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uk-news/2023/aug/01/shoplifters-who-commit-repeat-offences-to-face-prison | Shoplifters who commit repeat offences to face prison | Shoplifters, burglars and violent criminals who commit repeat offences will be handed mandatory prison sentences under plans being drawn up by ministers. The government plans to force judges to impose jail terms when sentencing repeat offenders for shoplifting, burglary, theft and common assault, using new legislation to be included in the crime and justice bill. Currently, these offences do not necessarily result in a prison sentence, the way that two convictions for knife crime automatically do. The number of offences required for a prison sentence would vary according to the type of crime, according to the Times. A government source told the newspaper the trigger for a custodial sentence for repeat shoplifting would likely be between 10 and 20 instances as it is a lower-level offence than knife crime, for example, although planning for the legislation is still in its early stages. Lower thresholds are reportedly being considered for burglary, theft and common assault. The government is also in favour of police and retailers making greater use of facial recognition technology. On Sunday, the Observer reported that Home Office officials had made plans to lobby the independent privacy regulator in an attempt to roll out facial recognition technology into high street shops and supermarkets to combat shoplifting. The covert strategy was agreed during a closed-door meeting on 8 March between the policing minister, Chris Philp, senior Home Office officials and the private firm Facewatch, whose facial recognition cameras provoked fierce opposition after being installed in shops. Philp is also said to be urging police forces to make greater use of the technology and artificial intelligence to match known shoplifters with images on the police national computer. A Home Office spokesperson said: “Shoplifting strikes at the heart of local communities and we expect police forces to take this seriously – deterring this kind of crime but also catching more offenders. “We have delivered more police officers in England and Wales than ever before and invested a record of up to £17.6bn in 2023/24 into policing, including for more visible patrols in our neighbourhoods and better security such as CCTV and alarm systems.” | ['uk/ukcrime', 'uk/uk', 'politics/politics', 'technology/facial-recognition', 'politics/chris-philp', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/donna-ferguson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | technology/facial-recognition | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2023-07-31T23:04:53Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
business/2008/nov/18/britishenergygroup | Let's get on with building new nuclear plants, says British Energy chief | The country should press ahead with building a new generation of atomic power stations as part of a nuclear "new deal" to suck in investment and create jobs, British Energy said today. The company, which runs most of the UK's fleet of reactors and which reported a 50% slump in profits today, has held talks with local communities around four possible sites. Bill Coley, the chief executive, said it was important to halt the discussions at some stage and start the serious planning and building phase. "I think it's really important that the country gets on with this. We have a very old generating fleet and the UK needs new capacity. We can't meet our climate change obligations without nuclear. It's just got to be done," he said. British Energy expects to be at the forefront of a new-build programme with EDF of France, which has tabled a takeover offer for the UK firm which has been agreed by its board. Coley said he was waiting for the green light from his shareholders and the European competition authorities. The British Energy chief defended the £12.4bn deal, which came under renewed attack from some elements of the City, with broker Evolution Securities saying it significantly undervalued the power company. "We continue to consider the action by the British government in forcing the bid through as wrongheaded — but as we say, the offer is a done deal," said Lakis Athanasiou, analyst at Evolution. The United Nations environment programme called recently for a green new deal that would kickstart a faltering global economy by switching public money from carbon to clean energy projects. Coley said nuclear new-build would offer similar benefits. "It would bring a tremendous amount of investment into the country, create hundreds of jobs and would be great business for the domestic supply chain in this country," he said. British Energy, which operates 15 reactors at eight nuclear power stations around the country generating electricity, posted a 49.7% fall in first-half earnings today due to power station shutdowns and lower electricity output, but said it hoped for a better second half. The group's pre-tax earnings before interest, depreciation and amortisation in the six months to September 28 fell to £257m from £511m a year ago. It said it had put aside £2m to meet possible liabilities from using failed investment bank Lehman Brothers as a counterparty. The company has seven reactors out of action due to unexpected or routine repairs, but Coley said five would return before the end of December and two after January 1. The group said there was potential to improve its output and performance in the second six months of 2008-09. "We're looking forward to a good second half," he said. | ['business/britishenergygroup', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'profile/terrymacalister'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2008-11-18T14:00:00Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2021/nov/05/bit-like-a-clown-boris-johnson-makes-impression-cop26 | ‘Like a clown’: what other countries thought of Boris Johnson at Cop26 | It was one of the defining images from Cop26. Seated next to Boris Johnson on Monday and wearing a mask was 95-year-old David Attenborough. The prime minister, however, was maskless. At one point, Johnson seemed to have nodded off. On stage and in front of 120 world leaders, the contrast between the two men was striking. The naturalist was sombre and serious. There was a “desperate hope” we might still avoid disaster, Attenborough said in Glasgow, in the most memorable phrase of the week. Joe Biden was among those to give him a standing ovation. Johnson sought to strike a similarly elevated tone. There were serious moments in his speech: he mentioned a responsibility to future generations, for example, and to “children not yet born”. But overall the prime minister appeared to rely on the jokes and verbal antics that have served him well in the past. With the world watching on the most urgent issue of the age, he sought to mix it up – part statesman, part standup. Labour said his speech seemed thrown together at the last moment. To many others, his quips seemed strangely unsuited to the grave occasion and to his non-British audience. He began by likening the climate crisis to James Bond wrestling with a ticking bomb. “It’s one minute to midnight on that Doomsday Clock and we need to act now,” he declared. (Days before, at the G20 summit in Rome, he had used football for his analogies – describing humanity as “5-1 down at half time”.) Johnson’s Cop26 address was met with stony silence. The prime minister left pauses for laughs. They never came. Outside the hall, what did other countries make of a British leader who had once written sceptically about the climate emergency? Was his new evangelism for real, many wondered, or merely an act by someone adept at persuading people he holds certain beliefs? Abroad, few were convinced. In Spain, El País noted Johnson appeared to have undergone something of a Damascene conversion to environmentalism since the days when “as a provocative political columnist for the Daily Telegraph, he flirted with a rather loutish kind of climate change denialism”. His attempts to stress the importance of the meeting were undercut by a familiar idiosyncrasy, it said. “He wanted to appear ‘cautiously optimistic’, and yet he couldn’t avoid slipping into his usual over-the-top rhetoric,” the paper reported. Others felt his puns got lost in translation. Bas Eickhout, a long-serving Dutch Green MEP, observed: “He is regarded a bit like a clown. It’s clear that this is his style and that is certainly now what people are used to. Some of the jokes are quite domestic orientated for a domestic audience.” Asked about Johnson’s leadership, one EU official laughed, but offered a diplomatic take. “It’s not completely my taste to be honest,” the person said, sidestepping to praise the UK diplomatic machine. “One thing that we profit from is that the UK still has one of the best foreign services in the world. It’s pretty difficult to break that up and they [Downing Street] haven’t got round to it yet.” The French media was also unimpressed, at a time when Paris and London are involving in a bitter spat over fishing. Le Point said Johnson had indulged in his “usual humorous banter”. “Wide-eyed, we observe Johnson’s smirk; his face recalls that of a dad cracking one of his favourite jokes,” it said. Libération saw “chaotic organisation” on show at the summit; Le Monde “apparent nonchalance” from the British side. “He seems a lot more interested in re-litigating Brexit with Brussels than with convincing global leaders to raise their CO2 reduction targets,” the paper wrote. Germany’s Der Spiegel recalled the prime minister’s climate speech in September to the UN general assembly when – bizarrely – he referenced Kermit the frog. “When it comes to using zany metaphors to underline his message, Johnson has form,” Spiegel said. For his part, Johnson insists his conviction that global heating poses an existential threat is real. Asked by the Guardian why he had become a believer, Johnson said he received a briefing from government scientists soon after becoming prime minister. It featured terrifying data and graphs, he recalled. Johnson’s wife, Carrie, probably also played a role in changing his mind, or so everyone around him thinks. Yet doubts over Johnson’s sincerity remain. He flew to Rome and then on to Glasgow in a luxurious chartered plane painted with “United Kingdom” and a union flag. The jet is used by Johnson and some royals for shorter trips. But why not travel back to London from Cop26 by train, a comfortable journey of four and a half hours? This was not possible, No 10 said, because of “time restraints”. On Thursday, the reason for Johnson’s haste became clear. The Mirror reported Johnson had flown back to London to attend a reunion of Daily Telegraph journalists at the men-only Garrick Club. He was pictured emerging from a dinner with Charles Moore, his old boss, whom Johnson recently made a Tory peer. Lord Moore has said there is no proof the planet faces a “climate emergency” and accuses activists of “project fear”. Anneliese Dodds, the Labour party chair, said Johnson was guilty of “staggering hypocrisy”. The charge sheet also includes reducing taxes on domestic passenger flights in last week’s budget and equivocating on whether a controversial new coalmine should be built in Cumbria, at the same time as calling on China, the US, Australia and others to phase out coal production. It has left many environmentalists with a fear that Johnson has so far failed to heed his own apocalyptic rhetoric, even if he now grasps the problem. “We hope world leaders listen to Johnson’s warnings. But maybe he needs to listen to them himself,” Greenpeace’s Rebecca Newsom said. Additional reporting: Jennifer Rankin, Jon Henley, Sam Jones, Philip Oltermann, Tom Phillips | ['environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021', 'politics/boris-johnson', 'tv-and-radio/david-attenborough', 'environment/green-politics', 'politics/politics', 'environment/environment', 'politics/conservatives', 'uk/glasgow', 'uk/uk', 'uk/scotland', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tone/features', 'profile/lukeharding', 'profile/peterwalker', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021 | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2021-11-05T13:46:39Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2008/jun/11/nuclearburial | Nuclear waste burial plan may smooth building of new plants | Ministers are due to publish controversial plans to bury Britain's massive nuclear waste stockpile, as part of a campaign to persuade investors to build new nuclear power stations. On Thursday, Hilary Benn, the environment secretary, is due to publish a long-awaited white paper for dealing with Britain's 'legacy' of radioactive waste by asking for volunteer communities to bury the waste in deep underground vaults in return for government spending on things like health screening and infrastructure. The announcement is seen as a key step in persuading investors to spend billions of pounds on new nuclear power stations ahead of a meeting on the same day with the energy secretary, John Hutton. He will tell that audience that the government hopes to have the first nuclear reactor operating in a decade. However the move was attacked by anti-nuclear campaigners, who claim new nuclear waste will be more radioactive and so harder to store, and that despite offering financial incentives the plans could still fail to get public support. Using the plan proposed for legacy waste as the basis for also dealing with new nuclear waste has also been criticised recently by the head of the government's Committee on Radioactive Waste Management, which proposed the legacy plan. 'The government cannot press on with its plans for new nuclear power when its strategy for dealing with radioactive waste is such a shambles,' said Ben Ayliffe, head of the Greenpeace's nuclear campaign. Hutton plans to meet investors and utility companies in London on Thursday morning. The meeting follows weeks of bad news for the industry, including shut-downs, cost over-runs and falling profits. But government insiders said the 'star list' of potential investors due to attend the meeting reflects widespread interest in building new nuclear plants. Officials at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform said Hutton would publish new research showing Britain is "one of the world leading investment opportunities" for nuclear power. "John Hutton stress our plan to stick to the timetable for building new nuclear," added the spokesman, who referred to utility company announcements that the first reactor could be operating by 2018. Defra said the decision to publish the white paper on the same day of Hutton's meeting was a "complete coincidence", but admitted the plan for dealing with legacy waste could be seen as a step towards solving the problem of waste from new reactors. As expected, Copeland borough council in Cumbria, home to most of the existing waste stockpile at the Sellafield reprocessing plant, has said if a safe local site can be found and there is community support it would offer to store waste in return for an "endowment" which would benefit future generations. Past studies have found the area around Sellafield was not safe to store nuclear waste, but the British Geological Survey, which will carry out the safety study, said the latest research showed parts of area would be safe. Councillor Paul Bettison, chairman of the Local Government Association Environment Board, said: "Disposing of nuclear waste in burial chambers is widely regarded as the best approach, provided there are strict controls and public confidence in long-term environmental safety is high. "It is now up to councils to decide whether they want to participate in the process of finding a national site and whether the support packages provided by government are good enough." | ['environment/nuclearpower', 'business/utilities', 'environment/environment', 'environment/nuclear-waste', 'type/article', 'profile/juliettejowit'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2008-06-11T23:01:00Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2017/sep/22/ancient-survivors-and-wild-dune-edges-country-diary | Country diary: ancient survivors and wild dune edges | The view from the top of the basalt outcrop of Windy Hill is sublime. Below, the flat expanse of Magilligan Point, County Derry, narrows into the distance as it almost reaches across the mouth of Lough Foyle to the heather-topped green hills and little white cottages of Donegal, six miles away. Most of the sandy spit has been converted into grazed farmland, the field boundaries following the lines of ancient sand ridges deposited as the point has grown since the last ice age. A half-mile wide strip along the western edge, facing the Atlantic, is still wild sand dunes, tall and rough. A stiff breeze blows up and over the rocky ridge and to the east dark grey storm clouds roll. The tip of the point continues to actively accrete and in front of the older dunes, stabilised by dense marram grass, are bands of bare sand and pioneering lyme grass. The sand is full of shells, a fantastic diversity of little bivalve dishes, washed up from their mud-sand home off the coast. But of particular note are the broad flat otter shells, hand-long pod razor shells and palm-sized ocean quahogs (Arctica islandica). These last are especially impressive, yellow to greyish white, thick-shelled clams; they are the longest lived animals recorded on Earth, the oldest alive now were born before Elizabeth I. The botany of the spit was once so rich that it was known as the “medicine garden of Europe”. While there are still many wild plants typical of coastal and dune habitats here, it appears that farming and the loss of its rabbit population have left the area underperforming. Perhaps the most striking dune plant is the burnet rose; masses of tiny little bushes with delicate crimp-cut leaves and purple-black hips. Here and there some seem to have produced bright red hips, but closer observation reveals them to be the shiny scarlet galls of Diplolepis spinosissima, a specialist on burnet roses and relative of the robin’s pincushion gall wasp. The moss nearby is home to the tiny, and very rare, wall whorl snail, but we retreat as the rain comes down. Follow Country diary on Twitter: @gdncountrydiary | ['environment/series/country-diary', 'environment/coastlines', 'uk/northernireland', 'type/article', 'environment/plants', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'uk/uk', 'food/shellfish', 'food/seafood', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'tone/features', 'environment/environment', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'profile/matt-shardlow', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2017-09-22T04:30:37Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
sustainable-business/2014/jul/21/botox-apple-nike-green-ranking-environmental-worker-exploitation-social-impact | Is Botox really green? Why environmental rankings should include social impact | Shareholders of Allergan, a California-based pharmaceutical company, likely rejoiced when the company won the top spot in the Newsweek Green Rankings of the 500 largest publicly traded US companies last month. Newsweek and its partner, Corporate Knights Capital, cited the company's 20-year-old environmental strategy, with recent efforts focused on innovative waste management initiatives and energy-efficiency projects. Green bloggers, on the other hand, saw the Allergan win as a sign that the list, which has been closely watched since its inception in 2009, might no longer be relevant to those truly interested in pursuing sustainability. The reason? Allergan is the maker of Botox, the cosmetic form of botulinum toxin, among other cosmetic products, such as Latisse, an eyelash-enhancement solution, and Natrelle-brand silicone breast implants. Energy efficiency is all well and good, but what does sustainability mean when America's greenest company is built on pushing arguably dangerous ideals of female beauty? Other purportedly green rankings seem equally backward. For instance, it seems dubious to include Apple in the EPA Green Power Partnership's 2014 Top 30 Tech and Power List of the largest green power users when labor-rights organizations have roundly criticized the company for excessive overtime and harsh labor conditions in its Foxconn Technology Group facilities. It's difficult to applaud a business that lowers carbon-dioxide emissions while simultaneously exploiting its most vulnerable workers. Defining sustainability The trouble seems to be that, while everybody loves a good top-10 list, rankings often fail to include social metrics that provide a more complete picture of a company's societal impact. Perhaps social metrics are overlooked because they're so much more difficult to objectively quantify than environmental metrics. Simon MacMahon, global director of advisory services at Sustainalytics, says that many commissioning organizations fail to put in the time and energy necessary to produce informed results: “To be credible, rankings need a strong methodology, a tested research process that in most cases should include company dialogue, and a team of skilled analysts. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts and so, the number of credible sustainability rankings out there is fairly limited.” Regardless of whether green rankings serve as a useful indicator of genuine progress, it’s clear that most disagreements over green rankings rest with the nebulous concept of sustainability. MacMahon notes that corporate sustainability (as opposed to governmental or personal sustainability) means different things to different companies and to different stakeholder groups. “There really is no one definition,” he says. In a PV magazine article last year, Roger Ballentine, president of Green Strategies, an environmental and energy consulting firm, warned against confusing sustainability – which also includes transparency, corporate governance and social responsibility issues – with environmental friendliness. “Sustainability is a business metric,” he told Guardian Sustainable Business editor Jennifer Kho. “It’s like comparing price-to-earnings ratios; we’re evolving to a standard set of sustainability metrics.” Ballentine added that if sustainability is going to be a universally applicable business metric, all companies should be judged in the same way. “We should be very consistent in how we evaluate companies in terms of sustainability metrics, regardless of what industry they’re in,” he told PV magazine. What really matters Carol Hee, who directs the Center for Sustainable Enterprise at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill University, says that if we define sustainability as the “triple bottom line” – measuring business performance in terms of its effects on people, the planet and profit – this provides corporate executives and stakeholders with a comprehensive lens through which to assess sustainability. To determine whether a company is authentically sustainable, Hee seeks information on the management team, the firm’s corporate governance and the culture. “I’d also want to know whether the firm was socially responsible,” she said. “How does the firm treat its employees, retirees and job applicants? Does the firm have non-discriminatory practices, pay a fair wage, offer safe working conditions and benefits like health care and paid time off?” Hee argues that social responsibility stretches beyond a company’s walls, extending to its interactions with overseas workers and the local community. For example, Apple and Nike, which have both topped various green rankings in the past few years, have grappled with bringing social concerns in line with environmental initiatives. After China Labor Watch found “labor camp” conditions at Apple's Foxconn assembly facility in Chengdu, China, in 2011, the company switched assembly to Pegatron, another Chinese facility, where China Labor Watch found new claims of exploitation in 2013. That didn't stop Apple from making the EPA's list of “greenest” tech companies that year. In 2012, Catholic NGO Education for Justice found a major Nike shoe factory was forcing employees to work unpaid overtime without benefits and was subjecting them to verbal abuse from supervisors. That same year, Nike took the top slot in the Climate Counts emissions reduction rankings. The final component for corporate sustainability, in Hee’s view, is what the company is doing to minimize negative impacts over its product's entire life cycle, including raw materials acquisition, materials manufacturing, product manufacturing and packaging, transportation, retail, consumer use and waste. Newsweek's Green Rankings prompted the inevitable question as to whether such lists might ultimately do more harm than good. Done poorly, they can contribute to the general greenwashing of industry, encouraging companies to shoot for bogus metrics that distract from real corporate responsibility. Done well, they have the potential to lend a competitive justification for socially responsible initiatives. We'll have a better idea next year as to which is winning out. Debbi McCullough is an independent writer, editor and owner of Hanging Rock Media in Cary, North Carolina. The social impact hub is funded by AngloAmerican. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled advertisement feature. Find out more here. | ['sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'sustainable-business/communication', 'sustainable-business/leadership', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'business/ethicalbusiness', 'environment/corporatesocialresponsibility', 'type/article', 'tone/blog'] | environment/corporatesocialresponsibility | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2014-07-21T15:31:52Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2024/nov/18/making-homes-greener-isnt-nanny-statism | Making homes greener isn’t nanny-statism | Letters | I wanted to believe Keir Starmer would make Cop29 the moment he made good on his earlier green promises (Editorial, 12 November). In one sense, he didn’t disappoint, stating that he would oversee a cut in emissions of 81% by 2035 on 1990 levels. Great. But how? Essentially decarbonising the grid but “not telling people how to live their lives”. As a retrofit project coordinator working in social housing, I fear this means Starmer is following his predecessor Rishi Sunak down the route of “we still care about net zero, we just don’t want it to cost votes from landlords or make people think they will have their gas boilers forcibly ripped out” (the latter was never on the cards, new boilers just wouldn’t have been installed). This matters because 20% of UK carbon emissions come from domestic properties. If we don’t tackle our draughty and leaky housing stock – the worst in western Europe – we will never reach net zero by 2050. We need to be retrofitting 1.5 homes a minute. But this isn’t just a game of carbon accountancy. Nor is it about pleasing the “tofu-eating wokerati”. Retrofitting homes cuts emissions and makes them warmer in winter and cooler in summer. It prevents people dying from temperature extremes, reduces the amount the NHS spends on chronic health conditions and saves families money on their fuel bills. The physical and financial benefits of retrofit are experienced immediately by both residents and the Treasury. It’s a great shame that Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have bought into the rightwing narrative that cutting emissions on a household level equates to a nanny state controlling and diminishing quality of life. I’ve witnessed the exact opposite through my work. Charlie Chamberlain Norwich • Keir Starmer’s pledge to cut carbon emissions by 81% by 2035 would be a lot easier if he brought back the feed-in tariff for small-scale electricity producers and unlocked millions of pounds of investment in green energy from individuals – on their own roofs. Empowering people to invest, with guaranteed payments for the electricity they produce, is a win-win for the country. The cost is borne by individuals while the nation gets the benefit. Pay a small premium over the cost of the power they generate, and millions will invest. These micro-generators can come online immediately without waiting years for National Grid upgrades, and, best of all, it would cost the exchequer virtually nothing. Alastair Nisbet Dorchester, Dorset • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'environment/cop29', 'politics/keir-starmer', 'politics/labour', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/letters', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2024-11-18T17:25:19Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2009/mar/18/west-antarctic-ice-sheet-melt | West Antarctic ice sheet will melt if temperatures continue to rise | The giant West Antarctic ice sheet has melted several times in the past, and will do so again if temperatures continue to rise, new research shows. Such a change would raise sea levels by some five metres around the world, but scientists have struggled to predict when it might happen. The new study suggests a 5C local rise in ocean temperatures could be enough to trigger a collapse. David Pollard of Pennsylvania State University, and Robert DeConto of the University of Massachusetts used a computer model to simulate the behaviour of the ice sheet over the past five million years. They focused on a period called the Pliocene, some five to three million years ago, when temperatures were similar to those expected in the coming centuries. The scientists found that the West Antarctic ice sheet melted and reformed several times. Each switch took just a few thousand years. The results are bolstered by a separate analysis of sediment dug from underneath the Antarctic Ross ice shelf, which also indicate periodic large-scale melting during that period. Both studies are published tomorrow in the journal Nature. Pollard said: "The modelling shows it [the ice sheet collapse] has happened with regularity in the past and will happen again, driven by ocean warming." He said more studies were needed to work out what level of ocean warming in the region would provoke another collapse. The 5C figure in the new paper is a "rough number" he said. "It could be 3C or it could be 6C." Warmer oceans would melt the floating ice sheets around Antarctica, which currently block the sea's access to larger, ground-based ice sheets further towards the continent's interior. With the floating ice sheets gone, the land-based ice would be free to melt and so raise sea levels. Glaciologists call such an event a collapse, but Pollard said it would not be rapid, and would take thousands of years to unfold: "We had a bit of a debate whether to use the word collapse in the paper. It's not something like an avalanche." How quickly the West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets could break up and melt has become a hot topic in climate science. The 2007 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said not enough was known to make any predictions. Since then some scientists have warned that the ice sheets are more unstable than realised – and that sea levels could rise faster than expected. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/oceans', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'environment/poles', 'world/antarctica', 'world/world', 'environment/environment', 'science/science', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/davidadam'] | environment/poles | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2009-03-18T18:05:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
uk-news/2019/feb/12/welsh-sheep-farmers-fear-post-brexit-british-branding | Welsh sheep farmers fear post-Brexit British branding | Farmers and food producers in Wales may suffer after Brexit if their lamb and beef is marketed under the union flag rather than with specific Welsh branding, industry chiefs have said. The body that markets Welsh lamb and beef has expressed concern that in some parts of the world UK red meat is viewed negatively. It is keen to make sure that after Britain leaves the EU there will be a clear way to differentiate between Welsh red meat and the UK-wide product. The use of UK branding within the food and drinks is a sensitive issue in Wales and was highlighted at last year’s Royal Welsh Show, when Lesley Griffiths, the rural affairs minister, expressed concern over the proliferation of union flags – and lack of Welsh dragon flags. On Tuesday, Gwyn Howells, the chief executive of Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales – suggested British branding on products such as lamb and beef, which are worth £200m a year in exports, could put the Welsh industry at a disadvantage. He said: “The Welsh brand has been developed over a number of years for lamb and beef, and is widely recognised in the retail and food service industry in a number of key markets in Europe, Asia and north America. “There are a number of advantages in using the Welsh food brand, in that it enables us to tell a distinctive story about the quality and provenance of our product. It enables us to differentiate Welsh lamb and Welsh beef as a premium product. “We are aware of research that suggests that there are some negative connotations to the UK food brand in some parts of the world, particularly in the context of red meat.” The UK government has said products such as Welsh lamb that have European GI (geographical indication) status will get UK GI status after Brexit. To be compatible with World Trade Organization rules, the scheme will have to be UK-wide. A spokesperson for the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs said: “The UK government has already set out how our schemes will work when we have left the EU, and been clear existing UK products registered under EU GI schemes, from Welsh lamb to Anglesey sea salt, will automatically get UK GI status, ensuring their unique heritage and quality is safeguarded.” But it said producers would be free to add in other branding. “In addition to the new UK GI logo, producers can add additional labels, such as the red dragon, at their discretion.” | ['uk/wales', 'politics/wales', 'environment/farming', 'food/lamb', 'food/beef', 'environment/environment', 'food/food', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'politics/eu-referendum', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/stevenmorris', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2019-02-12T13:18:54Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
media/article/2024/aug/09/excess-memes-photos-and-reply-all-emails-are-bad-for-climate-finds-study | Excess memes and ‘reply all’ emails are bad for climate, researcher warns | When “I can has cheezburger?” became one of the first internet memes to blow our minds, it’s unlikely that anyone worried about how much energy it would use up. But research has now found that the vast majority of data stored in the cloud is “dark data”, meaning it is used once then never visited again. That means that all the memes and jokes and films that we love to share with friends and family – from “All your base are belong to us”, through Ryan Gosling saying “Hey Girl”, to Tim Walz with a piglet – are out there somewhere, sitting in a datacentre, using up energy. By 2030, the National Grid anticipates that datacentres will account for just under 6% of the UK’s total electricity consumption, so tackling junk data is an important part of tackling the climate crisis. Ian Hodgkinson, a professor of strategy at Loughborough University has been studying the climate impact of dark data and how it can be reduced. “I really started a couple of years ago, it was about trying to understand the negative environmental impact that digital data might have,” he said. “And at the top of it might be quite an easy question to answer, but it turns out actually, it’s a whole lot more complex. But absolutely, data does have a negative environmental impact.” He discovered that 68% of data used by companies is never used again, and estimates that personal data tells the same story. Hodgkinson said: “If we think about individuals and society more broadly, what we found is that many still assume that data is carbon neutral, but every piece of data whether it be an image, whether it be an Instagram post, whatever it is, there’s a carbon footprint attached to it. “So when we’re storing things in the cloud, we think about the white fluffy cloud, but the reality is, these datacentres are incredibly hot, incredibly noisy, they consume a large amount of energy.” One funny meme isn’t going to destroy the planet, of course, but the millions stored, unused, in people’s camera rolls does have an impact, he explained: “The one picture isn’t going to make a drastic impact. But of course, if you maybe go into your own phone and you look at all the legacy pictures that you have, cumulatively, that creates quite a big impression in terms of energy consumption.” Cloud operators and tech companies have a financial incentive to stop people from deleting junk data, as the more data that is stored, the more people pay to use their systems. Hodgkinson said: “We’re paying for that storage. Now effectively, you’re paying for something which you’re not ever going to use again, because you’re not even aware it exists. And when we think about the significant costs it has for financial terms, but also the environment, to the bigger picture … we’re falling short of the required trajectory to meet that zero by 2050. “There are maybe other big contributors to [greenhouse gas] emissions, which maybe haven’t been picked up. And we would certainly argue that data is one of those and it will grow and get bigger, particularly think about that huge explosion but also, we know through forecasts that in the next year to two, if we take all the renewable energy in the world, that wouldn’t be enough to accommodate the amount of energy data requires. So that’s quite a scary thought.” One thing people can do to stop the data juggernaut, he said, is to send fewer pointless emails: “One [figure] that often does the rounds is that for every standard email, that equates to about 4g of carbon. If we then think about the amount of what we mainly call ‘legacy data’ that we hold, so if we think about all the digital photos that we have, for instance, there will be a cumulative impact.” Steps we can take to reduce our carbon footprint include avoiding the “dreaded ‘reply all’ button”, Hodgkinson added. “If we think that our email or the data we produce is carbon neutral, we will never ask the question of ourselves, in terms of: ‘If I do X, what’s the consequence?’ And so when we think about the likes of different analytics, we think about things like ChatGPT, for instance. Again, for many individuals, they believe that to be carbon neutral, but it isn’t. So asking ourselves those questions which we’ve never really asked before within organisations and individuals can make such a big difference for behavioural change.” | ['environment/carbon-emissions', 'technology/internet', 'media/social-media', 'environment/carbonfootprints', 'uk/uk', 'technology/technology', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'education/loughboroughuniversity', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/helena-horton', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2024-08-09T11:47:54Z | true | EMISSIONS |
world/2020/nov/27/taiwan-politicians-throw-pig-guts-meat-row | Pig guts fly in offal fight over meat imports in Taiwan's parliament | Parliamentarians in Taiwan have thrown pig guts at each other before coming to blows over plans to allow US meat imports. Members of the opposition Chinese nationalist party (KMT) brought the offal to the legislative yuan on Friday in the latest of daily protests during parliamentary sittings. During a scheduled policy speech by the premier, Su Tseng-chang, KMT members waved banners, blew whistles and hurled buckets of guts. When ruling Democratic Progressive party (DPP) legislators intervened the situation escalated into a chaotic fist fight. The aftermath revealed torn placards and raw guts strewn across the floor. The DPP government’s recent decision to lift a ban on US pork and beef imports has been met with fierce opposition by the KMT and some of the public. The ban had related to pork products with residue of the feed additive ractopamine, used by some farmers in the US to promote lean meat, but which is banned in Europe and China. Opponents fear it is a health threat and the KMT has accused the government of rushing the new regulations through. “In order to protect people’s health and protect the bottom line of food safety, the opposition party cannot but resist,” the party said of Friday’s protest. The issue featured at an annual protest held in Taipei last weekend, with a giant inflatable pig flown above the crowd, the BBC reported. The government, which has been accused of supporting the ban when in opposition only to change their stance now, sees the lifting of the ban as a first step towards a trade deal with the US. Last week the two governments held the first talks under a new economic dialogue, and signed a five-year memorandum of understanding to further ties in tech, health and security. Physical altercations and protests are not uncommon in Taiwan’s legislative yuan. The DPP said the KMT’s actions were “disgusting” and a waste of food. | ['world/taiwan', 'business/internationaltrade', 'environment/meat-industry', 'world/asia-pacific', 'business/business', 'business/economics', 'environment/farming', 'environment/food', 'business/global-economy', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/helen-davidson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-11-27T11:57:50Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/2020/mar/06/repair-bill-for-storms-ciara-and-dennis-will-top-360m-say-insurers | Repair bill for storms Ciara and Dennis will top £360m, say insurers | The cost of repairing homes and businesses damaged in storms Dennis and Ciara is expected to top £360m, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI). Initial estimates of the damage caused by the storms that battered the UK in February found that 82,000 people had made claims for flood or wind damage. The average household flood damage claim was estimated at £32,000. Almost £8m has already been paid out in emergency funds to get homeowners and businesses back on track in the immediate aftermath of the flooding and wind damage, including covering the cost of temporary accommodation when homes were uninhabitable. The floods caused an estimated £214m of damage to 3,350 homes and 1,500 business properties. Included in the flooding bill was the £21.7m bill for replacing or repairing about 3,600 washed-away or water-damaged cars and other motor vehicles. Wind damage payments are estimated to come in at £149m. The cost of wind damage to household properties is estimated at £77m across 61,000 homes, £61m for 9,000 commercial properties and an £11m bill to cover damage to 3,500 cars. The ABI said the repair bill caused by storms Dennis and Ciara was the highest since three storms – Desmond, Eva and Frank – hit the UK in quick succession in December 2015, causing £1.3bn of damage. It also put the cost of flooding in parts of south Yorkshire and the Midlands in November last year at more than £110m. Mark Shepherd, the ABI’s assistant director, head of general insurance policy, said: “Insurers’ first priority when bad weather strikes is always to help customers recover from the traumatic experience as quickly as possible. “With some properties still underwater, making emergency payments and arranging emergency alternative temporary accommodation or trading premises is very much a live issue. “When the flood waters recede, the hard work begins. Insurers and loss adjusters will continue working around the clock to ensure homes and businesses are fully dried out, so that repairs can start as soon as possible, and people can get their lives back together.” Storm Dennis, which hit on 15 and 16 February, was felt from the Scottish Highlands to the Cornish coast and large parts of Wales and Northern Ireland. It triggered a record-breaking number of Environment Agency flood warnings and alerts in England. The storm is believed to have caused the worst winter floods in recent times, partly because the ground was still saturated following Storm Ciara a week earlier. Earlier this week, the insurance giant Aviva said it faced a £70m bill from the recent UK storms. Direct Line Group said the UK’s winter storms were set to cost it at least £35m. | ['business/insurance', 'environment/flooding', 'world/natural-disasters', 'uk/weather', 'money/insurance', 'uk/uk', 'business/business', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/rupertneate', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2020-03-06T17:30:29Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
global-development/2015/dec/04/green-bonds-innovative-finance-climate-change-paris-cop21 | Innovative finance has a major role to play in tackling climate change | Judith Rodin | Green bonds have been described as a game changer in the fight against global warming. With more than $50bn (£33bn) in green bonds expected to be issued this year – and more than $532bn mobilised in wider mitigation and adaptation projects – delegates at this week’s climate talks in Paris will surely sing their praises. The success of the green bond can be credited to its easy re-imagining of a mainstream financial tool. Its wide adoption has revealed an appetite among diverse investor groups to put money into climate-friendly projects – from resilient infrastructure to energy efficiency – that offer a return for both the investor and the planet. But the future success of climate action will require more than just green bonds to meet the estimated $200-$300bn a year that, according to UN estimates, will be needed to help countries already affected to address the worst consequences of global warming. What other traditional financial mechanisms might we re-imagine in order to bring billions more into the fold? That’s the question we’ve posed as part of the Rockefeller Foundation’s Zero Gap work. We are already preparing some platforms, processes and partnerships that we believe may represent the dawn of a new generation of innovative finance for climate action. One product we are exploring is the use of catastrophe bonds to help ease the burden on African countries affected by increasingly devastating climate disasters. Known as cat-bonds, these are paid out toward recovery efforts if certain disaster scenarios are met. If disasters are averted, investors get their money back, plus interest. We are exploring the use of this model to help reduce the burden on African countries susceptible to weather-related disasters – such as drought, intense heat or heavy rainfall – that are hindering their economic growth. The idea is that private investors pay into the Extreme Climate Facility for a set period of time, for example three years. Over those years, donors such as development finance institutions provide “coupon payments” that will ultimately become the interest paid back to investors. If an extreme climate event occurs – above and beyond the events that climate insurance might cover, such as drought – all the invested money goes to support the affected country. If no extreme weather event happens in those three years, investors get their original investment back, plus the money that has accrued through coupon payments from donors. The facility is anticipated to issue more than $1bn in bonds over the next 30 years. In addition to financial products, public-private partnerships using blended investments – funds from a range of investors – can also provide much needed capital for climate interventions. For example, the UN’s Land Degradation Neutrality Fund draws on both private and public financing to rehabilitate and sustain 12m hectares (29.64m acres) of land every year that has been mismanaged and degraded by human activity, such as unsustainable farming practices. Reducing land degradation helps to mitigate climate change by absorbing more carbon, while also lowering the risks associated with climate change – landslides, drought, storms and rising sea levels. How does the fund work? Investments from impact investors or institutional investors, such as pension funds, provide financing to land owners or intermediary organisations to rehabilitate degraded land, restoring ecosystems and biodiversity, and returning soil to productive use. Investors see a return based on repayments on the loans or dividends from equity investments in activities, such as farming, that happen on the restored land. Development finance institutions and donor agencies provide funding to offset the risk to private investors. The fund aims to mobilise $50bn to rehabilitate 300m hectares of land worldwide in the next 20 years, reducing carbon emissions by an estimated 20bn tonnes. Innovative finance can support mitigation in other ways. For example, wildfires are increasingly common in the western United States, releasing carbon into the atmosphere and destroying forests that can absorb it. The daily burden of fighting so many fires has kept the US Forest Service from focusing on fire prevention, even though it costs 40 times more to put out wildfires than it does to prevent them. So we’re helping to launch forest resilience impact bonds, which will raise funds from private investors to finance forest restoration to reduce the intensity and frequency of wildfires. Investors are paid back with returns made through the resulting cost savings. These are just three examples of how innovative finance can move beyond green bonds to tackle the climate crisis. We hope leaders at the COP climate talks deliver a real commitment to create, test and scale these solutions. If they don’t, we risk running out not only of money but also of time. Judith Rodin is president of the Rockefeller Foundation | ['global-development/environmental-sustainability', 'global-development/private-sector', 'global-development/global-development', 'environment/cop-21-un-climate-change-conference-paris', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'environment/sustainable-development', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/comment'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2015-12-04T12:23:05Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2024/dec/19/biden-carbon-dioxide-emissions | Biden declares tougher 2035 emissions targets weeks before Trump return | Joe Biden has announced tougher targets on the US’s carbon dioxide emissions for the next decade, in a defiant final gesture intended as a “capstone” on his legacy on the climate. With just weeks to go before Donald Trump enters the White House, the Biden administration is formally filing new plans under the Paris agreement – the global climate treaty from which Trump has vowed to withdraw. Under the new target, the US would have to cut greenhouse gases by between 61% and 66% by 2035, compared with 2005 levels – a substantial strengthening of current goals that administration officials said would put the US on the path to net zero carbon by 2050. In a pre-recorded video statement, Biden called his programme of the last four years – including the Inflation Reduction Act, private-sector investments of $450bn in clean energy and manufacturing, and regulations to improve efficiency and conserve land – “the boldest climate agenda in American history”. This progress would continue, he predicted: “American industry will keep inventing and keep investing. State, local and tribal governments will keep stepping up. And together, we will turn this existential threat into a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform our nation for generations to come.” Submitting the plan – known as a “nationally determined contribution” or NDC – to the United Nations was more than symbolic, administration officials insisted. John Podesta, senior adviser to the president for international climate policy, said: “Sub-national leaders across the US can continue to show the world that US climate leadership is determined by so much more than who sits in the Oval Office.” Despite the near-certainty that Trump will renege on the NDC, administration officials said it was intended to serve several purposes: the plan shows what the US could do to fight the climate crisis; it will serve as a marker for the many state and local governments and businesses that are expected to carry on with climate action, even under Trump; and it could help to encourage other countries to act. “US climate leadership has motivated the world to do better,” said Podesta, on a call with reporters before the announcement. All countries are obliged to submit fresh NDCs no later than this February, under the 2015 Paris agreement. In November 2025, world leaders will meet in Brazil for a global UN summit, which is likely to be the last chance for the world to forge a global plan to prevent temperatures reaching 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. Temperatures have already breached that limit for one year, but only if they do so consistently for several years will scientists judge the limit – beyond which some of the impacts of the climate crisis are likely to become irreversible – to be lost. Experts say the NDC target was less stringent than needed to meet the 1.5C limit, as scientists have suggested the US would need to cut emissions by about 62%-65% by 2030, five years earlier than this target. Gareth Redmond-King, head of the international programme at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said: “This is great ambition for the next four years, given who is taking office – it would have been better if this had been the sort of level set for 2030, which would align it with 1.5C. But over the next four years, we’re likely to see states, cities, companies, organisations and citizens in the US step up and say that they’re still in the Paris agreement. “If they make progress towards delivering this NDC, then they will ensure Trump fails again this time around, as he failed last time to slow climate action or disrupt international climate talks.” With Trump in the White House, the target marks what could be achievable without federal edicts, added Debbie Weyl, acting director of the World Resources Institute US thinktank. “[The] target is at the lower bound of what the science demands and yet it is close to the upper bound of what is realistic if nearly every available policy lever were pulled. Assertive action by states and cities will be essential to achieving this goal,” she said. As well as boosting renewables, Biden leaves a thriving fossil fuel sector – under his presidency, US oil production rose to record levels, and the country became the world’s biggest exporter of natural gas. Last year, the US issued a record 758 new licences for oil and gas extraction projects – almost as many as in the previous three years combined. While Trump is likely to boost fossil fuels yet further, many analysts believe the US clean-energy sector will expand in the coming years along with the rest of the world. Clarence Edwards, executive director of the E3G USA thinktank, said: “The transition to clean energy will continue to create new American jobs and position the US to be a leader in the innovative climate technologies that will dominate the 21st century.” In the next four years, the impacts of the climate crisis on the US - in the form of droughts, floods, heatwaves and storms - are likely to grow yet more apparent, which analysts said would provide further evidence of the consequences of Trump’s election. “The contrast between Biden’s new aggressive climate targets and Trump’s rollbacks of clean energy incentives and climate regulations could not be starker,” said Paul Bledsoe, a former Clinton White House climate official who now lectures at American University’s Center for Environmental Policy. “Trump is risking the climate stability and safety of the planet as part of a culture war political strategy, heedless of billions who will suffer. Biden actually wanted to prevent climate catastrophe. I honestly don’t think Americans who voted for Trump and his Republican enablers understand that public safety is at risk.” The Guardian approached Trump’s team for comment. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'us-news/biden-administration', 'environment/paris-climate-agreement', 'environment/pollution', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/air-pollution', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2024-12-19T10:00:12Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
