene-hospitals | Florida hospitals reopening after hurricanes as plans proved largely effective | Hospitals across Florida are coming back online after evacuating patients, closing facilities and canceling surgeries ahead of Hurricane Milton. The category 3 hurricane made landfall near Sarasota, Florida, on Wednesday evening and was expected to be one of the most powerful in Florida’s history. At least 10 storm-related deaths have been reported and the death toll is still expected to rise. However, even amid widespread destruction from storm surge, tornadoes, hurricane force winds and torrential rain, officials said the worst-case scenario was averted because the storm weakened as it arrived. “Preparing for Hurricane Milton was an incredible effort by the entire team and a true test of our resources,” said John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa general hospital, in a statement. Tampa general is the region’s only high-level trauma center. It stayed open through the storm. “But it ensured we could continue to provide exceptional care for our patients in a high-quality, safe and uninterrupted environment before, during and after the storm,” said Couris. Milton exploded into a category 5 hurricane early in the week with a path that was predicted to rake across the Florida peninsula from Tampa Bay in the west to the beaches of Volusia county in the east. Milton arrived less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene became the worst storm to hit Tampa Bay in a century. With predictions that Milton could be the “storm of the century”, Floridians took heed and prepared for it with a sense of urgency uncommon among the state’s weather-worn residents. Millions of Floridians evacuated before the storm, fleeing on highways I-75 and I-4. Healthcare facilities in the storm’s path also prepared urgently. Officials in Florida said 212 healthcare facilities evacuated before the storm hit, including 10 hospitals, two emergency rooms, 115 assisted living facilities and 50 nursing homes, among others. Tampa general erected its “aquafence”, an impermeable barrier that surrounds its main campus on Davis Islands near Tampa Bay, and withstood the storm. The hospital also had five days of food, water, linens and other supplies stockpiled. Nevertheless, satellite branches of the hospital system remained closed after the storm. One Tampa general hospital emergency room in Tampa and another in Brandon are expected to reopen on Thursday evening. Normal operations for the system are expected to resume on Friday. AdventHealth, another chain that runs hospitals in the Tampa Bay area, said all its facilities experienced only “minor water intrusion”, and that all facilities except for one in northern Pinellas county remained open. That facility, in Tarpon Springs, was evacuated ahead of the storm. HCA Healthcare, a for-profit company that owns dozens of hospitals across Florida, said it evacuated more than 400 patients from evacuation zones to affiliates throughout the state. Another 235 patients were evacuated from an HCA location in Largo, Florida, after a nearby lake flooded into the facility’s basement, affecting power in part of the hospital. Other HCA locations around Tampa Bay – in Pasadena, Largo, Englewood and Tampa – all remain closed. HCA Florida Fawcett hospital in Port Charlotte reopened on Thursday. In Sarasota, near where the hurricane made landfall, two hospitals remained open through the storm caring for more than 1,000 patients, but urgent care centers and outpatient sites across the region are still being assessed. In the storm’s wake, more than 3 million people lost electricity, and officials have urged residents to stay in their homes as many roads are still blocked by debris and flooding. The storm dumped 18in of rain on St Petersburg. | ['us-news/hurricane-milton', 'us-news/florida', 'society/hospitals', 'society/health', 'world/hurricanes', 'us-news/us-news', 'campaign/email/today-us', 'us-news/us-weather', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jessica-glenza', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | us-news/hurricane-milton | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2024-10-10T19:55:39Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/2009/mar/21/letters-car-scrappage-scheme | Letters: Scrappage schemes make no sense | Paul Everitt (Response, 19 March) paints a rosy picture of the effect of Germany's car scrappage scheme. There has indeed been a significant rise in car registrations. But, to German carmakers' chagrin, those being sold are not necessarily German. BMW and Daimler say mainly foreign producers such as Dacia, Peugeot or Fiat benefit. The reason German factories have stayed open - at reduced rates of production - is that they have repatriated jobs. Here in the UK we face a different situation. Some 80%-plus of the vehicles sold each year are imported, so any artificial boost to new car sales would put UK taxpayers' cash into foreign factories. Is this really a good idea? A recent conversation with a European commission official confirmed that they estimate the annual global production capacity at 93 million vehicles, and their best estimate of demand is 60 million. There is a hole there which no amount of scrappage programmes is going to fill. Any cash payment will be of little practical value to low-income motorists, who will still not be able to afford new vehicles. The environmental impact of such programmes is open to question too. Many commentators say the environmental impact of the resources used to produce new cars exceeds the environmental damage of the cars they replace. Surely it would be better to enforce motorists' responsibility to maintain cars properly? That would positively impact road safety, the environment and keep thousands of technicians and support staff in employment. Some 600,000 of those 800,000 motor industry employees mentioned by Mr Everitt are in the sector that maintains vehicles already on the road; they are more likely to be disadvantaged by a scrappage programme. It's a misuse of taxpayers' pounds to purchase and crush perfectly serviceable vehicles. Brian Spratt Automotive Distribution Federation | ['business/car-scrappage', 'business/automotive-industry', 'business/business', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/letters', 'environment/waste', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2009-03-21T00:01:00Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
business/2022/oct/31/marks-spencers-to-hire-out-clothes-to-cost-conscious-shoppers | Marks & Spencer to hire out clothes to cost-conscious shoppers | Marks & Spencer is to begin hiring out capsule wardrobes of 10 different outfits for up to a month, promising a more environmentally friendly and economical way for shoppers to regularly change their look. The five-, six- or seven-piece womenswear collections – with names such as Comfy Cool, which includes faux leather leggings, a hoodie and baseball cap, and Monochrome Moments, featuring a black-and-white print dress and black padded gilet – can be rented via the specialist site Hirestreet from £39 a capsule for five days. A total of 78 womenswear items, including jeans, footwear and accessories, would be included in the scheme. M&S said it was extending its partnership with Hirestreet, through which it first began renting out individual items a year ago, as a third of its shoppers said they wanted to change how they bought clothes due to concerns over climate change. The fashion industry has been found to contribute more to climate change than the aeronautical and shipping industries combined. If current trends in shopping continue, it could account for a quarter of the world’s carbon budget by 2050. One in 10 under-35s have opted to try rental services as part of that shift, and one in 20 of all consumers. Some questions have been raised over whether renting is greener – with one study suggesting it could be worse for the environment than throwing items away. However, that study assumed bought items were worn 200 times before being disposed of, when some items of fast fashion are worn just once or twice. Richard Price, the managing director of clothing and home at M&S, said: “This season it’s not just about what we offer but how – this is just one of the ways we’re working to support customers as they expect to lower their carbon footprint.” M&S has joined retailers from Selfridges to Primark in experimenting with ways to reduce the climate impact of fashion retailing as consumers turn to secondhand items or cut back on spending amid mounting awareness of the environmental cost. Spending on fashion is also under pressure from economic concerns as the cost of living crisis inflates energy and food bills, leaving households with less to spend on discretionary items. The secondhand clothing market is expected to grow faster than fast fashion in the next few years as the rise of Depop, Vinted and Facebook marketplace make it easier to trade unwanted items. Renting clothes – made popular by the likes of Carrie Johnson, the former prime minister’s wife, who hired her wedding dress, and the TV presenter Holly Willoughby – can also work out much cheaper if only worn for a special occasion. A black leather M&S dress, for example, is available for £35 for four days compared with its £250 sale price. M&S also enables the hire and resale of children’s clothing via a partnership with Dotte and launched a clothing recycling partnership with Oxfam in 2008 that four years later turned into its Shwopping scheme, which encourages customers to hand over an old item of clothing when they buy a new one. | ['business/marksspencer', 'business/retail', 'business/business', 'environment/green-economy', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'environment/environment', 'fashion/fashion-industry', 'uk/uk', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/carbonfootprints', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/sarahbutler', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/carbonfootprints | EMISSIONS | 2022-10-31T07:04:13Z | true | EMISSIONS |