artanddesign/2016/mar/11/thats-me-picture-paul-gravett-leaflets-bob-lambert | Paul Gravett distributes leaflets in McDonald’s with undercover police officer, Bob Lambert, 1986 | I met Bob Lambert at my first London Greenpeace meeting in 1985, when I was in my early 20s. We got chatting about animal rights and quickly became friends; he was charismatic and like the older brother I never had. He was someone I could identify with; he was amiable, vegan and believed strongly in animal rights. He’d drop little compliments. One that stands out was at a benefit gig for the Animal Liberation Front in September 1986, at a squat in Islington. I designed the poster and he said, “That looks great. You’re an artist!” I was flattered, and it stuck with me. I now know that spies are trained to tell you things you want to hear. This photograph was taken on World Anti McDonald’s Day. We’d just published a new leaflet entitled What’s Wrong With McDonald’s: Everything They Don’t Want You To Know. I think I contributed one sentence: “Revolution begins in your stomach.” It was the leaflet that led to the McLibel trial – I was one of those sued by McDonald’s in 1990. I apologised under duress: we were advised by a libel lawyer we had no chance of winning and would be made bankrupt without the case even getting to court. Needless to say, there is no way I’d have said sorry had I known Lambert was a spy. A friend with a good SLR camera took pictures, to have a record of the demo. In this shot, we’re picketing McDonald’s on Oxford Street. There were about 10 of us, handing out leaflets and talking to people. Lambert’s staring down at the leaflet, almost as if he’s admiring his creation; he had a key role in producing it. He disappeared two years later, at the end of 1988. For years he was a sort of folk-tale hero, the activist who had eluded the police. He’d been downbeat the last time I’d seen him, saying his father had just died and that he wasn’t allowed to see his own son. I now know both were lies. In September 2011, I found out he was an undercover police officer for special branch, and had fathered a child with a fellow activist. It made me angry. He hadn’t just spied on me for years; he became a manager of the special demonstrations squad and trained others who also spied on me. He followed me from afar for more than two decades. We were aware the state would take an interest in us, but no one guessed they would create fake people using dead children’s identities and become part of our personal lives. Now we say, “We were a bit naive”; but if you behave as if everyone’s a spy, you’d make yourself so unwelcoming to outsiders, you couldn’t make a group work. If I saw Lambert again, I might hurl abuse at him, or I might ignore him. For more than 20 years, this was a private picture of someone I thought was a good friend, whom I missed. I would look at it from time to time and wonder about him. It’s strange that it’s now famous. It has been published widely online and in the book Undercover, about Britain’s secret police. When I look at it, I see an idealistic young man with someone he trusted. But he was a conman. He betrayed me. He used me, and others, to build his career. It hasn’t tainted those values I had. If he had changed me in that way, then he would have won. Are you in a famous photograph? Email thatsme@theguardian.com | ['artanddesign/series/thats-me-in-the-picture', 'artanddesign/photography', 'artanddesign/artanddesign', 'uk/police', 'environment/greenpeace', 'environment/activism', 'environment/environment', 'world/protest', 'uk/uk', 'world/world', 'culture/culture', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'profile/erica-buist', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/weekend', 'theguardian/weekend/back'] | environment/greenpeace | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2016-03-11T16:00:21Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
technology/2019/mar/04/facebook-faces-backlash-over-users-safety-phone-numbers | Facebook faces backlash over users' safety phone numbers | Facebook has been accused of abusing a security feature in order to weaken user privacy, after the social network was found using phone numbers initially handed over for account safety for other purposes. The company now faces criticism that it will be harder to convince users to take other necessary security measures if users view this as an abuse of trust. Since 2011, Facebook has asked users for their phone numbers in order to enable “two-factor authentication”, a common account security feature that sends a text message whenever a login is attempted. The social network even required the feature to be used by the moderators of large Facebook pages, telling them they had to hand over a phone number in order to prevent the page from being easily stolen by a canny hacker. But in the years after the social network first enabled two-factor authentication, Facebook began to use the phone numbers users had provided for other purposes – eventually, by September 2018, going so far as to update the language used in the prompt, adding the words “and more” to the end of a statement that had previously read, simply: “Add your phone number to help secure your account.” Now, users who once added their phone number for security are faced with a privacy setting that asks them who can look them up using that number. The options are “everyone”, “friends of friends”, or “friends”. There is no choice to ban that use. Similarly, Facebook shares that information with Instagram, encouraging users to update their profiles on its sister service if they have a new phone number on the main Facebook app. In September, Gizmodo reported that Facebook also uses that security information to target adverts: if a business has a phone number for a potential customer, they can upload that number and target that customer with adverts – even if the number is only in Facebook’s systems because of the security policies. This week’s wave of criticism was sparked by Jeremy Burge, the editor of emoji reference site Emojipedia. Burge, who is the moderator of Emojipedia’s Facebook page, was required to enter his phone number because of the number of followers that page has, and rapidly became frustrated with the lack of privacy he was afforded as a result. “I’m usually one to give benefit of the doubt,” Burge said, “but it’s so clear Facebook sees phone number as the way to unify its data sets (FB: email, Insta: username, WhatsApp: phone #) and this sort of thing only gives them less credibility when it comes to ever providing a number.” Others joined in the criticism. Antonio García Martínez, a former Facebook product manager, said the choice was “not just bad, it’s dumb. The fraction of users that have [two-factor authentication] enabled must be small, so the usage gain is minimal, while the PR risk is huge. Dumb trade-off.” In a statement, Facebook addressed some of Burge’s criticisms: “We’ve been hearing questions about two-factor authentication and phone number settings on Facebook. Two-factor authentication is an important security feature, and last year we added the option to set it up for your account without registering a phone number. Separately, the ‘Who can look me up?’ settings are not new and are not specific to two-factor authentication. “In April 2018, we removed the ability to enter another person’s phone number or email address into the Facebook search bar to help find someone’s profile. Today, the ‘Who can look me up?’ settings control how your phone number or email address can be used to look you up in other ways, such as when someone uploads your contact info to Facebook from their mobile phone. We appreciate the feedback we’ve received about these settings and will take it into account.” | ['technology/facebook', 'world/privacy', 'media/socialnetworking', 'technology/technology', 'world/world', 'technology/hacking', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/alex-hern', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-technology'] | technology/hacking | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2019-03-04T14:25:37Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
australia-news/2014/dec/23/labor-returns-renewable-energy-target | Labor returns to renewable energy target talks armed with Coalition's own advice | Labor is set to resume talks with the government over the future of the renewable energy target (RET), but insists the Coalition needs to alter its negotiating position to fall in line with its own climate advisory body. A Climate Change Authority (CCA) review of the RET, released on Monday, concluded that the scheme should not be cut, although it should be deferred by “up to three years” in order to restore investor confidence. Investment in clean energy has virtually ground to a halt due to uncertainty over the future of the RET, which requires that 41,000 gigawatt hours of Australia’s energy come from renewables such as solar and wind by 2020. The government has sought a bipartisan deal to “reform” the RET but Labor walked away from negotiations earlier this month, claiming the Coalition’s plan for a “real 20%” renewable target would devastate jobs and investment in the sector. When the target was initially set, 41,000 GWh represented 20% of Australia’s estimated 2020 energy production. But the country is now on course to produce 26% to 28% of its energy from clean courses by 2020, meaning a “real 20%” would be significantly less than 41,000 GWh. The government and opposition have now signalled that talks will resume in January, but Labor said the Coalition needed to heed the CCA’s findings. “We do need to see a change in position from the government, a change from the prime minister’s position either to abolish the target altogether or to severely cut it back,” Mark Butler, Labor’s environment spokesman, told the ABC. “Both of those options the Climate Change Authority says in their report would be very, very unwise options.” Butler said Labor would “have another go” at seeing whether the Coalition would back away from its plan to make big cuts to the RET, which followed a separate review of the system headed by businessman Dick Warburton earlier this year. “We’ve said we’ve got some flexibility - in spite of the fact we think the existing policy is working - but our flexibility only goes so far,” Butler said. “Tony Abbott has to walk back from the ridiculous position he adopted earlier this year, which has been shown even by his own hand-picked panel to make no sense from whatever perspective you take.” But the Coalition has reiterated its position that Australia should produce no more than 20% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. “We are committed to reforming the RET and will continue to seek bipartisan support for a RET that achieves a real 20% share of renewable in Australia’s energy mix by 2020,” said a spokeswoman for Greg Hunt, the environment minister. “The door remains open to Labor to recommence negotiations.” Th environment group WWF said its own polling from November showed that nearly nine in 10 Australians thought the RET should be retained as it is or increased. “Cutting the Renewable Energy Target is poor policy, it will see Australia’s carbon pollution go up, sustainable energy jobs lost and investment shut out,” said Kellie Caught, WWF’s climate campaigner. | ['australia-news/australian-politics', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/coalition', 'australia-news/labor-party', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/solarpower', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'australia-news/energy-australia', 'profile/oliver-milman'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2014-12-23T03:45:02Z | true | ENERGY |
australia-news/2022/feb/24/nsw-parliament-rejects-flood-plain-harvesting-laws-for-third-time-over-sustainability-concerns | NSW parliament rejects flood plain harvesting laws for third time over sustainability concerns | The New South Wales upper house has for a third time disallowed regulations to establish flood plain harvesting licences, arguing the state government’s plan would have led to an unsustainable amount of water being taken from the Murray-Darling river system. Labor, the Greens and some crossbenchers united to disallow the licences on Thursday morning, despite the new water minister, Kevin Anderson, moving preemptively to issue licence determinations on Monday. The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party abstained from the vote. The licensing of flood plain harvesting – the practice of capturing water as it moves across the extensive flat plains of the north-west using levees, channels and dams – is one of the last parts of the Murray-Darling Basin plan that needs to be implemented. While all stakeholders agree that licensing of the practice is needed so the water being taken can be controlled, measured and policed, there has been a bitter dispute between irrigators and the environmental movement over volumes to be licensed and the fact that the government intends to give the licences free to irrigators. Justin Field, the independent who moved the disallowance, said the NSW upper house had voted 18 to 15 to support his motion. “This vote recognises that the government hasn’t got the policy right when it comes to floodplain harvesting,” he said. “The government’s plan is a gift to a handful of large corporate irrigators, many of whom built dams far in excess of known caps. This is as much about equity for farming neighbours and other water licence holders as it is about downstream communities and the environment. “There is broad agreement that floodplain harvesting should be regulated, licensed and measured but the current rules leave downstream communities, other water license holders and the environment carrying the risk. That is not acceptable.” Cate Faehrmann, the Greens MP who chaired an upper house committee into the practice, said: “It should now be clear to the government that they do not have a social licence to gift $1 billion worth of water licences to their corporate irrigator mates.” The committee said more scientific work was needed and that any plan had to ensure flows in the lower part of the river system were maintained. “The government must bring floodplain harvesting to within the legal limits in the Murray-Darling basin plan,” she said. Faehrmann said that meant licensing 64GL of water take, not the 346GL that the government said it intends to license. “We will never support the expansion of floodplain harvesting beyond the legal limit of 64GL because it is ultimately unsustainable for the river system itself,” she said. Successive NSW water ministers have attempted to implement the regulations, only to have them disallowed by the upper house. On Monday, Anderson, who had produced regulations just before Christmas, went further than his predecessors, declaring flood plain harvesting a regulated water source and issuing volume determinations to irrigators. This was despite the upper house signalling it may again disallow the regulations at the first opportunity, which was this week. It is unclear what the legal impact of the minister’s actions will be. It could trigger compensation claims. Equally, by declaring flood plain harvesting a regulated water source under the Water Act, Anderson may also have made it illegal for irrigators to take the water without a licence. Until now irrigators were operating in a legal limbo and many continue to transfer overland flows from recent downpours into massive on-farm dams. The chief executive of the NSW Irrigators’ Council, Claire Miller, described the disallowance as “extremely frustrating’. “All the politicians who spoke today agreed floodplain harvesting must be reduced, licensed and metered. Yet, they voted against the regulations to do just that. Politics again got in the way of a major environmental reform,” she said “Our members want floodplain harvesting to be regulated, the same as water used from rivers and groundwater. This is in the public interest, and in our interest that water access is secure and sustainable.” Chris Gambian, the chief executive of the Nature Conservation Council, said this was the best decision possible for river health, First Nations peoples and downstream communities. “The new water minister, Kevin Anderson, now has an opportunity to sit down in good faith and understand the perspectives of the whole community on floodplain water harvesting. “We have to strike the right balance to ensure a viable agricultural sector all along the river system while keeping the river flowing and connected end to end. There’s no agriculture on a dead river system,” he said. The upper house called on the minister to engage in another round of consultations. | ['australia-news/new-south-wales-politics', 'environment/water', 'australia-news/new-south-wales', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'australia-news/australia-east-coast-floods-2022', 'profile/anne-davies', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | australia-news/australia-east-coast-floods-2022 | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2022-02-24T05:08:16Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2023/jul/13/scottish-government-duty-to-protect-seabed-from-harmful-fishing-says-court-sessions | Scottish ministers have ‘duty’ to protect seabed from harmful fishing, says court | The Scottish government should stop approving licences for fishing vessels using methods believed to cause harm to habitats, a charity working to protect marine life has urged, after a court declared a routine licensing decision to be unlawful. Scotland’s highest court ruled that the Scottish government had failed to act in accordance with Scotland’s National Marine Plan (NMP) when varying fishing licences last December, after a judicial review by the conservation charity Open Seas. It is legally obliged to act in accordance with its environmental duties, as stated in the NMP, when making these decisions. The charity argued that the December decision on licences, involving vessels that drag weighted nets over the seabed to gather scallops and nephrops, better known as Norway lobster or Dublin Bay prawn, was not taken in accordance with the national plan, which classifies certain marine features and habitats as “priority marine features”. After a full hearing in May and an initial ruling a month later, the court of session’s Lord Braid issued a ruling on 7 July declaring the government’s decision unlawful because it had acted “in contravention” of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010. Scottish ministers would now be “grossly negligent” in their responsibilities if they continued to approve and vary scallop dredging and trawling licences in areas where they risked damaging marine habitats, Open Seas said. Phil Taylor, director of Open Seas, said: “We have had to go to court to establish there is a duty to act immediately to protect marine habitats. We know where these habitats are. The Scottish government knows where these habitats are. There is now no excuse to continue approving the harm being caused to them. “The Scottish government is not a bureaucratic bystander – it is actively licensing scallop dredging in areas that cause harm to the very marine habitats they are duty bound to protect. Business as usual is not an option. “It’s time the Scottish government took urgent action to stop scallop dredging damaging our seabeds.” Marine Scotland, the government department in charge of managing the country’s marine resources, routinely varies the licences it issues to fishers, for instance to limit catches or areas where fishing can take place. The judicial review brought by Open Seas concerned a decision made by the Scottish government to vary fishing licences on 30 December 2022. The charity argued that the Scottish government was failing to consider the effects of scallop dredging and bottom-trawling on known seabed habitats. It had corresponded with the government on the matter for years, it said, even providing video evidence of harm caused by scallop dredging to slow-growing maerl beds in coastal waters around Orkney. A Scottish government spokesperson said: “Ministers are considering the court’s decision and it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.” | ['environment/series/seascape-the-state-of-our-oceans', 'business/fishing-industry', 'food/shellfish', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'environment/endangeredspecies', 'uk/scotland', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'law/law', 'environment/food', 'environment/conservation', 'food/food', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/coastlines', 'business/business', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/karenmcveigh', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/series/seascape-the-state-of-our-oceans | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-07-15T02:59:18Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
football/2006/jun/13/worldcup2006.sport32 | German press pokes fun at Beckham family | The German press is enjoying itself with the David Beckham circus after Victoria and the rest of the family rolled into Frankfurt at the weekend. The mass circulation tabloid Bild abused the whole family yesterday including mum Sandra who, the paper charmingly observes, has "a smile like a peasant". They described Romeo as looking like a girl - "he should have been called Juliet" - while sister Joanne is described as "lardy". "Look at her arms, look at her breasts, look at her bum, very British. She belongs on a beach in Majorca drinking sangria out of buckets and you can count on her to be the first one up on the table topless," the paper said. Kolo Touré is relishing the prospect of facing Ruud van Nistelrooy and believes Ivory Coast will recover from the disappointment of defeat by Argentina and undermine Holland's challenge when the teams meet in Stuttgart on Friday. The Arsenal defender, outstanding against Argentina on Saturday, has studied the video of the 2-1 defeat with his team-mates and is convinced lessons learnt will help them during their second match. "We learnt a lot and at least we showed we are a really good team, but we know we can do more," said Touré. "That's why we weren't happy with the result. "It's very difficult playing in a finals. The teams we play against who have been here before have the experience and the maturity as well. You can see that out on the pitch. You can't afford to make mistakes when you are confronted by that and, against Argentina, we did that. They took their chances, and that's the difference between a side like Argentina and a team like the Ivory Coast at the moment. They made their experience count. This is a really difficult group and we've already played against the best team of the four." | ['football/worldcup2006', 'football/football', 'sport/sport', 'media/pressandpublishing', 'media/media', 'media/worldcupthemedia', 'fashion/victoria-beckham', 'football/world-cup-football', 'type/article', 'profile/paulkelso', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/sport', 'theguardian/sport/gdnsport3'] | media/worldcupthemedia | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2006-06-13T11:33:58Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2024/feb/21/removing-uk-climate-protesters-defence-could-erode-right-to-trial-by-jury | Removing UK climate protesters’ defence ‘could erode right to trial by jury’ | A UK government attempt to remove one of the last remaining defences for climate protesters would be a slippery slope to the erosion of the constitutional right to trial by jury, the court of appeal was told on Wednesday. The attorney general, Victoria Prentis KC, is arguing that one of the last available defences being used by environmental protesters should be removed. Prentis is making the appeal in the case of a defendant known as C, after a string of acquittals by juries of defendants for acts of criminal damage involving daubing paint on buildings. Tom Little KC for the attorney general, told the appeal court judges that use of the so-called “consent” defence under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 was wrong and too broad an interpretation of the law. The defence, which relates to criminal damage only, involves a defendant arguing they had an honest belief that the owner of the property damaged would have consented if they had known the reasons why the action had been taken. Little said climate protesters had resorted to using the defence because another key defence under the Human Rights Act had been removed in a previous intervention by Suella Braverman as the attorney general. “The defence has only recently begun to be run … since the last attorney general closed down one door. Another door has been wrongly broken down in order [for defendants] to make this argument,” he said. But Henry Blaxland KC, for C, said it was a matter for a jury to decide whether a defendant honestly believed that the owner of a property would have consented to the damage caused. “This is a matter for the jury,” said Blaxland. He said to stop a defendant presenting the defence to jurors “would be a slippery slope to the erosion of the constitutional right to trial by jury”. In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the woman at the centre of the attorney general’s appeal said the attempt to remove the defence was an assault on the rights of juries to acquit defendants. The young woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found not guilty by a jury of criminal damage in a climate trial last year. Speaking to the Guardian, C said: “I was found not guilty by a jury after a long trial. I feel like the attorney general is trying to retrospectively challenge the jury’s decision. It feels like an assault on the rights of juries to acquit someone having listened to the evidence.” Little said he was not seeking some kind of special regime for protesters but rather to seek clarification on the law because trial judges had been making inconsistent decisions on whether defendants charged with criminal damage could use the defence. “We submit that [the defence] is being used in a way that was not envisaged and cannot have been intended by parliament. If that is right, it leads to the conclusion that this section [of the act] is being interpreted too broadly and in reality wrongly.” Several protesters have been acquitted by juries after using the defence in the last year. Among them were climate protesters found not guilty of criminal damage at the London headquarters of HSBC bank and individuals acquitted of conspiracy to commit criminal damage arising from their actions at the party headquarters of the Conservatives, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens. Individuals protesting for Palestine Action were also found not guilty by juries after using the consent defence last year. As attorney general, Suella Braverman successfully went to the appeal court in 2022 to remove the defence of proportionality for “significant” criminal damage under the Human Rights Act 1998 following her anger over the jury acquittals of four individuals for toppling a statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol. Judgment was reserved until a later date. | ['environment/activism', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'world/protest', 'law/law', 'uk/uk', 'politics/politics', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/sandralaville', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2024-02-21T15:48:56Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
business/2020/jan/13/avoid-uk-recession-by-kickstarting-green-economy-says-thinktank | Avoid UK recession by kickstarting green economy, says thinktank | The government fightback against the next recession should include pumping as much as £50bn into green projects, in a move that would help reboot the economy and tackle the climate emergency, according to a left-leaning thinktank. Against a backdrop of concern among economists that Britain is ill-equipped to combat another downturn on the scale of the 2008 financial crisis, the New Economics Foundation thinktank said a green plan to beat a future slump was required. In the event of a recession, it said the government should spend at least 2% of gross domestic product (GDP), or around £30bn, to decarbonise the economy, by investing in renewable energy projects, planting trees, transport infrastructure, electric vehicles, and retrofitting homes with new insulation. For a larger economic shock, as much as 3% of GDP, or around £50bn, could be spent. Leading economists including former US Treasury secretary Larry Summers and the former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, Olivier Blanchard, have called on governments around the globe to prepare for future economic shocks with readily available blueprints to raise government spending. It comes as central banks, including the Bank of England, have limited capacity to provide support because interest rates remain close to the lowest levels on record more than a decade after the financial crisis. Mark Carney, the Bank’s governor, has hinted that Threadneedle Street could cut rates soon, while warning that it is running out of ways to combat recessions. The foundation said that raising investment in green infrastructure was required regardless of whether Britain was facing a recession or not. However, it said that a plan for fighting a future downturn should have decarbonisation at its core. Rolling out an expansive green spending round would help the government to avoid mistakes made responding to the last recession, the thinktank said, arguing that ministers missed an opportunity to decarbonise the economy following the 2008 slump. It said that spending around £10.5bn on a mass insulation programme for homes – equivalent to only a third of the coalition government’s tax cuts between 2010 and 2013 – would have enabled residential emissions to fall by around 30% by 2018. For a future spending package, it said the response should be spread over three years, with as much funding for green projects as possible made available in the first year to ensure the package has the most impact. Frank van Lerven, senior economist at the NEF, said: “The failure to respond to the last recession by scaling up investment to tackle environmental breakdown in a socially just way was a missed opportunity. And it’s an opportunity we cannot afford to miss again.” | ['business/economics', 'business/economicgrowth', 'politics/economy', 'environment/green-economy', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'politics/politics', 'politics/thinktanks', 'uk/uk', 'business/financial-crisis', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/richard-partington', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2020-01-13T06:01:56Z | true | ENERGY |
us-news/2024/oct/14/north-carolina-hurricane-helene-fema-armed-militia-threat | North Carolina hurricane recovery team relocated amid threat of ‘armed militia’ | Government emergency workers in the US responding to the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina were relocated over the weekend amid concerns that “armed militia” could pose a threat to their safety. According to an email obtained by the Washington Post, a US Forest Service official sent out a message warning that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) “has advised all federal responders Rutherford County, NC, to stand down and evacuate the county immediately”. The message said that soldiers with the national guard “had come across x2 trucks of armed militia saying there were out hunting FEMA”. The Appalachian county of Rutherford incorporates the mountain towns of Rutherfordton, Forest City and Chimney Rock, which were badly hit by Helene floodwaters that tore away homes, washed out roads and killed dozens. The politicization of the response to Helene and later Milton has provided a recruitment opportunity for white supremacist groups who have assembled in devastated regions that government emergency services have struggled to reach as part of a recruitment drive and PR effort. Fema has also long been a target of unfounded anti-government conspiracy theorists – especially on the US’s far right – going back more than a decade. The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that white nationalist groups, including Patriot Front, had joined recovery efforts in Florida and in the Carolinas. An X post from western North Carolina read: “We in Patriot Front are here to help out the local communities … Our politicians can hem and haw and switch over quickly to their talking points about Israel, but we truly are supporting our communities and being America first.” A Guardian report from 2020 described people in Corbett, Oregon, being stopped at armed civilian checkpoints and asked to identify themselves during wildfires, sparking a debate about vigilante activity and how law enforcement should respond. The Forest Service email, since confirmed to be authentic according to the Washington Post, said that incident management teams “have been notified and are coordinating the evacuation of all assigned personnel in that county”. A Forest Service official said Helene responders moved to a “safe area” and some emergency response work in that area had been paused on Saturday before resuming a day later. Fema had reportedly responded to the threats by ceasing to go door-to-door and instead were operating from fixed locations. “For the safety of our dedicated staff and the disaster survivors we are helping, Fema has made some operational adjustments”, an anonymous official told the Post. In the weeks since Helene hit the region, US government officials have battled misinformation, including conspiracy theories that the hurricane was manipulated by the government in part to force people off their land to make way for lithium mining projects. Federal officials co-ordinating the Helene response have been subjected to antisemitic attacks that travel alongside anti-government conspiracy theories, according to a report by the non-profit Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD). Tensions between residents and government emergency workers resulted in harassment, Riva Duncan, a former Forest Service official in the area, including some being told: “We don’t want the government here”. “It’s terrible because a lot of these folks who need assistance are refusing it because they believe the stuff people are saying about Fema and the government,” Duncan told the Post. “And it’s sad because they are probably the ones who need the help the most.” The tensions come as aid groups have flooded the area of western North Carolina. A resident reportedly threatened Fema personnel stationed in a trailer next to a supplies distribution center manned by the Cajun Navy Relief organisation and the Baptist church. Local police confirmed the incident. Anti-government sentiment and disinformation have spread far beyond Appalachia, with the Republican candidate, Donald Trump, accused of echoing misinformation for political gain. Some Republicans have even claimed the US government can control the weather, triggering widespread condemnation, especially by local Republican figures. In remarks to a North Carolina church congregation on Sunday, the vice-president, Kamala Harris, issued a veiled condemnation of the phenomenon. “There are some who are not acting in the spirit of community and I am speaking of those who have been literally not telling the truth, lying, about people who are working hard to help those in need. Spreading disinformation when the truth and fact are required. “The problem,” Harris added, is that “it’s making it harder to get people lifesaving information if they’re led to believe they cannot trust. And that is the pain of it all, because the idea that those in need are somehow being convinced that the forces are working against them in a way that they would not seek aid.” | ['us-news/hurricane-helene', 'us-news/northcarolina', 'us-news/us-news', 'us-news/far-right--us-', 'world/hurricanes', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/edwardhelmore', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | us-news/hurricane-helene | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2024-10-14T13:58:30Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2023/jul/07/keeping-stuff-is-not-necessarily-hoarding | Keeping ‘stuff’ is not necessarily hoarding | Letters | Samira Shackle presents hoarding behaviour as if it were some kind of sickness situated in the individual (‘You reach a point where you can’t live your life’: what is behind extreme hoarding?, 4 July). I prefer to see hoarding objects that, in the words of the NHS definition, “most people would consider rubbish” – such as cardboard boxes and empty plastic bottles – as a perfectly sane and rational response to living in an extreme throwaway society. A society that is itself incurably sick and destroying the planet by pointlessly wasting resources. I hoard all sorts: used Jiffy bags, cardboard boxes and tubes, single-use plastic bottles, obsolete consumer electronics, and even the odd second-hand book. I know that if I don’t save these precious objects from the binperson they will either end up buried in landfill or be “recycled”, which in reality means being burned for energy (releasing CO2) or exported and very possibly dumped at sea. Who is more crazy, the designers and manufacturers who produce disposable products in single-use packaging, or the gentle souls who think it might be a good idea to keep hold of some of it in case it comes in handy one day? I would say most certainly the former. Stephen Lyons Black Torrington, Devon • Your article on hoarding focused on those to whom an oversupply of possessions, often of insignificant value, is important. The author cites Jens Jansen’s definition of hoarders as people who have accumulated “an excessive [number] of objects”. But what about the billionaires with their vast oversupplies of wealth? Imagine their affluence as bundles of cash stuffed in every crevice of their dwellings, jammed in the hallways and rammed in the rafters. It’s not the hoarders of boxes or old newspapers we should revile. Paula Terry-Lancaster Barrie, Ontario, Canada • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section. | ['environment/waste', 'environment/recycling', 'society/society', 'science/psychology', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/letters', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2023-07-07T16:01:48Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
business/2024/feb/06/bp-profits-halve-oil-gas-share-buybacks | BP CEO calls for pragmatism on green aims as profits halve | BP’s new chief executive has claimed he can stick to the green goals set by his predecessor without risking shareholder returns by adopting a “more pragmatic” approach. However, Murray Auchincloss said BP’s previous “aim” to reduce oil and gas emissions by between 20-30% from 2019 levels by the end of the decade was not confirmed as a “target” – and would only become one depending on a number of final investment decisions ahead. Auchincloss, who replaced Bernard Looney on a permanent basis last month, said BP would create a higher value company for shareholders by moving towards its climate aims “without wasting money”. He told the Guardian that BP’s plan to transform from an oil company to a net zero carbon energy company by 2050 remained. “The destination is unchanged but we will get there as a much simpler and more pragmatic company, and we will move at the pace that society demands,” he said. The former chief financial officer used his first set of financial results as CEO to assure investors that he would protect shareholder value by setting out plans to return more cash to investors. BP will spend $3.5bn on share buybacks over the first half of this year, and at least $14bn over the next two years. The move prompted criticism from campaigners, who said the “excessive” payouts would be better spent on investing in the green transition. The company spent six times more on shareholder distributions last year compared with its investments in renewable energy, according to the IPPR thinktank. BP set out plans to accelerate its share buyback programme alongside its financial results, which showed that profits halved last year to nearly $14bn (£11bn) after weaker oil and gas market prices caused revenues to slump across the industry. The better than expected annual profits were still the second-highest reported by BP since 2012. Joseph Evans, a researcher at the IPPR, said: “BP has decided to prioritise its shareholders over investing in the green transition. With profits down on last year, you might expect BP’s executives to be looking for profitable investments in the growing industries of the future, like renewable energy. Instead, they’ve chosen to enrich their investors.” Jonathan Noronha-Gant, a senior campaigner at Global Witness, said: “Shareholders should want to protect their long-term positions. That means demanding a rapid clean energy transition for companies like BP. These reckless shareholder payouts do the opposite.” Auchincloss said: “We have three jobs: we invest, we pay tax, and we must pay our shareholders. We’re moving as fast as we can [on low-carbon investments]. I’m pushing this as fast as I can without wasting money – which is very important to shareholders.” BP’s green ambitions have been cast in doubt since the abrupt departure of Looney, who stepped down in September after admitting that he had failed to fully disclose his previous relationships with colleagues. Activist hedge fund Bluebell Capital Partners called for BP to drop its plan to curb its future oil and gas production shortly after acquiring a small stake in the company last September. The London-base hedge fund argued that its strategy had depressed its share price and presumed a “drastic decline in oil and gas demand, which we consider to be utterly unrealistic”. The company paid more windfall tax to the UK in 2023, despite its lower profits, after the government lifted the rate paid through the Energy Profits Levy from 25% in 2022 to 35% last year. Its North Sea business incurred a $1.5bn UK tax bill last year, of which $720m was due to the Energy Profits Levy. In 2022, the business incurred $2.2bn tax in the UK, of which $700m was due to the windfall tax. BP shares rose 5% after the better than expected results were announced, making it the top riser on the FTSE 100 on Tuesday morning. | ['business/bp', 'business/oilandgascompanies', 'business/oil', 'business/energy-industry', 'business/business', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2024-02-06T14:54:51Z | true | ENERGY |