business/2019/dec/04/scottish-power-build-solar-panels-windfarms | Scottish Power plans to build solar panels beside windfarms | Scottish Power plans to squeeze more renewable electricity from its onshore windfarms by covering the ground beside the turbines with photovoltaic panels and batteries. The wind power firm has applied for permission to build its first solar power projects beneath the blades of its existing windfarms in Cornwall, Lancashire and Coldham. Scottish Power says it hopes to include solar panels in the vast majority of its future onshore windfarms across Scotland and Ireland, depending on whether the ground conditions are suitable for panels. Keith Anderson, Scottish Power’s chief executive, said: “Every green megawatt of electricity will be crucial if we stand any chance of hitting net zero in 2050. This means squeezing the absolute maximum potential out of every clean energy project that we consider.” The Guardian revealed last month that Scottish Power had kicked off plans for an expansion of onshore windfarm projects across Scotland in anticipation of an expected government U-turn on support for wind power projects. The company’s renewable energy division has considered almost 100 sites in Scotland and Ireland for a new breed of windfarm that uses fewer powerful turbines and can be fitted with solar panels and batteries. In some cases, adding 10MW panels and 10MW of energy storage could double the green energy capacity of small windfarm sites. “In the UK and Ireland the perfect of blend of clean power from onshore renewables should include a mixture of clean energy technologies,” Anderson said. “The costs for building wind, solar and batteries have reduced considerably in recent years, and they complement each other very well. They perform best at different times of the day and at different times of the year.” Scottish Power is developing more than 1,000MW of new onshore wind capacity, however the UK will need to build at least this capacity of onshore wind every year for the next three decades if it hopes to meet its 2050 climate targets, according to the Committee on Climate Change. Anderson said: “In the next 18 months I believe hybrids will be the new normal for all renewable energy developers.” | ['business/scottish-power', 'business/business', 'business/energy-industry', 'business/utilities', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'uk/scotland', 'uk/uk', 'environment/solarpower', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2019-12-04T17:08:40Z | true | ENERGY |
science/2024/sep/18/plantwatch-how-ornamental-plants-can-help-clean-up-waterways | Plantwatch: How ornamental plants can help clean up waterways | Ornamental flowering plants are more than attractive, they can also help to clean up water pollution. Fertilisers and manure on farms are loaded with phosphorus, nitrogen and other nutrients that get washed away by rain and flushed into waterways. Algae can then feed on the nutrients and grow so rapidly that they starve the water of oxygen, killing off fish and contaminating entire ecosystems. To clean up this pollution, scientists in Miami experimented with using flowering plants floating on waterways, inspired by ancient Aztec floating farms in Mexico. Selections of ornamental plants were grown on inexpensive mats and floated on polluted canals. After a 12-week trial period, large African marigold plants proved the most successful at cleaning the water, extracting 52% more phosphorus and 36% more nitrogen than natural cycling of nutrients removed from untreated water. Trials are now under way using other ornamental plants. It is worth noting that while filtering out pollution, the marigolds grew high-quality large blooms on long stems, as good as any from commercial flower farms. The hope is to harvest the marigolds to be sold as cut flowers, helping to finance water pollution cleanup operations. | ['science/series/plantwatch', 'environment/water', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/plants', 'environment/environment', 'science/science', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/paulsimons', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2024-09-18T05:00:48Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
global-development-professionals-network/2016/oct/20/botwana-droughts-dont-spell-disaster-el-nino-countries-take-note | Droughts don’t have to spell disaster. El Niño countries, take note | We all know that the ultimate success story when it comes to development is when a once struggling country goes from being dependent on aid from around the world to being an example of self-sufficiency and resilience when disaster strikes. However, how often do we see such a big transformation? One country that is demonstrating resilience is Botswana. In the autumn of 1984, I packed up my bags after graduating from university and joined the Peace Corps in Kasane, Botswana. At the time, the country was striving to lift its people out of poverty. Its per capita nominal GDP was $1,082 (today it’s $6,360). This was already a vast improvement for a country that was born in 1966 as the third poorest on Earth with a per capita GDP of $70. But the country was still struggling – only 20% of children were in secondary education, for example. As Botswana celebrates its 50th anniversary of independence this year, its people have a lot to celebrate. The country has seen remarkable development progress over the past half century thanks to smart investments in its people, the land, and the institutions of government. And, critically important, Botswana has adapted to a changing climate, which presents important development challenges for this semi-arid country. Botswana has always faced recurring droughts, which threatened to roll back its development. This year, due to a strong El Niño, its people are suffering the worst drought since the early 1980s when another severe drought devastated the country and required a large influx of aid. For example, throughout the 1980s, USAid provided Botswana with more than $40m (£33m) in food aid, which was required after droughts and other shocks. Yet, remarkably, this once fledgling country has managed this year’s massive drought without asking for significant outside help. How did this transformation happen? Certainly, good governance has played a key role. Botswana’s leaders have responsibly leveraged the country’s diamond wealth to invest in infrastructure, education, and other development efforts that have spurred growth. More recently, however, the government has also taken important steps to help the most vulnerable adapt to and mitigate the growing risks they face from climate change and climate variability. For instance, the government’s backyard gardening initiative has promoted small-scale irrigation among poor Batswana farmers, allowing them to grow healthy produce and conserve the soil. Donors have also supported Botswana’s efforts to expand conservation agriculture. We’ve worked with farmers in Kasane, and across the Four Corners region for over a decade, to encourage the use of innovative farming techniques to grow more food with less water, avoid losing water to evaporation, and prevent soil erosion. These farmers are also growing drought-tolerant crops, like millet, that can thrive in the semi-arid terrain. Farmers are also being encouraged to diversify how they make a living. Kasane’s farmers live in an area with some of Africa’s most endangered wildlife, but predators such as lions can attack their crops and even their cattle. We’ve been working with Botswana’s government to disincentivise illegal poaching by facilitating legal, profitable alternatives in ecotourism, conservation agriculture, fisheries, and natural product harvesting and marketing. Botswana still has work ahead if it wants to protect itself from future climate shocks. It must continue to diversify its economy, facilitate private investment and support citizen engagement to fully unleash growth, but it has already come a long way in mobilising its resources effectively to provide a better, more resilient future for its people. Unfortunately, not all of Botswana’s neighbours have taken the same path to development. Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Madagascar, Swaziland and Lesotho have been hard hit by this year’s drought. Ineffective policies and poor governance are compounding the drought’s impact on food insecurity, health and other secondary effects. More than 18 million people across the region will face crisis food insecurity by March 2017. But like Botswana, the development community is also more prepared for this drought that we were in the 1980s. The Famine Early Warning System, for example, was created following the 1980s droughts, and allows us to track food insecurity in more than 35 countries. Using this system has enabled us to assess needs and respond early – so far we’ve mobilised $300m in assistance and the US government is leading the humanitarian response in the region. However, as we look ahead, we know that drought is a perennial development challenge for southern Africa. With climate change, droughts will become more frequent and more severe, driving up food insecurity and inhibiting regional growth. Southern Africa cannot escape recurring drought emergencies and stay on a path of sustainable development if it does not mitigate these risks. Donors can support these efforts, but effective resilience strategies must be country-led. As Botswana illustrates, building resilience requires political will from governments to harness resources effectively and promote policies that facilitate inclusive growth. Botswana’s responsible mobilisation of domestic resources to expand educational access and promote conservation tourism has broadened economic opportunities for its people. And the government’s more recent climate adaptation policies have helped its most vulnerable better cope with droughts. This latest drought should serve as an opportunity for other governments in the region to take heed of Botswana’s example. David Harden is the USAid’s assistant administrator for the bureau for democracy, conflict, and humanitarian assistance Join our community of development professionals and humanitarians. Follow@GuardianGDP on Twitter. | ['working-in-development/working-in-development', 'global-development-professionals-network/impact-effectiveness', 'world/botswana', 'world/africa', 'environment/drought', 'environment/elnino', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/water', 'us-news/usaid', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-professional-networks'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2016-10-20T11:22:52Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2021/sep/03/worlds-biggest-biodiversity-summit-since-covid-opens-in-marseille-aoe | Emmanuel Macron: ‘There is no vaccine for a sick planet’ | The world’s biggest biodiversity summit since the start of the pandemic has opened in the French port city of Marseille with a warning from Emmanuel Macron that “there is no vaccine for a sick planet”. Speaking at the opening of the IUCN World Conservation Congress, the president echoed warnings from leading scientists that humanity must solve ongoing crises with climate and nature together or solve neither, urging the world to catch up on preventing the loss of biodiversity. “There is no vaccine for a sick planet,” Macron said, detailing the urgent tasks of phasing out pesticide use, ending plastic pollution and eradicating raw materials linked to deforestation of rainforests from supply chains around the world. In a lengthy speech, he said the world must agree goals and make financial commitments for nature equivalent to those for the climate, and said he would push for Earth’s polar regions to be recognised as common global assets at the launch of the congress. Thousands of scientists, conservation experts and officials have travelled to the Mediterranean city for the summit, which will host events both in person and online, to discuss and share ideas relating to the protection of nature. It comes after the pandemic forced a year-long delay to the meeting in Marseille and a UN biodiversity summit in Kunming, China, where it is hoped countries will agree a “Paris-agreement for nature”. In a recorded message, the Chinese prime minister Li Keqiang said countries must work together to create a “clean and beautiful world”, highlighting the enormous journey of a herd of Asian elephants in Yunnan as an example of China’s growing success with conservation efforts. “Many places have been hit by rare storms and floods. The weather events pose a severe threat to the survival and development of humanity, and make protecting nature and global not-traditional security issues more prescient,” Li said. The Hollywood actor and environmentalist Harrison Ford, speaking on behalf of Conservation International, paid tribute to the role of young environmentalists in protecting nature and battling the climate crisis. “Reinforcements are on the way,” Ford said. “They’re sitting in lecture halls now, venturing into the field for the very first time, writing their thesis, they’re leading marches, organising communities, are learning to turn passionate into progress and potential into power. But they’re not here yet. In a few years, they will be here.” Ford, a passionate campaigner for the protection of the Amazon, highlighted the role of indigenous communities in protecting nature. In a parallel event, indigenous groups, academics and campaigners from 18 countries gathered in the port city for a “counter conference” called Our Land Our Nature. Delegates want to highlight the way in which indigenous people are negatively impacted in the name of international ambitions to create space for wildlife. A key challenge is the policy target of protecting 30% of the planet by 2030, which campaigners say could violate many indigenous people’s rights. “I think we need to rethink the definition of protected areas, those that exist, and we need to look for a more sophisticated model of biodiversity and conservation,” said Dr Mordecai Ogada, director of Conservation Solutions Afrika. “We need to break down the narrative into much smaller and more complex pieces.” Hundreds of protesters, including representatives from Survival International, Extinction Rebellion, Rainforest Foundation and Minority Rights Group gathered at the Porte d’Aix, which marks the old entry point to Marseille, and marched to the city’s harbour in the pouring rain. The demonstration concluded with speeches, small theatrical displays and chants. | ['environment/series/the-age-of-extinction', 'environment/biodiversity', 'environment/environment', 'world/france', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/patrick-greenfield', 'profile/phoebe-weston', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/biodiversity | BIODIVERSITY | 2021-09-03T19:07:38Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/2003/jan/09/environment.recycling | Mystery bidder makes play for Waste Recycling | Venture capitalists are believed to be behind an approach to buy Waste Recycling Group with a bid that could value Britain's biggest landfill operator at up to £700m. The group, which operates 170 sites and increasingly generates power from landfill gases, is 46% owned by Kelda, the owner of Yorkshire Water. That firm yesterday ruled itself out of the bidding, underlining its desire to quit the business at the right price and concentrate on water services. It is understood that the approach, which sent Waste Recycling shares up nearly 30% after an 11% rise on Tuesday, has come from a non-quoted company, pointing to venture capitalists or a privately owned, possibly foreign group such as Germany's Rethmann. Market sources refused to rule out a bigger public British or continental player such as Severn Trent's Biffa, Pennon's Viridor, Brambles' Cleanaway, Germany's RWE or France's Onyx and Sita. Waste Recycling, whose shares peaked at 462p in May, has been hammered since mid-August when, alongside respectable half-year results, it pointed to a slowdown in market growth and more prudent accounting standards. Chairman James Newman said increasing legislation, including higher landfill taxes, and tougher industry standards - largely European Union-imposed targets for recycling waste - would put pressure on margins. Sources suggested that WRG, which was floated in 1994 and boosted by Kelda's own waste business four years later, could command as much as 350p a share or £412m, compared with last night's close of 285p. Any buyer would take on £213m of debt and have to inject substantial working capital. In Britain, where the government has set statutory targets for tripling the recycling of household waste by 2006, the group handles 11m tonnes a year. It employs more than 800 people. It generates 88 megawatts of power from ethane gas produced by its landfill sites and plans to install a further 20MW in the next 18 months, capable of supplying 100,000 homes in total. The bid approach, which drove up shares in its main rival, Shanks, also now regarded as a bid target, is seen by market sources as forcing the pace of industry consolidation as smaller operators fail to adapt to a much more tightly regulated market. Bigger players, in turn, should benefit from the demand for more recycling. | ['business/business', 'environment/environment', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'type/article', 'profile/davidgow'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2003-01-09T01:36:26Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
weather/2009/may/12/weather-watch-typhoon-chan-hom | Weatherwatch | Typhoon Chan-Hom followed its predicted course through the Philippines last week, where tropical cyclone Kujira had passed just a few days before. Chan-Hom struck the northern island of Luzon on Thursday, leaving at least 36 people dead and 12 missing; winds reached a steady 98mph, with gusts over 120mph, and torrential rain triggered landslides. Baler weather station in east Luzon measured 380mm of rain before the storm moved away north-east. Low pressure in one part of the globe means high pressure elsewhere. In this instance it has bulged north-west in the upper atmosphere, across south Asia and the Middle East, bringing the return of extreme heat. Temperatures rose close to 45C in the southern Arabian peninsula, while Nawabshah in Sindh province, Pakistan, reported 47C on Friday. Central and north-eastern India also suffered: on Saturday parts of Maharashtra, Orissa and West Bengal climbed above 45C. Kolkata had its hottest day in seven years, reaching 42.1C. Meanwhile, Australia and New Zealand have turned colder as their winter approaches. The passage of a cold front saw temperatures close to freezing on South Island, with snow falling as low as 200 metres, covering inland Otago to a depth of 12cm. Ski resorts have been opening early, five weeks ahead of schedule in the case of Australia's Mount Buller, Victoria. Perisher, in New South Wales, already has 50cm of snow - an unprecedented pre-season depth. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2009-05-11T23:01:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2020/oct/28/south-korea-vows-to-go-carbon-neutral-by-2050-to-fight-climate-emergency | South Korea vows to go carbon neutral by 2050 to fight climate emergency | South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in, has declared that the country will go carbon neutral by 2050, bringing it into line with other major economies. In a policy speech in the national assembly on Wednesday, Moon said South Korea, one of the world’s most fossil fuel-reliant economies, would “actively respond” to the climate emergency “with the international community and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050”. He vowed to end its dependence on coal and replace it with renewables as part of its Green New Deal, a multibillion-dollar plan to invest in green infrastructure, clean energy and electric vehicles. South Korea is the latest major economy to commit to zero emissions. The European Union set itself a similar target last year, with Japan following suit this week. China said in September it would achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. Moon’s announcement is in line with a proposal made by his ruling party before April’s national assembly elections. Its Green New Deal calls for an end to financing of overseas coal plants, and the introduction of a carbon tax, creating urban forests, recycling, establishing a foundation for new and renewable energy, and creating low-carbon industrial complexes. Campaigners welcomed Moon’s announcement, but warned that South Korea – the world’s seventh-biggest emitter of carbon dioxide in 2017, according to the International Energy Agency – would have to transform its energy policy to stand a chance of reaching the zero-emissions milestone. “South Korea is finally one step closer to aligning itself with the reduction pathway compatible with Paris climate agreement goals,” Joojin Kim, managing director of the Seoul-based NGO Solutions for Our Climate, said in a statement. “However, there is much to be done to make this declaration actually meaningful. The most urgent tasks are enhancing its 2030 emissions reduction target, presenting a clear roadmap to phase out coal by 2030, and putting a complete stop to coal financing.” Jude Lee of Greenpeace East Asia said Moon’s pledge was “another important step forward. We expect that this important pledge leads the Korean industry to swiftly shift from fossil fuels to a 100% renewables-based system.” South Korea relies on coal for about 40% of its electricity generation, with renewables making up less than 6%. It still has seven coal power units under construction. It is also one of the top three public financers of overseas coal power projects, mostly in Asia, Solutions for Our Climate said. The country will struggle to achieve net-zero emissions “without fundamental changes in energy policy”, Kim said. “South Korea must immediately stop the construction of new coal power plants, and begin replacing the existing coal fleet with renewables.” | ['world/south-korea', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'world/asia-pacific', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/justinmccurry', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-foreign'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2020-10-28T06:50:41Z | true | EMISSIONS |