australia-news/2022/dec/09/big-energy-users-not-holding-their-breath-on-national-cabinet-help-amid-outrageous-prices | Big energy users not holding their breath on national cabinet help amid ‘outrageous’ prices | Australia’s big energy users aren’t confident national cabinet can pull a rabbit out of its hat when it meets on Friday to discuss a crucial deal to reduce gas and electricity prices. They’ve been disappointed before – for about a decade, some say. They certainly weren’t expecting much from Thursday’s gathering of energy ministers in Brisbane. And just as well. One participant said energy ministers barely mentioned the price caps for gas and coal. Instead, their focus remained on the medium-to long-term challenges, such as securing agreement on a new capacity investment scheme to propel the take up of renewable-plus storage. Ahead of Friday’s meeting, speculation still remains about whether the Albanese government can implement a price cap for black coal, with $125/tonne the likely target. Some have heard $8 to $12/gigajoule for gas being muttered on the sidelines, although those closer to the premiers’ offices say $12 to $14/gj was more on the money. Big energy consumers have become inured to governments letting them down and they need some convincing that the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and premiers will secure a meaningful reduction in their gas and electricity prices. One reason is they believe their appeals have been ignored for years, despite many pointing to their supposed political clout in terms of revenue and manufacturing jobs, many of them unionised. For instance, more than a decade ago, they warned state and federal governments against linking east coast gas networks to the global market. Instead of paying $2 to 3/gj, the price more than tripled. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Lower coal and gas prices will help lower electricity bills because those fuels often set the wholesale power price. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February and the subsequent scramble to find alternatives to Russian gas, sent global and therefore eastern Australian spot gas prices, soaring. Western Australia, with its reservation of 15% of gas for domestic use (much-maligned by the gas industry at the time as an investment killer), is sitting relatively pretty with third-quarter gas prices of under $6/gj. Compare that with the 11-year gas deal secured between Santos and Brickworks, that the AFR reported as “about $12/gj”. Or rather, the many deals being offered at $30/gj or more by the big gas producers to companies that dare not go public without harming the confidence of shareholders or customers. Qenos has been one company to speak out, telling the AFR its energy costs were set to double next year. Tomago, whose main power contract runs until the end of 2028, has long spoken out the reliability of the grid and the lack of a coherent energy plan. One person at a big energy consumers lobby group said, “we’re in a terrible situation”. “You watch, there’ll be a couple of deals done, such as Brickworks’, that mask the reality facing large companies.” More than a dozen of them co-signed a letter to the federal resources minister, Madeleine King, when she was a few months into her job, pleading for help. They secured a meeting lasting a bit more than an hour, telling the WA-based minister that contracts being offered were “just unsustainable”. Some of the struggling large energy consumers have been providing confidential briefings to the market watchdog, the ACCC. Little has improved, however, which is why companies are wary of getting their hopes up about Friday’s meeting. “The prices are just absolutely outrageous”, one source said. Resistance by the states, particularly from Queensland and New South Wales, to the price caps could limit Albanese’s options. Queensland has been demanding compensation for any losses to royalties. NSW’s energy minister, Matt Kean, said on Thursday that his state was happy to forego compensation but clouded the message somewhat by saying NSW expected financial assistance for those affected by any changes. One person who attended Thursday’s gathering said those state governments should be reminded that any success in lowering prices would benefit their businesses and households. That benefit should be weighed against losses to budgets or other disruption. But beyond any price cap lie some serious challenges to the energy sector. Aside from dwindling gas supplies from fields such as Bass Strait, the necessary investments in new electricity generation and transmission are going to cost many billions of dollars. Payments of $200,000 a kilometre to farmers in NSW to smooth the construction of new power lines will be passed on to consumers, small and large, for instance. With bills like that adding up all over the country, businesses are increasingly wary about promises of lower energy costs. They’ve been waiting for that magic for a long time. | ['australia-news/energy-australia', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'business/manufacturing-sector', 'business/business', 'australia-news/matt-kean', 'campaign/email/afternoon-update', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/analysis', 'profile/peter-hannam', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2022-12-08T14:00:04Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2008/nov/04/greater-gabbard-windfarm-sse-npower | SSE sells half a North Sea windfarm for £300m | Scottish and Southern Energy has sold a 50% stake in the Greater Gabbard offshore windfarm to a subsidiary of the German utility RWE for £308m. SSE acquired a 50% stake in the project, which will be the world's largest offshore windfarm, when it bought Airtricity this year. It took its stake to 100% when it bought out Airtricity's then partner, Fluor International, after the latter won the contract to build the 500-megawatt development. SSE said then that it intended to sell 50% of the project, which will cost £1.3bn to develop, and yesterday announced it had tied up a £308m deal with npower renewables, a subsidiary of RWE Innogy. Under the terms of the deal SSE will be the operator of the windfarm in its development and operational stages. Ian Marchant, chief executive of SSE, said local renewable-energy projects were increasingly important to Britain's security of supply. "This year has been characterised by high and volatile prices for fossil fuels and by political uncertainty in key oil- and gas-producing regions." SSE paid £40m for the Fluor stake but said the higher sale price to npower reflected costs incurred in developing the project. Greater Gabbard, which is 15 miles (25km) off the Suffolk coast, will have 140 turbines and the power generated will be brought ashore through three undersea cables to a substation to be built near Sizewell. SSE and npower will share equally the electricity provided. Onshore work has already begun and work on the offshore elements is expected to start next year. The partners expect development to be finished by 2011, with the first electricity available in 2010. RWE operates a 60MW offshore windfarm at North Hoyle off the north Wales coast. It is building a 90MW windfarm offshore at Rhyl Flats to come on stream next year, and awaits the go-ahead for a 750MW installation at Gwynt y Môr. | ['environment/windpower', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'business/business', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/markmilner', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2008-11-04T00:01:00Z | true | ENERGY |
news/2011/oct/04/weatherwatch-fog-southampton-1338 | Weatherwatch: Fog helped raiders get rich pickings from Southampton | Fog was blamed for the success of a surprise raid by a combined fleet of 50 French, Genoese and Monégasque galleys on Southampton on 4 October, 1338. It was the start of the hundred years' war. The attackers had already burned Portsmouth when they moved on to the richer pickings of Southampton. It was Sunday and many of the inhabitants were in church when the overwhelming force entered the town under cover of sea fog. The militia fled leaving many inhabitants to be hanged in their homes. Others believed that St Michael's church would provide sanctuary, but the raiders set fire to wooden buildings nearby and massacred the congregation. Altogether 630 townsfolk were killed, about a third of the population. Others were taken as slaves. The raiders were not invaders but were more like pirates. They were after the valuable wool, which was Southampton's major export and its cellars of wine, the major import. The undefended merchants' houses along the quay, with their vast cellars full of potential loot, were the main targets. That foggy day had two lasting consequences. Charles Grimaldi, who commanded the Monégasque ships, used the booty he carried off, including the contents of Edward III's wine cellar, to found the principality of Monaco. The second was the fortification of the port, ordered by an enraged Edward, to prevent a repeat of this blow to English pride. Most of the medieval walls and towers built as a result can still be seen. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'weather/southampton', 'uk/weather', 'type/article', 'profile/paulbrown', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-10-04T15:09:03Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
australia-news/2021/oct/24/nationals-agree-to-net-zero-target-by-2050-despite-barnaby-joyces-opposition | Nationals agree to net zero target by 2050 despite Barnaby Joyce’s opposition | Nationals MPs have agreed to sign up to a net zero emissions target by 2050, despite the opposition of leader Barnaby Joyce, in exchange for a regional transition package and an extra cabinet position. In a two-hour long partyroom meeting on Sunday, Joyce said the party had agreed to a “process” to support the net zero target, dependent on cabinet signing off on a package that would protect regional economies. While details of the package are yet to be made public, it is understood it includes a new regional future fund and an extra cabinet position that is expected to go to the resources minister, Keith Pitt, who was dumped after Joyce became leader. The Nationals MP George Christensen, who has repeatedly threatened to shift to the crossbench, told colleagues he would now reconsider his position in the government in protest at the party’s position. Christensen attended the meeting remotely wearing a “support coal” T-shirt. Others who spoke out strongly against the target included senator Matt Canavan and Wide Bay MP Llew O’Brien. The party’s Senate leader, Bridget McKenzie, also spoke against supporting the deal, and suggested Joyce could yet secure more for the party through the cabinet process. Joyce was coy on the details of the package, and would not comment on whether he had advocated supporting the deal. Sources present at the meeting said Joyce finished the meeting by telling MPs he did not support it, but acknowledged he was not in the majority. A tally of MPs had 12 in support of the net zero target, and nine opposed. “We are in support of a process going forward that would go towards the 2050 emissions target – obviously that’s dependent upon what we see in the cabinet submission and reflecting the conversations in the agreements between myself and the prime minister,” Joyce said. “Out of respect for absolutely everybody in that partyroom, I’m going to keep any position of any person, absolutely private.” “I said that this was the position, not of the leader, not of the executive, but would be a position of the partyroom, so we went through a process … to find the view of the partyroom, and the partyroom has made their view clear.” He said the “easy decision” would have been to reject the deal and “join other people in screaming and yelling from the sidelines”, but this would give the party no influence over policy. “The conditions that we have negotiated are by reason that we have a capacity to do it in the Nationals. And without a shadow of a doubt, the position regional people are in now is vastly better than they were before we started those negotiations.” The prime minister, Scott Morrison, said he welcomed the Nationals’ in-principle support and looked forward to “this matter now being finally considered and determined by cabinet.” “We recognise this has been a challenging issue for the Nationals. I thank the [deputy prime minister] for his leadership and his colleagues for their considered support. I greatly respect the process they have undertaken in reaching this decision. “Only the Coalition can be trusted to deliver a plan to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 that will protect and promote rural and regional Australia. “Ensuring regional Australia continues to grow and prosper is a core objective of any Coalition government, and this will be central to our plan. “Australia will continue to reduce emissions while keeping our economy growing, maintaining affordable, reliable energy and ensuring our regions remain strong. “That’s our Australian way.” The deputy Nationals leader, David Littleproud, a supporter of the package, spoke with more conviction than Joyce about the partyroom’s decision. “Today, our partyroom, respectfully got to a position of securing, but also growing regional jobs into the future, facing up to our international commitments, but making sure we have the safeguards and the protections there to ensure that all people in regional Australia can participate,” he said. He said the technology roadmap presented by the energy minister, Angus Taylor, had given adequate “comfort” about how technology can “help grow new regional jobs”. “This has been a very pragmatic discussion, very respectful and our party room with great maturity has got to a position that I think makes sense for regional Australia, and will support regional Australia, now and into the future. The Nationals senate leader, Bridget McKenzie, said she was “proud” to be part of a political movement that doesn’t “shy away from the tough questions” and stood up for the most marginalised people in the country. “They’ve only got one small group of people in this place to stand up for their needs and interests, which we have done in the face of an abundance of differing views.” The Nationals MP for the seat of Gippsland, Darren Chester, said the decision was “a win for common sense”. “I’m confident the positions agreed to by the Nationals and the prime minister will start the process of protecting our social, economic and environmental interests, but the task will be ongoing. There’s a lot of work to be done to protect regional families.” | ['australia-news/national-party', 'australia-news/barnaby-joyce', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'australia-news/scott-morrison', 'australia-news/coalition', 'australia-news/rural-australia', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/sarah-martin', 'profile/katharine-murphy', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2021-10-24T08:51:14Z | true | EMISSIONS |
commentisfree/2023/jul/21/tories-big-business-climate-action-left-market-eco-friendly-policies | Tories and big business are in the driver's seat on climate action. Here’s what the left must do | Richard Power Sayeed | Earlier this week, 100-odd energy companies sent a letter warning the prime minister that his lack of new climate policies will threaten their profit margins. Then, the Cop26 president, Alok Sharma, announced a new attempt to end the de-facto ban on onshore wind energy in England, and Liz Truss backed him. Neither of these calls made a huge splash in the news, because big business and rightwingers calling for green policy is no longer news. Instead, this is what normal looks like when capitalism starts to go green. The response from the left is often dismissive: social democrats warn that citizens won’t let governments push through climate policy unless it’s redistributive – a so-called just transition – while socialists have a long list of reasons why, despite some concessions, capital ultimately won’t give up its carbon addiction. Both insist that if we are going to avoid climate catastrophe, we need an enormous transfer of wealth from the richest in society to everyone else, as well as a transition from fossil fuels to clean energy. That’s the green new deal. But the widespread fear that political leaders will do nothing to stop global heating isn’t proving true. The energy transition is accelerating, with one influential report this month arguing that the Cop28 goal to triple renewables capacity by 2030 is within reach. The idea that capitalism can’t stop the climate crisis no longer looks certain. But now we face a new problem: the climate action that’s happening is unmistakably inequitable. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act’s extension of tax credits, US taxpayers are effectively subsidising the dividends of clean energy’s wealthy investors. China’s solar energy miracle is bound up with economic growth and a political system that are both brutally unequal. The EU’s clean energy deal is ambitious but shifts some of the costs to poorer households. And these inequalities are both a reason that green finance is potentially lucrative and why it’s expanding so rapidly. So we’re going green, but we’re not getting a new deal. This is a huge missed opportunity. Because, while conservatives like Zac Goldsmith often claim that the market is facilitating this transition, it’s really the state that’s doing the heavy lifting. Around the world, governments have taken on the financial risk of the transition and are often funding it as well. But too often they refuse to leverage this. They don’t demand, say, that new green jobs are unionised, or mandate a reasonable ratio between the pay of workers and bosses. This is where the left must focus, with a relentless demand for better jobs, higher wages, lower consumer prices and maximum fairness. If we lose that argument for equality, then so much is at risk. I think about the small town in Lebanon where I lived and worked in the late 2000s. On arriving, I was struck by how many car mechanics there were, but I quickly realised that wasn’t really so surprising. If public transport is always a bus, commercial haulage is always a lorry and individuals generally get around in shared taxis or on mopeds, then on many streets every other shop front is going to be a mechanic. It’s the same across most middle-income countries – and also parts of the US. Picture the people who work in those garages. Picture their dependants and their suppliers. If the energy transition happens without historically unprecedented levels of economic redistribution – which is not what we’ll get if we carry on sliding into green state capitalism – then those people’s incomes will be devastated. Electric vehicles rely heavily on computers and new battery technology, so any significant repair job means a trip not to a local mechanic that’s run by your neighbours but to a corporate garage that’s staffed by digital experts. Faced with the prospect of a deeply unequal energy transition, some people will feel relief: at least it would mean humanity escaping climate catastrophe. But consider the disruption that those car mechanics will experience, and imagine it affecting sector after sector, across the world and over a period of just three decades or so. The appalling levels of unemployment it would unleash, the macroeconomic impact that would have and the terrible upheaval it would trigger. The backlash will be long, but its main consequence won’t be coalmines or carbon-intensive plants reopening. That’s too expensive. Instead, governments will send in the troops. Think of Kazakhstan last year. After fuel price controls were abolished there was massive popular unrest and the prime minister was removed. But Russian troops propped up the regime – and in the long term the price controls were abolished. We have been warned about an “eco-fascist” future of murderous borders intended to repel the projected 1 billion climate refugees – and those border policies are well under way. But we also need to sound the alarm about a different looming disaster: governments using violence to impose mitigation measures that create profit for some and misery for the rest. You could call it eco-authoritarianism. The good news is that we already have a solution. After all, there existed for much of the 20th century capitalist societies whose interventionist governments led rapid economic change, and which had strong trade unions, generous welfare states and robust political participation. They were called social democracies. We previously wondered how governments could solve the climate crisis, and now we also have to ask how they can achieve that without creating new problems. So the question has changed, but the answer is the same: we need a green new deal. Richard Power Sayeed is the author of 1997: The Future that Never Happened, a history of New Labour and Britain in the 1990s | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/green-economy', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'politics/politics', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/windpower', 'global-development/climate-finance', 'global-development/global-development', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/richard-power-sayeed', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2023-07-21T13:03:52Z | true | ENERGY |
sustainable-business/2016/mar/03/tasmanian-power-crisis-reveals-urgent-need-for-more-renewable-energy | Tasmanian power crisis reveals urgent need for more renewable energy | The timing couldn’t have been any worse. On 20 December 2015, the undersea cable connecting Tasmania with mainland Australia malfunctioned, leaving the island state’s energy infrastructure stranded without help – just when it was needed most. The bulk of Tasmania’s internal energy capacity comes from its extensive hydroelectric network but, with 2015 delivering the driest spring on record, water levels in the state’s dams were catastrophically low. More than ever, the Apple Isle was counting on electricity imported via the Basslink cable so that the hydroelectric dams could be given time to replenish. Obscured by the Bass Strait’s silty seabed, the fault in the cable is yet to be identified, let alone repaired, and things are getting desperate. Dam water levels are at 16.8% and falling, low enough that aquatic ecosystems are being put under strain. State-owned energy provider Hydro Tasmania had in December already reassembled and rebooted the old Tamar Valley gas-fired generators to ease the burden on the dams and is now spending $44m on importing temporary diesel generators with 200MW of capacity to help keep the lights on while the state waits for cables to be fixed or the rain to arrive. Perversely, it is weather patterns consistent with climate change forecasts forcing Tasmania to return to the fossil fuels that likely helped generate the crisis in the first place. That would be the case even once the Basslink cable is repaired, as it will be Victoria’s brown coal-fired power stations providing Tasmanians with energy. Thanks to its hydro network, the state is head and shoulders ahead of the rest of Australia in terms of renewable energy but that counts for little if the water runs out. According to the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre’s Climate Futures for Tasmania project, water catchment areas for the state’s dams are over the next century projected to experience increasingly severe rainfall shortages as coastal areas become subject to flooding due to warming oceans bringing El Niño weather events further south – just as happened in late January when the rain bucketed down in all the wrong places while the highlands were left dry. So dry in fact that bushfires, which continue to this day, swept through the area and forced sections of the state’s already strained energy infrastructure to be disconnected. As a long-term solution, the Tasmanian government is awaiting a feasibility study due midyear into the prospect of creating a second Basslink cable and also has a sub-committee examining long-term renewable energy options. Estimated to cost upwards of $1bn, having a second Basslink connected to the mainland would dramatically reduce the chance of being completely cut off again but the proposal has independent energy consultants concerned. According to Phil Harrington, the Tasmania-based senior principal of carbon and energy at Pitt & Sherry, it would be difficult to demonstrate the net market benefit for such a project, suggesting instead that the money could be spent on expanding utility-scale wind power within Tasmania. The state currently features roughly 310MW of wind capacity, well short of the average demand of around 1000MW. Harrington says adding more wind farms into the mix would perfectly complement the existing hydro capacity. “It’s a marriage made in heaven basically,” he says. “The dams act as a big battery so you don’t have to worry about the intermittency of wind and, in turn, there is the opportunity to capture wind farm power when the wind is blowing and reduce the draw on dams.” Harrington notes that ramping up wind capacity would not just be beneficial in preventing the current crisis from repeating but could also bring long-term economic benefits by allowing the state to consistently export rather than import energy. That’s without even factoring in the reduced carbon emissions that would result from in-house renewables as opposed to imported electricity from fossil fuel power plants. There are several planned wind farm projects around Tasmania, including West Coast Wind’s 33-turbine Granville Harbour proposal, but an unfavourable legislative and investment climate has seen progress stall in recent years. Harrington also advocates improving energy efficiency and lifting the solar feed-in tariff, which the Tasmanian government slashed by two-thirds in 2013. Marc White, the principal consultant at Tasmania-based Goanna Energy consulting, wants to see an independent inquiry that considers all options – including the possibility of doing nothing at all. “We don’t want any kneejerk reactions that result in overinvestment, given we’ve got spring inflows 50% below 30-year lows and Basslink failing, which have all conspired to hammer us,” he says. White says it needs to be determined whether low rainfall levels are the new normal and also whether current energy consumption will be maintained into the future. “We’ve got 60% of our energy consumed by five industries,” he says. The five major users of energy in Tasmania are Bell Bay Aluminium, Nyrstar, Norske Skog, Temco and Savage River mine. “Are those five industries expected to be here in 50 years’ time?” White agrees that hydro and wind complement each other up to a point but is uncertain whether incentivising households to take up rooftop solar would be the most cost-effective approach for the broader energy network. “There are consequences [to rooftop solar] in regard to stranded energy assets,” he says. “But I can see why people feel motivated to take control of their own destiny when they see the risks all around them.” There were some small drops of good news late last week as the highlands, where the dams are located, received some rain. Not enough to significantly improve water stocks but perhaps the start of a recovery that can’t come quickly enough. Plenty more is needed for a state that needs to save up not for a rainy day, but for the increasingly frequent dry ones to come. | ['sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'sustainable-business/series/innovations-in-renewables', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/tasmania', 'australia-news/business-australia', 'environment/energy', 'environment/hydropower', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'type/article', 'tone/sponsoredfeatures', 'tone/features', 'profile/max-opray'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2016-03-02T23:04:03Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2019/dec/27/inquiry-ordered-into-insufficient-insurance-for-flood-hit-homes | Inquiry ordered into insufficient insurance for flood-hit homes | Ministers have ordered yet another review into why some flood-hit homes cannot get insurance and promised another £1m to help those affected after around 100 homes were hit over Christmas. Theresa Villiers, the environment secretary, said she was commissioning an inquiry into why some flooded communities were unable to get sufficient insurance, despite an agreement between insurers and the government in 2015 that was supposed to mean everyone would have access to affordable cover. Boris Johnson has been criticised for failing to visit any of the areas affected in the latest round of flooding. The prime minister spent Christmas in Downing Street with his partner, Carrie Symonds, and the pair are expected to fly to the exclusive private Caribbean island of Mustique to see in the new year. Areas of southern England and north Lincolnshire are still at risk of groundwater flooding, with 88 warnings still in place and 100 properties having flooded since last Thursday. Before that, 4,200 homes in South Yorkshire and surrounding counties were flooded during the election campaign in November. Ministers said on Thursday that a charity that helps flood victims in South Yorkshire would get another £1m of funding, while other areas have been given £300,000. Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary, said the flooding had been “devastating” but he praised the role of charities and volunteers in helping families whose homes have been ruined. “But more support is still needed, which is why we’re matching money raised by the South Yorkshire Flood Disaster Relief Appeal Fund pound-for-pound, to help vulnerable people facing hardship to recover and get back on their feet,” he said. There was a major review of flood insurance in 2008 and the government spent years in talks with insurers before reaching the Flood Re agreement in 2015. But Villiers appeared to acknowledge there were problems with the system as she ordered another review. “We have listened to communities that have been affected by flooding and understand just how important it is to ensure that everyone is able to access sufficient insurance cover,” she said. “That’s why we will be reviewing insurance cover following the recent flooding to understand any lessons to be learned for the future.” Earlier this month, Dan Jarvis, the mayor of Sheffield city region, said there were problems with Flood Re, the government-backed scheme that promised to provide insurance for domestic properties deemed at significant risk of flooding. “I don’t think this scheme has worked,” he said, suggesting that central government had a “moral duty” to help those unable to get insurance. The government said 20 million households now have buildings insurance that covers flood risk and the introduction of Flood Re has seen four out of five households with a previous flood claim getting price reductions of more than 50% for their insurance. However, the recent flooding has seen reports of people not having sufficient insurance cover, which has triggered the latest review. As well as reviewing insurance, Johnson has also faced calls to overhaul the system for deciding where flood-defence funding is spent and launch an emergency response unit to prevent a repeat of the catastrophic damage caused by the November floods. The Environment Agency warned on Thursday that communities needed to remain vigilant. Clare Dinnis, a flood duty manager at the agency, said: “While the weather outlook is improving, groundwater levels continue to rise after recent rainfall meaning that there is a continued risk of groundwater flooding in parts of southern England over the next few days. “We continue to monitor rainfall and river levels closely and to operate our flood defences, reducing the risk of flooding to thousands of homes and businesses and helping to keep people safe. Our pumps also remain in place in Somerset where our focus is on reducing levels of water on Currymoor. “Sadly around 100 properties have flooded since Thursday, but over 18,500 properties have been protected by flood defences across England. “We advise people to sign up for flood warnings, stay away from swollen rivers and not drive through floodwater – just 30cm of flowing water is enough to float your car.” | ['environment/flooding', 'uk-news/yorkshire', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment', 'politics/boris-johnson', 'politics/theresa-villiers', 'politics/politics', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/rowena-mason', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2019-12-27T00:01:25Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
sustainable-business/2016/jan/24/sustainability-cop21-job-market-paris-climate-change-white-house-environment | Want to do good at work? Here's where to find a job in the sustainability market | The COP21 agreement was a historic milestone for climate change action, with a similarly historic price tag. According to the International Energy Agency, achieving its goals will cost an estimated $16.5tn by 2030. By comparison, when US President Barack Obama referenced “the single biggest investment in clean energy in our history” in his 2016 State of the Union address, he was referring to a comparatively tiny $90bn investment part of the 2009 Recovery and Reinvestment Act. But while America’s prior efforts can’t compare to the scale of COP21, they do hint at its impact on the sustainability job market. From international policy and financial services to research and development, the pledge to cut local carbon emissions will affect a vast range of job sectors – and create a host of opportunities. 1. Policy Jobs at this level vary widely. In addition to senators and directors, cabinet secretaries and Obama himself, the US COP21 delegation included a host of lawyers, economists, scientists and public relations experts. But the most represented job title was foreign affairs officer, under the US Department of State’s Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Science (OES). Aiming to promote US foreign policy goals in areas such as climate change, renewable energy and resource scarcity, OES officers work nationally and internationally to negotiate climate policy, form partnerships and develop programs. The job requires an academic background in public policy, economics, the environment or energy, as well as several years of work experience or a master’s degree. As countries work together on COP21’s initiatives, international policy negotiation will become even more crucial. And, as the agreement’s effects ripple around the world, negotiators, policy experts, economists, lawyers and others will be needed on the national level. For its part, Obama’s $90bn clean energy program quickly created a host of administrative, bureaucratic and negotiating jobs. Within a year of its announcement, the Department of Energy hired 200 people just to process the grants that it disbursed. On the opposite end, states, municipalities, research labs, companies and universities scurried to hire skilled grant writers, administrators and lawyers to help them take advantage of the influx of money. 2. Renewables and construction The sustainability job surge is enhanced by the fact that many vital sectors are already on the upswing. For example, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency, 724,000 Americans were working in renewables in 2014 – a 16% increase over the previous year. Green construction is similarly energized: it grew by an estimated 15% between 2014 and 2015, with comparable growth predicted until 2018. According to the White House, the clean energy program directly created 60,800 new jobs and 72,400 support jobs within its first quarter. By the second quarter of 2010, the program had “saved or created” between 2.5-3.6m jobs. Green administrative support jobs aren’t far behind. After the clean energy program passed, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that professional and business services accounted for 36.2% of green jobs, including work in finance, market strategies, operations and business administration. 3. Research Several of COP21’s initiatives are designed to spur new innovations. For example, the Low Carbon Technology Partnership Initiative (LCTPI) hopes to create plans for the large scale development and deployment of low-carbon technologies. It specifically targets agriculture, forestry, energy, construction, chemistry, carbon capture and transport. The partnership estimates that – if taken to scale – its programs could provide $5-$10tn in business opportunities between today and 2030, directly creating between 5-10m jobs per year, and indirectly providing another 15-35m jobs. These jobs would range widely. On the research and development side, LCTPI’s plan to develop new biofuels, insulation materials, low-carbon fuels and building materials would lead to work for researchers, administrators and grant writers at research labs and academic programs around the world. These R&D investments would create new innovations, investments, and startups – and, not incidentally, jobs for people with backgrounds in investor relations, finance, operations and market strategies. Another intiative, the Breakthrough Energy Coalition (BEC), also hopes to transform the green energy market by focusing on electricity generation and storage, transportation, industrial use, agriculture and energy system efficiency. Launched in November by 28 billionaires, including Bill Gates, it plans to circumvent the current research structure, which it says is too rigid. Instead, it will provide seed, angel and Series A investments, leading to a quick influx of investment into R&D followed by a quick move from lab to market. 4. Global development As part of COP21, developed countries will provide the developing world an estimated $100bn per year to help them convert to greener energy and adapt to climate change. AECOM, a US-based global engineering design firm, is already positioning itself for this by calling for CVs from climate change experts with experience in adaptation and mitigation projects. Given AECOM’s previous work with large scale infrastructure projects like the Southern Africa Trade Hub, the Delhi sewer system and the Adapt Asia-Pacific program, it’s likely that these specialists will work in climate adaptation, resiliency planning and greenhouse gas mitigation projects for local governments and other public agencies. It’s almost impossible to imagine the breadth of COP21’s potential economic and employment impact. But, while its scale is potentially world-transforming, its mechanism will likely be very familiar. Which means that bright days are likely on the way for people in policy and negotiation, startups and finance and R&D. | ['sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'sustainable-business/business-case', 'sustainable-business/strategy', 'environment/corporatesocialresponsibility', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/bruce-watson'] | environment/corporatesocialresponsibility | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2016-01-24T21:00:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
uk/2005/jan/01/politics.tsunami2004 | Blair: UN should lead relief effort | Tony Blair today defended his decision to remain on holiday in Egypt after last weekend's tsunami disaster, and said both Britain and the US believed that the UN should lead the relief effort. Speaking in a Channel 4 News interview, the prime minister also paid tribute to the generosity of the British public in the aftermath of what he had earlier described as the "global catastrophe" in south Asia. Asked whether he felt he should have cut short his holiday, Mr Blair said he had been in regular contact with officials in London since the tsunami struck on Sunday. "I've been in touch at first daily, practically hourly actually, with what has happened ... I think the main thing ... is first of all to make sure we have the right response mechanism in place to deal both with the problem of British nationals that have been caught up in the tragedy, but also to deal with the humanitarian assistance," he said. "I'm very satisfied with the work that's being done and ... have been actively involved in the meetings concerned with it." Congratulating his cabinet colleagues on "a magnificent job", the prime minister said Britain was "at the forefront of the humanitarian assistance" with its £50m donation to the relief effort. "I think it is really action in this respect, not words, that matter. There are things that call for immediate statements to be made. I think what is most important here is to make sure that we have the immediate action in place." However, he added that he would soon be concentrating on "the medium and long-term consequences" of the tsunami. 'UN should take the lead' Mr Blair dismissed the suggestion that the aid operation being coordinated by the US risked undermining the efforts of the UN. "Well, I think there's some misunderstanding about this," he said. "I don't think the Americans ever anticipated this as somehow displacing the UN. When I spoke to President Bush a short time ago, he made it very clear that he wanted the UN to be in the lead and that he sees the contact group and the work that the US is doing as very much supportive of that. "There have been issues about whether the G8 should take the lead on it, should it be the contact group, you've got all sorts of different forums and international bodies. My view, very clearly from the very beginning, has been that the UN should take the lead on this - that is the proper clearing house." Mr Blair was asked whether he was confident that the UN had the capacity to take on the lead role, and whether the G8 group of major industrialised countries might not provide a more effective lead. "The countries that are most affected by this aren't actually members of the G8 or members of the European Union, so I think there is a common sense in making sure that the UN is the body," he said. "Now there are issues to do with capability - that's what I've been discussing with Kofi Annan [the UN secretary general]. We stand ready to help, so do the other countries in boosting that capability where it's needed." Britons' 'extraordinary generosity' Mr Blair paid tribute to the British public, saying: "The British people have been extraordinary in their generosity. And I think those contributions alone from Britain look like they will total around £50m," he said. "Now, how do you spend that money? That is where you need a central clearing house, which I think should be the UN. That then is able to say we need this amount of money to go there, we've got this request from this government here, and this is the right way to deal with it." The prime minister said the response by western nations might have to be much bigger still. "It will be - but I think here again what is important is that we listen to countries that are affected ... I mean, these are big independent sovereign nations like Indonesia, Thailand, India and Sri Lanka. "Now they are going to want to make their own assessment, and then come to us. That's why I don't think we should rush to a particular stipulated way of dealing with this now, but actually get the feedback from them of what they think they're actually going to need and how we can help in that. "But the generosity of the British people has been absolutely extraordinary and remarkable, and a tribute to them." | ['uk/uk', 'politics/politics', 'world/tsunami2004', 'world/world', 'politics/foreignpolicy', 'type/article', 'profile/rostaylor'] | world/tsunami2004 | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2005-01-01T17:57:02Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2020/may/31/tunisias-sea-turtles-are-beating-the-odds-as-they-inch-towards-survival | Tunisia's sea turtles are beating the odds as they inch towards survival | Years of marine conservation efforts throughout the Mediterranean are beginning to pay dividends in Tunisia, with activists expecting a further increase in the number of sea turtles visiting the country’s beaches to build their nests this year. It’s an unlikely, albeit fragile, victory. Many of the factors that pushed sea turtles on to the world’s endangered list are still present and continue to threaten the survival of the species. However, activists monitoring sea-turtle nests on Kuriat Island, a vital nesting ground, have reported an increase in nests from 11, when they first started monitoring in 1997, to more than 40 annually. “Sea turtles are what we call a keystone species,” says Jamel Jrijer, a marine project manager at the WWF’s offices in Tunis. “That’s to say, they play a critical role in making the marine environment what it is.” Of the three species of sea turtle – green, leatherback and loggerhead – that are encountered in Tunisian waters, it is only the loggerhead that nests here. It lays its eggs at just a tiny number of sites, with Kuriat Island near Monastir, a popular destination for day trippers, being the most important. Heavy fishing – which often sees turtles trapped in lines and nets – plus the waste pumped from Gabes’s industrial heartland (estimated at about 13,000 tonnes of phosphate daily), had combined with plastics and other debris to push the Mediterranean’s loggerhead turtle population to the brink. Undercutting it all are the twin threats of global heating and a cultural tradition that prizes turtle’s meat as a source of traditional medicine over their contribution to the health of the sea. However NGOs, along with the Tunisian government, have pushed back, protecting the nesting grounds on Kuriat since 1997 and establishing the Sea Turtle Rescue Centre at the National Institute of Marine Sciences and Technologies in Monastir in 2004. Marine biologist Imed Jribi, speaking from his home in the coastal town of Chebba, is delighted to discuss his work on Kuriat. “When I first started work here in 1997 there were only 11 nests,” he says. “Now we are seeing between 40 and 45 nests every year.” However, tourism still presents major problems. “We have too many people visiting Kuriat,” Jribi says. “We need smaller groups, which will allow us to manage them and protect the turtles’ nesting areas,” he says. Other problems can arise, he explains, for example with the hatchlings at Chebba, whose instinct to navigate to the sea by the moon is subverted by the cafes and roadside lights, which draw the baby turtles towards the lethal streets. Loggerhead turtles return to Tunisia’s beaches sporadically, sometimes leaving two to three years between visits. Once on the beach, the female turtle will build three or four nests, into each of which – if left undisturbed – she will lay 80 to 120 eggs. However, despite their numbers, the odds of the young turtle’s survival are already slim. Small, vulnerable and with shells barely formed, only a tiny fraction of those born on the sands of Tunisia will ever reach sexual maturity. If the resurgence in Tunisia’s nesting grounds is a success story, it is a qualified one. Turtles trapped in fishing nets and lines are still clandestinely sold for meat at some fish markets along Tunisia’s coast. While most agree that this illegal practice is diminishing, it is impossible to say by how much. However, the increasing numbers of turtles being taken to the Sea Turtle Rescue Centre by fishermen and the general public gives some cause for hope. “Most of the turtles we see have been injured through contact with fishing gear,” chief biologist Olfa Chaieb says. “The trawlers [which rake the sea floor] do particular damage, destroying the posidonia seagrass, which is an important source of food for sea turtles, as well as providing a habitat for other forms of marine life. Because of the turtle’s dependence on air, they can drown once they become entangled in nets underwater.” Further cause for concern is discarded plastic; sea turtles often mistake floating plastic bags for jellyfish, a staple of the their diet. “About 50% of the turtles we see have plastic within their system. That’s not including the microplastics that we can’t detect,” says Chaieb. Given the obstacles, including rising sea temperatures affecting turtles’ gender (more females are born the warmer it is), the increase in turtles is all the more remarkable. As Tunisia gradually emerges from lockdown, local tourists are returning to empty beaches, just as the turtles are revisiting their birthplaces. Both have faced hard times. Both are looking forward to a more hopeful future. | ['environment/series/seascape-the-state-of-our-oceans', 'environment/marine-life', 'world/tunisia', 'environment/endangeredspecies', 'environment/environment', 'environment/wildlife', 'world/middleeast', 'world/africa', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/simon-cordall', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/worldnews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/series/seascape-the-state-of-our-oceans | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-05-31T07:12:05Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
lifeandstyle/2014/may/01/sustainable-blog-of-the-week-my-make-do-and-mend-year | Sustainable blog of the week: My Make Do and Mend Year | What inspired you to start writing My Make Do and Mend Year? I remember reading an article in a magazine about Suzy Prince, who went on a second-hand safari in May 2012, and I thought about doing a similar thing. It was a bit of a lightbulb moment and I wondered if we could do it as a family. My eldest, William, was three years old at the time and as toddlers do, he was always nagging us for new things so I wanted to see if we could counter that a little bit. I started the challenge on September 1st 2012. I did the the complete year, blogging every day and following the rules very strictly. We said we could buy food, toiletries and underwear new, as well as the children's shoes as I wanted to make sure they fit properly, but everything else had to be second-hand. The beauty of it is that you can set your own rules. We've relaxed the rules now and I don't blog as frequently. The aims of the challenge developed as it went on and it became much more about promoting a sustainable way of life, although it only started off as a interesting challenge. I think maybe I was subconsciously trying to find something to blog about. I'm really pleased with the impression the blog has had. I think it's something that captures people's attention and I've found it quite empowering. Sometimes it feels like it's you on your own but it's really empowering realising that other people feel the same and are thinking about their consumption. What challenges did you face in the first year? Christmas was quite hard work. We made 90 to 95% of the presents. It's quite hard work sitting down and trying to think of something that people will like. If you're going to but the time and effort into making something, you want to make sure they appreciate it. Men are quite hard to make things for. And then I decided that we shouldn't buy a Christmas tree. We made one out of egg boxes and other things, so that was adding another ridiculous thing into the mix. If we wanted something specific – like age-four swimming trunks or size-11 wellies – that was quite a challenge. There's always eBay but I tried to use that as a last resort. Where did you go if you needed to buy something? I spent a lot of time wandering around charity shops, and there are also repair cafes and clothes swaps. I discovered flea markets; there's a great one just outside Bath. And there were auction houses that I probably wouldn't have had the courage to go into before the challenge. We used Freecyle and Freegle but once people knew what were doing, they were very good at offering clothes and other things they could hand down. We never set out doing is as a money saving exercise, but we definitely spent less. Over Christmas, we spent hardly anything so we probably saved between £300 and £400. And then I worked out that we were saving about £150 a month, so around £2,000 over the course of the year. What are some things you have learned along the way? It was much easier that I thought it would be. I just stopped going shopping. If you don't go into shops, the temptation isn't there. If you wander around charity shops once you start thinking more about buying second-hand. It does require more time and patience but it's not particularly difficult. I genuinely think its something everyone can do – it's achievable by everybody. I learned lots of practical things, like how to patch jeans but most importantly, it was the idea of individual responsibility. If there are things you don't agree with, you do have the power to change it. We're more relaxed about the challenge now but I'm definitely more aware of what we buy. I feel guilty if I buy something new now, especially as I know you can get most things second-hand. My husband is less strict than I am but it has become a way of life and and I'm tying to persevere with it. What helps you to keep it up, keep living green and keep writing the blog? Just knowing that we're becoming more aware of living sustainably and that actually out planet has finite resources and we can't keep going they way we are. It sometimes feels a bit futile but I can only do what I can do and if it inspires people to spend a bit less than that's good. Jen blogs here and tweets here. For May, the Live Better Challenge is Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. You can read more about the next challenge and pledge to cut your household waste here. The Live Better Challenge is funded by Unilever; its focus is sustainable living. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled advertisement feature. Find out more here. | ['lifeandstyle/live-better', 'lifeandstyle/series/sustainability-blog-of-the-week', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/environment', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/waste', 'lifeandstyle/craft', 'type/article', 'profile/katherine-purvis'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2014-05-01T15:18:56Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