sustainable-business/2016/feb/08/solar-microgrids-and-batteries-could-prevent-another-black-saturday-bushfire | Solar microgrids and batteries could prevent another Black Saturday bushfire | On 7 February, Australia solemnly marked the anniversary of an electrical fault. It was on this date in 2009 that Melbourne endured its hottest conditions on record – a sweltering 46.4C. To make matters worse, hot winds blasted through the region at speeds in excess of 100km/h. In Kilmore East, just north of Melbourne, a critical failure in a 43-year-old power line caused bursts of 5000C plasma to arc out and ignite the tinder-dry vegetation in the gully below. Fanned by such extreme winds, the fast-growing inferno would by the end of the day be responsible for the majority of the 173 lives lost in the dozens of fires that engulfed Victoria on Black Saturday, Australia’s worst bushfire disaster. Several of the other blazes that day were started by felled power poles and other electrical issues. This was also the case for many other fires before and since, including Australia’s previous-worst bushfire tragedy, the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires, which claimed 75 lives. Richard Turner, director of South Australian renewable energy powerhouse Zen Energy, has a plan to stop such a thing happening again. The 51-year-old entrepreneur is on a mission to replace ageing statewide energy infrastructure with community microgrids of rooftop solar and increasingly affordable battery storage systems. Although there are significant challenges in taking people off the grid, he sees areas hit by bushfires as the best place to start. Turner argues statewide energy systems are inefficient at the best of times, but that in fire danger areas, the case for switching to localised solar-and-storage is particularly compelling in both a safety and economic sense. “Fundamentally climate change is moving us towards more and more extreme summers and more bushfires,” he says. “Utility companies have been hit with some huge class action suits over recent years over fires, and in response they are shutting down power lines [on bushfire risk days] earlier and for longer, leaving communities without power for significant periods.” In 2014 Black Saturday bushfire victims secured an Australian-record $494.7m payout from power distributor SP AusNet asset managers Utility Services Group and the Department of Sustainability and Environment, and regulators are keen to avoid a repeat. Turner notes that turning off the power during the sweltering heat of bushfire risk days isn’t just uncomfortable for those affected, but potentially dangerous given people often rely on electricity to power the devices that alert them to bushfire danger and the water pumps used to defend their home. Up against the companies invested in preserving the status quo in the energy network as well as next-generation competitors in the battery-storage area such as American giant Tesla – which has just entered the Australian market – Zen Energy is busily presenting its case around the country. Turner says his company has been in productive talks with Victorian energy minister Lily D’Ambrosio over the prospect of subsidising Zen Energy systems capable of running as a localised backup for periods when the grid needs to be switched off. “They’ve committed to act on this but being government, it will take time,” he says. Zen Energy is also trying to get in on the action in Western Australia, where company chairman and former federal government climate advisor Ross Garnaut has, according to Turner, been in discussions with state authorities regarding distributed power systems. D’Ambrosio’s counterpart in Western Australia, energy minister Mike Nahan, has signalled that grid operator Western Power is considering going a step further than Victoria’s plans. In Australian ecosystems, bushfires have long played a crucial role in burning through established vegetation to clear the way for new growth, and Western Australia is taking the same view of the energy infrastructure wiped out by the Yarloop bushfires in January – don’t replace what was there before, but rather introduce the energy systems of the 21st century. The cost of the rebuild of the energy infrastructure network from those fires has been estimated at $26m following the destruction of 873 power poles, 77 transmission poles, 44 transformers and up to 50 kilometres of overhead power lines. In some of the affected areas, Western Power is investigating the viability of solar-and-storage not just as a backup, but as a standalone system without links to the grid. Other options being implemented by Australian state governments to fireproof their energy systems include undergrounding power lines or outfitting networks with rapid earth fault current limiters (REFCL). Lu Aye, associate professor in the department of infrastructure engineering at the University of Melbourne, notes however that the cost of maintaining an ageing infrastructure grid will only get worse. “Smaller distributed power systems, from a cost and safety perspective, are in many ways the better option,” he says. That’s without even factoring in the bigger picture. When it comes to bushfires, the most significant benefit of switching over to green energy solar-and-storage systems is not the mitigation of today’s risks, but the reduction of carbon emissions and thus the frequency and severity of such disasters in the future. After all, as any firefighter worth their salt will attest, the best way to deal with bushfires is to take decisive action early, before things get out of control. | ['sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'sustainable-business/series/smart-cities', 'australia-news/bushfires', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/business-australia', 'technology/technology', 'environment/green-economy', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'tone/sponsoredfeatures', 'profile/max-opray'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2016-02-08T04:28:53Z | true | ENERGY |
news/2015/sep/14/arctic-loses-grip | The Arctic loses its grip | Any day now Arctic sea-ice is going to hit its lowest extent for the year, and once again it’s set to be one of the lowest years on record (the four lowest years have all occurred since 2007). Already a number of ships have glided safely through the fabled northwest passage, unencumbered by sea-ice. Typically the Arctic sea-ice minimum occurs in mid to late September and the signs so far suggest a lean year. Back in August the sea-ice covered 5.61m square kilometres – the fourth lowest August average in the satellite record. And by the end of August the area of sea-ice was already in sixth lowest position. For polar bears, Arctic seals and sailors, the shrinkage has direct implications, but the great polar melt may also be affecting mid-latitudes, by altering our weather patterns. New climate model simulations, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, indicate that the Arctic’s weakening icy grip will increase the risk of wet extremes over mid-latitude Eurasia and reduce the chances of cold extremes over central and eastern North America in the coming decades. In central Asia, there will be increased chance of cold and wet extremes. These changes are most likely caused partly by sea-ice melt allowing more ocean heat to escape, and partly by decreased reflection of the sun’s heat from bright white areas of sea-ice. This additional Arctic warmth gets spread southwards and can also affect atmospheric circulation, changing the strength and location of major winds such as the jet stream. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'tone/features', 'science/meteorology', 'environment/poles', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'science/science', 'type/article', 'profile/kate-ravilious', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2015-09-14T20:30:15Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
books/booksblog/2012/oct/31/superstorm-sandy-beyond-fiction | Superstorm Sandy: a power beyond fiction? | As America reels from the damage inflicted by Superstorm Sandy, I can't help wondering if literature has any scenes to match its terrifying power. There's King Lear, of course, with its "cataracts and hurricanos". Less revered, there's Edward Bulwer-Lytton's opening to Paul Clifford, "It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents – except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness." I love the threat of the approaching storm in Something Wicked This Way Comes: "Somewhere not so far back, vast lightnings stomped the earth. Somewhere, a storm like a great beast with terrible teeth could not be denied." And I've always been enthralled by the endless, mind-numbing blizzards of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Long Winter? Plenty of fiction has dramatised other kinds of grand-scale disaster with due seriousness. But where are the fictional accounts of this kind of natural calamity? | ['books/fiction', 'books/books', 'books/booksblog', 'us-news/hurricane-sandy', 'tone/blog', 'type/article', 'profile/alisonflood'] | us-news/hurricane-sandy | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-10-31T11:55:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/nils-pratley-on-finance/2022/jul/14/environment-agency-regulation-england-water-companies | The smell of indequate regulation around England’s water firms | Nils Pratley | Emma Howard Boyd, chair of the Environment Agency, wasn’t holding back. Fines for polluting water companies in England should be much greater, errant directors should go to jail in the worst cases and investors should not enjoy a “one way bet”. All are reasonable ideas. The current state of pollution in rivers is indeed “shocking”, “unacceptable” and all the other damning descriptions found in the EA’s annual environmental performance report on the water firms. Serious pollution incidents increased to 62, the highest total since 2013. Seven of the nine privatised firms oversaw increases on 2020 in serious incidents. Only three companies – Northumbrian, Severn Trent and United Utilities – got a four out of four star rating. Yet the worsening performance prompts an obvious question: how has the EA, the main public body for protecting the environment in England, allowed things to deteriorate this far? You’ll find little regulatory self-reflection in the report. The closest to it was a new ambition to pursue repeat corporate offenders via criminal prosecutions in less serious