world/2018/aug/20/kerala-floods-fears-thousands-still-trapped-as-waters-recede | Kerala flood waters recede as thousands remain trapped | Flood waters have receded in the southern Indian state of Kerala, allowing authorities to retrieve the bodies of victims and enabling residents to start assessing the damage to their homes after the worst monsoon rains in a century. Rains that have battered theregion for the past 12 days were relenting and authorities said 90% of rescue operations were now complete, though thousands of people were still feared to be trapped in the worst-hit areas. Maintaining sanitation and preventing disease in relief camps housing more than 800,000 people was now the priority, the Kerala health minister, KK Shailaja, said. Authorities were also seeking to restore regular supplies of clean drinking water and electricity to the state’s 33 million residents. Officials said 22,000 people were rescued on Sunday and at least 30 bodies were found, taking the death toll above 200 in the past fortnight, when rainfall was up to two and a half times heavier than usual. More than 400 people have died since the monsoon started in May. Thousands of army, navy and air force personnel have been deployed to help those stranded in remote and hilly areas. Dozens of helicopters have been dropping tonnes of food, medicine and water over areas cut off by damaged roads and bridges. At least 1,000 were feared stranded in five villages around Chengannur, one of the districts worst hit by the deluge. In another badly hit area, Thrissur, rescuers searched inundated houses where they found the bodies of those trapped by the fast-rising flood waters. “They didn’t think that it would rise this high – 10 to 15 feet (3m to 4.5m) at some places – when the initial warnings were issued,” said Ashraf Ali KM, who is leading the search in the small Thrissur town of Mala. An Indian navy team built a temporary rope bridge across a stream in Thrissur on Sunday to rescue 100 people who had been stranded for days. Waters had receded in parts of Pandalam, a central Kerala town, and some residents were returning home. Abdul Samad, a 56-year-old fish seller, scooped water and rubbish from his devastated concrete home. “When the flood waters came, we were not anticipating a calamity of this kind,” he told Reuters. “But minute by minute the water level began to rise.” The family had no time to save anything they owned, and fled as water poured over the wall and into their home. Fishermen have sailed inland from Kerala’s coast to join the search, volunteers have set up soup kitchens and an international appeal had been made for financial help. The state government said each boat would get 3,000 rupees (£34) for each day of their work and that authorities would pay for any damage to the vessels. Officials have estimated more than 83,000km of roads will need to be repaired and that the overall recovery will cost at least £2.4bn. Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report | ['world/india', 'environment/flooding', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/south-and-central-asia', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/michael-safi', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2018-08-20T13:24:16Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2021/jan/25/green-shoots-spanish-firm-tackles-plastic-waste-from-shotgun-cartridges | Green shoots: Spanish firm tackles plastic waste from shotgun cartridges | One day a little over 12 years ago a Spanish entrepreneur, Enrique López-Pozas, was playing Airsoft when he was struck not by an opponent’s shot but by an equally uncomfortable realisation. What, he wondered, would become of all the little plastic pellets being fired? And, come to that, what about all the shotgun cartridges discarded by hunters and sports shooters around the world? Born into a military family, López-Pozas grew up around weapons. And in his former career as the head of a hotel chain he saw the scale of plastic use and the pollution it causes. “I realised we were leaving plastic in the environment that would remain there for ever,” he says. “And I realised we needed something biodegradable or we’d be storing up problems for the future. So I set about studying things.” After more than decade of research and development, López-Pozas’s company, BioAmmo, created 100% plastic-free, biodegradable and bio-compostable shotgun cartridges that are now sold in more than 20 countries. The traditional plastic casing and plastic wadding – the layer that separates the powder from the shot – have been replaced with a vegetable biopolymer, and the metal base is a non-toxic alloy of copper and zinc designed to oxidise and disappear. Customers can choose lead or steel shot. “Our cartridges’ uniqueness is that they are completely plastic-free,” says Peter Chatland, BioAmmo’s head of international markets. “This obviously has important consequences for environmental sustainability across all shooting disciplines and sectors. For example: no plastic to contaminate the planet for hundreds of years, no microplastics to enter the food chain and no plastic to add to landfill.” Chatland says relatively few of the hundreds of millions of single-use plastic cartridge cases shot each year are recycled, and fibre wads can end up polluting the countryside as they often contain bitumen and plastic. He says BioAmmo’s cartridges, which hold a patent in 55 countries, can be consumed by micro-organisms in the soil within a year or two, thrown on a compost heap or added to organic domestic rubbish. The firm employs almost 30 people at its factory 12 miles from the city of Segovia, and it is hoping to hire more staff when the pandemic slows. “After 12 years of research and finally taking the decision to bring the products to the market, we ended up doing so in a year that was the worst for everyone,” says López-Pozas. “But it has given us time to be present in more than 20 countries, and we’ve made the most of it. We hope that orders will be very high [this year] when things return to normal. We export around 95% of our products because hunting and shooting has come to standstill in Spain and our sales here are minimal.” BioAmmo’s biggest market is the US, and its biggest European market is the UK followed by Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands. Output last year was restricted to about 5m cartridges, but the firm is hoping to manufacture 10 times that amount this year, including non-toxic and non-lead shot loads. As far as López-Pozas is concerned, the days of the plastic cartridge are numbered. “Plastic is a great material in some ways – it was designed to weigh little and last a long time – but humanity didn’t think about the fact that it’ll be around for ever,” he says. “That’s the problem, and one that we need to deal with.” | ['environment/plastic', 'environment/pollution', 'world/spain', 'environment/environment', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tone/features', 'profile/samjones', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-01-25T05:00:05Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2020/dec/22/microplastics-revealed-in-placentas-unborn-babies | Microplastics revealed in the placentas of unborn babies | Microplastic particles have been revealed in the placentas of unborn babies for the first time, which the researchers said was “a matter of great concern”. The health impact of microplastics in the body is as yet unknown. But the scientists said they could carry chemicals that could cause long-term damage or upset the foetus’s developing immune system. The particles are likely to have been consumed or breathed in by the mothers. The particles were found in the placentas from four healthy women who had normal pregnancies and births. Microplastics were detected on both the foetal and maternal sides of the placenta and in the membrane within which the foetus develops. A dozen plastic particles were found. Only about 4% of each placenta was analysed, however, suggesting the total number of microplastics was much higher. All the particles analysed were plastics that had been dyed blue, red, orange or pink and may have originally come from packaging, paints or cosmetics and personal care products. The microplastics were mostly 10 microns in size (0.01mm), meaning they are small enough to be carried in the bloodstream. The particles may have entered the babies’ bodies, but the researchers were unable to assess this. “It is like having a cyborg baby: no longer composed only of human cells, but a mixture of biological and inorganic entities,” said Antonio Ragusa, director of obstetrics and gynaecology at the San Giovanni Calibita Fatebenefratelli hospital in Rome, and who led the study. “The mothers were shocked.” In the study, published in the journal Environment International, the researchers concluded: “Due to the crucial role of placenta in supporting the foetus’s development and in acting as an interface with the external environment, the presence of potentially harmful plastic particles is a matter of great concern. Further studies need to be performed to assess if the presence of microplastics may trigger immune responses or may lead to the release of toxic contaminants, resulting in harm.” The potential effects of microplastics on foetuses include reduced foetal growth, they said. The particles were not found in placentas from two other women in the study, which may be the result of different physiology, diet or lifestyle, the scientists said. Microplastics pollution has reached every part of the planet, from the summit of Mount Everest to the deepest oceans. People are already known to consume the tiny particles via food and water, and to breathe them in. Their effect in the body is unknown but scientists say there is an urgent need to assess the issue, particularly for infants. In October, scientists revealed that babies fed formula milk in plastic bottles are swallowing millions of particles a day. In 2019, researchers reported the discovery of air pollution particles on the foetal side of placentas, indicating that unborn babies are also exposed to the dirty air produced by motor traffic and fossil fuel burning. The Italian researchers used a plastic-free protocol to deliver the babies in order to prevent any contamination of the placentas. Obstetricians and midwives used cotton gloves to assist the women in labour and only cotton towels were used in the delivery room. Andrew Shennan, professor of obstetrics at King’s College London, told the Daily Mail it was reassuring that the babies in the study had normal births but “it is obviously preferable not to have foreign bodies while the baby is developing”. Elizabeth Salter Green, at the chemicals charity Chem Trust, said: “Babies are being born pre-polluted. The study was very small but nevertheless flags a very worrying concern.” A separate recent study showed that nanoparticles of plastic inhaled by pregnant laboratory rats were detected in the liver, lungs, heart, kidney, and brain of their foetuses. | ['environment/plastic', 'environment/pollution', 'lifeandstyle/pregnancy', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'world/world', 'world/italy', 'world/europe-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damiancarrington', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2020-12-22T10:55:54Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2014/oct/08/us-east-coast-cities-face-frequent-flooding-due-to-climate-change | US east coast cities face frequent flooding due to climate change | Dozens of America’s east coast cities face routine tidal flooding under climate change, researchers said on Wednesday. Miami – where the habitues of South Beach are used to sloshing through water at high tide – will deploy new pumps this week to hold back the waters of the King Tides, the highest annual high tides, which are projected to crest at 3.5 feet (1.07m). Other cities are going to have to undertake similar measures if they want to avoid soggy streets in the future, the researchers said. The report, Encroaching Tides: How Sea Level Rise and Tidal Flooding Threaten U.S. East and Gulf Coast Communities over the Next 30 Years, from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), found most of the towns on America’s east coast will see triple the number of flooding events by 2030. By 2045, those towns will see 10 times as many tidal floods – and those floods will seep further inland, and last longer, the researchers said. Many coastal towns already see dozens of small tidal floods every year, typically lasting only a few hours. But the frequency of such events is marching upwards because of sea level rise – which at some points along the east coast is more than twice the global average. Some east coast towns have recorded four times as many flood days as in 1970, the report found. Washington DC, which already experiences flooding from the Potomac river during hurricanes, will see chronic flooding – with 388 occurrences a year by 2045, according to the report. Annapolis, Maryland, Lewisetta, Virginia, and Wilmington, North Carolina, will see more than 300 tidal floods a year. Miami – which now experiences about six tidal floods a year – will also get wetter. “Further down the coast, Miami Beach, in 30 years, would experience more than 200 tidal floods a year,” said Erika Spanger-Siegfried, a UCS analyst and co-author of the report. “ Some could affect much of the art-deco historic district of South Beach ... Without serious intervention, frequent flooding will start to disrupt daily life and change the way an area functions.” The researchers used National Weather Service flood advisories and records from 52 tide gauges in coastal towns from Portland, Maine to Freeport, Texas to make their projections. In nearly all of the towns, tidal floods will be a regular occurrence, they found. By 2030, most of the towns could expect to see flooding in some areas 24 times a year. Some of those towns would see 48 floods a year. The frequency of those floods will worsen over time, the researchers said. By 2045, half of the towns can expect to see more than 100 tidal floods a year. Nine of those towns would see tidal floods 240 times a year by 2045. Those cities can also expect to spend more time under-water. By 2045, flood-prone areas of Wilmington, North Carolina will spend more than 345 hours a year underwater. Baltimore’s inner harbour is projected to be under water for more than 875 hours a year by 2045. And the floods are also expected to worsen – with deeper waters penetrating further inland, and threatening more property, the researchers found. | ['environment/coastlines', 'environment/sea-level', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/flooding', 'world/natural-disasters', 'environment/oceans', 'world/world', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/suzannegoldenberg'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2014-10-08T04:00:19Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
news/2011/oct/28/weatherwatch-maurice-baring-manchuria-winter-russo-japanese-war | Weatherwatch: Winter in Manchuria | Maurice Baring, the war correspondent, arrived at Mukden on 31 October, 1904 and settled in with the Russian gunners as they fought the Japanese in Manchuria. "In the meantime, autumn had come and gone. There had been practically no autumn: a long summer and an Indian summer of warm hazy days, like the end of August and the beginning of September in England, without any rich, solemn effects of red foliage and falling leaves, touched with 'universal tinge of sober gold.' One day the trees were still green, the next the verdure had vanished. The sunshine had been hot, and then suddenly the puddles in the yard froze; the sky became grey, the snow fell, and the wind cut like a knife. To my mind, Manchuria is infinitely more beautiful in its leafless state than in summer. When the kowliang is cut the hidden undulations and delicate lines are revealed," he reports in What I Saw in Russia (1913). Kaoliang is the cereal crop sorghum. "It is a country of exquisite outlines. When one sees the bare trees, with their frail network of branches standing out in dark and intricate patterns against the rosy haze of the wintry sunset, suffused or softened with innumerable particles of brown dust, one realises whence Chinese art drew its inspiration. After a few days the snow disappeared, and although the nights remained bitterly cold, the days were bright and beautiful, crisp and dazzlingly clear, just as they are in Cairo during the winter." | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'tone/features', 'environment/winter', 'type/article', 'profile/timradford', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-10-28T22:05:07Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
uk-news/2019/sep/13/heathrow-protests-two-held-near-airport-as-activists-threaten-drone-disruption | Twelve protesters arrested over Heathrow drone threat | Twelve people have been arrested over a drone protest at Heathrow that activists say will continue over the weekend. Protesters from a group called Heathrow Pause failed to cause disruption at the airport, but say the action highlights the devastating role air travel plays in the escalating climate emergency. The first volunteer attempted to fly a drone within the airport’s three-mile (5km) exclusion zone at 3am on Friday in a bid to disrupt flights, but protesters said the authorities used jamming technology to prevent it taking off. A spokesperson for the airport said: “Heathrow’s runways and taxiways remain open and fully operational despite attempts to disrupt the airport through the illegal use of drones in a protest nearby. “We will continue to work with the authorities to carry out dynamic risk assessment programmes and keep our passengers flying safely on their journeys today.” The Metropolitan police confirmed that 12 people had been arrested, seven pre-emptively on Thursday and another five on Friday once the demonstration had started. A statement added that all the arrests were on suspicion of conspiracy to commit a public nuisance and that there had been no breach of airport security. Despite its failure to disrupt flights, a spokesperson for Heathrow Pause said the action had triggered “a sensible, honest conversation throughout society on the dangerous folly of Heathrow expansion, with the ultimate objective of cancelling the third runway”. Activists said at least one drone had been flown successfully, and that they planned to continue attempting to fly drones at head height within the airport exclusion zone over the weekend. One of those arrested on Friday morning, James Brown, said he had been left with no other choice but to protest. Speaking before his arrest, he said: “Even though parliament has formally recognised the climate emergency we are facing, our own government is still pursuing plans to build a third runway at Heathrow,” he said. “This hypocrisy, and the general negligence of the aviation industry to face up to its contribution to the climate emergency, has forced me into considering arrest and, if necessary, imprisonment, to wake people up to the dire situation we are in.” Police made seven pre-emptive arrests of activists including Roger Hallam, a co-founder of Extinction Rebellion. The protests mark the start of what is likely to be an upturn in environmental activism over the coming weeks. Extinction Rebellion protesters held a die-in at the start of London fashion week on Friday, and millions of people around the world are expected to take part in the climate school strikes next Friday. Extinction Rebellion are also planning weeks of mass civil disobedience in London in October. It will also be a crucial time for world leaders with key environmental gatherings planned in New York and Chile before the end of the year. At Heathrow, protesters had planned to fly drones away from flight paths at no higher than about 1.8 metres (6ft). They notified the airport and the authorities of their plans weeks ago and said that once a drone flight was over its pilot would phone the police and wait to be arrested. They had believed this would force the authorities to shut down Heathrow’s operations, but a spokesperson for the airport said this assumption was wrong because an ongoing “dynamic risk assessment” would look at each incident on a case-by-case basis. Before he was arrested, Hallam said the proposed third runway expansion would “provide another few years of business as usual, until everything collapses”. “We are in a ‘time of consequences’, as Churchill called it in response to the Nazi threat in 1936. The consequence of not rebelling is indescribable suffering and death for billions of people,” he said. “The consequence of rebellion is a chance to avoid the worst. Rebellion means mass economic disruption and deep personal sacrifice. I am a rebel.” | ['uk-news/heathrow-airport', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'uk/transport', 'uk/uk', 'world/protest', 'environment/heathrow-third-runway', 'world/air-transport', 'uk/london', 'environment/travel-and-transport', 'world/world', 'business/theairlineindustry', 'environment/activism', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/matthewtaylor', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2019-09-13T16:19:02Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
science/2023/jul/26/spot-the-difference-why-drongos-are-likely-to-clock-african-cuckoo-eggs-94-of-the-time | Spot the difference: why drongos are likely to clock African cuckoo eggs 94% of the time | Cuckoos might be the ultimate avian con artists, laying lookalike eggs in the nests of other birds to avoid raising their own young, but researchers say at least one potential victim is remarkably good at rumbling the fraud. Scientists studying the African cuckoo have revealed that while the birds are able to produce almost identical-looking eggs to those of the fork-tailed drongo, the latter is likely to reject an impostor egg about 94% of the time. The team behind the work say that is because drongo eggs can vary greatly in appearance, ranging from unmarked to speckled, blotched, or reddish eggs. While cuckoos can produce an almost identical-looking collection, for both species individual females can only produce eggs with one type of appearance. Crucially, female cuckoos do not target drongo nests containing similar-looking eggs to their own. As a result, a cuckoo might drop a perfectly drongo-looking blotched egg into a clutch of speckled drongo eggs. “It really highlights how important it is to look at individual, case-by-case differences, and not only to compare population averages,” said Jess Lund, the first author of the research, who is based at the University of Cambridge. Writing in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Lund and colleagues report how over four years they studied the nests of drongos in southern Zambia, finding African cuckoo eggs in at least 34 of the 196 nests examined. When the team compared the eggs produced by the two species they found that on average they were nearly identical in terms of size, shape, colour and patterns. The team then conducted experiments in which eggs from one female drongo were placed in the nest of another. The researchers analysed how similar in appearance the two eggs were, and monitored how often the impostor egg was removed from the nest. The results were used to create a model of egg rejection by drongos. They then applied this model to 1,000 computer simulations of pairs of drongo and cuckoo eggs, based on the assumption – rooted in field observations – that which cuckoo eggs end up in which drongo nest is random. The results suggested that despite cuckoos as a species being able to produce eggs that were nearly identical to those of drongos, drongos were predicted to reject an impostor egg 94% of the time. Lund said the findings underscored the importance of variability. “Even though there is near-perfect mimicry, because there is so much variability in [egg appearance], drongos seem to have the upper hand, at least at our study site,” she said. | ['science/science', 'environment/birds', 'environment/wildlife', 'world/zambia', 'world/africa', 'world/world', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/nicola-davis', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-07-25T23:01:03Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2013/nov/29/china-largest-desert-freshwater-lake-shrinking-hongjiannao | China's largest desert freshwater lake shrinking faster than ever | The rate at which China's largest desert freshwater lake is shrinking has accelerated dramatically in the past four years, figures show. Hongjiannao Lake, several hundred kilometres to the west of Beijing, has been disappearing since the 1970s, due to a combination of coal mining and climate change. But the speed at which it is losing area has increased rapidly since 2009, when it measured 46 square kilometres (sq km), down from 67 sq km in 1969. Data released by local meteorological agencies on Thursday and reported by Chinese state media, shows the lake has now shrunk by almost one-third since 2009, to 31.16 sq km. He Fenqi, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has said previously that even at the end of the 1990s, "one couldn't see the other bank of the Hongjiannao even through a telescope. Today, it's visible with the naked eye." Ordos, a city north of the lake, has been at the centre of a mining boom for coal and other minerals in recent years. Researchers for the US-based Center for Climate and Security, who have visited the region, have reported: "insatiable demand for the end product means that those who control the land, the communist party and the government (at times a blurry distinction) focus on income while the environment and water are bent to accommodate mining demand." The center also notes that climate records for the area show rainfall decreasing and temperatures increasing, a prospect that will exacerbate water problems. "In some instances the reduction in runoff to lakes and high withdrawal rates mean lakes may disappear," they write. The lake is in a transition area between the desert and a region of windblown dust. | ['environment/water', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/mining', 'environment/deserts', 'environment/environment', 'world/china', 'world/asia-pacific', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/adam-vaughan', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | environment/mining | ENERGY | 2013-11-29T16:06:50Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2011/apr/19/ukraine-funding-chernobyl-arch | Ukraine raises $785m to seal Chernobyl under new 'shell' | The ruined nuclear reactor at Chernobyl is to be sealed within a 20,000-tonne steel shield designed to prevent any further radiation from escaping for 100 years. It would be large enough to enclose St Paul's Cathedral in London, or the Statue of Liberty. Governments from around the world have pledged $785m (£480m) at a conference in Kiev, a week before the 25th anniversary of the nuclear accident in Ukraine – on 26 April 1986 the reactor suffered explosions and caught fire. This brings the total raised for the Chernobyl safety works to $1.8bn. Twenty-eight governments have so far offered money. The European commission was the biggest contributor with $143m at the Kiev Nuclear Safety Summit. The US pledged $123m and Britain, which still has more than 300 hill farms in Wales under radiation restrictions following the fallout from Chernobyl, will contribute $50m. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development announced an extra $172m. Japan, Italy and Canada are considering whether to contribute. The planned arch-shaped structure will be 190 metres (623ft) wide and more than 100 metres tall, taking five years to build. It will replace the concrete sarcophagus erected around the reactor in the months following the accident. This shield now has cracks, raising fears that 95% of the original nuclear material remaining inside the reactor could escape. Radiation levels directly over the sarcophagus are too high for the arch to be built over it, so the structure will be constructed in two pieces, then moved over the site on rails. It is designed so that the authorities could start dismantling the reactor from inside in 100 years. The shield is intended to stay in place until either the radiation threat decreases or the Ukrainian government finds a permanent storage facility for the 200 tonnes of uranium and 1 tonne of plutonium within the ruins. World governments, which had already raised more than $1.6bn in international funding for the shelter, as well as for a permanent nuclear fuel store for other reactors on the Chernobyl site, said that the current crisis at the Fukushima plant in Japan had persuaded them to respond to the appeal by Ukraine, which estimates that Chernobyl has cost the nation more than $12bn. "Recent events in Fukushima have reminded us of the danger this issue may represent," said the European commission president, José Manuel Barroso. The French prime minister, François Fillon, said Fukushima evoked memories of Chernobyl: "More than ever, our responsibility is to join together our efforts to limit the consequences of such disasters and to prepare for the future." Mikhail Gorbachev, president of the Soviet Union at the time of the Chernobyl disaster and now head of the environment group Green Cross International, used the occasion of the 25th anniversary to say nuclear power was not the answer to the world's energy problems or to climate change. In a statement he said: "Nuclear power has been presented as a financially sound, economically efficient, clean and safe solution that will bring about energy security and drive economic growth. Recently, the so-called 'nuclear renaissance' has hitched a free ride on the back of the need to find low-carbon solutions to the climate crisis. "The bottom line on the economics of nuclear power is that it simply does not add up. That is why private investment is wisely focusing on better alternatives. "It is necessary to realise that nuclear power is not a panacea, as some observers allege, for energy sufficiency or climate change. Its cost effectiveness is also exaggerated, as its real cost does not account for hidden expenses. "In the United States, for example, direct subsidies to nuclear energy amounted to $115bn between 1947 and 1999, with an additional $145bn in indirect subsidies. In contrast, subsidies to wind and solar energy, combined over this same period, totalled only $5.5bn." But Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said: "Today, nuclear power is the only real alternative to fossil fuel as a source of a reliable supply." He acknowledged that confidence in atomic energy had taken a severe blow after the tsunami-triggered disaster at Fukushima. "Fukushima represents a potentially significant setback for nuclear power," he told participants at the forum, although he stressed that confidence would be "re-established in due course", then added: "Chernobyl and Fukushima should be shown to be aberrations." | ['environment/chernobyl-nuclear-disaster', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/environment', 'world/ukraine', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/johnvidal', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2011-04-19T13:02:07Z | true | ENERGY |
us-news/article/2024/may/02/sea-lions-san-francisco-pier-39 | Pier pressure: more than 1,000 sea lions assemble at San Francisco dockside | More than 1,000 sea lions have gathered at San Francisco’s Pier 39 this spring, the largest herd in at least 15 years. Mounds of floppy, delightfully ungraceful marine mammals have plopped themselves on to rafts along the city’s pier, displaying themselves to the thousands of tourists who pass by the area each day. According to the staff at the pier, the gathering has been attracted to a feast of anchovies in the bay. “With a steady food supply from a large school of anchovy, the sea lions are extra active!” the pier tweeted from its official account this week. The charming pinnipeds have become a major attraction in the city since they first arrived at the pier about 35 years ago. The first – a big guy that staff had nicknamed Flea Collar because he had a piece of fishing net stuck around his neck – arrived in 1989. And then several hundred of his friends followed. Some years, as many as 1,700 sea lions at a time have stopped over at the pier. At other times, there have been just a few hundred. For those who are unable to visit in person, the pier provides a daily live stream of seal activity. Many of the males at Pier 39 may be stopping there on their way south, to the Channel Islands off the coast of southern California, where they will meet up with females to mate, according to Dan Costa, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz who specialises in marine mammals. “These are wandering, nomadic critters who tend to work their way north and work their way south throughout the year,” Costa said. But researchers still don’t fully understand the movement and migration patterns of sea lions along the western coast. Costa’s lab has recently begun tracking female and juvenile sea lions along the California coast, both to better understand the animals’ migration patterns and to see how their movement and foraging might vary according to ocean conditions. Over time, researchers could also glean insights about how the climate crisis and warming ocean temperatures will affect the species. In recent years, including during a marine heatwave off the US west coast that caused the formation of a warm “blob”, the fish that sea lions prey on became concentrated in pockets, rather than across a broader range, Costa said. That may be one of the reasons why there are more sea lions at spots like Pier 39 in some years than in others. “But I bet a number of these guys are frequent visitors to Pier 39. Probably it’s one of their favourite places, and they keep coming back for the good food,” said Costa, not unlike visitors who stop by for a view of the bay and clam chowder in a bread bowl. “And these sea lions are probably thinking, ‘Oh, look at all those tourists!’” he said. | ['us-news/san-francisco', 'us-news/us-news', 'us-news/california', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'us-news/west-coast', 'profile/maanvi-singh', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-05-02T20:57:44Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2013/jun/04/g8-summit-civil-disobedience-canary-wharf | G8 summit: campaigners plan 'creative civil disobedience' in Canary Wharf | Anti-cuts campaigners are planning to team up with environmentalists to stage a high-profile series of protests in the heart of London's business district during this month's G8 summit. The groups are coming together under the banner "They Owe Us" and have promised to stage "creative civil disobedience" in Canary Wharf. The summit is taking place in Northern Ireland and will see the world's most powerful political leaders come together at Lough Erne resort near Enniskillen. Protesters say several different groups have come together for the first time for a day of protests and civil disobedience to draw attention to the link between the economic crisis and climate change. Frida Grey, from They Owe Us, said people in the UK had faced years of recession and a "desecrated welfare system, rising fuel poverty and inequality". She added: "The G8 owe us: for the public money that has been used to bail out the banks; for the jobs we have lost, the homes we are losing and the pensions they have taken from us. They owe us our healthy planet, the one they destroy through financing fossil fuels. And they owe us the power they have taken, distorting and destroying democracy. They like to think we're in debt to them, but we know better – they owe us." The event, on 14 June, will be one of a range of anti-G8 activities taking place all over the UK and Ireland from between 9 and 18 June. Activists claim the protest will be "unparalleled in the history of Canary Wharf – a purpose-built, highly secure environment for financial institutions that rarely sees large-scale protests". Rachel Williams of UK Uncut, one of the groups involved in the protest, said: "Canary Wharf itself is proof that we're not all in it together. Located in Tower Hamlets, where four in 10 children grow up in poverty, the local council are forcing through the government's brutal spending cuts that will drive more families deeper into poverty. But it wasn't the people of Tower Hamlets that caused this crisis, it was the greed and recklessness of the financial sector of Canary Wharf." Milena Olwan, a social worker based in London who plans to attend the protest, said: "The G8 are anti-democratic, unaccountable, and they represent an extinct world order. They embody the old ways of protectionism, imperialism and greed. On 14 June, we will show them that ordinary people coming together taking action can forge alternatives that do not destroy lives but create a life beyond capitalism." | ['world/g8', 'world/world', 'world/protest', 'environment/activism', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/matthewtaylor'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2013-06-04T12:59:55Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
us-news/2023/sep/09/bear-camera-hiker-rescued-alaska-national-park | ‘Help me’: fans watching bear camera help save Alaska hiker’s life | They logged on hoping to see brown bears gorging on salmon, fattening themselves up for their winter hibernation. Instead, what the wildlife enthusiasts viewing one of Alaska’s most remote national park webcams saw was a disheveled and weather-beaten hiker shuffling into view, mouthing the words “help me” into the lens. The episode captured by a camera at the Katmai national park sparked a chain of events that ended with the safe recovery of the unknown hiker by search and rescue teams, according to rangers. “Dedicated bear cam fans alerted us to a man in distress on Dumpling Mountain. The heroic rangers @KatmaiNPS sprung into action and mounted a search, saving the man,” Explore.org, the company that operates webcams for the US National Park Service (NPS), posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. “Bear cam saves a hiker’s life!” A NPS spokesperson, Cynthia Hernandez, told the Washington Post that comments left in a chatroom by webcam viewers alerting Explore.org to the distressed hiker were forwarded to authorities in Alaska, who scrambled into action. “The park sent a search and rescue team to find the hiker, who was caught in windy and rainy conditions with poor visibility,” Hernandez told the newspaper. “Park rangers found the hiker a few hours later, unharmed, and brought the hiker back to safety.” The same viewers who first spotted the hiker and posted the alerts were also able to watch the rescue personnel disappearing into the mist on their way to find him, the Post said. The area has little shelter, and no cellphone signal. The camera at Katmai, a 4.1m-acre (6,400 sq miles) scenery-rich coastal park in south-west Alaska featuring volcanoes and tundra, is popular during Fat Bear Week, an educational knockout-style online competition held every October to see which of the park’s bears has put on most weight ahead of winter hibernation. The competition gained extra notoriety, and publicity, last year when a ballot-stuffing “scandal” saw 9,000 allegedly fraudulent votes cast, then discounted, for a giant former champion known as Holly. On Tuesday, however, when the hiker was spotted on the Dumpling Mountain camera, only a handful of viewers were online, making the sighting even more remarkable. On Saturday, when the Guardian checked the camera, only 19 people were watching the live feed. No information about who the rescued hiker is, or how he found himself lost, were immediately available, although Explore.org promised in its tweet that more details were to come. The hiker was found close to the camera, although it is unknown if he was able to hear a message sent by authorities to the camera’s loudspeaker advising him to stay in place. “That was a first for the bear cams for sure,” Mike Fitz, an Explore naturalist and founder of Fat Bear Week, told the Post. “The weather up there was really poor that day, about 50ft visibility. And the weather on top of the mountain is often much, much worse than what you find across the river.” | ['us-news/alaska', 'environment/national-parks', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/wildlife', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/richardluscombe', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-09-09T18:57:01Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/planet-oz/2017/feb/07/how-cory-bernardi-was-inspired-to-push-climate-denial-from-us-conservative-groups | How Cory Bernardi was inspired to push climate denial from US conservative groups | If the dissident conservative senator Cory Bernardi’s new political party shares the views of its founder, then we can chalk up it up as another fringe party firmly in the climate science denial camp. Ignoring mountains of evidence from multiple lines of inquiry carried out over many decades, Bernardi has for a long time chosen to listen instead to fake experts pushing talking points that walk like zombies through barbecue conversations across Australia. A Bernardi-led party would join One Nation, Family First, the Liberal Democrats and Rise Up Australia in rejecting the evidence for action on cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Many of the climate change talking points pushed individually and collectively by these political groups perfectly match the propagandised science pushed by conservative “free market” thinktanks in the US. Like Bernardi, the likes of One Nation and Family First have taken their cues and inspiration from that US network of ideological “thinktanks” that push climate science denial as if their lives, or their salaries, depended on it. Let me explain. Bernardi has been much more than just an outspoken politician who thinks human-caused climate change is mostly a fraud and that carbon prices are just “a form of socialism”. Bernardi has been a funder and an organiser of the opposition to action on climate change in Australia for years. When Bernardi launched his Conservative Leadership Foundation (CLF) in 2009, one of the first action items of the groups the CLF helped to establish was to go after policies that put a price on greenhouse gas emissions. Bernardi’s inspiration for forming the CLF, at least in part, came from a reported trip to the Leadership Institute in the US a year or two earlier. The Leadership Institute trains young people to be conservative activists and “freedom fighters” that will go out into the world to “defeat the radical left.” The CLF helped to fund and establish a network of conservative websites, including stopgillardscarbontax.com, which had another US-based global warming sceptic, the Cato Institute’s Patrick Michaels, as a science adviser. Bernardi himself has spoken twice at climate conferences organised by the US climate science denial group the Heartland Institute – once in Chicago in May 2010 and then again in Sydney in October that same year. Each time, Heartland paid Bernardi’s expenses. In October 2011, Bernardi told Fairfax that he had “no comment” on the Heartland Institute and said his appearance was “not an endorsement or a disendorsement of any other views”. But in his speech to a Heartland Institute-organised conference in Sydney a year earlier, Bernardi offered the institute a glowing endorsement. He told the audience: “I have had association with the Heartland Institute for a little over a year now and it’s great work they are doing.” At the earlier Heartland Institute conference in Chicago, Bernardi said it was “inspiring” to see so many people “committed to common sense on climate change.” In his speeches, Bernardi offered a rallying call to like-minded folks to take on the science of climate change and efforts to price greenhouse gas emissions, which he said were “a form of socialism.” At the Sydney conference, Bernardi advised the audience that what was needed was to take the efforts of climate science deniers (not his description) and “package it up into political sound bites”. “We have to expose the flaws of the IPCC conclusions and methodology,” Bernardi said, adding that he needed to “draw on the work that’s done by the likes of Heartland.” Bernardi said: “My role, and I hope you will share it, is to distill the essence of these arguments and put them into something that the Australian people can understand.” A couple of years after Bernardi’s courting of Heartland, the institute ran a billboard campaign comparing people who accepted the evidence of human-caused climate change to the values of terrorist Ted Kaczynski. The Nationals MP George Christensen, who for now has ruled out joining Bernardi, has also spoken at a Heartland climate event. Australia’s richest woman, the mining magnate Gina Rinehart, is also reportedly backing Bernardi and joined him in meetings in New York in late 2016 with key figures from the Donald Trump camp. Rinehart has previously supported speaking tours by Lord Christopher Monckton, the British climate science denier once described as a “vaudeville artist” by a former version of Malcolm Turnbull (the one that claimed to care deeply about climate change). Monckton helped to launch minor party Rise Up Australia, fronted by young Earth creationist pastor Daniel Nalliah. Monckton is also the “chief policy adviser” to the Science and Public Policy Institute (not an actual institute) – another of those US-based “thinktanks” that push discredited climate science talking points. As recently as December 2016, One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts was rubbing shoulders in Washington DC with a who’s who of climate science deniers from this web of groups. After quitting the coal industry, Roberts became a voluntary project manager for the Galileo Movement. But a couple of years earlier, Roberts was in New York for the first of Heartland’s conferences for climate science deniers (also there was David Archibald, a current One Nation candidate in Western Australia who recently labeled single mothers as being too lazy to get partners). Roberts drew on US-based deniers for his “advisory panel” at the Galileo Movement, including Monckton and Michaels. One Nation’s climate policy is a literal cut and paste of the Galileo Movement’s wish list on climate change policy. The former Family First senator Steve Fielding is another to have returned from a Heartland Institute conference with dodgy talking points under his arm. Fielding is long gone, but Family First’s rejection of hard evidence on climate science remains. Groups like the Heartland Institute have been galvanised by the election of Donald Trump and, as I’ve argued before, the impact of that web of organisations goes well beyond the US border. | ['environment/planet-oz', 'australia-news/cory-bernardi', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'science/science', 'environment/climate-change-scepticism', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/graham-readfearn', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/climate-change-scepticism | CLIMATE_DENIAL | 2017-02-07T05:20:26Z | true | CLIMATE_DENIAL |
lifeandstyle/2017/sep/23/autumn-hurricanes-irma-harvey-first-take-bim-adewunmi | While some of us prepare for autumn, others face far more devastating weather | I always knew it was a sartorial crime to wear white after Labor Day. A certain genre of American literature is obsessed with things like that, and I read too many of those books: to wear white after this calendar Rubicon was to be utterly gauche and unsophisticated. Now, having just experienced my second Labor Day since moving to America, I sort of get it. Like all fashion rules, it’s totally arbitrary, but there is an inherent logic to it. Labor Day, the first Monday of September, marks the unofficial end of summer: beach days come to an end, temperatures start to cool and the kids begin the trudge back to school. It’s basically their equivalent of the August bank holiday, aka The Last One Until Christmas. And really, who wears white in the final quarter of the year? The key thing, of course, is that most of America has four distinct seasons, a phenomenon with which I, a Brit, am largely unfamiliar. A fine midsummer’s day in England might include rain, after all, and I’ve been known to be sans jacket on Christmas Eve. Here, though, the end of summer is a real event; a final hurrah, with parades and barbecues and loud music and a sort of bacchanalian feeling of gay abandon. Winter is coming, those exceedingly popular fantasy books and TV show told us, and here, people know that. Of course, there’s another weather phenomenon we don’t often get back home. The havoc being wrought by a quartet of devastating hurricanes (Harvey, Irma, Jose and Katia) is a different sort of weather horror, and their effects will be felt for years to come. I am lucky to be far enough away, dressing in layers for an autumn I am accustomed to. | ['lifeandstyle/series/first-take', 'culture/culture', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'tone/features', 'world/hurricane-irma', 'us-news/hurricane-harvey', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'world/hurricanes', 'world/natural-disasters', 'type/article', 'profile/bim-adewunmi', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/weekend', 'theguardian/weekend/starters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/weekend'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2017-09-23T04:59:07Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