incidents, rather than rely on civil powers. Yes, that sounds a good idea – but it would also have been a good idea a decade or two ago. The EA averaged seven prosecutions a year between 2015 and 2021. That’s not many. Feargal Sharkey, campaigner extraordinaire in this area, rightly pointed out that Howard Boyd has been on the board of the EA for 13 years, has been its chair since 2016 and as recently as August 2019 was writing letters to newspapers about how “water quality in our rivers is now better than at any time since the start of the Industrial Revolution”. To be fair to her, she was also calling for more government funding for the EA and heavier fines even back then. But the new ramp-up in rhetoric has arrived very late in the day, as has the ongoing major investigation by the EA and Ofwat, the price regulator, into sewage discharges. One suspects more terror would be created in boardrooms if the entire regulatory framework for the water industry in England were to be overhauled under fresh leadership. The stench of regulatory drift has also been shocking. Where Pret might put some of its money The purpose of Pret a Manger is “to make every day a little brighter”, says the annual report, and the coffee and sandwich outfit has fulfilled this ambition to the max in the case of chief executive Pano Christou. In a year in which the business made a £125m operating loss and £255m pre-tax loss, he was awarded £4.2m in pay, mostly comprising a one-off bonus and share awards, as we report today. Pret is owned by JAB Holding, a private investment firm that primarily manages money for the German Reimann family, which made its billions in the Benckiser consumer goods group. So, one might say that, if JAB wants to ignore a profit-eliminating pandemic at Pret and throw big incentives at Christou, that’s up to it. Except the annual report also details the sums of UK public money claimed by Pret to keep the business alive during lockdown. Over 2020 and 2021, about £100m arrived via the furlough scheme to support staff wages; and the company was relieved of the burden of paying £31m in business rates. There is no obligation on Pret to return a single penny to HMRC or the Treasury, it should be said. Job losses were minimised, just as ex-chancellor Rishi Sunak intended for the hospitality sector. Nor did JAB get a free lunch: shareholders injected £285m of fresh capital along the way. Yet if JAB can afford a near-£4m bonus for Christou and thinks Pret is “very well set for 2022 and subsequent years”, it might wish to consider a voluntary return of a few quid of public money. Many others have done so, and not all say they try to brighten life by “doing the right thing,” as the annual report also put it. Customers can form their own view. An ominous minnow So Admiral (share price down 18% on Thursday) and Direct Line (pranged by 11%), what do you make of these inflationary storms ripping through your car insurance sector? You know: the delays in getting car parts, the extra costs of providing replacement vehicles for customers, and so on. Relative minnow Sabre Insurance was the cause of the falling share prices as it delivered a thumping profits warning. Its own share price fell 40%. But its chief executive, Geoff Carter, was also adamant: “We believe our performance will compare favourably to the wider market.” He’s either entirely wrong, or his bigger rivals ought to give shareholders a damage-assessment sharpish. | ['business/nils-pratley-on-finance', 'environment/environment-agency', 'environment/environment', 'environment/rivers', 'environment/pollution', 'business/regulators', 'environment/water', 'uk/uk', 'uk-news/england', 'business/business', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/nilspratley', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2022-07-14T18:38:53Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
us-news/2021/apr/04/florida-imminent-pollution-catastrophe-phosphate-retention-pond-bradenton-piney-point-desantis | Florida faces 'imminent' pollution catastrophe from phosphate mine pond | Work crews were pumping millions of gallons of contaminated wastewater into an ecologically sensitive Florida bay on Sunday, as they tried to prevent the “imminent” collapse of a storage reservoir at an old phosphate mine. Officials in Manatee county extended an evacuation zone overnight and warned that up to 340m gallons could engulf the area in “a 20ft wall of water” if they could not repair the breach at the Piney Point reservoir in the Tampa Bay area, north of Bradenton. Aerial images aired on local television showed water pouring from leaks in the walls of the retention pond. Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, declared a state of emergency after officials warned of the “imminent collapse” of the pond. He toured the scene by helicopter and said at a press conference engineers were still attempting to plug breaches in the reservoir wall with rocks and other materials, and that other mitigation efforts included the controlled release of 35m gallons daily at Port Manatee. He said the state’s department of environmental protection (DEP) had brought in 20 new pumps. “What we’re looking at now is trying to prevent and respond to, if need be, a real catastrophic flood situation,” DeSantis said. “The water quality issues that are flowing from this for us is less than the risk of everyone’s health and safety, particularly folks who may live in the area.” The governor also attempted to downplay reports that the water contained traces of radioactive materials. “The water was tested prior to discharge [and] the primary concern is nutrients,” he said. “The water meets water quality standards, standards for marine waters, with the exception primarily of the phosphorus and the nitrogen.” Scott Hopes, the acting county administrator, warned that despite a low population density, the nearby area could be overwhelmed by a sudden collapse of the 77-acre pond, even though discharges had lessened the quantity of remaining water. “What if we should have a full breach? We’re down to about 340m gallons that could breach in totality in a period of minutes, and the models for less than an hour are as high as a 20ft wall of water. “So if you’re in an evacuation area and you have not heeded that you need to think twice and follow the orders.” Officials widened the evacuation zone late on Saturday from a dozen or so properties to more than 300 houses. The Tampa Bay Times interviewed some residents who were refusing to leave. A local jail a mile away from the leaky pond was not being evacuated, but officials were moving people and staff to the second story and putting sandbags on the ground floor. Hopes said models showed the area could be covered with between 1ft to 5ft of water, and the second floor is 10ft above ground. County officials said well water remained unaffected and there was no threat to Lake Manatee, the area’s primary source of drinking water. The pond at the abandoned phosphate mine sits in a stack of phosphogypsum, a radioactive waste product from fertiliser manufacturing. The pond contains small amounts of naturally occurring radium and uranium. The stacks can also release large concentrations of radon gas. Nikki Fried, the Florida agriculture commissioner and the only elected Democrat in statewide office, warned of an “environmental catastrophe” and called on DeSantis – who described the toxic water as “mixed saltwater” in a tweet announcing the state of emergency – to hold an emergency cabinet meeting. “Floridians were evacuated from their homes on Easter weekend. 480m gallons of toxic wastewater could end up in Tampa Bay – this might become an environmental catastrophe,” she said on Twitter. Environmental protection groups warned that more pollutants in Tampa Bay would heighten the risk to wildlife from toxic red tide algae blooms. “Phosphate companies have had over 50 years to figure out a way to dispose of the radioactive gypsum wastes,” the activist group Mana-Sota 88 said. “At the present time there are no federal, state or local regulations requiring the industry to make final disposition of phosphogypsum wastes in an environmentally acceptable manner.” In a statement, the group added: “The current crisis can be traced back to the absurd 2006 decision to allow dredged material from Port Manatee to be placed into one of the gyp stacks at Piney Point, something the stack was never designed for and should have never been allowed.” At the Sunday press conference, Hopes said the long-term objective would be to entirely pump out the three reservoirs on the site and fill them in. Later in the day, he said the amount of water left in the reservoir was now below 300m gallons. The county commission said it was more comfortable than it had been, though a catastrophic collapse was still a possibility. Hopes also said: “This could have been resolved over two decades ago.” The owner of Piney Point, HRK Holdings, bought the site after it was abandoned by the Mulberry Corporation, which operated the phosphate plant for more than 40 years. As long ago as 2003, the Sarasota Herald Tribune reported, reservoir walls were crumbling. The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) previously authorized the dumping of hundreds of millions of gallons of toxic water into the Gulf of Mexico. At a meeting of the Manatee commission on Thursday, called after the seriousness of the new leak became apparent, engineers pointed to the deterioration of the pond’s decades-old plastic liner. “The condition of the liner is not particularly great,” Mike Kelley, an engineer commissioned by HRK Holdings, told the meeting, the Times reported. “It’s old. There were some installation issues. There’s a long-documented history of that liner system having issues.” The newspaper inspected records and found that staff documented small holes or weaknesses in plastic seams above the water line in July, October and December 2020. On Sunday, DeSantis said HRK would be held accountable. The Associated Press contributed reporting | ['us-news/florida', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/oceans', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/richardluscombe', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-04-04T21:16:49Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
uk/2012/jun/11/uk-weather-forecasters-warn-flooding | UK weather forecasters warn of more flooding | Householders and business owners have been warned to prepare for more flooding as heavy rain continued to sweep across the country. Homes and commercial premises were flooded, schools were shut and there was transport chaos in southern England on Monday after up to 65mm of rain fell within 24 hours, more than usually falls in the whole of the month. The Met Office issued a severe weather warning for Tuesday for the west of England and Wales, where many hundreds of people were mopping up following a "once in a lifetime" deluge over the weekend. If heavy rain falls on saturated ground, there are concerns that even more severe flooding could follow. There is no end in sight to the bad weather in some parts of the country, with another area of low pressure expected later in the week bringing in more rainclouds. The wettest spot on Monday was the village of Wiggonholt, near Pulborough, West Sussex, where 65mm of rain fell in 21 hours compared to the June average of 53mm. Firefighters were inundated with calls from people reporting flooding problems and appealed for people only to dial 999 in real emergencies. One of the worst- hit areas was Littlehampton on the Sussex coast where around 40 properties, including holiday bed-and-breakfasts, were under as much as 1.2 metres of water. A temporary centre for people forced out of their homes was set up at a leisure centre. Along the south coast in Hampshire, children were evacuated from Portsdown primary school in Cosham after a torrent of water was spotted heading towards the buildings. Headteacher Irene Baldry said: "Water was rushing over the wall like a waterfall. Within half an hour it had flooded five classrooms, the school hall, kitchen, my office and the hallway. Half the school was under water." In Waterlooville, Hampshire, a driver had to be rescued by firefighters after his car became stuck in a ford. Water began to pour into the vehicle and had reached seat-level by the time the man was helped to safety. In London firefighters had to help residents pump out water from flooded properties in Wandsworth and Kensington. Around 35mm of rain fell on Hampstead Heath in the north of the capital and St James's Park in the centre. London would normally receive just over 50mm of rain in the whole of June. By Monday evening three flood warnings were in place in West Sussex and Surrey and the Environment Agency had issued more than 40 flood alerts, mainly in the south-east of England. Emergency services warned people to stay away from floodwater and not to attempt to drive through it. Health officials said that people who swallowed floodwater should seek medical help if they felt ill. One other side-effect of the weather has been an increase in the number of rats leaving flooded sewers and making their way to the surface. In mid and west Wales, which endured the brunt of the bad weather at the end of last week, a huge mopping-up operation was under way and a fund set up for people whose homes had been affected but did not have insurance. More than 1,500 people were evacuated and 150 rescued after water gushed through homes and businesses in Ceredigion, Powys and Gwynedd. Here as much as 150mm of water fell within 24 hours – twice the average for the whole of June. Ceredigion county council leader, Ellen ap Gwynn, said many people who had "lost everything" were not insured: "The last 48 hours have been horrendous. It has been a once-in-a-100-year event. I think now the full scale of the damage and loss is beginning to sink in." The council is setting up a "disaster fund" for those who were not insured. "I would urge the public to donate everything they can to help those who have lost everything," she said. The Welsh first minister, Carwyn Jones, said the government was spending £40m on bolstering flood defences and tackling coastal erosion over the next 12 months. "The reality is you can't prevent flooding at all times, especially when you get very unusual weather patterns such as we've seen over the last few days in this part of Wales," he said. "The situation will be examined, we'll talk to the Environment Agency about what could be done to help boost flood defences in the future." The leader of the Welsh Conservatives, Andrew RT Davies, said lessons had to be learned. "While we all hope this will be a once in a lifetime event for these particular communities, similar disasters have become increasingly common and it is incumbent upon the government to take steps to alleviate the causes. "It is also timely for ministers to look very closely at development on land prone to flooding and consider the introduction of policy to put an end to this practice." There was relief in the village of Pennal in Gwynedd, which was evacuated amid fears that a disused quarry was in danger of filling up and water pouring into their homes. Emergency workers were able to cut a channel that allowed the water to seep out gradually and residents were told it was safe to return. Despite the heavy rain, the Environment Agency confirmed areas of southern England still remain in drought, but said the crisis was easing. A spokesman said: "The rain we have had since the start of April following the driest March for 70 years has led to a huge improvement in water resources. Water companies have seen reservoir levels rise, river levels are mostly back to normal, and many wildlife habitats that were suffering due to a lack of water have recovered." | ['uk/weather', 'uk/uk', 'uk/wales', 'environment/flooding', 'world/natural-disasters', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/stevenmorris', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-06-11T19:23:50Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
sustainable-business/sustainability-case-studies-arap-routemap-climate-change | Arup produces construction industry strategy for tackling climate change | Arup has put the UK Green Construction Board (GCB) on course to tackle climate change. It has identified where the industry's carbon originates and who is responsible for cutting it. The company has produced a "Routemap" demonstrating to sectors and industries involved in construction how they can respond to the 2008 Climate Change Act, which commits the UK to cutting 80% of green house gas emissions by 2050. The "Routemap" sets out the challenges and opportunities presented by climate change and lays out what the industry needs to do and which goals to set next. It provides direction where previously very little existed, helps industry track its own progress and has influenced the government's Construction Sector Industrial Strategy. Arup believes that the Climate Change Act is an opportunity for the UK to become a world leader as it moves to a low carbon economy, by supporting new markets, businesses and jobs. To create its "Routemap" Arup brought together in-house specialists. The first phase was to define the built environment and develop a baseline emissions level for 1990 to 2010, also identifying major policies and initiatives already underway to encourage carbon reduction. Next, Arup developed a model with a carbon emissions trajectory for the built environment and assessed the potential to achieve an 80% emission reduction. Finally it drew up the "Routemap" and detailed its methodology and findings. Arup, which knows that clients increasingly expect projects to be sustainable, has provided the GCB with knowledge to make better decisions, understand where carbon exists and how issues like behaviour, performance gap and technological advances affect emissions reductions. Industry associations, property and asset owners, manufacturers and trade bodies are already responding to the "Routemap". Jackie Wills is part of the wordworks network The Guardian Sustainable Business Sustainability Case Studies contain articles on all the initiatives that met the criteria for the GSB Awards. | ['sustainable-business/series/sustainability-case-studies', 'sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'sustainable-business/series/carbon-case-studies', 'sustainable-business/series/guardian-sustainable-business-awards-longlist-2014', 'type/article'] | sustainable-business/series/carbon-case-studies | EMISSIONS | 2014-05-15T09:45:47Z | true | EMISSIONS |
commentisfree/2007/dec/31/comment.recycling | Neil Boorman: Beyond the factory gates | The UK's unofficial Buy Nothing Day - Christmas Day - was finally cancelled this year as 3.6 million shoppers spent about £52m online. Millions of shoppers camped outside the doors of Next and Land of Leather on Boxing Day morning. Post-Christmas sale madness as a phenomenon no longer exists. The insanity now has a clear run from early November to the fag end of January, when the horrific credit card bills finally come through. Christmas Day becoming a shopping day is perhaps no surprise. That it happened during a surge in ethical consumerism is. This year, the British consumer has wrung its hands like no other - from killer plastic bags to sweatshop T-shirts almost every item on our shopping bill has been red-flagged. But these ethical self-audits seem pointless when businesses continue to make and sell stock in volumes vastly surplus to requirements. In the dogfight for share of the UK broadband market, Carphone Warehouse offered a free Dell laptop to every new customer. Punters snapped up the deal in droves, regardless of whether they needed a new computer or not. In an age when the UK dumps 2m working PCs into landfills each year, this is reckless. Firms that saturate the market with disposable products take no responsibility beyond the factory gates. In clearing up the mess, it is the role of the consumer to bare the financial cost and ethical blame. Why are the companies that profit from these transactions not made to help out? The notion of Extended Producer Responsibility isn't new - it's just taken an eternity to become law. EPR was born in the mid-90s, a policy among OECD nations to tackle wasteful disposability in consumer products. If manufacturers were required to take back and recycle end-of-life goods, so the thinking went, the enormous reprocessing costs would encourage companies to produce and market goods with a longer lifespan. EPR is taken seriously in some parts of the EU. In Ireland, for example, suppliers are forced to take back and recycle old fridges when they deliver new ones. The directive has finally become law in the UK. Since August 2007, manufacturers and suppliers of electrical goods have been legally obliged to take back products from customers and reprocess the materials responsibly. In theory, the price that you pay for a product includes its safe disposal. All you have to do is return it to the shop from which it was bought. Companies are legally obliged to inform the consumer of their EPR schemes. Non-compliance is subject to an unlimited fine. If all this comes as news to you, it is because the government has failed spectacularly to publicise this law. Try taking one of your unwanted Christmas gadgets back to the store it was bought from and ask about the waste electrical and electronic equipment scheme. They won't have a clue. If you do find a store willing to take it off your hands, it will