commentisfree/2018/nov/25/victims-of-superintelligent-firms-ruthless-behaviour-of-big-data | Rule by robots is easy to imagine – we’re already victims of superintelligent firms | John Naughton | In 1965, the mathematician I J “Jack” Good, one of Alan Turing’s code-breaking colleagues during the second world war, started to think about the implications of what he called an “ultra-intelligent” machine – ie “a machine that can surpass all the intellectual activities of any man, however clever”. If we were able to create such a machine, he mused, it would be “the last invention that man need ever make, provided that the machine is docile enough to tell us how to keep it under control”. Note the proviso. Good’s speculation has lingered long in our collective subconscious, occasionally giving rise to outbreaks of fevered speculation. These generally focus on two questions. How long will it take us to create superintelligent machines? And what will it be like for humans to live with – or under – such machines? Will they rapidly conclude that people are a waste of space? Does the superintelligent machine pose an existential risk for humanity? The answer to the first question can be summarised as “longer than you think”. And as for the second question, well, nobody really knows. How could they? Surely we’d need to build the machines first and then we’d find out. Actually, that’s not quite right. It just so happens that history has provided us with some useful insights into what it’s like to live with – and under – superintelligent machines. They’re called corporations, and they’ve been around for a very long time – since about 1600, in fact. Although they are powered by human beings, they are in fact nonhuman entities to which our legal systems grant the status of legal personhood. We can therefore regard them as artificial superintelligences because they possess formidable capacities for rational behaviour, reasoning, perception and action. And they have free will: they can engage in purposeful behaviour aimed at achieving self-determined goals. They possess and deploy massive resources of financial capital and human expertise. And they are, in principle at least, immortal: they can have life spans that greatly exceed those of humans, and some are capable of surviving catastrophes that kill millions of people. Just think of how many of the big German corporations of the 1930s – companies such as Thyssen, BASF, Mercedes, Siemens, Bosch, Volkswagen – are still prospering today. So if corporations are the superintelligences de nos jours, what can that tell us about living with superintelligent machines? On the positive side, such entities are capable of accomplishing astonishing things – from building a new city, road or rail network, to indexing the world wide web, connecting 2.24 billion people, scanning all the world’s books, launching heavy rockets into space (and bringing them back safely), etc. But these superintelligent entities have other characteristics too. The most disturbing one is that they are intrinsically sociopathic – they are AIs that stand apart from the rest of society, existing for themselves and only for themselves, caring nothing for the norms and rules of society, and obeying only the letter (as distinct from the spirit) of the law. That doesn’t means that corporations do not regularly dissemble, or proclaim their “corporate social responsibility”, ethical standards, environmental awareness or the “values” that are implicit in their brands. They do. For the most part, though, this is just cant, designed to burnish the public image of the corporation. The interesting thing about the tech companies is that, until recently, we failed to notice that they were just corporations too. At the beginning, we were entranced by their young founders with their open-eyed “missions” to avoid being evil, enable people to broadcast themselves, connect the world, organise its information and build global communities. We were likewise seduced by their colourful, playful workplaces, free gourmet food, on-site massages and prevailingly hipster ethos, so didn’t notice that under all that gloss there lurked ruthless capitalist machines intent on harvesting as much data on our daily existence as they could. Fortunately, after two years of scandals, the scales are now beginning to fall from our eyes and we are seeing these outfits for what they are: mere corporations. Anyone who has been on the receiving end of a tech company’s rage – as this newspaper was on the Friday night that we broke the Cambridge Analytica story – would be hard put to say what is the difference between Facebook and, say, a tobacco company whose cover had been blown. Which is why the recent revelations by the New York Times that Facebook had been employing a slimy PR firm to discredit the company’s critics by linking them to George Soros – a long-time target of antisemitic conspiracy theories – no longer came as a shock. When you’re a sociopathic corporation, the ends always justify the means. So the challenge we will one day face is whether we can design superintelligent machines that are better behaved. What I’m reading Brain on a stick The website New Atlas reports on the commodification of machine-learning technology. Intel is now selling a plug-in neural network on a USB stick. Where’s the beef? “I Found the Best Burger Place in America. And Then I Killed It”. Intriguing Thrillist essay by Kevin Alexander. I hear where you’re coming from… The Intercept reports that Amazon has a patent for recognising accents. Good news for spooks. Less good for privacy. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'technology/big-data', 'technology/series/networker', 'technology/technology', 'tone/comment', 'tone/features', 'technology/artificialintelligenceai', 'science/consciousness', 'science/science', 'technology/facebook', 'uk-news/cambridge-analytica', 'news/series/cambridge-analytica-files', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'profile/johnnaughton', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/new-review', 'theobserver/new-review/discover', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-new-review'] | technology/big-data | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2018-11-25T07:00:02Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
technology/2024/mar/08/stephen-salter-obituary | Stephen Salter obituary | Stephen Salter, who has died aged 85, was the inventor of the Salter’s Duck, a wave-power device that was the first of its kind and promised to provide a new source of renewable energy for the world – until it was effectively killed off by the nuclear industry. In 1982, after eight years of development under Salter’s direction at Edinburgh University, the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) was asked by the government to see if the duck might be a cost-effective way of making large quantities of electricity. To the great surprise of Salter, and others, the UKAEA came to the conclusion that it was uneconomic, and that no further government funding should be given to the project. A decade later it emerged that thanks to a misplaced decimal point, the review had made Salter’s duck look 10 times more expensive than the experiments showed it was likely to be. The UKAEA claimed this was just a mistake, but Salter, who had never been allowed to see the results of the secret evaluation, put it another way: asking the nuclear industry to evaluate an alternative source of energy was like putting King Herod in charge of a children’s home, he suggested. By then, however, Salter had become interested in other projects, and as a result his duck has never been tested at sea – although wave-power devices using some of his technology are now in development in the Orkneys and off the coast of Portugal. The prototype ducks, developed in a multidirectional wave tank of Salter’s invention, are now in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, where there are a number of other exhibits with links to him, including the only remaining Black Knight rocket, a UK ballistic missile from the 1950s, and Freddy the Robot, from the 60s, the first machine to have artificial intelligence that could “see” and had a sense of touch. He also invented the Dervish, a low-cost method of clearing landmines, by using a revolving three-wheeled mechanism with a constantly changing path. Perhaps the range of those projects sums up Salter’s mind better than anything else. Colleagues who worked with him said that while other scientists concentrated for years on one subject to the exclusion of all others, Salter was fascinated by new problems. Although it was the oil shock of 1973 that first stimulated his interest in renewable energy, he later became one of the first scientists to realise the dangers of climate change. Doubting that the slow pace of cutting fossil-fuel use would be enough to save the planet from dangerous overheating, at the turn of the 21st century he set up a scheme to develop marine cloud brightening – an idea to produce more and brighter clouds in the middle of the oceans in order to reflect sunlight back into space, thereby keeping the oceans cooler and reducing sea-level rise. He designed a project to build a large number of automated ships spraying aerosols from sea water into the atmosphere to create and brighten clouds in the middle of the world’s oceans and – having made a considerable fortune by selling some of his inventions – was able to set up the Lothian School of Technology just outside Edinburgh for £2.4m. The centre provides premises for up to 60 of his students to work on inventions and develop them commercially beyond their time at university. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Stephen was the son of British parents who had emigrated there, Rachel (nee Floyd) and Willoughby de Carle Salter. His father joined the Royal Navy as a meteorologist during the second world war and afterwards the family moved to Britain, where Willoughby became head of a prep school in which Rachel also taught. Stephen attended two boarding schools and then Framlingham college in Suffolk. By that time he was designing, building and flying model aeroplanes, and his ambition was to take an engineering degree at Cambridge University. But he failed to get good enough grades, instead becoming an apprentice at Saunders-Roe, an Isle of Wight aero- and marine-engineering company, where he was involved in the Black Knight rocket project. After studying at night classes he was finally accepted at Cambridge to study natural sciences including metallurgy. He moved to Edinburgh University in 1967, aged 29, to become a research fellow working on artificial intelligence in robots. Within six years he was also a lecturer and had begun his work on wave energy. In 1984 he became professor of engineering design. Perhaps Salter’s left-leaning politics and his willingness to take on the London establishment prevented him from being showered with the honours he deserved, but he was elected to a fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1991, made MBE in 2004, and inducted into the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame in 2021. He never stopped working, becoming an emeritus professor at retirement age and continuing to research, advise companies and refine his inventions until the end. He married Margaret Donaldson, a professor of developmental psychology at Edinburgh University, in 1973. She died in 2020. He is survived by his younger brother, Edmund. • Stephen Hugh Salter, inventor, born 7 December 1938; died 23 February 2024 | ['technology/engineering', 'technology/technology', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'science/people-in-science', 'tone/obituaries', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'profile/paulbrown', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/obituaries', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-obituaries'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2024-03-08T20:14:07Z | true | ENERGY |
society/2010/aug/17/communities-swap-seeds-save-plants | Communities take action to save plants | One variety of crop is lost every day, according to the Global Diversity Crop Trust (GDCT). Yet biodiversity experts are warning that seed banks around the world – which preserve plant life under threat of extinction – are vulnerable in the face of budget cuts. In Britain, the UK government is calling for up to 40% cost reductions across its departments, and the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership at Kew, for example, is uncertain how much support it will receive in the coming year. UK gardeners, though, are taking action. By saving seeds from homegrown vegetables and sharing them at seed swap events, communities are preserving rare varieties and helping to save foods from extinction. Food security Dom Marsh is a member of Leeds Permaculture Network, which organises a seed swap every year, as well as monthly workshops and talks. He believes that community action to save seeds is a vital part of ensuring the UK's food security. "If you think about the kind of seeds that industrial companies are producing and their prospects for long-term sustainability, community action becomes very important," he says. "It's all about a gene pool. If everyone all over the world is growing the same variety, eventually you will get some sort of disease that targets that very variety. It is also incredibly important when it comes to climate change. If we haven't got the diversity that means that we can adapt, it makes our food supply very vulnerable." The Heritage Seed Library, a charity working to safeguard rare varieties, says it is aware of up to 50 UK seed swapping groups, including rural and inner city locations, such as Haringey, in north London, Hereford, and Brighton. Dyfi Valley Seedsavers, in Powys, has been running seed swaps for five years. Now the group has taken the idea further, by running a campaign to find and grow seeds that people have hoarded. The scheme has turned up several interesting heritage varieties, none of which can be bought from supermarkets or seed companies. "There was a runner bean that somebody donated that they had been saving for 30 years," says volunteer Claire Rhydwen. "They were given it by someone else who had been saving it, and they wanted us to have it so we could grow it and keep the variety going." As a result of the campaign, the group is testing a number of varieties, including the Llanover pea and two new types of tomato bred by a local gardener. The aim is to see how well they grow, whether each variety is suited to the local environment, and to allow local people to select seeds from them. "It's designed so we can get a bigger stock in the local area that becomes adapted to local growing conditions, which we can then give out to other people," Rhydwen explains. Many seed swap groups are run entirely by volunteers. Nigel Maxted, a lecturer at Birmingham University's school of biosciences and deputy chair of the UK Plant Genetic Resources Group, believes that councils should do more than just supply allotments. "I think they should be encouraging people to get involved in seed saving in their community, and working on locally-based conservation," he argues. Lost "If you have a particularly good variety that's unique to an area, shouldn't the council be actively involved in preserving that material? I think it's just never occurred to anyone to do this, people assume the material will always be there – but it's being lost very quickly." Seed swaps have prompted Maxted to catalogue the varieties of seeds being saved, and he is hoping for a government grant to research them in more detail. Cary Fowler, executive director of the GDCT, believes that seed swap groups can act as a way of raising awareness. "You could say it's one of the most important issues in the world – we're talking about whether we're going to be able to feed ourselves in the future. But that's not to say policy-makers put it anywhere near the top of their agendas. So I think people who [get] their hands dirty – literally – can really help to educate the rest of the public and, potentially, policy-makers," he says. "We need campaigns now, for the public to say they need and want agriculture to be ready for climate change. The public are the only ones who can demand some government accountability." | ['society/society', 'society/communities', 'environment/plants', 'science/science', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/biodiversity', 'environment/environment', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'profile/ruth-stokes', 'profile/ruth-stokes', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/societyguardian', 'theguardian/societyguardian/societyguardian'] | environment/biodiversity | BIODIVERSITY | 2010-08-17T15:05:09Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
music/2020/apr/21/croaks-squelches-waterfalls-the-visionaries-bringing-the-jungle-to-your-headphones | Croaks, squelches, waterfalls: the visionaries bringing the jungle to your headphones | Last December, Lucrecia Dalt travelled to a rainforest in Colombia that is part of the Chocó, a biodiversity hotspot stretching all the way from Costa Rica to Ecuador. She was seeking that rare thing: time to do nothing but just be. However, the last thing she wanted was peace and quiet. The organisation Más Arte Más Acción had invited the Colombian-German producer to participate in a residency called Espacio para Pensar (“space to reflect”) and Dalt took US noise musician Aaron Dilloway along. The pair swiftly immersed themselves in the jungle’s rich, complex soundscape, recording parrots, frogs, insects, crashing surf, squelching mud, and even the transition from night to day. A few months after they left, coronavirus hit – and they decided to release their results on Bandcamp. Field Recordings in the Forest of Colombia came out just as the site waived its fees, directing money to artists financially hit by the pandemic instead. “These recordings,” says Dalt, “have the potential to take you out of confinement, to someplace else – calmer, perhaps. They have allowed me to create my own simulation at home.” With the world in lockdown, a growing number of artists, researchers and field recordists have released albums capturing the sounds of nature, most of them intended to soothe increasingly isolated, anxious listeners unable to experience the mood-lifting arrival of spring and its jubilant birdsong, among many other things. In March, Leipzig-based musician Carina Pesch launched a series on her Facebook profile called The Ears May Travel, in which she shares binaural recordings from exotic locales in the Pyrenees, Greece and Indonesia. “Binaural is not stereo,” she explains, “so you don’t only have left and right. You have up and down and front and back. It really takes you into the place.” For Pesch, The Ears May Travel is more than just a holiday for the senses, though. In a time of geographic and social upheaval, the series is “a very friendly reminder that travelling and freedom of movement are a basic human need and right”. Field recordings can also be tools of eco-activism. In February, Melissa Pons released Swedish Forest Textures, the soundtrack to a documentary about a Syrian refugee awaiting asylum in a Swedish forest, which was razed a year after her recordings were made. Pons hopes it teaches listeners about European deforestation, which doesn’t get nearly as much attention as what’s happening in the Amazon. “A lot of people told me it’s soothing,” she says, “but there are quite oppressive moments.” There are physical benefits as well. Studies have found that the sound of gurgling streams and soft breezes can stabilise the blood pressure and heart rate of patients on the operating table, while terminally ill cancer patients have reported feeling less discomfort and anxiety if nature sounds are played at their bedside. In the late 1980s, when musician-turned-bioacoustician Bernie Krause put out such recordings as Distant Thunder and Dawn at Trout Lake, he found an audience among the unwell. “People who had just gotten out of heart surgery, or undergone kidney replacement, would be in hospital writing to us about how these albums made them feel better.” This aspect of field recordings is familiar to Emmy-winning acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton. When his wife found herself in hospital a few years ago, she listened to his 2005 albums Ocean Dreams and Songs of Spring. Both were recorded in Washington state’s Olympic National Park, using binaural equipment. Apparently, she found the recordings more effective than oxycodone. “The sounds conveyed to her a sense of prosperity and security,” says Hempton. “That was enough for her body to fight the pain.” Those albums, among others, are currently available for free, just in time for Earth Day on 22 April. There are some who believe that field recordings work on an even deeper level. Sound artist Martina Testen suggests that audio from a natural environment appeals to “that unexplainable place from which stems the body’s immune system, as well as all the mystical and archetypal figures and desires”. In a recent experiment, she observed that consumers spent more time shopping if a supermarket played Biodukt, recordings from Slovenian and Italian sub-Alpine forests that she and her partner Simon Šerc released on 20 March, the first day of spring. (The release date was originally meant to be 12 March – St Gregory’s Day, celebrating when birds find their mates – but was delayed due to coronavirus.) While the exact palliative effects of such recordings may be unclear, few would deny how grounding they can be in an increasingly urbanised world, given their ability to mitigate the effects of manmade noise pollution. Traffic-related noise has been linked to sleep disturbance, cardiovascular disease, not to mention constant irritation. Despite humankind’s best efforts, nature still finds ways to resist. Louisiana’s Robert Rolston, AKA Quintron, recorded green tree frogs who had reclaimed an abandoned Boys Club swimming pool next door to his New Orleans home. “It was beautiful, incredible and deafeningly loud,” he says. “You couldn’t hear that level of frog activity unless you went deep into City Park, or way outside the city.” Rolston released those recordings in 2003 on The Frog Tape, which he reposted to Bandcamp last month for the benefit of cooped-up listeners who don’t have the pleasure of hosting amphibians in their back yard, or who might not even have a back yard. “We’re bringing the outside indoors,” he says. “That’s what field recordings are for.” | ['music/music', 'music/experimental-music', 'artanddesign/sound-art', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'culture/culture', 'music/electronicmusic', 'environment/forests', 'environment/deforestation', 'environment/environment', 'world/coronavirus-outbreak', 'world/world', 'artanddesign/artanddesign', 'environment/biodiversity', 'culture/series/lockdown-culture', 'society/mental-health', 'society/society', 'world/activism', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/harley-brown', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/g2', 'theguardian/g2/arts', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-culture'] | environment/endangered-habitats | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-04-21T14:22:19Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2006/feb/13/hurricanekatrina.usa | Republicans brand Katrina response a national failure | The response to Hurricane Katrina was "a national failure" and "an abdication of the most solemn obligation to provide for the common welfare", according to details from the first of three anticipated reports into the disaster, published yesterday. The report, by a committee of Republicans in the Houseof Representatives, declared that "all the little pigs built houses of straw". The report, entitled A Failure of Initiative, is due to be published on Wednesday. It criticises the homeland security chief, Michael Chertoff, saying his detachment from events led him to implement federal emergency response measures "late, ineffectively or not at all". It finds that President George Bush was the one person who could have cut through the bureaucratic paralysis crippling the federal response to last summer's hurricane. "Earlier presidential involvement could have speeded the response," it says. It adds that the White House did not "substantiate, analyse and act on the information at its disposal". It also questions why the "untrained" Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) chief, Michael Brown, was selected to lead the response to the disaster, noting that he and the US military set up rival chains of command. The details were leaked to the Washington Post as residents of New Orleans took the latest step back towards normality at the weekend , kicking off the Mardi Gras season with a parade featuring effigies of the city's mayor, Ray Nagin, and the Louisiana governor, Kathleen Blanco, and floats with themes such as "C'est Levee". The House select committee behind the 600-page report was boycotted by Democrats, who are calling for an independent commission to investigate the response to Hurricane Katrina. They argued that the committee's work was compromised because it did not compel the White House to hand over documents, and had held no administration officials accountable. The committee, chaired by Republican Representative Thomas Davis, held nine hearings and considered 500,000 pages of documents. Following the leak of a 60-page summary of the report, Democrats called for Mr Chertofff's removal. Local officials, including the New Orleans mayor and Governor Blanco were also criticised in the report for not completing the mandatory evacuation order issued on August 28. The preface to the report states: "If 9/11 was a failure of imagination, then Katrina was a failure of initiative. It was a failure of leadership. In this instance, blinding lack of situational awareness and disjointed decision-making needlessly compounded and prolonged Katrina's horror." It recommends a series of measures to prevent the repeat the errors of last August, including studies of state evacuation plans, the creation of a national database of shelter information, and making commercial airliners available to transport the evacuees. The report is the first of three being undertaken, by the Senate, the House and the White House. Last week, the former Fema chief Mr Brown used his appearance at the Senate inquiry to argue that the White House had been made aware of the severity of the crisis at an early stage. He also said he felt Fema had been sidelined in the department of homeland security and that rather than communicating with the department head, Mr Chertoff, he went straight to the White House. In a preview of the attitude likely to be taken by Mr Chertoff in his forthcoming appearance before the Senate committee, his spokesman told the Washington Post that the department had given Mr Brown all the authority he needed, but that his "willful insubordination ... was a significant problem". | ['world/world', 'us-news/hurricane-katrina', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'profile/danglaister', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international1'] | us-news/hurricane-katrina | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2006-02-13T02:19:07Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2022/feb/10/climate-activists-buy-environment-secretarys-cornwall-constituency-office | Climate activists buy environment secretary’s Cornwall constituency office | The constituency office of the environment secretary, George Eustice, has been bought by supporters of Insulate Britain, who have donated his rent to a legal fund for activists. Supporters of the group, which made headlines last year by obstructing major roads and calling on the government to retrofit all British homes to make them energy efficient, formed a coalition of investors. They acquired the property at 13 Commercial Street, Camborne, Cornwall, last October for £51,000. Since then their company, Cawton Ltd, has received £2,820 in rent from the House of Commons, which has been donated to help pay the legal costs of Insulate Britain defendants in court cases. Cawton Ltd is an anagram of Act Now – one of the Extinction Rebellion protest group’s three key demands. Sally Wright, from St Day, in the MP’s Camborne, Redruth and Hayle constituency, said: “I invested because I am sick and tired of [the environment secretary’s] complete refusal to make any decisions which deviate from ‘business as usual’ when we are facing a devastating climate crisis that will lead to the death of millions if we don’t take immediate action. “I’m glad we are using his rent to pay the fines of the people who are risking their livelihoods, reputations and personal safety to give the rest of us hope that change is possible.” Insulate Britain said Eustice had taken many actions recently that they disagreed with, including authorising the use of a bee-killing pesticide, and encouraging MPs to vote against an amendment to the environment bill that would have forced water companies to end the practice of dumping untreated sewage into rivers and seas. The government was later forced to U-turn on this after public outrage. Eustice has previously spoken out against the activists, calling them “highly irresponsible”, and welcomed the powers sought by the Home Office to allow police to act pre-emptively to stop the protests happening. Since November last year, Insulate Britain says, 28 supporters have been charged with contempt of court for defying injunctions banning their protest blockades during a campaign of civil disobedience last autumn, according to the campaign group. Of these, 25 have been found guilty and 13 have been jailed, with 12 receiving suspended prison sentences. So far, they say, the courts have awarded costs of £84,000 against Insulate Britain defendants, with a further claim of £159,216 from lawyers acting for the government due to be decided next week. Another investor, Brenda Shrewsbury, 65, from Budock Water, Cornwall, said: “The rent from George’s gaff is tiny compared with the costs faced by the individuals that have been persecuted by the government for demanding action on home insulation, but I hope that this move will inspire others to do what they can. We need to come together and act now on the climate emergency.” The group has decided to donate future rent money to local food banks and community initiatives to help people hit by the cost of living crisis and facing the choice of whether to heat their homes or eat. A spokesperson for Eustice said: “We live in a free country and investors are free to invest in property irrespective of their political views. There is no law that requires a landlord and tenant to share the same political opinions.” | ['environment/insulate-britain', 'politics/george-eustice', 'environment/activism', 'environment/environment', 'politics/politics', 'world/protest', 'uk/uk', 'politics/conservatives', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/helena-horton', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2022-02-10T13:26:46Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
environment/2019/sep/19/labor-lashes-drought-envoy-barnaby-joyce-for-failing-to-produce-report | Labor lashes drought envoy Barnaby Joyce for failing to produce report | Labor has lashed Barnaby Joyce for failing to produce a report on the drought after he was made special envoy for assistance and recovery by the prime minister, Scott Morrison. The shadow agriculture minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, who sought details of any report completed by Joyce through a production of documents order in parliament, said that the lack of a final report from the former Nationals leader showed the process had been a “joke”. Labor is also criticising the Coalition for not releasing a report undertaken by the coordinator general for drought, Major General Stephen Day, which has been delivered to the government, but remains the subject of cabinet deliberations. “When Barnaby Joyce was appointed special envoy for drought in August 2018, I called it a ‘slap in the face’ for farmers, and that’s exactly what it has been,” Fitzgibbon told Guardian Australia. “Now we find out that the special envoy has not written a report on his role. The question is, what benefit did taxpayers receive as a result of the drought envoy’s additional staff and travel resources they paid for? We now know the answer is none.” A spokesperson for the prime minister’s office said that a written report was never part of the terms of reference surrounding the appointment, saying the government had a “comprehensive $7bn plan to respond to the ongoing challenge of drought in Australia”. “As the special envoy for drought assistance and recovery Mr Joyce was focused on getting into communities and talking to farmers in drought,” the spokesperson said. “Mr Joyce met with the prime minister a number of times to discuss his findings and he also presented these findings to the cabinet.” It is understood that Joyce had input into the extension of the drought communities program, and the decision to boost investment in more rural financial councillors in drought areas and programs to tackle pests and weeds. It was estimated that the extra staff assigned to Joyce in the role cost taxpayers more than $200,000. Fitzgibbon had asked the drought minister, David Littleproud, to produce to parliament the drought envoy and drought coordinator’s report, pointing to previous comments from the minister that “taxpayers paid for this report and they have a right to see what it says”. “So why won’t the government follow its own advice and release the report of the drought coordinator? What does the government have to hide from our farmers and the broader Australian community?” In response to Labor’s order for documents in the Senate, Littleproud said the report was still subject to cabinet deliberations, but may be released at a “later date”. “The government’s considerations will address Major General Day’s advice along with other short-term and long-term options to support drought-affected farmers and communities”. He also said the government was concerned about deteriorating drought conditions across the country. “The short-term outlook is not good, with rainfall deficiencies and warmer than average temperatures forecast for much of Australia over the next three months,” he said. In response to the request for the Joyce report, Littleproud said: “The request for the former special envoy for drought assistance and recovery’s report cannot be complied with as he did not prepare a final report and as such, no document exists.” | ['environment/drought', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/barnaby-joyce', 'environment/water', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'australia-news/coalition', 'australia-news/labor-party', 'australia-news/national-party', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/sarah-martin', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2019-09-19T09:58:46Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2007/aug/03/nuclearpower.transportpolicy | 'Disaster map' reveals sites of planned developments | An online map showing the locations of proposed nuclear power stations, incinerators and roads has been launched by the Planning Disaster coalition. The map, which shows more than 100 proposed developments across England and Wales, was designed to help people find out how their area could be affected if the government goes ahead with changes to the planning system. It allows people to zoom in to satellite images identifying the location of potential developments, including super-incinerators at Ince Marshes in Cheshire, nuclear power plants in Suffolk and Hartlepool, and airport expansions at Birmingham and Bristol. Reforms to the planning system proposed in a government white paper will remove the public's right to challenge projects at a public inquiry and will hand over planning decisions to an unelected body called the Infrastructure Planning Commission. Planning Disaster is a coalition of Britain's leading environmental organisations, such as Friends of the Earth and the National Trust, representing more than 5 million people. It said it was concerned that the changes would allow developers to push through major projects that could have a catastrophic impact on communities, the countryside and the wider environment. It called on the government to rethink the planning white paper and introduce a planning system that allowed people a real and meaningful say in how their area was developed. The Planning Disaster coordinator Owen Espley said: "We have developed the planning disaster map so that people can see how changes to the planning system could affect their area – with local people effectively prevented from having a say." | ['environment/environment', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'politics/transport', 'type/article', 'profile/alisonbenjamin'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2007-08-03T14:38:29Z | true | ENERGY |
us-news/2022/oct/16/alaska-snow-crab-season-canelled-population-decline | Alaska cancels snow crab season over population decline | Alaska officials have cancelled the upcoming snow crab season, due to population decline across the Bering Sea. The fall Bristol Bay red king crab harvest will not happen. The winter harvest of smaller snow crab has also been cancelled for the first time. The causes of the population collapse are being researched but likely include increased predation and stresses from warmer water, which the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) believes may have prompted the crabs to shift away from coasts. “In the Bering Sea, Alaska pollock, snow crab, and Pacific halibut have generally shifted away from the coast since the early 1980s … They have also moved northward by an average of 19 miles,” the federal agency said. The Alaska closures reflect conservation concerns about both crab species following bleak summer population surveys. The decisions to shut down the harvests came after days of discussions among Alaska state biologists and senior officials, who faced crabbers’ pleas for at least small takes to be allowed. “These are truly unprecedented and troubling times for Alaska’s iconic crab fisheries and for the hard-working fishermen and communities that depend on them,” said Jamie Goen, executive director of Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, a trade association. “Second- and third generation crab-fishing families will go out of business due to the lack of meaningful protections by decision-makers to help crab stocks recover.” The fish and game department (ADF&G) released a statement saying: “Management of Bering Sea snow crab must now focus on conservation and rebuilding given the conditions of the stock. “With crab industry input, ADF&G will continue to evaluate options for rebuilding, including potential for sustainably fishing during periods of low abundance. This will allow ADF&G to work on issues related to state and federal co-management, observer coverage, discard mortality and fishery viability.” Bering Sea now crab populations declined after a 2019 warming that scrambled the broader marine ecosystem. Last year’s snow crab harvest of 5.6m lb was the smallest in more than 40 years. Within the limits of a federal management plan, Alaska determines how many crab are caught each year. A scientific model of the snow crab population reviewed by the federal North Pacific Fishery Management Council last week indicated there may have been enough this year for a small harvest. But Ben Daly, an Alaska fish and game research coordinator, said the model has struggled to account for the dramatic population decline after the 2019 warming, and state officials were concerned it might not be accurate. “We have extreme conservation concerns about the population. We have serious doubts about the model,” Daly told the Associated Press. The fall red king crab harvest was cancelled for a second year running because of the low number of mature female crabs, which are an indicator of the broader health of a stock in long-term decline. The survey needs to find at least 8.4 million mature females to allow a harvest. The 2022 survey, though it showed improvement from 2021, still fell below that level, according to Daly. Fisheries that accidentally catch Bristol Bay king and snow crab will continue without new restrictions. The department of fish and game also announced that a small Bering Sea crab harvest of more than 2m lb of tanner crab would open on Saturday. | ['us-news/alaska', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/environment', 'environment/marine-life', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/maya-yang', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-10-16T06:00:27Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2023/jul/18/tell-us-have-you-been-affected-by-wildfires-in-greece | Tell us: have you been affected by wildfires in Greece? | The EU has announced that it is planning to send planes to help combat wildfires in Greece after the country’s government requested help from other member states. Hundreds of firefighters have been deployed to try and contain wildfires on several fronts around Athens as people are being forced to leave their homes. Other parts of Europe are also experiencing wildfires with Spain and Italy among the worst affected countries. If you’ve been affected by wildfires in Greece or other parts of Europe, or are working to combat them, we would like to hear from you. | ['world/wildfires', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/greece', 'type/article', 'world/europe-news', 'environment/environment', 'tone/callout', 'campaign/callout/callout-greece-wildfires', 'profile/guardian-community-team', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-communities-and-social'] | campaign/callout/callout-greece-wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2023-07-18T13:58:59Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/2023/jun/22/uk-dairy-prices-could-keep-rising-unless-staff-shortages-ease-co-op-warns | UK dairy prices could keep rising unless staff shortages ease, co-op warns | The UK’s largest dairy cooperative has said there could be further increases in the price of milk and other dairy products if the government does not urgently tackle labour shortages in farming. The lack of workers is fuelling food price inflation, Arla said, warning that without action this could also lead to a crisis in milk production. Staff shortages are just the latest challenge facing dairy farmers, the cooperative said, following the outbreak of war in Ukraine, which has pushed up the cost of producing milk to record levels. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed the price of dairy products rising steeply in May, with low-fat milk climbing by 28.5% in a year, butter by 14.1% and the price of cheese and curd increasing by 33.4%. Staff shortages in farming and the wider food industry are compounding farmers’ problems, according to a survey carried out by the cooperative, which represents a third of Britain’s dairy farmers. Its director of agriculture, Paul Savage, said: “We are at serious risk of continued food price inflation and longer-term food security issues if we don’t tackle this now.” Almost three-fifths of Arla members polled said they were finding it harder to find staff than in 2019, blaming the end of free movement of EU workers resulting from Brexit, as well as the pandemic, for their recruitment problems. The survey found that 12% of farmers were considering quitting dairy production altogether because of the challenge of finding workers. Others said labour shortages might cause them to reduce their milk output or cut the size of their herd. Problems finding labour have already prompted farmers to raise pay for farm workers, leading to higher wage bills. The 600 farmers surveyed by Arla in March said that on average they had increased pay for their workers by 22% since 2019. The majority (60%) of dairy producers said they expected wage pressure to continue for the next year, which would continue to have an impact on food prices. The cooperative is calling on the government to work with the industry to help bring more young people into food and agriculture. Young people have a limited understanding of what modern farming involves, Arla found, and more than half of the farmers surveyed (55%) said none or very few of the applicants for current jobs had the right skills. The cooperative is also calling on ministers to create clearer routes into a career in farming through apprenticeships and the T-level vocational qualification. Dairy farmers had to challenge preconceptions about the industry, Savage said. “One of the biggest challenges we face is recruiting people into the industry.” He said farmers “work with innovative new technologies and data, and they’re at the forefront of tackling climate change. We know that all of these are important factors when people are choosing their careers.” Harry Davies, an Arla farmer, said he had seen the pressure that staff shortages put on the cost of milk production. “A career in dairy farming is extremely rewarding with our role in feeding the nation and playing our part in reducing emissions and caring for the land around us,” Davies said. “But we can’t educate people about this on our own.” | ['business/fooddrinks', 'food/milk--drink-', 'environment/farming', 'business/cost-of-living-crisis', 'business/business', 'uk/uk', 'campaign/email/today-uk', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/joanna-partridge', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-06-22T04:00:03Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2014/dec/03/wenlcok-edge-trees-sycamore-seeds-shakespeare | Sycamore seeds twizzle down like tiny helicopters to the ground | From the corner of my eye I see something move but don’t catch what it is. Then there’s another movement, a dark spinning. I watch sycamore keys come spiralling out of the murk to land in the lane. There’s an Egyptian creation myth about sycamore. The goddess Hathor, the Holy Cow, sat in a sycamore at sunset and created the earth, everything living on it, and the sun. There’s no Holy Cow sitting in this sycamore, only a couple of rather agitated blackbirds, but the tree’s creativity is irrepressible. Sycamore seeds, the samara or keys, are formed from a symmetrical cluster of yellowish-green flowers that attract bluebottles for pollination. The female flowers have two fused carpels, which mature into a pair of winged fruits set at acute angles. These pairs are positioned opposite another pair in the same symmetry as the flowers. However, they detach themselves with a free-spirited randomness to helicopter down to earth. There must be thousands of keys ready to spring from this one tree and the chances of their finding a spot in which to germinate are high. The ability of sycamores to grow in the shade of their parent and to create dense stands is one of the reasons this tree, introduced from central and southern Europe in the 15th century for pleasure gardens, has had a bad reputation. Zealous defenders of native species used to advertise “syccie bashing” events, getting people together to remove this “invasive alien”. “Under the coole shade of a Siccamore/ I thought to close mine eyes some halfe an houre,” wrote Shakespeare in Love’s Labour’s Lost in 1598. More recently, with tree experts such as Ted Green calling them the Celtic maple because of their prominence in the rain soaked, wind blasted, uplands of west and north Britain, there has been some rehabilitation of the sycamore’s standing as a great British tree. The tree is indeed beautiful at all times of year and even the black blotches of rhytisma fungus on falling leaves have a weird charm. A tree of good luck, bad luck and creativity, it is now a part of us. As the little seed drones twizzle through the grey winter air, their keys are tuning the locks of the future. Twitter: @DrPaulEvans1 | ['environment/series/country-diary', 'environment/forests', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'environment/environment', 'science/egyptology', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'profile/paulevans', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2014-12-03T05:30:06Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2022/feb/16/plantwatch-project-restore-britain-rainforests-snowdonia | Plantwatch: project under way to restore Britain’s rainforests | There are rainforests in Britain. These are woodlands drenched in rain, humid and mild, with gnarled old trees covered in shaggy green blankets of mosses, lichens and ferns. Few other places in the world have these temperate rainforests, and in Britain they once covered much of the wet western side of the country, but are now reduced to pockets of woodland in steep gullies and slopes where they manage to cling on in parts of west Scotland, Wales, the Lake District and south-west England. And these rare habitats are threatened by farming, invasive plants and conifer plantations. But a project in Snowdonia national park in north Wales is restoring and expanding the rainforest there. Rhododendron ponticum is a shrub from the Mediterranean that can grow so vigorously it smothers other plants and can dominate woodlands. In a £7m project, the alien rhododendrons are being ripped out with all their roots, or the stems on each bush are injected with small amounts of herbicide to kill the entire plant. Once the rhododendrons are eradicated, a few highland cattle are used to keep down bracken and brambles and leave the ground open for native trees and plants to regenerate naturally. | ['environment/forests', 'uk/wales', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment', 'science/series/plantwatch', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/paulsimons', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-02-16T06:00:08Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2022/jun/03/satellite-imagery-air-pollution-rise-tropical-megacities | Satellite imagery shows air pollution rise in tropical ‘megacities’ | A new international study has used satellites to track air pollution changes in some of the world’s fast-growing tropical cities. Some of these cities will house more than 50 million people by 2050, but there is almost no on-the-ground measurement of what people are breathing. We are all used to seeing satellite images on television weather forecasts. They are also used routinely to track dust storms including arrival of Saharan dust in the UK, and even across the Atlantic, as well as tracking wildfire smoke. Mark Parrington, a senior scientist with the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, explained: “Earth observation provides us with up-to-date information on locations and emissions of wildfires and the distribution of key pollutants in the atmosphere, as well as the weather. Satellites provide almost 800 million data points around the world every day, including in very inaccessible regions.” But measuring air pollution that we breathe from space is difficult as the satellite has to look though the whole column of air underneath it, making it hard to estimate pollution in the bottom few metres where we live. The satellites rely on reflected sunlight and can therefore only make measurements in daytime. Clouds get in the way too. And yet, despite these limitations, in previous studies satellites have uncovered pollution that we didn’t know about close to home, such as agriculture pollution from sugar beet farms in France. Air pollution has got far worse in 46 future megacities in tropical Africa, Asia and the Middle East, the study reveals. The deterioration in air quality has led to 180,000 extra deaths due to the combination of city expansion and worsening air pollution between 2005 and 2018. Agricultural burning from the areas around the cities is one of the main causes. But the deterioration is driven mostly by new sources such as fertiliser use in nearby farms and increased transport and industry. Problems with waste burning, including the burning of plastics, are widespread too. Cities in India are also being affected by new coal power stations that are being built in the country. Some cities are taking action. Last month, 10 African cities signed up to the C40 clean air declaration. Signatory cities recognise the right to clean air, pledge to take action to reduce pollution and report their progress. They are now part of a network of 46 cities that are taking a science-led approach and working together to tackle our climate emergency, reduce air pollution and address inequalities. • This article was amended on 5 June 2022 to clarify that a total of 180,000 extra deaths have occurred between 2005 and 2018, not 180,000 deaths every year during that period. | ['environment/series/pollutionwatch', 'environment/air-pollution', 'environment/environment', 'environment/pollution', 'science/science', 'science/satellites', 'world/world', 'cities/cities', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/gary-fuller', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2022-06-03T05:00:07Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