most likely end up in the waste bin. The government's virtual non-policing of this law renders EPR a voluntary scheme at best. So the UK remains on course to dump another 2m tonnes of electrical equipment next year. The UK also threw out 900m items of clothing this year, but the flow of cheap disposable clothes isn't being managed. On January 1 2008, the EU will lift the import quotas on Chinese textiles. A wave of impossibly cheap jeans and T-shirts is about to flood our high streets on a scale never seen before. It's high time that the public - titillated into consuming, then chastised for doing so - demand compensation from the retailers. Consumer goods mountains don't pile up by themselves. · Neil Boorman is the author of Bonfire of the Brands bonfireofthebrands.blogspot.com | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'tone/comment', 'environment/recycling', 'business/ethicalbusiness', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'profile/neilboorman', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/commentanddebate'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2007-12-31T15:15:53Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2023/mar/29/peru-amazon-illegal-mining-deforestation-monkey-sanctuaries-aoe | ‘A second chance’: Peru sanctuaries help rescued monkeys back into the wild | “She used to fight every time I tried to feed her, but she recognises it’s me now,” says Cinthia Pariguana-Garriazo, a veterinary nurse at Taricaya eco reserve. It is 6am, and she is coaxing a squealing baby spider monkey called Rain into accepting breakfast – a syringe filled with liquefied fruit and medicine. Rain is fed every four hours and requires regular physical contact with Pariguana-Garriazo, her primary carer. Over the next few months, she will be gradually introduced to solid food and to other spider monkeys and her contact with humans will dwindle. From there, it’s a long process of rehabilitation before her release back into the wild. Juveniles can expect to stay at Taricaya for at least three years. Taricaya is one of two rescue centres in Peru’s Madre de Dios region, one of the most biodiverse areas in the world. It is a dream destination for wildlife lovers, with 8.5m hectares (21m acres) hosting the world’s greatest concentration of bird species, as well as healthy populations of jaguar, tapir and ocelot. But despite its ecological significance, the area has faced extensive destruction over recent decades, with an estimated loss of 130,000 hectares of tree cover between 2000 and 2020, according to Global Forest Watch. Illegal gold mining is particularly problematic. The promise of riches has attracted thousands of migrant workers, who clear swathes of forest in search of tiny flecks of the precious metal. Mercury is often used to separate the gold from other minerals, and an estimated 185 tonnes of it seeps into the region’s rivers, soil and lakes every year. On the frontline of this environmental crisis are the species who call the Peruvian Amazon home. “Usually it’s incidental,” says Fernando Rosemberg, director at Taricaya, who left the mining industry to work in conservation more than 20 years ago. “When miners go deep into the forest they can stay there for weeks. They might survive off the bushmeat from poaching monkeys. If they find the babies, they are kept as pets.” Rain was found being traded in a market and was confiscated by local environmental police before being brought to Taricaya. Spider monkeys were locally extinct until 2010, when Taricaya began reintroducing them to the wild. Two hours upstream by boat is Amazon Shelter, the region’s other sanctuary. It is run by Magali Salinas, who quit her job 17 years ago and bought a plot of land on the outskirts of the region’s capital, Puerto Maldonado. “When the animals come to us they can be in a terrible condition,” says Salinas. “Many of them don’t make it.” While Taricaya has a programme specifically for spider monkeys, Amazon Shelter focuses on howler monkeys. “After they poach the mothers, the miners might carry the babies in their pockets or feed them human foods like fried chicken,” says Salinas. The juveniles who reach her care are usually traumatised. “They see their mothers killed in front of them, so we have to earn their trust.” While the sanctuaries work on the rehabilitation and release of the animals back into the wild, the environmental police service, Serfor (Servicio Nacional Forestal y de Fauna Silvestre), is responsible for rescuing them. “The most common pets we find are primates,” says Rodrigo Espinoza, a wildlife forestry specialist at Serfor. “People seem to like them because of their closeness to humans.” The problem, he says, is that while monkeys can make good pets as babies, as they grow older they become more aggressive. Adolescent animals are either confiscated or handed in voluntarily when the owners realise how difficult it is to care for a grown animal. Some are killed. Espinoza’s team also confiscates wildlife parts found at urban markets. Skins, shells and teeth are common, despite their commercial trade being illegal in Peru. The sanctuaries aim to eventually release all animals back into the wild. With some, such as sloths and porcupines, it is just a case of relocation and release. But with primates it is more complicated. “It’s a lot of work because monkeys are social,” says Rosemberg. “We have to teach them the skills they would have learned from their mothers.” Monkeys are slowly introduced to each other to form small groups, replicating the social dynamics in the wild. Volunteers devise activities that require the monkeys to use tools that would normally be learned from other family members. Once a group is ready for release, the animals go through extensive health checks to ensure they don’t pass on diseases to local species. A suitable forest location is carefully chosen for release, away from the territories of existing monkey troops, which could result in clashes. Since 2009, Taricaya has released more than 400 animals into the wild, but the team sees no letup in their work. “We are not stopping mining, poaching or habitat loss,” says Rosemberg, “but at least we can give the animals a second chance.” Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on Twitter for all the latest news and features | ['environment/series/the-age-of-extinction', 'global-development/global-development', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'environment/deforestation', 'world/peru', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/environment', 'world/americas', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-age-of-extinction'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-03-29T05:30:26Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2008/sep/03/hurricanegustav.naturaldisasters | Hurricane Gustav: Authorities struggle to orchestrate orderly return of Louisiana's 2m evacuees | Authorities on America's Gulf Coast were yesterday struggling to orchestrate the orderly return of nearly 2 million evacuees to New Orleans and low-lying areas of Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Gustav. Officials credited the exodus from New Orleans, one of the largest evacuations in American history, for the relatively low loss of life. Eight people were killed in the US as a result of the hurricane. But with Gustav past, Louisiana's governor, Bobby Jindal, yesterday faced the equally epic challenge of negotiating a peaceful and safe return of 95% of the population of southern Louisiana, now scattered in northern areas of the state, Texas and Tennessee. The evacuees would not be allowed to go home until today at the earliest, officials said. With more hurricanes forming over the Atlantic - Hanna was chewing up the Bahamas en route to Florida and South Carolina yesterday - the authorities were also under pressure to make sure that the public do not see the relatively light toll of Gustav as an excuse to ignore future evacuation warnings. "The reason that you are not seeing a dramatic series of rescues is because we had an efficient evacuation," Michael Chertoff, the secretary for homeland security, said. "I wouldn't want to give the impression that a category three storm is a false alarm." Though weakened, Gustav inflicted considerable property damage on Louisiana. Some 1.4m homes, and even a number of hospitals, were without power yesterday. Trees and dangling power lines were strewn across roads and the water and sewage systems in some small towns were knocked out of action. The damage could make it difficult or unsafe for evacuees to return to their homes, and officials pleaded for patience. "Re-entry is just days away, but residents shouldn't return Tuesday. Trees are down all over the city, power lines are down all over the city, and there is a significant number of homes and businesses without energy," said Ray Nagin, the mayor of New Orleans. Nagin, who issued repeated doomsday predictions ahead of Gustav's arrival, brushed off criticism that he had exaggerated the potential for danger. "I would not do a thing differently," the mayor told CBS television. "I'd probably call Gustav, instead of the mother of all storms, maybe the mother-in-law or the ugly sister of all storms." More than 1,800 people were killed three years ago in the aftermath of Katrina, and scenes of stranded flood victims became a symbol of the indifference and incompetence of the Bush administration as well as the state authorities. But while authorities were priding themselves on their response to Gustav yesterday, the storm still exposed the vulnerability of New Orleans, despite the billions spent shoring up the system of levees and floodwalls since 2005. Although the winds barely reached hurricane force, water still poured over the top of floodwalls on the western Industrial Canal - the same canal whose collapse led to the flooding of New Orleans's Ninth Ward during Katrina. At a press conference yesterday, Jindal sketched out a plan for a phased return to New Orleans and other low-lying areas, starting today or tomorrow with shop owners and workers for major companies. The authorities were lining up hundreds of buses to pick up the evacuees and return them as close as possible to their homes. "We're going to reverse the process. We had buses, trains and planes getting people out, now they're going to be bringing people back in," Nagin said. Those evacuees with their own transport would be allowed back once each local parish gives the all clear. The thousands who were evacuated by the authorities by bus and train would have to wait their turn. The elderly or those with medical conditions would be the last to return. Anyone attempting to drive back into New Orleans before then would be sent back by police. "They will be detained and turned around," a spokesman for Jindal said. "Then they could get in a situation where they run out of fuel. We're really saying to people, they need to stay where they are. Returning home too soon could prove dangerous because of downed power lines, standing floodwater and trees and other debris on major roadways." In Shreveport, Louisiana, there were reports overnight of fights at an overcrowded shelter. Others seemed unfazed by Jindal's warnings. By mid-morning, one elderly woman in Lafayette was already packing up her car to return to her home in Morgan City, with her husband, a kidney patient. The couple live in Morgan City, a centre for offshore drilling, that was hit badly by Gustav. Neighbours had told them their roof was damaged and their house was without power, but they were determined to return. "Tomorrow is my husband's last day before he needs his dialysis again. We have to find some place where we can have it, so we are just going to go home and see," she said. | ['us-news/hurricanegustav', 'world/natural-disasters', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'us-news/louisiana', 'world/hurricanes', 'type/article', 'profile/suzannegoldenberg', 'profile/davidsmith', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | us-news/hurricanegustav | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2008-09-02T23:01:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
technology/2023/may/25/nso-group-spyware-armenia-war | United Nations official and others in Armenia hacked by NSO Group spyware | Researchers have documented the first known case of NSO Group’s spyware being used in a military conflict after they discovered that journalists, human rights advocates, a United Nations official, and members of civil society in Armenia were hacked by a government using the spyware. The hacking campaign, which targeted at least a dozen victims from October 2020 to December 2022, appears closely linked to events in the long-running military conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region. Previous investigations into spyware abuses by NSO Group’s clients have already established – with “substantial evidence”, according to researchers – that Azerbaijan is a government client of NSO Group. The news is significant because the use of Pegasus, a military-grade spyware that can hack into and remotely control any phone, has never been documented inside a military conflict. An NSO spokesperson said the company could not comment on the new report by Access Now and others because it had not been shared with NSO. It said that previous investigations into allegations of “improper use of our technologies” by clients resulted in the termination of multiple contracts. The investigation was conducted by researchers at Access Now, CyberHUB-AM, the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, Amnesty Internationalʼs Security Lab, and Ruben Muradyan, an independent mobile security researcher. The hacking of the Armenia-based individuals was first discovered in November 2021, two months after a series of clashes along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border claimed at least 200 lives in the most serious escalation of violence since the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war. Apple began sending notifications to mobile phone users who they believed had been targeted with state-sponsored spyware. Anna Naghdalyan, a former Armenia foreign ministry spokesperson was hacked at least 27 times between October 2020 and July 2021, at a time when she was still serving as a spokesperson for the ministry. Researchers said the timing of the attacks put her “squarely in the most sensitive conversations and negotiations related to the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis”, including the ceasefire mediation attempts by France, Russia and the US and official visits to Moscow and Karabakh. Naghdalyan told Access Now that she had “all the information about the developments during the war on [her] phone” at the time of her hacking, and that she now feels there is no way for her to feel fully safe. “Even if you have the most secure system on your phone, you cannot be secure,” she said. Experts said the development showed the risks of spyware being used to add fuel to geopolitical fires. “This raises important questions about the safety of international organisations, journalists, humanitarians and others working around conflict. It should also send a chill down the spine of every foreign government whose diplomatic service has been engaged around the conflict,” said John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at the Citizen Lab. Other victims include Karlen Aslanyan, a Radio Azatutyun journalist who was covering the Armenian political crisis that erupted after Armenia’s defeat in the 2020 conflict. At least one guest on Aslanyan’s popular Armenian show – Kristinne Grigoryan – was hacked a month after she appeared on the programme. Another journalist, Astghik Bedevyan, who was closely covering the conflict, was also hacked in May 2021. The report lists several other journalists, professors and human rights defenders whose work centred on the military conflict. Access Now said that five of the 12 hacked individuals have elected to remain anonymous, but that they include a UN representative who does not have the UN’s consent to come forward. Access Now and its partners said they believe the hacking was done by a customer of NSO Group, though the data could not conclusively be linked to a specific client. They added that, given the individuals’ work on the conflict, it is possible that Armenia’s government may also have been interested in hacking the individuals, but said there was no other evidence to suggest that Armenia had ever been a Pegasus user. Indeed, the country is believed to be a user of a different spyware product named Predator, created by Cytrox, a business rival of NSO. Other evidence points to Azerbaijan as an NSO customer, including findings by the Citizen Lab that some Pegasus one-click infections linked to infrastructure that masqueraded as Azerbaijani political websites. Amnesty Techʼs research has also identified Azerbaijan-linked domains that point to Azerbaijan as a likely Pegasus customer. The embassies of Armenia and Azerbaijan in the US did not immediately respond to a request for comment. NSO has said it investigates credible reports of its spyware being abused by government clients. NSO Group was placed on a blacklist by the Biden administration in 2021, after the commerce department said it found the company had supplied its technology to foreign governments that used it to maliciously target government officials, journalists, business people, activists and embassy workers. | ['technology/hacking', 'world/armenia', 'technology/technology', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/stephanie-kirchgaessner', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-foreign'] | technology/hacking | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2023-05-25T10:00:02Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2018/jun/08/weatherwatch-june-is-not-as-moderate-as-its-reputation | Weatherwatch: June is not as moderate as its reputation | June is usually thought of as a rather moderate month, weather-wise. Heatwaves tend to happen in July and August, and although there were famous falls of snow in parts of England on 2 June 1975, such events are mercifully very rare. Occasionally June will surprise us. Last year, the month started with unsettled conditions and heavy rain. But from the middle of the month temperatures began to rise, with very warm air from continental Europe bringing temperatures above 30C every day from the 17th to 21st, reaching a peak of 34.5C (94.1F) at Heathrow Airport on the 21st, the highest June temperature since the long hot summer of 1976. That helped push the average temperature up for the month, so that, despite a return to cooler, fresher weather, this was the equal fifth warmest June in the UK since records began in 1910. Yet June 2017 was also surprisingly wet – the sixth wettest June on record. It was the wettest ever in Scotland, where more than 112mm (4.5 inches) of rain falling in Moray during a single day, and temperatures at the famous “cold spot” of Altnaharra fell to a chilly –2.3C. | ['environment/summer', 'news/series/weatherwatch', 'uk/weather', 'science/meteorology', 'uk-news/heathrow-airport', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/stephenmoss1', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2018-06-08T20:30:03Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2021/feb/19/workers-clear-huge-disgusting-fatberg-from-london-sewer | Workers clear 'huge, disgusting' fatberg from London sewer | Members of the public have been urged to be careful what they flush after a “huge, disgusting” fatberg the weight of a small bungalow was cleared from an east London sewer. Thames Water engineers and MTS Cleansing Services spent two weeks using high-powered water jets and hand tools to chip away at and eventually remove the rock-like heap, which was said to have smelled like composting festival toilets and rotten meat, from a conduit in Canary Wharf. The fatberg had got stuck under Yabsley Street, clogging long sections of the sewer, and could have spilled sewage into people’s homes if it had grown any further, engineers said. Fatbergs are formed when oil, grease and fat poured down drains combine with non-biodegradable items such as wet wipes, nappies and cotton buds. The head of waste networks at Thames Water, Matt Rimmer, described the fatberg as “huge and disgusting”, and said that it had taken “a great deal of brute force” to clear the blockage. “We’d ask everyone to help fight the fatberg by only flushing the 3Ps – pee, poo and paper – as well as disposing of fat and oils in the bin, not the sink,” he said. Chris Henderson of MTS Cleansing Services said teams had worked tirelessly and achieved great results in difficult conditions. It is the latest in a series of fatbergs to have been removed in recent years. One the size of an African elephant was broken up in October 2020. Thames Water removed 140 tonnes of fatbergs from the drains of Greenwich, Pall Mall and the Shard in 2019. Thames Water said it spent £18m a year clearing 75,000 blockages from sewers in London and the Thames Valley. Its “bin it, don’t block it” campaign urges customers to consider what can and cannot be flushed down their toilets. | ['environment/waste', 'environment/water', 'environment/environment', 'uk/london', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/lucy-campbell', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-02-19T15:46:46Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
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