commentisfree/cif-green/2009/mar/11/copenhagen-climate-change | Ben Caldecott: If we can't stop climate change, we must adapt | The consensus reached at today's meeting of climate change scientists is an important one for policymakers. At the conference being held in Copenhagen, in advance of a key meeting of climate change negotiators in December, scientists have said that even after (as yet unachieved) reductions in greenhouse gas emissions we only have a 50:50 chance of preventing a two-degree rise in global temperatures. This is depressing stuff. Given the evidence from Copenhagen, it makes many wonder why so many green groups and activists have a habit of focusing on mitigation first and foremost and then deride those who call for a more balanced or holistic approach. After all, their limited view is potentially perilous, as it's sucking away resources and political attention from two other fundamental areas – how we adapt to climate change and how we clean up and restore the habitats we've already destroyed. As we have seen today, even with the best will in the world, the risk of significant climatic change taking place is high. In fact, some human-induced climatic change is already occurring and it is likely to get worse because our efforts at prevention are failing. This doesn't mean that we should stop trying to take collective action to significantly reduce global emissions – quite the opposite. It does mean though, that measures to manage the consequences of climate change need to be put in place. Doing this isn't giving up hope, as some green groups and activists would say, it's facing up to the reality of the situation we're in. Climate change adaptation is about ensuring that humans, as well as the ecosystems upon which we rely, can survive and thrive in a world with greater climatic ranges and an increasing incidence of extreme weather events. Without adequate adaptation measures, the impacts of climate change will be far greater than they need be and this will lead to various forms of instability. Adaptation will mean different things for different communities. There are a variety of things that will have to be done, some more difficult than others. It will encompass measures such as relocation, the construction of flood defences and better watershed management. We need to start deciding when and how these measures should be introduced, as well as who should pay for them. These are profoundly difficult issues, that will in large part need to be addressed in a co-ordinated international way. The restoration or rehabilitation of our environment is the forgotten front. It concerns the repair or reintroduction of eco-systems that have been destroyed by human activity. Without restoration there will be fewer eco-system services, such as water and clean air, to go around. It will also be much harder to halt biodiversity loss. If we continue to ignore restoration, the carrying capacity of our planet will fall further, and this will be exacerbated as human population and per capita consumption growth continues. Restoration has additional benefits, as it will also help to reduce emissions, as carbon is sequestered by recreated ecosystems. This is vital work, but is largely ignored and underfunded. Our strategy to tackle climate change must involve three things: mitigation, adaptation and restoration. Without progress across all three, especially on adaptation and restoration, we will fail to adequately manage the dangers of climate change and continue to witness unrelenting habitat destruction and species loss. We cannot keep focusing all of our efforts on preventing climate change, with the assumption that it will prevent our need to adapt or undo the damage we've already done to the planet. The risks of serious climate change occurring are far too high for anyone to take this view. As we have seen today, climate change is happening and despite our best efforts, may get much worse. Currently we have an ineffectual lopsided strategy, many are calling for a balanced one, and we should support these efforts to realign policy with reality. | ['commentisfree/cif-green', 'commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/copenhagen', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/ipcc', 'environment/environment', 'tone/comment', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'environment/rajendra-pachauri', 'type/article', 'profile/bencaldecott'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2009-03-11T20:30:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2023/mar/22/decline-of-more-than-500-species-of-marine-life-in-australian-reefs-the-tip-of-the-iceberg-study-finds | Decline of more than 500 species of marine life on Australian reefs ‘the tip of the iceberg’, study finds | More than 500 common species of fish, seaweed, coral and invertebrates that live on reefs around Australia have declined in the past decade, a study has found, as experts warn “not all is well in the ocean”. Global heating was likely the main driver of the falls, with marine heatwaves and a rise in ocean temperatures hitting species that live on rocky and coral reefs. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup The study, published in the journal Nature, monitored 1,057 species and found 57% of them had declined, and almost 300 were declining at a rate that could qualify them as threatened species. About 28% of the species analysed had suffered drops of 30% or more in just a decade, with species that live in cooler waters particularly hard-hit. Prof Graham Edgar, a marine ecologist at the University of Tasmania and the study’s lead author, said the declines were most marked in the rocky kelp-dominated reefs in Australia’s cooler southern waters, known collectively as the Great Southern Reef. “These declines are happening out of sight and with very little public attention,” he said. Edgar said there were many more species in the waters that were not being monitored and were also very likely to be declining. “We’re really only looking at the tip of the iceberg here. Species could be going extinct now,” he said. “This is very concerning to me. I’ve been swimming up and down counting fish and seaweed for more than 30 years and I’ve seen first-hand the effect of warming on the system. “With the direction this is going, it’s a huge worry.” The loss of kelp was particularly important, Edgar said, because they were the cornerstone around which many habitats existed in the continent’s cooler waters. Larger fish were declining faster than smaller ones, the study found, probably because of pressure from fishing compounding the rising temperatures. About 35 researchers from multiple institutions came together for the study, which drew on existing data from the Australian Institute of Marine Science as well as monitoring from an army of volunteer divers. Only species that had been observed enough times to generate analysis were included. “Without the volunteer efforts of Reef Live Survey divers, we couldn’t have done this work,” Edgar said. For many reef species, increasing ocean temperatures were presenting an “existential threat” with knock-on effects for ecosystems and commercial fisheries, the authors wrote. Species in waters in Australia’s south that were closer to big urban centres such as Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney, were being affected by not only warming oceans but also pollution, coastal development, fishing, aquaculture and land run-off. Although the study focused on species living on reefs, the authors said marine wildlife was probably also declining in other rapidly warming cool temperate waters. Dr John Turnbull, a marine ecologist at the University of Sydney and a study co-author, has witnessed declines while diving as a volunteer. He saw cool water corals near Sydney bleaching for the first time, and visible declines in the numbers of weedy sea dragons and urchins. “We’re seeing these declines first-hand. The losses in the south of Australia are not really known,” he said. The loss of urchins had a knock-on effect, he said, as they were food for larger fish, including blue gropers that can grow to a metre in length. There was evidence some species were moving towards the cool end of their ranges, Turnbull said, which was a problem in southern waters because species “run out of runway” with no available habitat farther south. Associate Prof Zoe Richards, a marine invertebrate expert at the Western Australian Museum and Curtin University, said the study “sends a clear message that not all is well in the ocean”. “This new study provides much-needed empirical evidence that population declines are occurring even among the most common marine taxa,” said Richards, who was not involved in the study. “These are common species and so are major players in the way these ecosystems function. It’s quite ominous if they are declining. “You have to ask what on earth is happening to everything else.” | ['environment/marine-life', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'campaign/email/afternoon-update', 'environment/oceans', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/fish', 'environment/wildlife', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/graham-readfearn', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-03-22T16:00:31Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2018/feb/06/everything-is-made-into-a-political-issue-rethinking-australias-environmental-laws | 'Everything is made into a political issue': rethinking Australia's environmental laws | Environmental lawyers and academics have called for a comprehensive rethink on how Australia’s natural landscapes are protected, warning that short-term politics is infecting decision-making and suggesting that the public be given a greater say on development plans. The Australian Panel of Experts on Environmental Law has launched a blueprint for a new generation of environment laws and the creation of independent agencies with the power and authority to ensure they are enforced. The panel of 14 senior legal figures says this is motivated by the need to systematically address ecological challenges including falling biodiversity, the degradation of productive rural land, the intensification of coastal and city development and the threat of climate change. Murray Wilcox QC, a former federal court judge, said the blueprint was a serious attempt to improve a system that was shutting the public out of the decision-making process and failing to properly assess the impact of large-scale development proposals. “We found the standard of management of the environment is poor because everything is made into a political issue,” Wilcox said. “Nothing happens until it becomes desperate. “We need a non-political body of significant prestige to report on what is happening and have the discretion to act.” The legal review, developed over several years and quietly released in 2017, resulted in 57 recommendations. It was suggested by the Places You Love alliance, a collection of about 40 environmental groups that was created to counter a failed bid to set up a “one-stop shop” for environmental approvals by leaving it to the states. The panel undertook the work on the understanding it would be independent and not a piece of activism. Its work helped inform a motion passed by 250 Labor branches calling on the Labor leader, Bill Shorten, to put stronger national environmental laws and the introduction of an independent watchdog at the centre of his election pitch. The Australian Panel of Experts on Environmental Law convener, Rob Fowler, an environmental lawyer for more than 40 years and adjunct professor at the University of South Australia, said a key finding was that cooperative federalism – different tiers of government working together to solve common problems – had not worked in protecting the environment. “It’s slow-moving, unwieldy and leads to compromised outcomes,” he said. Fowler said devolving responsibility for environmental protection to the states had been popular with politicians, having been proposed by both the Gillard Labor government and the Coalition under Tony Abbott, but not the public. The 2014 constitutional values survey conducted by Griffith University found nearly 45% of respondents believed Canberra should be solely responsible for protecting the environment. Just 16% said it should be left to the states. He said the body of expert opinion was strongly in favour of the commonwealth taking responsibility. The panel believed a future government should introduce a mechanism that required states to act in line with plans and strategies developed by a commonwealth environment commission. If they failed to comply, they could be overridden. Wilcox, who before becoming a judge was president of the Australian Conservation Foundation from 1979 to 1984, said creating an environment commission was the panel’s most important recommendation, likening it to the Reserve Bank. “It hopefully would involve people of considerable ability and achievement,” he said. It would develop both national strategies and regional plans to protect biodiversity, and oversee a system of environmental data monitoring, collection, auditing and reporting. Where it did not do the monitoring itself, it would be required to ensure the work was done to a higher standard than currently, backed by federal funding. Wilcox said the national Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, which was introduced by the Howard government in 1999, was an advance at the time but now “well and truly out of date”. The environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, has said the existing act continues to be the best mechanism for the federal government to protect the most important and sensitive matters. The opposition environment spokesman, Tony Burke, said the push to introduce national laws would be considered at ALP conference this year, and he was consulting about updating the act. Wilcox said the public should have a greater say in response to developments. He said state planning systems were good at handling small neighbourhood development problems but larger proposals tended to be “waved through by governments mesmerised by the corporate dollars”. He cited the hotel and casino complex being developed at Barangaroo in Sydney. “Anything that did come out about that was released for political reasons. That story just applies again and again and again. “If you believe in a democracy, then you believe ordinary people should be encouraged to get in and have a say, and that’s not the case at the moment. If anything the opposite is the case.” | ['environment/series/our-wide-brown-land', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/biodiversity', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/conservation', 'world/world', 'australia-news/rural-australia', 'type/article', 'profile/adam-morton', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/biodiversity | BIODIVERSITY | 2018-02-05T17:00:52Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2019/apr/18/sajid-javid-calls-for-full-force-of-law-against-extinction-rebellion-protesters | Sajid Javid calls for 'full force of law' against Extinction Rebellion protesters | Sajid Javid has called on police to use the “full force of the law” against Extinction Rebellion protesters causing disruption in London to draw attention to the issue of climate change. The home secretary, who is positioning himself for a run at the Conservative party leadership, made a series of tweets condemning “any protesters who are stepping outside the boundaries of the law”. He called on the police to “take a firm stance” against protesters who were “significantly disrupting the lives of others”. “Over recent days, commuters trying to earn a living have been unable to travel to work and businesses have been disrupted,” he said, following a meeting with Met police chiefs. “Emergency vehicles have faced difficulties navigating the road networks and the demonstrations have put added pressure on police officers whose job it is to solve crimes and protect the public. “Let me be clear: I totally condemn any protesters who are stepping outside the boundaries of the law. They have no right to cause misery for the millions of people who are trying to lead their daily lives. Unlawful behaviour will not be tolerated.” Hundreds have been arrested and more than 1,000 officers deployed to police the protests, which entered their fourth day on Thursday. Scotland Yard took the rare step of releasing a detailed statement setting out the difficulties they have faced keeping control of the protests, while avoiding infringing on the activists’ rights to demonstrate. They said demonstrators’ tactic of lying down meant four officers were needed to make an arrest but said there was no legal justification for more draconian tactics, such as kettling and mass-arresting groups, because the demonstrations were peaceful. Politicians have struggled to respond to the protests, as they are keen to head off complaints that not enough is being done to tackle climate change at the same time as taking a tough stance against disruption to commuters. Javid and Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, have come under pressure from the rightwing press in recent days to take a more outspoken stance against any protesters disrupting public transport or acting illegally. In a letter to the home secretary, Khan suggested that cuts to funding were restricting the ability of the Metropolitan police to cope with the activists. “The Met’s ability to police protests without impacting on core policing priorities – such as tackling knife crime – has been made significantly harder by the huge cuts to government police funding,” he said. Citing £850m of cuts to the force since 2010, he added: “Whether to tackle violent crime, or police protests, our brave police officers deserve the resources they need to keep us safe.” He highlighted the increasing cost of policing a growing number of protests in London, and said he was working with the Met to consider claiming for a special grant to help with costs for the current demonstrations. He has said on Twitter that the world is “facing a climate emergency” and that he “fully supports the right of protesters to protest on this vital issue”, while urging organisers to “work with police to ensure their demonstrations are peaceful and lawful and that disruption is kept to a minimum”. The environment secretary, Michael Gove, said: “We’ve got the message,” after some activists glued themselves to a train and others chained themselves to a garden fence at the home of the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn. Claire Perry, the energy and climate change minister, also said that she “got the science, motivation and passion driving climate emergency protests” but could not see that “disrupting one of world’s busiest transport systems … blocking emergency routes and making life difficult for so many is going to build consensus and support for the changes we need”. | ['environment/extinction-rebellion', 'politics/sajid-javid', 'world/protest', 'uk/police', 'politics/conservatives', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'uk/london', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/activism', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/rowena-mason', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/extinction-rebellion | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2019-04-18T17:30:44Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
environment/2019/mar/04/some-great-barrier-reef-coral-suffering-lasting-effects-from-mass-bleaching-events | Some Great Barrier Reef coral suffering lasting effects from mass bleaching events | Coral reefs in the far north of the Great Barrier Reef are showing lasting effects from the mass bleaching of 2016 and 2017 and in some cases their health has declined further, according to fresh surveys by the Australian Institute of Marine Science. Preliminary results of surveys by Aims scientists in January show several reefs have not recovered from the back-to-back bleaching, although the agency said some reefs they surveyed were in good condition. Researchers undertook a 25-day expedition to remote far northern reefs, at a cost of $1.4m, partly funded by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation from money it was awarded in a record grant by the government last year. Some of the reefs examined had not been surveyed before. In the Cape Grenville sector, six reefs were surveyed where the agency had collected data in 2017, after the 2016 bleaching. Of these, hard coral cover had declined further at five reefs, while one was unchanged. Three other previously unsurveyed reefs had “low, moderate and high coral cover”, the report says. Across the site scientists found widespread coral bleaching “but at low levels”, and there was also fresh damage to reefs attributed to destruction from tropical cyclone Penny this summer. In the Princess Charlotte sector, Aims returned to five reefs studied in 2017, of which two had deteriorated further and three were unchanged. The scientists said in their preliminary report that coral bleaching was widespread at low levels across this section of reefs, but some areas showed “significant coral bleaching”. These reefs also appeared to have been damaged by tropical cyclone Penny. Mike Emslie, a marine ecologist at Aims who was one of the scientists on the expedition, said “some reefs that were severely bleached in 2016 are still in bad shape”. “However, other reefs that escaped the worst of the bleaching still have reasonably healthy amounts of coral.” Emslie said the team’s preliminary results showed low to moderate numbers of young corals, which indicated that the effects of bleaching were still being felt. “Fish numbers and diversity were high on most reefs. However, this was the first survey of reef fish communities undertaken by Aims in the far north and we cannot speculate on whether fish communities have been altered by the coral bleaching,” he said. The coral scientist Terry Hughes has also worked with research teams surveying parts of the far northern Great Barrier Reef. He said the preliminary results of the study, and the lack of observed improvement in previously surveyed reefs, showed how difficult it was for corals to rebound after mass bleaching. “That doesn’t surprise me because it takes 10 years for coral to rebound,” Hughes said. “There’s been some reports of magical recovery, but the ecological memory of the bleaching will be long-lasting. “The big unknown is when it will bleach again, but it will almost certainly be before those reefs have time to recover.” | ['environment/great-barrier-reef', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/coral', 'environment/environment', 'environment/marine-life', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/lisa-cox', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/great-barrier-reef | BIODIVERSITY | 2019-03-04T07:41:27Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
sustainable-business/change-customer-behavior-business-model-opower-recyclebank | Want to change customer behaviour? Try changing your business model | This is the third in a series of posts by SustainAbility about business-model innovations that accelerate social and environmental impact. Imagine if you got rewarded every time you rode your bike instead of driving, or if you could received a tangible benefit whenever you made a greener choice. Would this change how you go about your day? And could that change be a stimulus to speed up advances in global sustainability? Convincing consumers to change their behavior is a significant component of the sustainability agenda. But for the most part, these efforts have been based in apps and campaigns, such as Alcoa's Aluminate can recycling app or Bank of America's Keep the Change savings program. By comparison, business models designed to stimulate sustainable behavior change are a relatively new – and largely unproven – concept. However, given the growth of smart technology and social media, expect to see a behavior-change-focused business models in the future. If these models can generate profit and scale, they could help drive an economy decoupled from resource use. One company trying to do just that is New York City-based Recyclebank. Its business model, refined over the last decade, connects behavior change to tangible benefits. The company rewards people for taking greener actions, like walking rather than driving, with points that they can use to make purchases at local and national retailers. A key part of the Recyclebank model is its revenue-generating partnerships across the US and UK. To help promote behavior change, it works with companies that want to engage "eco-curious" consumers and cities that want to, say, increase recycling or encourage their residents to walk or bike. Over the last several years, Recyclebank has worked with Philadelphia to give residents incentives to recycle more. Here's how it works: residents receive a recycling bin with a unique bar code. When city trucks pick up the bins, they calculate the weight of the materials inside and credit participants with reward points that can be used at local and national stores. As a result of the partnership, Philadelphia has increased its residential recycling by nearly 20,000 tons. Its curbside recycling diversion rate went up 4% between 2010 and 2013. This behavior changing model, used by just a handful of companies, is one of the emerging innovations identified in a new report by SustainAbility that I co-wrote and launched last month. Model Behavior: 20 Business Model Innovations for Sustainability reviews more than 80 companies that demonstrate business model innovations. At their core, behavior-change business models aim to reduce consumption, change purchasing patterns or modify daily habits. In the process, they empower consumers with knowledge about their consumption, helping them track product or service use. To increase engagement, they frequently employ game dynamics that create competition between customers. As consumers become more interested in reducing their energy bills, these models are gaining traction in the energy industry. Opower is one of several software companies that partners with utility providers across the US to promote efficiency among energy users. The focus of the company, expected to go public with a $110m initial public offering on the NYSE today, is two-fold: on the utility side, it helps companies capture and analyze large datasets to create business value; on the consumer side, it offers various platforms for engagement. In the process, Opower makes it easier for customers to understand their energy bills and encourages them to conserve energy, save money and reduce their carbon emissions. Opower's business model is tied to the amount of behavior change that it drives. By empowering consumers with knowledge about their energy consumption, and by leveraging proven behavior-changing techniques, the company is transforming how people think about their energy use and driving further engagement between consumers and utilities. As Opower demonstrates, in behavior-change business models, the nature of the transaction between consumer and company becomes nuanced: it is less about selling ever more goods or services than it is about building brand trust and engagement. Companies employing this model aim to increase "stickiness" with customers, building brand loyalty. The fundamental challenge for behavior change business models is to find a way to drive revenue growth while encouraging decreased consumption. The apparel brand Patagonia has experimented with behavior change marketing in recent years by encouraging consumers to buy less and repair more. However, because Patagonia is privately held, it's unclear if the company's bet has resulted in greater revenues or greater loyalty. In the case of Recyclebank, there have been questions about the effectiveness of its efforts to increase recycling at the city level. Some municipalities, including Ann Arbor and Cincinnati, have chosen to end their partnerships with the company and pursue other reward methods. For now, many companies and organizations are experimenting with apps and information transparency, rather than business models, to nudge consumers toward behavior change. Nike's FuelBand engages customers by helping them set and track fitness goals. GoodGuide provides customers with more information on greener products. Bedsider, designed by Ideo for the non-profit National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, functions as a birth control support system to help prevent unplanned pregnancies. Hopefully, we will see companies move beyond experimentation as they find scalable ways to simultaneously reduce consumption, change behavior and earn a profit. It seems Google might be setting the stage for such a move: earlier this year, it announced plans to buy Nest, a manufacturer of smart thermostats and other internet-connected devices, for $3.2bn. Nest's thermostats enable customers to monitor their energy use remotely. More importantly, the thermostats invite customers to engage more deeply about energy use throughout the home. Google's purchase has been touted as a big data play, but perhaps it's also an indicator that the rise of new behavior change business models is closer than we think. Lindsay Clinton is a senior manager at SustainAbility in New York and co-author of Model Behavior: 20 Business Model Innovations for Sustainability | ['sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'sustainable-business/behaviour', 'sustainable-business/strategy', 'tone/blog', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'environment/corporatesocialresponsibility', 'business/ethicalbusiness', 'sustainable-business/series/business-model-innovation', 'type/article', 'sustainable-business/series/values-business'] | environment/corporatesocialresponsibility | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2014-04-04T13:30:02Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
news/2021/dec/14/weatherwatch-18-hour-rescue-of-fishing-boat-amid-storm-arwen | Weatherwatch: 18-hour rescue of fishing boat amid Storm Arwen | Storm Arwen will be chiefly remembered for the time it took electricity companies to restore power. But for the crew of the Tynemouth lifeboat, who reached a stricken fishing vessel drifting 70 miles off the coast, 26 November will be forever etched on their minds. Answering the fishers’ distress call that their engine had failed, the lifeboat launched at 8.45pm in the teeth of 90mph winds. In total darkness, with swells 6 metres high breaking on the deck, it took four and a half hours to reach the drifting vessel. It was not safe to try to lift the six crew off the fishing boat because of the rise and fall of the sea. There was also a danger to other shipping vessels that might collide with an unmanned 100-tonne boat. With difficulty a towrope was secured and eventually the fishing boat was hauled back to Tynemouth. The lifeboat coxswain, Michael Nugent, with 36 years’ RNLI service said, with classic understatement: “I knew we were in for a rough night.” He conceded that “among the worst conditions he had known” it was an uncomfortable journey home, but at 2.45 pm, 18 hours after the lifeboat launched, the fishing boat was towed into Tynemouth. Both crews were exhausted but safe. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'world/extreme-weather', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/paulbrown', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2021-12-14T06:00:41Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2018/aug/24/carry-the-cost-plastic-ban-levy-to-rise-to-10p-with-no-shop-spared | Carry the cost: plastic bag levy 'to rise to 10p – with no shop spared' | Ministers have been considering rolling out the plastic bag levy to all shops and doubling it to 10p. The prime minister was reportedly planning to announce the proposals next week as part of a series of measures designed to encourage the reuse of carrier bags and reduce the UK’s reliance on plastics, which are harmful to the environment. Reports in various Saturday newspapers suggested Theresa May was planning to open a consultation on the proposals to increase the charge and roll it out to all retailers, ending the exemption for those employing fewer than 250 people. Downing Street declined to confirm the reports, which appeared in the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail and the Sun on Friday night, calling them “speculation”. But May has previously spoken publicly about her desire to extend the existing scheme, which was introduced in 2015, in a bid to end what she termed Britain’s “throwaway culture”. In a speech on the environment given in January, May pledged to consult on the plan. She briefed cabinet ministers, telling them the government had a clear belief in “conserving what is good, and standing against the profligate use of resources – whether it be public money or natural resources”, her official spokesman said at the time. The plan was part of her attempts to realise the ambition of being the “first generation to leave the natural environment in a better state than we inherited”, the spokesman said. Ministers also previously announced an intention to ban the sale of plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds and plans for a deposit return scheme to increase recycling rates of drinks bottles and cans. The number of disposable carrier bags issued by the seven biggest supermarket chains has declined by 86% since the charge was introduced, official figures have shown. Donations from the bag levy to good causes totalled more than £58.5m last year, based on figures from the two-thirds of retailers that voluntarily reported the information. A consultation on using the tax system to reduce waste is already considering measures such as introducing a “latte levy” on disposable coffee cups. | ['environment/plastic-bags', 'environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/ethical-living', 'uk/uk', 'politics/theresamay', 'politics/politics', 'business/supermarkets', 'business/business', 'business/retail', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/kevin-rawlinson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-08-24T22:55:51Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jan/06/china-renewableenergy | US should exercise green power | Kevin Gallagher | To kick off 2011, the Obama administration has had the audacity to file suit at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against China's policies to build green technologies. This action is deeply flawed. The US should not try to beat China down, but should pursue its own green jobs policy and reform the WTO, so the rules allow countries to combat climate change. The United States and China are the world's largest emitters of the greenhouse gases. Together and separately, each nation should be doing all it can to develop clean technologies to mitigate and adapt to climate change. That is not how the Obama administration has seen it. Repeatedly, at United Nations climate negotiations, the US has said that it will do little to combat climate change unless China does. Moreover, the US has stated it will not provide any financial assistance to China to help reduce emissions. With no US support, China was left to its own devices. Fortunately, the government rose to the challenge. In 2009, China added more wind power than any other country, including the United States. China already has the largest solar thermal capacity in the world and now leads the world in installed renewable energy capacity. The US claims that such impressive feats have been achieved in part by the establishment of a green fund that helps firms make wind power equipment, with the stipulation that some parts be sourced from Chinese firms. If the WTO finds that China's green fund targets only specific sectors, that such funds are conditioned on sourcing to local firms, and that the funds are channelled to trade activities that harm US firms and workers, then China may indeed be found in violation of the WTO rules. But if that does prove to be the case, China should not be seen as the problem. The problem is the WTO. Every nation should be given all the policy space they need to develop technologies to mitigate and adapt to climate change in a manner that creates jobs and harnesses development. Included in that space should be precisely these types of conditional requirements that have allowed China (like the US before it) to build its domestic capacity for economic development. The use of climate-altering fossil fuels distorts trade. Subsidising alternatives can correct those distortions. Oil and coal prices seldom reflect their environmental costs and are thus overproduced. The World Bank's 2010 world development report reckons that fossil fuel subsidies amount to at least $300bn per year. If prices reflected true costs, then much less polluting trade would occur and renewable energy would be on a more even playing field. Subsidies to renewable energy, such as wind power, can help correct the distortions in the energy market and allow the world to climb the learning curve for renewable forms of energy. This brings major expansion of production and reduction in unit costs, which benefit everyone economically, including US consumers, while also saving the planet. There should be room for such market-correcting subsidies in the WTO, and such subsidies should be linked to jobs and development. As I discuss in a report with Francisco Aguayo, there may be a window at the WTO for subsidies for alternative energy. Developed countries saw to it that the subsidies agreement at the WTO left room to support research and development, regional inequality and environmental protection. This window closed in 2000, but is under review in the (stalled) round of WTO talks, and could be expanded. What is more, the record shows that nations such as Great Britain and the United States in the 19th century, and Japan and South Korea in the 20th, all used policies to foster domestic industry, as China does now, in order to promote development. Albert Cho and Navroz Dubash point out that the US rural electrification administration in the 1930s favoured domestic firms to electrify the US countryside. Today, renewable portfolio standards in certain US states that are linked to US firms may also be questionable under WTO rules. And US department of energy's support for renewables in 2010 was $3.8-$5.3bn. None of this is wrong. Such policies should be ramped up across the globe. The US is understandably concerned about lost jobs. Really, though, it should be more concerned with its own weak job-creating green investments. Rather than beating on the Chinese, the US should follow China's lead and build its own green industrial strategy. In The Audacity of Hope, Barack Obama wrote: "Indeed, countries that have successfully developed under the current international system have at times ignored Washington's rigid economic prescriptions by protecting nascent industries and engaging in aggressive industrial policies." It's time to practise what is preached. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'world/china', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/us-news', 'us-news/obama-administration', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/solarpower', 'world/wto', 'environment/green-jobs', 'environment/green-economy', 'environment/energy', 'business/energy-industry', 'tone/comment', 'us-news/us-foreign-policy', 'commentisfree/cif-green', 'world/asia-pacific', 'type/article', 'profile/kevingallagher'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2011-01-06T20:00:01Z | true | ENERGY |
global-development/2023/jan/10/banks-and-countries-pledge-10bn-to-rebuild-pakistan-after-catastrophic-floods | Banks and countries pledge over $9bn to rebuild Pakistan after catastrophic floods | The international community has promised more than $9bn (£7.4bn) to help Pakistan rebuild after last summer’s catastrophic floods, described by UN secretary general António Guterres as a “monsoon on steroids.” The pledges were made on Monday at the International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan in Geneva, Switzerland, hosted by Pakistan’s prime minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and Guterres. Sharif has said Pakistan needs a minimum of $16.3bn over the next three years to begin recovery and reconstruction, half of which will be met by domestic resources. The largest commitment on Monday – $4.2bn – came from the Islamic Development Bank Group. World Bank vice-president for South Asia, Martin Raiser, announced a $2bn contribution. Other contributors included the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Saudi Arabia, the EU, Japan and China. Heavy rains which started in June last year and continued until August caused Pakistan’s worst ever flooding, submerging one-third of the country. More than 4 million acres of agricultural land were inundated, resulting in a food crisis and huge financial losses. The disaster affected at least 33 million people, killing more than 17,000 and leaving 8 million homeless. Women and children were particularly badly affected. According to Unicef, up to 4 million children are still living near contaminated and stagnant flood waters. The number of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition in flood-affected areas nearly doubled between July and December 2022, compared with the same period in 2021, the charity reported on Monday. It also said that the number of acute respiratory infections among children has soared in flood-stricken areas. On Monday, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warned that it was seeing alarming health issues in flood-hit areas, with malaria positivity rates running at 50% in Sindh and eastern Balochistan in December, despite the colder season, when malaria infections would be expected to decline. “We are still in an emergency phase,” said Edward Taylor, MSF’s emergency coordinator in northern Sindh and eastern Balochistan. Speaking at Monday’s conference, Sharif said the world was standing at a “turning point of history”, adding: “It’s not only a question of how to survive … it’s how to maintain our dignity and honour – by moving forward with a sense of purpose and a sense of achievement.” Guterres called for help to rebuild Pakistan, declaring: “No country deserves to endure what happened to Pakistan.” He told the conference that Pakistan is doubly victimised by climate chaos and a morally bankrupt global financial system. “Above all, we need to be honest about the brutal injustice of loss and damage suffered by developing countries because of climate change. If there is any doubt about loss and damage – go to Pakistan.” Pakistan was hit by the floods at a time while already experiencing an economic crisis, and continues to face financial challenges, resulting in record-level inflation. Sharif said his government has prepared a comprehensive “4RF” framework, to strive for “recovery, rehabilitation, reconstruction and resilience”. “I want to make this statement categorically. Every penny will be used in a transparent fashion. I have put in place a third-party validation mechanism that every penny is accounted for and invested in the interests of needy people who have been badly affected by these ferocious floods,” he said. • This article was amended on 10 January 2023 to correct the figure that has been pledged. An earlier version said it was $10.5bn, but the amount of confirmed pledges is lower than that initial unofficial total. The headline and text have been changed to reflect this. | ['global-development/global-development', 'world/pakistan', 'environment/flooding', 'world/world', 'world/south-and-central-asia', 'world/unitednations', 'campaign/email/global-dispatch', 'world/extreme-weather', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/shah-meer-baloch', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2023-01-10T10:08:32Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
commentisfree/2023/apr/21/climate-despair-violence-film-how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline | When climate despair spills over into righteous violence, can that ever be right? | Natasha Walter | The new film How to Blow Up a Pipeline raises loudly the question that many protesters are asking quietly: what happens when peaceful climate protest fails? In its sympathetic depiction of a group of climate activists who set out to blow up a huge oil pipeline with homemade explosives, it gives the same answer in fiction that Andreas Malm’s 2021 book of the same name gave in nonfiction: sabotage. Its UK release could hardly be more timely. As thousands prepare to gather for Extinction Rebellion’s new wave of peaceful protests this weekend, there is a sense of desperation in the air. So much has already been tried – so many marches and choirs, sit-downs and stunts, assemblies and pickets. Yes, we will gather again. Yes, we will paint more placards. Yes, we will sing more songs. But what happens when the crowds disperse? If the government continues to talk about expanding oil, gas and coal use rather than investing in home insulation; if it continues to pursue the mantra of growth at all costs, even the cost of a stable climate and resilient ecosystems; if all those people who are going out on the streets to call for change see no shift in the direction of travel, what will they do? What is surprising about Daniel Goldhaber’s film is just how unsurprising it makes the journey of disappointed activists from peaceful campaigning into militancy. Each of the activists in this story starts out on a different path, yet while they may be impelled by rage, love, personal grievance or political conviction, the structure of the film makes their bomb-making retreat in the desert feel like an inevitable destination. Malm’s book, too, made a persuasive argument for the use of sabotage in the climate movement. His view is that while nonviolent protest is often assumed to be the key to success, history teaches that it needs to be embedded in a movement that is prepared to use violence, at least against property, to be effective. He cites various examples, including the women’s suffrage movement, to argue that the peacemakers will not inherit the Earth. The film feels close at hand, too, because sporadic sabotage against fossil fuel interests is already with us. The recent documentary film, Finite, mainly explored the stories of protesters putting their bodies on the line to protect forests and ponds, but also touched on activists who secretly destroyed equipment at a German coalmine. Goldhaber’s film was prepared through careful research into those who have taken similar actions, including Jessica Reznicek, who faces an eight-year prison sentence for vandalising the Dakota Access pipeline. Even Extinction Rebellion and related groups in the UK have used very limited, always accountable, destruction of property, such as cracked bank windows or petrol pump screens, while the Tyre Extinguishers secretly sabotage SUVs in cities. It’s hardly unreasonable, then, to suggest that much wider use of much greater violence by much less accountable individuals against much bigger targets could be on its way. But however carefully planned and executed, such a path would be unlikely to turn out to be as straightforward as it is sometimes imagined. If we are to take lessons from the past, we should be honest – history teaches us little that is clear and nothing that is certain about the right direction for the current movement. However much we admire the suffragettes, we shouldn’t forget that their militancy did cause genuine suffering, including injury and deaths of bystanders. For that cause, the end – the simple advance of women’s suffrage – is often seen to justify the means. The ends of this movement are so much more complex. The most inspiring activists today are not only saying that we should no longer put carbon into the atmosphere; they are also saying that we should build a better world, in which compassionate and regenerative solutions are centred, rather than selfish and destructive ones. That surely makes it even more essential that the behaviour modelled by activists is in line with their desired outcomes. If there were to be a turn to large-scale sabotage now, the gap between activists and the rest of society would widen. In a world dominated by divisive online debate, we might see any chance of reasoned discussion disappear into those gaps. At a time when activists who throw soup on a glass screen or block a motorway are already called terrorists and murderers on social media, how would the makers of bombs be seen, and how could their arguments be heard? Even though some of those taking to the streets this weekend may be dogged by a creeping sense of despair, in fact hope has not yet run out for the creative and complicated movement that exists today. Rather than embracing more divisive actions, the activists’ greatest potential still lies in strengthening connections. There is so much energy in the tactics being embraced by the climate movement right now, as activists expand circles of solidarity, working with ever wider networks of organisations and individuals and challenging fossil fuel interests through every peaceful means, from trespass to law to divestment. While there is still so much to do on so many fronts, more violence against property is far from inevitable. The work in hand is still more about building good things than destroying bad things. If we all come together to do that work – and there is work for everyone – there may never be a need for it. Natasha Walter is a writer and campaigner Natasha Walter is facilitating a panel discussion after the screening of How to Blow Up a Pipeline on Saturday 22 April at 6pm at the Picturehouse Central, London Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'world/protest', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/extinction-rebellion', 'film/film', 'environment/environment', 'culture/culture', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/natashawalter', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/extinction-rebellion | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2023-04-21T14:33:46Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
australia-news/2020/sep/22/morrisons-tech-roadmap-flags-more-investment-in-carbon-capture-and-storage | Morrison’s tech roadmap flags more investment in carbon capture and storage | The Morrison government will identify “clean” hydrogen, energy storage, “low-carbon” steel and aluminium, carbon capture and storage and soil carbon as priority technologies slated for investment as part of its technology roadmap. But the government is continuing to resist pressure to sign up to a target of net zero emissions by 2050 – a concrete and increasingly uncontroversial abatement target that would give its roadmap a clear destination. Ahead of the budget on 6 October, the energy minister, Angus Taylor, will on Tuesday release the first annual statement under the roadmap. It identifies the Coalition’s first five priority technologies and claims investments of “around” $18bn over 10 years. The $18bn figure includes the investment budgets of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation ($13bn), the Australian Renewable Energy Agency ($1.4bn), the emissions reduction fund ($2.9bn) and grants programs managed by the CSIRO, cooperative research centres and the Australian Research Council ($1bn). While the government last week earmarked $50m for carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects when it unveiled a planned reboot of Arena, the roadmap statement signposts more expenditure on the technology. The government is leaving open the option of developing CCS projects associated with power generation, heavy industry, hydrogen and gas production. The report will also set what Taylor terms “stretch goals”. The government set the first of these earlier this year, to get hydrogen production under $2 a kilogram. On Tuesday, Taylor will add: getting CCS, including carbon compression, transport and storage, under $20 a tonne; getting low emissions steel production under $900 a tonne and aluminium under $2,700 a tonne; getting energy storage dispatched at less than $100 a megawatt-hour; and bringing in the measurement of soil carbon at less than $3 a hectare. Further down the list of priorities are energy efficiency projects, electric and hydrogen vehicle charging/refuelling infrastructure, and what the government calls “low emissions energy system enablers”, such as virtual power plants. Virtual power plants connect large numbers of solar battery storage systems to generate electricity. A discussion paper released in May flagged examining “emerging nuclear technologies” as part of Australia’s energy mix, but Tuesday’s statement will relegate nuclear to a watching brief alongside negative emissions technologies, which are those that remove carbon pollution from the atmosphere. The roadmap identifies coal, gas, solar and wind energy as “mature” technologies, and not on the priority list. But the government is reserving the right to intervene where there is market failure, which the government defines as “a shortage of dispatchable generation, or where these investments secure jobs in key industries”. The government claims this strategy will “avoid” 250m tonnes of emissions a year by 2040. It is unclear how this projection is reached. In order to achieve its objectives, the Morrison government will need parliamentary support to overhaul the mandates of the CEFC and Arena. The strategy will also require changes to regulation. According to extracts of Taylor’s speech, the minister will tell the National Press Club on Tuesday the first report in the roadmap strategy “will not only prioritise our investments but where we will streamline regulation and legislation to encourage investment”. Labor has flagged it will vote against the government’s proposal to explicitly open up the taxpayer-owned green bank to fossil fuel investments, and the opposition has telegraphed concern about the reboot of Arena. Anthony Albanese has declared the Coalition is trying to “emasculate” the Arena by overhauling the mandate of the organisation so there is less focus on solar and wind, and more investment in hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, microgrids and energy efficiency. If Labor and the Greens oppose the shift, the government will have to run the gauntlet of the Senate crossbench. Australia’s emissions have dropped 2.2% since the Coalition was elected in 2013, according to the most recent complete government data, covering the year to March. They fell nearly 15% in the previous six years under Labor. National emissions are down 14.3% since 2005, but only 3.1% below where they were in 2000. | ['australia-news/energy-australia', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'australia-news/canberra', 'environment/energy', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'australia-news/angus-taylor', 'australia-news/coalition', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/katharine-murphy', 'profile/adam-morton', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2020-09-21T17:30:51Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2012/jun/01/wildfire-budget-cuts-warning1 | Wildfire budget cuts in Congress put communites in danger, experts warn | Fire experts are warning that $512m in congressional budget cuts could leave communities dangerously exposed in an early and active fire season. Such warnings have sharpened with the early onset of this year's fire season, and the record-setting outbreak in New Mexico. Experts fear the shortfall will leave fire crews scrambling for resources, and force government agencies to dip into other non-fire budgets to cover the gap. "A person has to wonder. Is this going to be the new norm – frequent record-setting fires, while the number of federal firefighters and air tankers continue to shrink?" wrote Bill Gabbert, a former fire management officer in the Black Hills of South Dakota who now runs the blog wildfiretoday.com. A strategic review in 2009 warned the government to step up its fire fighting capabilities to deal with an escalating rise in wildfires, covering up to 12m acres of terrain each year. "The current budget environment for federal and partner fire management is at best uncertain and difficult," the review said. It noted government agencies had already over-shot their budgets five years in a row, because of escalating wildfires. But the economic downturn and a Congress dominated by Republicans who want to shrink the role of government make it extremely complicated to divert more funds to forest fighting. Instead, funding for preventing and putting out wildfires has fallen by $512m, or about 15%, since 2010. Campaigners say that leaves the federal government agencies responsible for preventing and putting out wildfires under-funded – especially given projections suggesting a rise in wildfires over the next 20 years. They also worry the government agencies responsible for fire protection are putting capital projects on hold – such as updating its fleet of air tankers. The number of active air tankers fell from 44 to 14 over the last decade, prompting a group of western Senators to demand the government update the fleet for the coming fire season. "Concerns have increasingly been raised that the federal agencies responsible for responding to wildland fires – the Forest Service and four agencies in the department of interior – do not have the appropriate number and mix of aircraft that will be needed for wildland fire suppression operations," the letter said. Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat who raised the alarm, told reporters the federal government needed to act quickly to update the fleet for the coming seasons of bigger fires. "The alternative is to sit around and watch things burn; watch another round of infernos rip through the west," he told reporters. Fire scientists and conservationists are also demanding the government devote more funds to preventing fires, by reducing the dense forest growth that leads to the super-sized outbreaks of recent years. The forest service received $317m this year for programmes to reduce dangerous forest growth. That was down from $350m in 2010, and also represents less than one-fifth of the budget for putting out fires. "The federal government should be investing more money in fire prevention and removing hazardous fuel," said Christopher Topik, director of forest projects for the Nature Conservancy. "That is not an area where we should be reducing." | ['world/wildfires', 'world/natural-disasters', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/us-news', 'us-news/newmexico', 'tone/news', 'us-news/us-congress', 'us-news/republicans', 'type/article', 'profile/suzannegoldenberg'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-06-01T16:22:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2017/aug/31/back-to-the-future-the-zero-waste-supermarket | Bulk buy: why zero-waste supermarkets are the new, old way to shop | There is a decidedly retro feel to London’s latest attempt at a zero-waste supermarket. The produce comes stacked in glass cylinders. Arborio rice is 62p per 100g. Pumpkin seeds are 86p for the same measure, with chocolate buttons at £1.16. On the far wall: four flavours of dry dog food, stored in the same way. Adjacent to the counter, yellow, green and umber oils, in jars with spouts: tea tree, castor, almond, peppermint, and on. On a table in the middle, the breads have all been baked by local youths who are being siphoned out of gang life. Women recently released from prison have taken care of the cakes. It’s being sold as radical 21st-century eco-vanguard stuff, but the organising principle is the same as that familiar to a generation who grew up before plastics: you bring your own jars, sacks and pots, weigh what you want and cart it home. “It’s true,” says Bulk Market owner Ingrid Caldironi, 24 hours after opening on Dalston’s Kingsland Road. “Modern containers are much better though, more hygienic.” Zero waste has become a noticeable sub-tribe within the eco movement lately. Another zero waste supermarket already exists in Totnes, run by former Manchester United fullback Richard Eckersley and his wife Nicola. Caldironi was inspired to start the shop after reading a magazine article two years ago, about a woman in New York who had created practically zero-waste in four years, accumulating only enough rubbish to fill a jar in all that time. “I’m not your classic hippy,” she says. “I was normal! I worked for a big oil company, I was in marketing. But after reading the article, the more I delved into the problem, the more I realised that no one was actually solving it.” It took her a year to build up the networks, and find the funding to open this, the pop-up version of a far larger shop that she is due to open in nearby Clapton before Christmas. “That will be 100 square metres, and re-use will be built into it: my architects are going to be using discarded stage sets from the Royal Opera House.” It will also come with a beehive and a unique community composter, based on the ones that serve the Napa Valley in California. “You remember how we talked about what a problem plastic is?” a woman explains to her kids as they pick their way through the store. “I find I use less of everything because I can buy the exact right amount,” says another customer who has already been targeting zero-waste independently. She makes her own bags, which she is keen for Bulk Market to stock. For the nascent zero-waster, they stock glass jars, steel mess tins, reusable beeswax cling-film and wooden sporks. While she agrees that her stock isn’t cheap compared with Tesco, Caldironi also sees the cost advantage. “When I started living like this, I was amazed to see the difference in my bank balance of only taking what I needed.” For an era already so in love with the style tropes of the Edwardians, being back at a vintage greengrocer, drawing off olive oil from big glass jars, is on trend as well as responsible. | ['food/food', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'environment/waste', 'environment/food', 'business/supermarkets', 'business/retail', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'tone/features', 'news/shortcuts', 'tone/blog', 'type/article', 'profile/gavin-haynes', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/g2', 'theguardian/g2/features', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-g2-features'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-08-31T05:00:22Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2018/apr/04/weatherwatch-march-was-rather-chilly-but-not-a-record-breaker | Weatherwatch: March was rather chilly but not a record-breaker | Just as we were getting used to fine warm springs, with bumblebees and butterflies appearing as early as February, spring 2013 managed to surprise us – a bit like this year! It had been a cold, dry winter, with bitter easterly winds blowing for much of the time since New Year. But at the point when we expect things to get better – around the spring equinox in late March, followed soon afterwards by the clocks going forward – we were hit by a really cold snap. A high-pressure system was sitting to the east of Britain, bringing a swirl of bitter winds all the way from Scandinavia and Siberia. Sometimes these weather conditions are accompanied by clear skies, but in 2013 the clouds proved hard to budge. With already low temperatures made worse by wind chill, we shivered, while spring clothes stayed stubbornly on shop shelves or in our wardrobes. After what turned out to be the coldest March since 1962 (yes, even worse than the Big Freeze of 1963) the cold spell continued for another two weeks, finally ending in the second week of April. Snow lingered in the north, and on any high peaks, well into the spring. | ['environment/spring', 'news/series/weatherwatch', 'environment/environment', 'environment/insects', 'science/meteorology', 'environment/winter', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/stephenmoss1', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2018-04-04T20:30:29Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2013/nov/19/greenpeace-activists-arctic-30-russia-freed-bail | Nine Greenpeace activists to be freed on bail | A court in Saint Petersburg has ruled that nine Greenpeace activists can be freed on bail before their trial for hooliganism, raising hopes that the majority of the Arctic 30 will be released after two months in prison. New Zealander David Haussmann and Brazilian Ana Paula Maciel were granted release from pre-trial detention on payment of a 2m rouble (£38,000) bail surety on Tuesday morning, and as the day progressed activists from Finland, France, Italy, Argentina, Poland and Canada had bail requests approved on the same conditions. On Wednesday two of the six British citizens among the detainees, activist Alexandra Harris and freelance videographer Kieron Bryan, will have their bail requests heard. This week's decisions are the first time that Russian authorities or prosecutors have made concessions in the tough stance they have taken against Greenpeace since the 28 activists and two freelance journalists were seized in September on board the Arctic Sunrise during a protest against Arctic drilling. The group were first charged with piracy, which was later downgraded to "hooliganism as part of an organised group". This carries a maximum jail term of seven years although Greenpeace say the piracy charges have not formally been dropped. The 30 were moved from the Arctic port of Murmansk to Saint Petersburg by train this month. Three Russians among the 30 detainees were the first to have their hearings this week, and were all released on bail on Monday. Greenpeace has said it will pay the bail charges imminently, and the activists will be released when the money is transferred, possibly as soon as the end of the week. Ana Paula's mother, Rosangela Maciel, said this morning: "This is the most lovely news I've got in the last two months, but justice will only be done when all the absurd charges are dropped. A person who only does good for the planet, like my daughter, must be recognised by their actions, not unjustly accused. This is the only way we can keep the faith in the future." It is unclear how the release of the activists on bail will work, given that they are not in possession of valid Russian visas, and Greenpeace lawyers were unable to answer this question. However, the organisation says it has booked hotel rooms for those freed in Saint Petersburg. Not all of the activists are celebrating. On Monday, 59-year-old Australian citizen Colin Russell had his detention extended. His bail application was rejected and the court ruled he should remain in pre-trial detention while prosecutors worked on the charges. Kumi Naidoo of Greenpeace said: "In the space of two mornings we have had good news and bad, and the good news comes with a warning. We still have no idea what conditions our friends will endure when they are released from jail, whether they will be held under house arrest or even allowed outside. "What we do know for certain is that they are still charged and could spend years behind bars if they are convicted for a crime they did not commit. And we remain baffled and heartbroken that our colleague Colin was refused bail and sent back to prison for three months. "The Arctic 30 will not be free until every last one of them is back home with their families." Russia's Investigative Committee has said that activists who resisted arrest by the armed coastguard officers may be hit with new charges of endangering the lives of officials. Those named as being bailed on Tuesday are: Ana Paula Maciels, 31, from Brazil, Miguel Hernan Perez Orsi, 40, Argentina, David Haussmann, 49, New Zealand, Sini Saarela, 31, Finland, Paul Ruzycki, 48, Canada, Camila Speziale, 21, Argentina, Tomasz Dziemianczuk, 36, Poland, Francesco Pisanu, 38, France, Cristian D'Alessandro, 32, Italy. | ['environment/arctic-30-protesters', 'environment/greenpeace', 'environment/activism', 'environment/environment', 'world/russia', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/shaun-walker', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2013-11-19T15:00:08Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
travel/2001/jun/08/netjetters2000sam.netjetters | Week 26: Drakensberg to London | The bus dropped me off at Johannesburg airport, three hours before the flight back to London. I whiled away the time by getting lost in the terminal (I've managed this in all 15 of the airports I've been through in the last six months), and trying to get rid of my remaining rand. Boarding the plane I discovered that it was a 747, similar to the one I had taken to New York, with mini-televisions in the back of the seats and little menus and interesting things like that. This was just as well as I couldn't get to sleep during the 10-hour flight, and passed the night flicking through film after film. As we crossed the equator I was sitting awake in the dark, watching a black and white war film starring Noel Coward. We landed at Heathrow at 6am on a sunny Monday morning. Picking up my rucksack from the baggage hall, I went down the stairs and caught the Piccadilly Line into London. Despite the long flight, I was still quite cheerful. Even the grey, miserable-looking people sitting on the tube on their way to work couldn't dent my excitement. I had been all round the globe and was finally about to see my family and friends for the first time in half a year. Now, a few days later, the dust has settled. It's good to be surrounded by familiar things again but life does seem a little mundane - how could it not, when you've spent your days scaling glaciers and crossing deserts? Completely unreasonably, I rather expected to find everything had changed. But of course people are still living in the same houses, going out with the same people and doing the same jobs. For them, the last six months have passed with the day to day worries of work, the weather and paying the bills. I am completely out of touch with the news. Britain is in the middle of a general election, while the electoral system in the US looks just as confused as when I watched Bush and Gore supporters clashing outside the Supreme Court last December. I hear that in Australia, dingoes have attacked people on Fraser Island - there were no problems when I was there, although we spotted them skulking in the bush waiting for us to leave the campsite so they could scavenge for any scraps. And the situation in Zimbabwe seems to have deteriorated since I left - I remember Zimbabweans, black and white, telling me how worried they were about the future of their country. Thanks again for all your emails, not only the ones suggesting places to go but also the general messages of support and encouragement. I hope you enjoyed reading about my adventures and looking at the photos; I'm glad I could share them with you. I've been asked if going travelling helps to sort out your head. Well, I imagine it will be different for everyone, but for me I always knew that travelling in itself wouldn't provide all the answers. What it has done is open my mind to a world of new possibilities. I have seen and done things I would never have dreamed of before. I crossed America by train and Lake Malawi on an old steamboat. I dozed under palm trees in Fiji and watched the sun rise over the desert dunes of Namibia. I swam with dolphins in New Zealand and looked for lions in Zambia. That's what is so amazing about travelling: every day is different. So if you are sitting reading this at your desk as another boring day slips by, think about all the wonderful places you could be. Forget about how far away they are, the expense of getting there and whether you'll make any friends. Just pack a bag and go. If you have a journey anything like mine then I promise you won't regret it. As for my own plans for the future - well, we will have to wait and see. I'm not due to go back to work just yet and I want to spend at least the summer in London. I mean to continue with the travel writing, and maybe I'll even manage to sell a piece or two, but if that doesn't work out I have other ideas. From the first days when I gazed out from the top of the Empire State Building across a cold Manhattan night to my last watching Zulu dancers leaping in the dust against a setting sun, it's been a wonderful six months. I'm already dreaming about my next trip. | ['travel/netjetters2000sam', 'travel/netjetters', 'travel/travel', 'travel/netjettersblog', 'type/article'] | travel/netjetters2000sam | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2001-06-08T18:37:46Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
commentisfree/2022/feb/01/tory-faction-net-zero-brexit-green-policies | A new Tory faction is ‘scrutinising’ net zero – with tactics learned from Brexit | Eleanor Salter | In the final days of Theresa May’s premiership, the UK’s net-zero target, like the landmark 2008 Climate Change Act before it, entered the statute book with hardly any resistance. Well-founded complaints were made that it did not match the pace and scale required to address climate breakdown, but, as in 2008, across parliament there appeared to be an underlying consensus that “something had to be done”. Outright climate-change denial was kept to a faint background hum. Now, however, this consensus seems to be falling apart. Behind the scenes, a faction of Tory MPs is manoeuvring, Brexit-style, to systematically undermine the government’s stated climate efforts. With the Conservative party in meltdown, it looks like Britain’s net-zero policy is becoming just another political football to be kicked around the government backbenches. Make no mistake, the UK government’s current stance on the climate falls gravely short of what’s needed. The “something” that must be done has always been a matter of contentious debate, with activists and experts despairing at Tory inadequacy. The Johnson government is hailed as world-leading in setting targets, but accused of only paying lip service to – rather than ensuring real policy dividends for – decarbonisation efforts. But the newly formed Net Zero Scrutiny Group (NZSG) is launching an attack from the other end of the political spectrum. It reportedly has around 18 members in the Commons and is being run by dissident MPs Steve Baker and Craig Mackinlay, a Tory MP who was once the deputy leader of Ukip. This is hardly the first time that small Tory factions have organised to upend a whole political agenda. The NZSG appears to be modelled on the European Research Group – also chaired by Baker – whose membership in the years leading up to the EU referendum never exceeded 26 MPs, but who successfully changed the shape of European politics. Just as with Brexit, Baker is gunning for an “enormous political explosion” around net zero. The group rejects the characterisation that they are climate sceptics. Their focus is on blaming climate policy for the cost-of-living crisis, particularly soaring energy bills. They take climate “delayism” to extremes, not only arguing that we can act later, but that government should support the further exploitation of fossil fuels. Via the hashtag #CostofNetZero, members associated with the group have been making interventions across the media, calling to shelve the green levy on energy bills (which pays for insulation for those in fuel poverty and subsidises renewable energy). This totally mischaracterises the energy crisis – which is ultimately a cost-of-gas crisis, meaning major corporations have reaped billions in profits. When we should be doubling down on climate measures, such as insulation and renewable energy, as well as a windfall tax on fossil fuel companies, the NZSG is pulling lines straight out of the climate denial playbook: spreading easily refutable claims about the cost of renewables and future of fossil fuels. Their alternative solutions to the gas crisis? Antiquated proposals such as drilling for more North Sea oil and gas while bemoaning the phasing out of coal. Ultimately, anyone advocating for the continued use of oil and gas does not understand the threat that climate breakdown poses. This climate cost conspiracy is being manufactured by both internal Tory agitators and the usual suspects on the populist right. Although Nigel Farage has “retired” from politics, he is throwing his weight behind the latest incarnation of the Brexit party, Reform UK. In a piece for the Telegraph earlier this month, he wrote about Reform’s lines of attack. Two of the three are familiar: Brexit and the arrival of asylum seekers. But the third is new – the net-zero strategy, he says, is supposedly placing the UK at “a significant disadvantage”. We underestimate the Net Zero Scrutiny Group at our peril. These seemingly small configurations can hugely influence policy. Tiny cracks of “climate scepticism” have the ability to activate huge rifts in attempts to limit temperature rises to 2C. Things are so bad that “greener” MPs in the Tory party have been forced to speak out. In a direct challenge to his colleagues, Chris Skidmore has set up a “Net Zero Support Group” to keep climate hopes alive; Alok Sharma has cautioned against delayed action on climate change; while Nick Fletcher and Richard Graham have written in favour of net zero. But there is yet to be a proper crackdown on climate delayism inside the governing party. This is all compounded by the current fragility of Boris Johnson’s position. The prime minister’s perceived proximity to the net-zero strategy could mean MPs (such as those in the 100-strong Conservative Environment Network) are nervous to come out and make a strong case for net zero, lest it appear to be a vote of confidence in Johnson at this febrile time. And the two frontrunners to replace him – Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss – have questionable green credentials at best. Johnson’s fall from power could represent an opportunity to make sure the UK’s decarbonisation strategy falls off the priority list altogether. Only recently, the Treasury floated that it is reviewing the green levy on energy bills, a move that could be read as Sunak throwing a bone to the NZSG. The electorate care about climate breakdown, with concern at an all-time high last November during Cop26. But without rigorous myth-busting around the cause of high gas prices, and interventions that tackle the cost of living and emissions at the same time, the supposed “cost of net zero” could breed popular resentment that sets tackling the climate crisis even further back. Activists and opposition parties should beware – we could be entering an era in which we are not just pushing to transform promises into action, but battling to get climate on to the agenda at all. Eleanor Salter writes about climate, culture and politics | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'politics/conservatives', 'politics/politics', 'politics/boris-johnson', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/eleanor-salter', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2022-02-01T10:00:16Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/2017/jul/23/linear-parks-and-the-drive-to-ease-congestion-world-pollutionwatch | Linear parks and the drive to ease congestion | You would think that ending a traffic restriction would improve journey times, but the sudden termination of Jakarta’s high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes had the opposite effect. To use these lanes drivers required two passengers, but a trade in hiring people bought the lanes to an abrupt end last year. The traffic could spread across all lanes, but journey times and congestion increased. In fact, traffic worsened over the whole network almost immediately. Even on roads with no HOV lanes, at times when the lanes had not operated, delays increased by up to two minutes per km. The US embassy measures air quality from its roof in Jakarta. It is too early to see the changes, but we can be sure that it did not get better. In 1994, a UK government committee found that building new roads did not ease congestion. It studied many schemes, including London’s elevated Westway, which was designed to carry traffic overhead, diverting it from the roads below. Instead it was rapidly filled as people made new journeys that they could not make before. A 2006 study on three English by-passes (Polegate near Eastbourne, Newbury and the M65 round Blackburn) found similar results and anyone who uses London’s M25 can see how adding lanes has been futile. Can it work the other way round? In Seoul an elevated multi-lane expressway was removed revealing the lost Cheonggyecheon river valley without causing traffic chaos. People changed the way they travelled and the traffic went away. So can we cure our urban transport and air pollution problems by converting main roads into linear parks and cycle ways? | ['environment/series/pollutionwatch', 'environment/environment', 'environment/pollution', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/gary-fuller', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-07-23T20:30:17Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2023/dec/09/cop28-failing-climate-adaptation-finance-so-far-african-group-warns | Cop28 failing on climate adaptation finance so far, African group warns | Fair and equitable finance for climate adaptation is a matter of life and death for the African continent, but talks at Cop28 so far have failed to deliver, the chief negotiator for the African group has warned. Adaptation is being discussed as part of the global stocktake (GST), the assessment of where the world is on delivering the commitments made in the 2015 Paris agreement. The long-awaited global goal on adaptation (GGA) – a collective commitment proposed by the African group in 2013 and established under the Paris agreement – to drive political action and finance for adaptation on the same scale as mitigation, is also due to be completed in Dubai. But progress has been slow, and countries have yet to agree on measurable targets and guidelines, let alone come up with a workable framework and finance agreements that fairly reflect the burden on developing countries especially in Africa. It is unclear whether the promised outcome will be delivered, as countries have so far failed to agree on the draft text. “We are in an adaptation emergency and our vulnerable populations are suffering. The world must act and take steps to close the adaptation gap with quality financing so that Africans do not get left behind. This must be at the centre of the Cop28 outcome,” said Ephraim Mwepya Shitima, a Zambian who is head of the African group of negotiators. “Adaptation is a matter of survival for us in Africa, it is a life and death issue. We need action and finance to help us adapt with this changing climate, otherwise how will we cope with the severe droughts, the devastating storms, and the rising seas which threaten our very lives … so far we are disappointed by the lack of progress but with a few days remaining, we can still deliver.” World leaders have acknowledged the “significant” gap in funding for countrywide adaptations to climate breakdown. A recent UN report said finance for adaptation needed to reach $194-366bn (£155-290bn) a year. Yet the most recent evidence shows funding fell 15% in 2021 from the previous year, to $24.6bn. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development claims the $100bn adaptation pledge by developed countries made in 2009 was finally met this year, well over a decade later, but developing countries are calling for an independent assessment of the data. In the final few days of negotiations, African countries are pushing to ensure the final decisions on mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, and implementation – which all require climate finance – are fair and equitable. Samuel Abu Jinapor, Ghana’s minister of lands and natural resources, said: “The heart of the whole conversation about finance is the historical context of the climate catastrophe, which was largely the creation of the Industrial Revolution. The economies which developed are the same countries which continue to be major contributors to emissions. Now as we try to organise our economies to unleash the prosperity that the global north enjoys, we have been called upon to scale down, to adapt and put in place measures to contribute to the global effort mitigation.” The entire continent of Africa accounts for 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and only 2% of investment in renewable energies. There are many countries with large quantities of fossil fuels in the ground or under the seabed concentrated in the continent, which is also the region with some of the greatest development needs, debts and difficulties accessing finance. Oil, coal and gas are national assets that affect credit ratings, and therefore access to financing, so asking countries to keep the fossil fuels in the ground without anything in return is unfair and discriminatory, argue African delegates. In Ghana, some forest communities must no longer make their livelihoods from cacao because it is driving deforestation, said Jinapor. “Fair finance for adaptation, mitigation and loss and damage are absolutely key for us. We cannot transpose the same inequitable global financial architecture into climate financing, we need something different.” African countries want access to climate funding to be addressed in the GST, as well as wider reform of global finance mechanisms that favour wealthier countries. “The GST has to address the current inequalities and challenges in finance flows. Without money for implementation, any language of fossil fuels phase-out or phase-down will make a good headline but will be meaningless on the ground because countries will not be able to deliver,” said Mohamed Nasr, Egypt’s chief negotiator. As the US, UK, EU and fossil fuel industry push for any text on fossil fuel phase-out or phase-down in the GST to be qualified as unabated, developing countries including African nations are sounding the alarm. “Allowing ‘abated’ fossil fuels will mean developed countries which can afford expensive carbon capture technologies can keep expanding, while discriminating against developing countries who can’t,” said Nasr. African nations have also been vocal in the Just Transition programme, which was established at Cop27 in Egypt, pushing for a broader focus that connects climate action and finance with sustainable development. This has met resistance from big economies including the US, EU, UK, Canada and Australia, the Guardian has learned. “Fossil fuel phase-out is the most important thing in Dubai. The expansion of renewables doesn’t matter if the phase-out isn’t centred on justice and equity. If it is, then there will be no blocking from the African group or least developed countries. But fairness for poorer countries must be in the language,” said Mohamed Adow, the director of the climate and energy thinktank Power Shift Africa. “There’s no guarantee that just tripling renewables will result in a decrease of fossil fuels. That is why it needs to go hand in hand with a fossil fuel phase-out date.” | ['environment/cop28', 'global-development/climate-finance', 'environment/environment', 'world/africa', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/climate-aid', 'world/ghana', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/nina-lakhani', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/climate-aid | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2023-12-09T11:50:05Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
us-news/2018/dec/19/hacked-eu-cables-hailed-trump-meeting-as-success-for-putin | Russia may have nuclear arms in Crimea, hacked EU cables warn | Brussels has launched an investigation into the apparent hacking of the EU’s diplomatic communications network after thousands of sensitive cables were made public, including descriptions of Donald Trump as a “bully” and Crimea as a “hot zone” where nuclear weapons may be present. The dump of confidential cables on a public site laid bare the concerns of EU diplomats and officials over the Trump administration and its dealings with Russia and China. Among the reports made public was a warning on 8 February that Crimea had been turned into a “hot zone where nuclear warheads might have already been deployed”. Russia illegally annexed the Ukrainian territory in 2014. In public, neither the EU nor the US has suggested there is any evidence of the presence of nuclear weapons. The EU’s secretariat said in response to the first report of the leak in the New York Times that it was “aware of allegations regarding a potential leak of sensitive information” and was “actively investigating the issue”. The European commission’s vice president, Valdis Dombrovskis, a former prime minister of Latvia, said there was every “institution or country” was vulnerable to such attacks but he declined to comment on the leaks. Much of the content of the cables merely confirmed publicly stated worries in Brussels about the Trump administration, and the descent of the world’s rules-based order, but the security breach will be a major concern. According to one note, European diplomats described July’s meeting in Finland between Trump and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, as “successful (at least for Putin)”. In a press conference after the meeting, Trump had gone off-script. He appeared to offer the Russians the opportunity to question US intelligence agents in exchange for US interrogation of Russians indicted by the special counsel, Robert Mueller, who is investigating claims of collusion between the Trump presidential campaign and Moscow. According to a 20 July note, White House officials subsequently assured the EU that Trump’s agreement would be “nipped down”. A second cable, detailing a discussion held on 16 July between European officials and Xi Jinping, quotes the Chinese president as comparing Trump’s “bullying” of his government over trade to a “no-rules freestyle boxing match”. The account further quoted the Chinese president vowing that his country “would not submit to bullying” from the US, “even if a trade war hurt everybody”. “China was not a backward country any more,” the European diplomat noted Xi as saying. A cable in March quoted EU officials speaking of “messaging efforts” to mitigate “the negative attitude to the EU [of the Trump administration] in the beginning, which had created a lot of insecurity”. Caroline Vicini, the deputy head of the EU mission in Washington, suggested that diplomats from member states continued to describe the US as “our most important partner”. The cable also recommended bypassing Trump by dealing with Congress. The notes, covering three years of diplomatic activity, had apparently been posted online by hackers, where they were discovered by a security company called Area 1, who passed the information on to the New York Times. The newspaper said the techniques deployed by the hackers resembled those used by a unit of China’s People’s Liberation Army. The leaked cables, of which 1,100 were passed to the New York Times, were only ‘restricted’ documents, however, rather than the EU’s most secretive communications which are held on a different network The hackers are also said to have infiltrated the networks of the UN during the months in 2016 when North Korea was launching missiles. References are reportedly made to confidential meetings of the UN secretary general, António Guterres, with leaders in south-east Asia. Blake Darche, co-founder of Area 1, said he believed that tens of thousands more such documents have been stolen. “We estimate that the ones we found are a small fraction of the overall operation,” he said. “From what we can see, the EU has a significant problem on their hands.” | ['world/eu', 'us-news/donaldtrump', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'world/vladimir-putin', 'technology/hacking', 'technology/technology', 'world/china', 'world/asia-pacific', 'world/ukraine', 'world/crimea', 'world/russia', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/daniel-boffey', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | technology/hacking | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2018-12-19T12:17:04Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2017/oct/11/nus-leader-robbie-young-students-lay-down-your-straws | NUS campaigner Robbie Young: students, lay down your straws | Robbie Young has had enough. “We’re surrounded by plastic straws. 500 million of them are used and discarded every day in the United States alone, with fatal consequences for the wildlife that swallows them. As young people we have a responsibility to do something about that.” Young is the vice president of society and citizenship at the National Union of Students (NUS), which has just launched #TheLastStraw campaign to encourage students and their unions to pledge to stop using single-use plastic straws. The initiative is the latest of a string of moves reduce our consumption of single-use plastic items such as water bottles, plastic bags and coffee cups. High-street pub chain Wetherspoon’s announced in September it will stop using plastic straws by the end of this year and campaigns are underway for companies such as McDonald’s and Tesco to follow suit. Last year, Tesco committed to ban the sale of plastic-stemmed cotton buds – the most common litter from toilets flushed on to the country’s beaches – by the end of 2017. While we don’t yet know the full extent of the impact of plastics and microplastics – plastic debris less than five millimeters in length – we do know that marine animals including fish, whales and seabirds are confusing microplastics for food, with potentially fatal consequences. In terms of human health, many of the chemicals used in plastics are toxic or hormone disruptors. A recent investigation by Orb Media found microplastic contamination in tap water around the world, leading to calls from scientists for urgent research into the health implications. “As a younger generation we’re very quick to blame older generations when it comes to questions about our future, but how are we going to explain to generations to come that we ruined our oceans for a straw or a cup of coffee,” says 29-year-old Young. As well as encouraging students and student union bars to ditch plastic straws, Young says the NUS can use the collective purchasing power of NUS Services, the commercial arm of the NUS which bulk buys supplies for union bars, to source metal and paper straw alternatives. Students can play a vital role in driving sustainability, according to Andrew Taylor, co-director of campaigns and communications at People & Planet. “Students have been campaigning for decades for a sustainable world and reducing plastic waste has been part of that for a long time. Some campuses have shown real leadership, like Leeds which has banned plastic bottles. Without students making noise on the ground, not much changes in many institutions.” Follow Guardian Students on Twitter: @GdnStudents. For graduate career opportunities, take a look at Guardian Jobs. | ['environment/plastic', 'education/students', 'education/education', 'education/higher-education', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tone/features', 'profile/tess-riley', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-professional-networks'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-10-11T13:48:51Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
business/2010/jul/27/vedantaresources-mining | Vedanta rejects Amnesty International claims of human rights abuses | Mining company Vedanta today dismissed as "incorrect" an Amnesty International report that accused the firm of human rights abuses and damaging the environment. Chief executive MS Mehta claimed Amnesty had "jumped to the wrong conclusions" and that Vedanta was "very strong on sustainable development". His remarks come ahead of tomorrow's annual meeting of shareholders in London which is expected to draw protests from campaigners in support of people in the eastern Indian state of Orissa. Critics of Vedanta claim the company has ridden roughshod over the rights of the Dongria Kondh tribe, evicting people without compensation and building an alumina refinery that has leaked effluent into local rivers. The company has also been the target of a three-year campaign by groups that oppose its plans to construct a bauxite mine in Orissa's Niyamgiri hills, considered "sacred" by the Kondh. But Mehta said that in conjunction with the regional authorities, Vedanta held 16 public meetings about its plans to build the mine and expand its refinery and that several thousand people had signed up to its proposals. "All 121 villagers who were moved following the development of our refinery have been rehoused in superior quarters with running water and given the opportunity to work for the company. We have paid them compensation above the figure recommended by government agencies and retrained family members who are able to work." Mukesh Kumar, head of Vedanta's eastern region, said parts of Orissa are very poor, with people living on $110 (£70) a year. Illness was rife, including scabies, sickle cell anaemia, malaria and tuberculosis. "Mistakenly, protesters pin these serious diseases on the company and its refinery, but our operations are very safe. There are no leakages into the environment and we recycle our own waste." Kumar said the proposed mining project was initiated by the Indian authorities after they identified the Niyamgiri hills as rich in natural resources and a region that could benefit from economic development. Vedanta says it has improved health and education in Orissa, helping to construct health care amenities, schools and community centres. It is "a myth" that the Kondh will become extinct if an area of the hills is cleared for a new mine, the company adds. The project has been held up for three years after complaints lodged with the Indian supreme court. Vedanta has been the target of protests from groups such as Action Aid and Survival International. Amnesty International said it stood by its report last year that alleged river pollution, damage to crops and ill health caused by Vedanta's operations. A spokesman for Survival International said: "Vedanta should halt its business in the region and postpone further development pending the outcome of talks with local people; their wishes should be respected in accordance with international guidelines. The [proposed] mine will destroy the forests on which the Kondh depend and wreck the lives of thousands." Several organisations, including the Church of England and the charitable Joseph Rowntree Trust, have disinvested from Vedanta over the treatment of the Kondh tribe. The company has also drawn fire over the deaths of 41 people after a chimney collapsed at an aluminium plant which it operates with the Indian government in the country's central region. In the past, the company has rejected claims that it cuts corners on safety or that it is responsible for accidents. In the City, some analysts refuse to cover Vedanta, alleging that its corporate structure is too complex and that the firm is insufficiently transparent. Last year it chalked up record profits after the price of base metals soared. The company is the world's biggest miner of zinc and also produces copper, lead and iron ore. Campaigners are supported by showbusiness personalities such as Bianca Jagger and Michael Palin who have sent messages of support to protesters. Palin said: "I've been to the Niyamgiri hills in Orissa and seen the forces of money and power that Vedanta Resources have arrayed against a people who have occupied their land for thousands of years." | ['business/vedantaresources', 'business/mining', 'world/indigenous-peoples', 'world/amnesty-international', 'world/india', 'business/business', 'world/world', 'environment/environment', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/richardwachman', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3'] | environment/endangered-habitats | BIODIVERSITY | 2010-07-27T17:02:00Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2018/mar/21/loopholes-in-queenslands-new-land-clearing-laws-would-allow-broadscale-razing | Loopholes in Queensland's new land-clearing laws 'would allow broadscale razing' | The Queensland Environmental Defenders Office says proposed new land-clearing laws in the state leave loopholes that would allow broadscale clearing of high-value conservation land to continue. The group will on Thursday lodge a submission supporting the Palaszczuk government’s vegetation management laws, but urging amendments. In particular, the office is concerned the new legislation would allow landholders to continue to clear high conservation value vegetation based on land maps that were “locked in” under the current regulations. Queensland is responsible for more land clearing than the rest of the country combined. Rates of clearing surged when the state’s former premier Campbell Newman promised to scrap restrictions, which his Liberal National party government did in December 2013. Those rates increased dramatically again, including heavy losses in Great Barrier Reef catchments, where the Palaszczuk government indicated it would attempt to restore protections during its first term. Laws were introduced to parliament in 2016 but were defeated at the time. Annastacia Palaszczuk has promised the new plan will “end broadscale clearing in Queensland”. But the Environmental Defenders Office, which supports the laws and says they are a “reasonable first step”, has warned that clearing would continue without measures to force landowners to amend maps that designated “category X” land – areas that were exempt from regulation. With new laws looming, agricultural groups have encouraged land owners to “lock in” their property maps designating “category X” land under the current framework. The proposed new laws will not compel farmers and other landholders to redraw those maps to reflect more stringent environmental requirements for clearing. The Environmental Defenders Office Queensland chief executive officer, Jo-Anne Bragg, said without measures to redraw property maps “these reforms will be ineffective”. “A lot of Queensland is covered by [locked-in property maps]. We don’t know how many hundreds and thousands of hectares in Queensland is classified as category X,” Bragg said. Bragg said voters expected the government would fully wind back the Newman era regulations, but the current proposal did not completely do that. The laws tighten the definition of “thinning”, which can involve clearing of up to 75% of vegetation, and require than any thinning must “maintain ecological processes and prevent loss of diversity”. But the Environmental Defenders Office says thinning has no scientific justification and should “no longer be an allowable activity by permit or code, particularly not for mature and high-value regrowth vegetation”. Bragg said many pastoralists had expressed concern about land-clearing rates and agreed the regulations needed to change. Committee hearings on the bill will be held on Friday, a day after submissions are due, with a report due back in parliament by 23 April. | ['environment/logging-and-land-clearing', 'australia-news/queensland', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/queensland-politics', 'australia-news/annastacia-palaszczuk', 'australia-news/rural-australia', 'australia-news/labor-party', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'environment/deforestation', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/ben-smee', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/logging-and-land-clearing | BIODIVERSITY | 2018-03-21T07:01:47Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2017/mar/15/renewables-roadshow-community-owned-windfarm-daylesford-hepburn-australia | Renewables roadshow: how Daylesford's community-owned windfarm took back the power | From the fertile spud-growing country of Hepburn Shire, 90km northwest of Melbourne, has sprung what many hope will become a revolution in renewable energy in Australia. On Leonards Hill, just outside the town of Daylesford – famed for its natural springs – stand two wind turbines that not only power the local area, but have also added substantial power to the community-owned renewable energy movement in Australia. The turbines, cheesily called Gusto and Gale, constitute the very first community-owned windfarm in Australia. It borrows the idea from a long tradition of community-owned power that was forgotten in Australia, but lives on strongly in Denmark. “In Denmark there’s over 2,100 versions of this,” says Taryn Lane, the community manager for Hepburn Wind, the cooperative that owns and operates the windfarm. “Their model – this way of owning your own energy generator locally – emerged in the late 70s, so they have been doing it for decades.” . It was at a community meeting for a large corporate-owned windfarm, like the one near Hepburn, that the idea for Hepburn Wind emerged. Strong community opposition, often encouraged by the fossil fuel industry, has at times been a roadblock for large windfarms built by traditional energy companies. Lane says the Danish founder of Hepburn Wind, Per Bernard, attended the meeting with a few people from Daylesford, and they saw the community express a lot of opposition to one of those projects. “They were quite disappointed that that was our local area’s first response to large-scale renewables development in the area,” Lane says. Bernard figured that if they adopted the Danish model, where the windfarm was smaller, and the local community owned it, support for clean, clean wind energy would grow. The idea of communities owning their own power generators is not new in Australia, according to Lane, it’s just been forgotten. That was the way electricity was first introduced into much of the country, with smaller decentralised generators, owned by the local communities. The mayor of Hepburn Shire, Sebastian Klein agrees. “Hepburn actually used to own its own power generating sources. We used to have our own generator in the main street of Daylesford [and] we used to have our own hydro station down at the lake,” he says. “So for people it was quite an obvious step that we might be able to take back the power so to speak.” Lane says: “It’s ironic now that there is this broader push back to that more decentralised system.” And Bernard turned out to be right. Hepburn Wind began construction in 2010 and started selling power in 2011. And the group had overwhelming local support. “We are a cooperative of 2,007 members,” says Lane. “They’ve contributed just under $10m.” The majority of the investors are from the local region, something the cooperative has written into its rules. Paul Howden is one of them. As with most investors in community-owned renewable energy, his motivations were a mix of hard-nosed financial ones, and the desire to do a bit of good. “Partly, obviously because it’s a renewable energy project,” he says, explaining his investment. “But also because we thought it was a good and wise investment for our super fund. “This is a win-win for both the environment [and] the community.” One of the things that made him confident that the project was a good investment, he says, was the level of community support it received, and the passion of the people running it. But beyond the construction of the 4.1MW windfarm – enough to power about 2,300 households – Hepburn Wind pioneered the modern large-scale community-ownership model of renewable energy in Australia, which is now being replicated around the country. Simon Holmes à Court was the founding chairman of Hepburn Wind. And after spending years developing a model that worked, and navigating the various logistical potholes in getting it up and running, he set up Embark, a non-profit company dedicated to helping other community energy projects adopt the Hepburn model. Several projects around the country have received advice and support from Embark, including Pingala, which gathered locals in Sydney’s Newtown to build a solar array on the top of a brewery, and the Sydney Renewable Power Company, which recently built Australia’s largest CBD solar farm. But back in Hepburn shire, not satisfied with the windfarm, the residents are expanding the renewables in their area. By a picturesque lake in Daylesford, where locals go to swim and cool off, is an antique hydro generator, which used to power a few homes around the lake, and the lake’s lights. “It kept the lake area electrified,” says Lane. It was shut down in 1934, and has lain dormant ever since. But Hepburn Wind cooperative figured they could refurbish it, and pour even more clean energy into the grid. In February, that was made possible when the energy retailer that buys Hepburn Wind’s electricity – Powershop – announced it had crowdfunded more than $100,000 for community-owned renewable energy projects, and one project that would receive a slice of it was Hepburn Wind’s hydro project. “The original size was 13kWs or just under,” says Lane. “And we will look to somewhere between there and maybe up to 40kWs if we can put a side-by-side motor next to it.” She says that will be enough to power about eight to 12 houses – not a huge amount, but it’s an easy win. And with Hepburn shire adding its name to a growing list of councils shooting to reduce their emissions to zero, every bit counts. Says Lane: “At Hepburn Wind we really want to play our role in helping our community reach zero net emissions.” | ['environment/series/renewables-roadshow', 'environment/environment', 'environment/energy', 'technology/technology', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/windpower', 'weather/victoria', 'environment/solarpower', 'australia-news/victoria', 'australia-news/victorian-politics', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/business-australia', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/michael-slezak', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2017-03-15T00:58:13Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2022/jun/07/food-strategy-for-england-likely-to-be-watered-down | Food strategy for England likely to be watered down | The government is expected to water down its upcoming food strategy for England, ignoring the ambitious recommendations proposed in two government-commissioned reports, campaigners say. The white paper, due later this month, was supposed to be a groundbreaking plan to tackle the nature and climate emergencies in response to eye-catching recommendations urged by the restaurateur Henry Dimbleby in his reports. Campaigners also expected it might tackle the obesity crisis, by making healthy food more accessible, including expanding free school meals. There were hopes that there would be a food bill introduced, bringing measures such as the reporting of nutritional content in food served in schools and hospitals into law. Experts consulted on the strategy pushed for a reduction in intensive animal agriculture and mandatory reporting for retailers on how much animal protein, compared with plant protein, they sell. This, they said, has become even more crucial considering the cost of living crisis, and the war in Ukraine putting pressure on international food supply chains. However, those who have been working with the government on the strategy say that none of this is happening, and any points critical of the government such as its record on poverty will be removed. There will also be no food bill, so none of the recommendations will be enshrined in law. Even measures on child obesity already announced, such as the junk food advertising ban, are likely to be watered down, delayed or removed altogether after pressure from a small group of rightwing backbenchers, those familiar with the report said. The independent National Food Strategy, drawn up by Dimbleby, was commissioned in 2019 by the then environment secretary, Michael Gove, and has produced two reports. Rob Percival, head of food policy at the Soil Association, said: “We worked closely with Henry and the team throughout the process to shape his recommendations. I can’t say we are hugely confident we are going to see an ambitious response from the government or even an adequate response to be honest. “The government’s already said they’re not going to offer a food bill, which is hugely disappointing. This would have been a way to bring recommendations into law. We don’t have any confidence the government is going to follow through on our recommendations.” Ambitious measures have been proposed by experts, including a change in where people get their protein. Greenpeace has called for a shift towards plant-based protein, and the Soil Association agrees, arguing that any meat should be produced in a regenerative system, with more land being used to grow crops for human consumption rather than to be fed to animals or used for intensive animal agriculture. Rebecca Newsom, head of politics at Greenpeace UK, said: “Our long-term food security relies on a healthy natural environment and resilient soils, with wide reductions in agro-chemicals, a 70% cut in meat and dairy production and consumption by 2030, and land used efficiently to produce healthy, largely plant-based food for people, rather than grains for animal feed or crops for biofuels. “To achieve this, land that can grow food directly for people should be used for that purpose, and much more financial and technical support is needed for farmers to transition to sustainable methods.” Percival agreed, adding: “We are wasting so much grain, feeding it to animals in intensive farm systems, when we are in a cost of living crisis. A sustainable system would require us to eat less, better quality meat and more unprocessed plant proteins like beans and pulses.” However, it is understood that this recommendation will not be included in the strategy and instead all changes other than those already covered by the already-announced environmental land management schemes (ELMS) will be voluntary. Ben Reynolds, deputy chief executive of farming NGO Sustain, said: “Any government food strategy that fails to deal adequately with both the cost of living and the climate and nature crisis will be woefully inadequate. “Government intervention is needed to achieve a secure and sustainable food system that makes good food available and affordable for everyone, while supporting farmers and businesses to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and restore nature. What we fear will be a small shopping basket of measures designed to grab headlines for the PM while achieving little for our families, health or the environment.” Dimbleby declined to comment, and Defra did not respond to a request for comment. | ['environment/farming', 'environment/food', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/soil', 'society/obesity', 'uk-news/england', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment', 'business/cost-of-living-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/helena-horton', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-06-07T11:47:59Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2023/feb/23/miners-killed-in-open-pit-coalmine-collapse-in-north-china | At least six killed in open-pit coalmine collapse in north China | At least six people have died and dozens more are missing after an open-pit coalmine collapsed in Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region in north China. One of the walls of the mine caved in at about 1pm local time on Wednesday, burying workers in tonnes of rocks and sand. Another collapse occurred five hours later, forcing the rescue operation to halt. The search resumed on Thursday morning, with fireengines, SUVs, bulldozers and rescue dogs being mobilised from across the province. About 900 government-approved rescue workers were at the scene, and residents in the area had been sent to a neighbouring town. President Xi Jinping called for “all-out efforts in search and rescue” and the maintenance of “social stability”. An investigation into the cause of the disaster was under way. Drone footage suggested the pile of debris left by the collapse was about 500 metres long. The mine is operated by Inner Mongolia Xinjing Coal Industry. Last year the company was fined for several safety violations, including insecure routes in and out of the mine and unsafe storage of volatile materials. In June 2022, two workers were found to be working in the mine without the correct certification. The company has also been involved in hundreds of lawsuits relating to unpaid debts between 2014 and 2022, according to state media. It has yet to issue a statement about the disaster. Inner Mongolia is one of China’s top three coal-producing regions. Along with Shanxi and Shaanxi, it produces 90% of the country’s coal. In recent years the government has pushed for more output from the industry in an effort to boost GDP and stockpile fuel reserves. Last year China produced a record 4.5bn tonnes of coal, a 9% increase on 2021. As companies seek to boost productivity and cut costs, accidents remain common. In July a coalmine in neighbouring Gansu province collapsed, killing 10 people and injuring six others. In recent years the government has put a greater emphasis on the enforcement of safety regulations and forced some smaller mines that lack appropriate safety equipment to close. There were 356 mining accidents in 2021, down from 434 in 2020, according to official statistics. | ['world/china', 'environment/coal', 'environment/mining', 'world/world', 'world/asia-pacific', 'business/mining', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/amy-hawkins', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/mining | ENERGY | 2023-02-23T13:42:48Z | true | ENERGY |
business/2010/oct/19/bp-link-pay-to-safety | BP to link pay to safety after Gulf oil disaster | BP is to link staff bonuses just to improvements in safety standards in its fourth quarter, in an attempt to improve its reputation after the Gulf of Mexico disaster. Bob Dudley, BP's new chief executive, announced the move in an email to employees seen by the Wall Street Journal. He said the sole criterion for judging performance in the fourth quarter would be "each business's progress in reducing operational risks and achieving excellent safety and compliance standards". The oil company, still reeling from the Gulf spill and accusations that it put profit before safety, is reviewing whether its executive bonus scheme puts sufficient weight on its safety record. BP's last annual report said "key safety measures" accounted for 15% of bonuses but 70% was for financial and operational targets. Dudley, who replaced Tony Hayward last month, marked his arrival by ousting the head of exploration and production and announcing a major restructuring to give safety a higher priority. This included setting up a new safety division with powers to intervene in operations. BP is also carving up the exploration division, which industry insiders say has become a semi-autonomous unit, and reviewing its use of contractors in light of the disaster, the worst oil spill in American history. Its rival, Royal Dutch Shell, has long linked bonuses to safety, while Exxon Mobil is known to insist on compliance. Some American commentators want BP barred from drilling in the US in future. With 40% of its assets there, such a move could cripple the company. Some U.S. lawmakers have argued the oil spill, a refinery blast in 2005, and Alaskan oil spills in 2006, reflect a corporate culture that encouraged managers to put profits before safety. "Bob Dudley, the new CEO, is determined to mend the company's fences with the current US administration," said David Buik, at BGC Partners. While BP finally managed to cap the burst oil well in the Gulf in July, the group is expected to feel the consequences of the disaster – the reputational damage – for a long time to come. It pulled out of plans to bid for a licence to drill in Arctic waters off the Greenland coast, fearing that it would be too controversial. Meanwhile, BP told a US court today that it would waive the legal cap on its liability from the Gulf spill, which could have limited the cost to the firm to $75m (£48m) plus clean-up costs. BP has already paid out hundreds of millions of dollars to fisherman, retailers, charter boat captains and property owners who were hit by the spill. The company has publicly committed to pay clean-up costs and all "legitimate claims," rather than applying the cap. Under pressure from the Obama administration, the firm has established a $20bn compensation fund, but a slew of lawsuits also have been brought against BP. At a court hearing on the lawsuits on Friday, BP created confusion about its stance on the liability cap. It did not commit to waiving the cap at the hearing, as many plaintiffs' attorneys had expected, and said in a statement then that the cap "is not relevant". Steve Herman, a Louisiana attorney leading hundreds of lawsuits against BP and its partners, said: "BP lawyers wouldn't say on the record they would waive the cap. It certainly took everyone by surprise." In Mon's filing at the US district court in Louisiana, BP said it would waive the liability cap. BP also urged other defendants in the case, including the rig owner Transocean Holdings, Anadarko Petroleum and MOEX Offshore, to waive the liability cap, according to the filing. BP also said it reserved the right to seek reimbursement from the other defendants and denied engaging in grossly negligent conduct, which would open the door to potentially huge punitive damages. | ['business/bp', 'business/oilandgascompanies', 'business/energy-industry', 'business/oil', 'business/business', 'environment/bp-oil-spill', 'environment/oil', 'world/world', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'business/bob-dudley', 'type/article', 'profile/juliakollewe', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3'] | environment/oil | ENERGY | 2010-10-19T17:03:00Z | true | ENERGY |
lifeandstyle/2020/mar/23/we-laughed-as-we-touched-it-and-our-friendship-began | 'We laughed as we touched it – and our friendship began' | This baobab is in Sudan, near the Kalma camp in South Darfur, which houses more than 170,000 people who have fled conflict in the region. It represents a remarkable week in my life. I am the roving correspondent for the refugee organisation Alight and last November I was at Kalma to document a group of small projects called Changemakers 365. I was staying at a guest house in Nyala, about 17km (11 miles) from the camp. Every day, I would drive to Kalma with my Sudanese colleague Mohammed, and as we passed this tree we would talk about how amazing it was, standing alone and strong, unfazed by the hot sun. At the end of the week, we walked out into the field to see it up close. We laughed as we touched it – and that was the start of a beautiful friendship. It was a small moment, but an important one. Tell us about your favourite tree by filling in the form. | ['lifeandstyle/series/tree-of-the-week', 'environment/forests', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'environment/environment', 'world/sudan', 'world/africa', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/g2', 'theguardian/g2/features', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-g2-features'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-03-23T08:00:30Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2017/sep/18/hurricane-maria-intensifies-category-4-caribbean | Caribbean faces fresh devastation as Hurricane Maria hits islands | The Caribbean island of Dominica has been “brutalised and devastated” by category 5 Hurricane Maria, the prime minister of the country has said. The eyewall of the hurricane barrelled into Dominica’s eastern coast on Monday evening, crossing towards the former British colony’s capital, Roseau, on the south-west side. Hurricane Maria had intensified into a category 5 storm as it moved towards Dominica. It was reclassified as a category 4 as it moved away from the island. It is expected to hit the eastern Caribbean islands still working to provide basic food, water and health services to the regions hard hit by Hurricane Irma. The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the “major hurricane” was producing maximum sustained winds of 155 miles per hour and would strengthen further over the next two days, remaining “extremely dangerous” as it approaches the British Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Roosevelt Skerrit, the prime minister of Dominica, experienced the force of the hurricane first hand. He posted on his official Facebook page that the wind had ripped the roof off his house and wrote he was “at the complete mercy of the hurricane”. After he was rescued from the property, he told Caracas-based TV station Telesur that the island had been “brutalised” and “devastated” by Maria. “In the morning we will know how many dead there are,” he said. In a later post to Facebook Skerrit said damage to the island was “mindboggling” and that winds had swept roofs from houses “of almost every person I have spoken to.” “My focus now is in rescuing the trapped and securing medical assistance for the injured. We will need help, my friend, we will need help of all kinds.” Earlier, residents of the island, which escaped Hurricane Irma, had flocked to supermarkets to stock up on essentials as officials warned people living in low-lying areas or along rivers to move to high ground. The island’s airport and ports were closed, and the local water company shut down its systems to protect its intake valves from debris churned up by the storm. The government opened all shelters. Late on Monday, a police official, inspector Pellam Jno Baptiste, said there were no immediate reports of casualties but it was still too dangerous for officers to do a full assessment as the storm raged outside. “Where we are, we can’t move,” he said in a brief phone interview. “It’s really a desperate situation,” said Chamberlain Emanuel, head of the environment commission at the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OESC). In a telephone interview from St Lucia, Emanuel said the incoming storm threatened to slow the recovery from Irma. The scale of the destruction left by that hurricane is becoming clearer by the hour as communications systems are restored across the region. “We’re trying to be resilient but the vulnerability is just too high,” he said. Irma, also a category 5 hurricane, left about 40 people dead in the Caribbean before veering towards Florida, where at least 20 people died. The NHC warned Hurricane Maria could produce a “dangerous storm surge accompanied by large and destructive waves” that would raise water levels by as much as 9ft (2.7 metres) as it approached approached the French territory of Guadeloupe, the base for relief operations for several islands devastated by Irma this month. Islanders on nearby Martinique were ordered to stay indoors under a maximum-level “violet” alert. And the energy supplier EDF said power had been cut off from 10,000 homes on the island, which has a population of 400,000. Up to 20in of rain could drench the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico and the US and British Virgin Islands through Wednesday night – conditions that could cause life-threatening floods and mudslides. Officials in Puerto Rico warned residents of wooden or otherwise flimsy homes to find safe shelter. “You have to evacuate. Otherwise you’re going to die,” said Hector Pesquera, the island’s public safety commissioner. “I don’t know how to make this any clearer.” Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia and the British island of Montserrat are also on alert. Emanuel said the region needed help from the entire international community because the small islands have few resources. “The force of the wind from that category 5-plus storm was really something that was unprecedented and they were not ready for,” he said. Criticised for the pace of relief efforts in their overseas territories devastated by Irma, Britain, France and the Netherlands said they were boosting resources for the Caribbean as Maria approached. “We are planning for the unexpected, we are planning for the worst,” said Chris Austin, head of a UK military taskforce set up to deal with Irma, as the British Virgin Islands readied for the storm. On the island of St Martin, which is split between France and the Netherlands, the Red Cross flew in 11 tonnes of aid from the Dutch mainland on Sunday, including urgently needed materials to replace roofs ripped off by Irma. Although Hurricane Irma did not make landfall on mainland Puerto Rico, its after effects are still being felt. For some, the electricity returned just a few days after the storm, while others in neighbourhoods like Old San Juan, Miramar and Hato Rey have only just had their power turned on over the weekend and some still have no power at all. In Santurce, one of the biggest neighborhoods in San Juan, residents could be seen on Monday preparing for the latest storm, tying down and securing large potted plants and satellite dishes, and preparing wooden boards that will eventually protect the windows of homes and businesses. Gas stations began to get busy over the afternoon with four or five cars waiting at every pump. The local Walmart was crowded with people stocking up on water, soft drinks, chips, canned food and batteries. | ['world/hurricane-maria', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/hurricane-irma', 'weather/caribbean', 'world/dominica', 'world/saint-kitts-and-nevis', 'world/world', 'world/stlucia', 'world/montserrat', 'us-news/puerto-rico', 'world/british-virgin-islands', 'world/americas', 'weather/index/northandcentralamerica', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'world/caribbean', 'profile/amanda-holpuch', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-foreign', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | world/hurricane-maria | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2017-09-19T00:07:56Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2020/may/19/renewable-energy-investors-increasingly-look-to-uk-says-report | Renewable energy investors increasingly look to UK, says report | The UK has become more attractive to renewable energy investors following the government’s decision to lift its block on financial support for onshore wind and solar projects. Britain has climbed the rankings of a biannual global survey of investors to take the sixth spot in EY’s “attractiveness index” for renewable energy ahead of a major clean energy auction next year. The auditing giant said the government’s decision to include onshore wind and solar energy projects in the auction had helped the UK climb one rung on the rankings list, to just below Germany, Australia, France, China and the US. The US topped the rankings for the first time since 2016 – in spite of the federal government’s ongoing support for fossil fuels – in large part due to plans to invest $57bn (£47bn) to install up to 30GW of offshore wind by 2030. China has fallen from the top of the rankings to second place as Beijing looks to wean the market off subsidies, and the coronavirus pandemic cut its growing appetite for energy. “Certainly, renewable energy is not immune to the economic disruption being wrought,” said Ben Warren, the author of EY’s report. “But many of these effects are likely to be short-term. Already, manufacturers in China and Europe are restarting production. Utilities have worked hard to keep generation going in difficult circumstances. And power demand will rebound as economies get back to work.” He said investors remain confident in “the long-term picture for clean energy”. “The need, after the pandemic, to ensure greater economic and social resilience will work in favour of distributed power sources, such as wind and solar, and the applications offered by battery storage,” he said. The UK’s decision to remove a block against onshore wind projects earlier this year followed a government pledge to cut emissions to virtually zero by 2050 – a feat that its official climate advisers believe will require a tripling of the UK’s onshore wind-power capacity in the next 15 years. Renewable energy developers are working towards the 2021 auction, despite the uncertainty created by the coronavirus pandemic, to help spur a green economic recovery once lockdown measures are lifted. Luke Clark, of RenewableUK, said EY’s report is right to highlight the economic opportunity offered by renewables after the pandemic. “Our sector’s plans to invest tens of billions of pounds in vital new energy infrastructure all over the country have not changed, and the government is supporting our work as it remains committed to reaching its legally-binding target of net zero emissions,” he said. “The UK’s low-carbon economy will stimulate new growth, boost productivity and support tens of thousands of jobs as we work on projects at home and secure new export opportunities around the world.” | ['environment/renewableenergy', 'uk/uk', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/solarpower', 'business/business', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2020-05-18T23:01:41Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2004/apr/02/conservationandendangeredspecies.internationalnews | Beef demand speeds Amazon forest destruction | Europe's demand for beef made last year one of the worst ever for Amazonian deforestation, according to an international research report which quotes Brazilian government figures due to be released soon. Last year satellite pictures showed that almost 10,000 square miles of the world's largest continuous forest was lost, 40% more than in the previous year. And this year's loss could be greater, says the internationally funded Centre for International Forestry Research (Cifor). The destruction is being driven by a growing demand for Brazilian beef in Europe because of the fear of mad cow disease and foot and mouth in European herds, yesterday's Cifor report says. EU countries, it says, now take almost 40% of Brazil's 578,000 tonnes of exported beef. Egypt, Russia and Saudi Arabia between them import 35%. The US, which has strict beef quota systems to protect its own ranchers, only takes 8%. "The deforestation is being fuelled by beef exports, with cattle ranchers making mincemeat out of the rainforests," said David Kaimowitz, director general of Cifor and one of the report's authors. He said that logging contributed only indirectly to deforestation. The Amazon's cattle population more than doubled to 57m between 1990 and 2002, the report says. "[In that time] the percentage of Europe's processed meat imports that came from Brazil rose from 40% to 74%. Markets in Russia and the Middle East are also responsible for much of this new demand for Brazilian beef." But it plays down US claims that GM-free soya farming for the European market is leading to deforestation. "Although the last few years have witnessed a great deal of justifiable concern about the expansion of soybean cultivation into the Amazon, that still explains only a small percentage of total deforestation," the authors say. Mr Kaimowitz said yesterday that the rate of Amazonian deforestation could grow in the next few years as Brazil became free of foot and mouth disease. "Since 2003, the states of Mato Grosso, Rondonia, and Tocantins have been declared FMD-free, and can sell their beef anywhere they want. These changes have increased prices in the Amazon, and hence the incentive to deforest," the authors say. The report suggests that giant ranching operations linked to European supermarkets were now dominating the beef export market. "In the 1970s and 1980s, most of the meat from the Amazon was being produced by small ranchers selling to local slaughterhouses. Very large commercial ranchers linked to supermarkets are now targeting the whole of Brazil and the global market," Mr Kaimowitz said. Two weeks ago President Luis Inacio (Lula) da Silva announced of new measures worth £73m to restrain deforestation in the Amazon, committing the government to better planning, law enforcement, and monitoring of deforestation, and greater support for indigenous territories and community forestry. "The government's approach goes in the right direction, but unless urgent action is taken, the Brazilian Amazon could lose an additional area the size of Denmark over the next 18 months," Benoit Mertens, another author of the report, said. Cifor recommends that the Brazilian government should also try to keep ranchers off government land, restrict road projects which open up the forest, and provide economic incentives to maintain land as forest. | ['environment/environment', 'environment/conservation', 'world/world', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'environment/forests', 'environment/deforestation', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'type/article', 'profile/johnvidal'] | environment/deforestation | BIODIVERSITY | 2004-04-02T09:35:54Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
technology/2023/jun/05/ba-boots-and-bbc-staff-details-targeted-in-russian-linked-cyber-attack | BA, Boots and BBC staff details targeted in Russia-linked cyber-attack | British Airways, Boots and the BBC are investigating the potential theft of personal details of staff after the companies were hit by a cyber-attack attributed to a Russia-linked criminal gang. BA confirmed it was one of the companies affected by the hack, which targeted software called MOVEit used by Zellis, a payroll provider. “We have been informed that we are one of the companies impacted by Zellis’s cybersecurity incident, which occurred via one of their third-party suppliers called MOVEit,” said a spokesperson for the airline. An email sent to BA staff told employees that compromised information included names, addresses, national insurance numbers and banking details, according to the Daily Telegraph, which first reported the breach. BA said the hack had affected staff paid through BA payroll in the UK and Ireland. Boots said “some of our team members’ personal details” had been affected. The Telegraph reported that staff had been told that data involved in the attack included names, surnames, employee numbers, dates of birth, email addresses, the first lines of home addresses, and national insurance numbers. A BBC spokesperson also confirmed the broadcaster had been affected. The corporation believes the breach does not include staff bank details. “We are aware of a data breach at our third-party supplier, Zellis, and are working closely with them as they urgently investigate the extent of the breach. We take data security extremely seriously and are following the established reporting procedures,” the spokesperson said. Zellis said a “small” number of its customers had been hit by a vulnerability in MOVEit, a file transfer system used by the company. “We can confirm that a small number of our customers have been impacted by this global issue and we are actively working to support them,” it said, adding that the UK data watchdog and the National Cyber Security Centre had been informed. It is understood the attack has affected eight Zellis customers in the UK and Ireland. In a tweet on Sunday, Microsoft’s threat intelligence team attributed the attacks on MOVEit to a group it called Lace Tempest. It said the group was known for ransomware operations and running an “extortion site” carrying data extracted from attacks using a strain of ransomware known as Clop. Microsoft added: “The threat actor has used similar vulnerabilities in the past to steal data and extort victims.” Rafe Pilling, a director for threat research at the US cybersecurity firm Secureworks, said the attack was likely to have been carried out by an affiliate of the cybercriminal gang behind Clop ransomware, as well as the related website – referred to by Microsoft – where stolen data is advertised. Pilling said the entity behind Clop was a Russian-speaking cybercrime group. Pilling added that victims of the hack should expect to be contacted and asked for money for the return of any stolen data. “Victims will be contacted and if they refuse they will probably be listed and published on the Clop site,” he said. A spokesperson for MOVEit, which was developed by US firm Progress Software, said it had “corrected” the vulnerability exploited by the hackers. “We are continuing to work with industry-leading cybersecurity experts to investigate the issue and ensure we take all appropriate response measures,” they said. | ['technology/cybercrime', 'technology/internet', 'technology/technology', 'business/britishairways', 'business/allianceboots', 'media/bbc', 'business/business', 'business/retail', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'world/russia', 'technology/hacking', 'world/world', 'world/europe-news', 'media/media', 'business/theairlineindustry', 'business/travelleisure', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/danmilmo', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | technology/hacking | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2023-06-05T18:18:37Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2018/nov/27/regenerating-woodlands-requires-multiple-approaches | Regenerating woodlands requires multiple approaches | Letters | Knepp Estate is a good example of natural regeneration, but Isabella Tree’s article (Bring back the wildwoods of Britain to fight climate change, 26 November) shows a lack of understanding regarding the Woodland Trust’s own approach. The northern forest will see the planting of 50m trees but not in one “enormous plantation”. It will be made up of a mosaic of different wooded habitats including planted woods, natural regeneration, commercial forestry, urban trees and existing ancient woodland, benefiting people and wildlife from Liverpool to Hull, as well as contributing to carbon storage. While natural regeneration is a strong approach for all the reasons outlined in the article (we are fans of scrub too!), it simply will not get us the increase we need in woodland in the UK. The northern forest area has tree cover of just 7.5% declining versus the European average of 38%. Where there is no natural seed source or a high deer population, planting trees with protection is sometimes the only solution, ensuring in excess of 80% survival. Our own research demonstrates that tree planting also helps to create a strong connection between people, nature and the urgent situation facing our planet. We are currently experimenting with different forms of tree protection in an attempt to move away from plastic tree guards and have for a number of years sourced all our trees from UK Sourced and Grown accredited nurseries, a scheme we set up, in order to minimise tree disease risk. We agree that ancient woodland needs to be managed, both from the perspective of creating a more resilient tree landscape in the face of climate change and for wildlife benefits. And we fully embrace a rewilding approach, as evidenced by our co-leadership with Rewilding Britain of the recently announced “Summit to Sea” project in Wales. The rapid degradation of our natural world and the urgency of the situation regarding climate change cannot be solved by a single approach to creating more trees and woods in our landscapes. We need to embrace them all and use the right approach in the right place. And we need to do it now. Beccy Speight CEO, Woodland Trust • Isabella Tree’s excellent analysis of approaches to woodland regeneration touches on things close to my heart and research. Across the UK we still have thousands of kilometres of thorny hedges which can be “the mothers” of oaks and many trees. However, they are generally cut mechanically annually, which never allows any sapling to grow towards maturity. In my area along the River Kent valley in Cumbria, I have surveyed many hedgerows. In essence we have a few 100- to 300-year-old oaks scattered along these hedges and not one sapling of any species growing upwards. This means no regeneration year on year. Even if hedge-cutting practices changed this year, it would be 2040 before we would see the real benefits in our area. Maybe some enlightened farmers, council contractors and conservation bodies could start to show some imagination and allow small areas to steadily regenerate and then selectively protect a few new young trees every 50 metres or so. It’s simple and just means lifting the cutting machine and taking a pride in a new thorny hedge mothering her offspring for the future. John Peatfield Bowston, Cumbria • The main issue with planting loads of trees is that they all end up in neat rows. And the types are all in blocks. They will look artificial for the next 1,000 years. Better to leave open grassland, and don’t cut it. The natural pattern is to allow scrub to grow, then trees appear, and after 1,000 years you might get something good. Like Epping Forest in Essex. This has a diversity of trees, and all the little animals and other things like fungi will love it. And allow dead wood to build up for loads of living things on the old skeletons. Mary Smith London • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters • Do you have a photo you’d like to share with Guardian readers? Click here to upload it and we’ll publish the best submissions in the letters spread of our print edition | ['environment/forests', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'tone/letters', 'environment/wildlife', 'type/article', 'environment/rewilding', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2018-11-27T17:15:07Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2012/feb/20/drought-declared-south-east-england | Drought declared in south-east England | Householders across the south-east of England should try to cut their use of water, the government has urged, as months of unseasonally dry weather mean the region is now in a state of drought. Hosepipe bans could be introduced in large parts of southern England this spring, if dry weather continues. Only prolonged rainfall, and soon, could prevent a drought. Forecasters say that is unlikely. Caroline Spelman, the environment and rural affairs secretary, said: "We are asking for the help of everyone by urging them to use less water and to start now." The forced appeal by the government reflects fears that there could be serious water shortages in some densely populated parts of the country this summer. In normal years, reservoirs would recharge during winter when vegetation is sparse and rain is quickly absorbed, but unusually dry soils have meant the little rain that has fallen has not been enough to reverse the effects of last year's drought. Officials are now beginning to plan for what could happen in 2013, if a third dry winter plays havoc with water supplies. Farmers and businesses have already suffered restrictions and are likely to face more, with licences to draw water from rivers and underground sources altered in recent months to reflect the new scarcity. Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, plus parts of Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and west Norfolk are still in drought, having been so since last year. Also officially in drought are parts of the Midlands and swaths of the south and south-east – including Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, London, Surrey and Sussex (West and East). Areas at risk of drought include Essex, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Suffolk, Wiltshire and the rest of Norfolk. Spelman's appeal came after an emergency drought summit held on Monday, bringing together water companies, the Environment Agency and officials from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). It is unusual to hold such a summit, let alone so early in the year. The fact it was held reflects ministers' grave fears that a summer of drought could cause widespread disruption, particularly when water services will come under increased strain because of the Olympics. But the summit was not enough to solve the problem, warned Rose Timlett of WWF. She said: "This is a drought we've seen coming. Rivers such as the Kennet, which runs through Wiltshire and Berkshire, have been dry since September 2011. Back then everyone agreed we would be in a serious drought situation if we had another dry winter, but not much has been done about it." At Monday's summit, water companies agreed to put more effort into detecting leaks and reducing water losses, and to help customers cut water usage. Officials told the companies they would need to reduce demand long before formal restrictions such as hosepipe bans can be put into place. Farmers are also being encouraged to find ways to store rainfall on their farms and cut their use of spray irrigation. The Royal Horticultural Society put out guidelines for domestic gardeners to save water, such as mulching and improving the soil by digging in large amounts of compost or other organic matter. "There is a lot gardeners can do that does not involve extra watering," said Guy Barter, chief horticultural adviser at the RHS. "For example, spiking and feeding a lawn in spring will help it hold up in dry weather – then if it goes brown, it will recover even faster when rain returns. "It's also a good idea to plant hardy plants early to avoid the hot weather and let them get their roots into the surrounding soil to search out moisture. When the warm weather arrives, keep any newly purchased plants in pots under light shade until the weather turns cooler." But longer term structural changes to the way our water is supplied and treated should be implemented as a matter of urgency, according to Michael Norton, the chairman of the Institution of Civil Engineers. He said: "If we are to avoid the spectre of drought becoming an annual event we must urgently change our approach to water management, taking a more strategic overview and focusing on preventative measures for addressing scarcity before it gets to drought stage. "Introducing demand management measures, improving interconnectivity between water companies and better and more imaginative methods of storing winter water would be a good start to safeguarding this precious resource for the future." David Lloyd Owen, research director for water technology company Bluewater Bio, said water metering provided a way to help manage demand and suggested that recovering and reusing waste water, including sewage, should be considered. | ['environment/drought', 'environment/water', 'environment/rivers', 'environment/wwf', 'environment/environment', 'uk/weather', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'uk/uk', 'politics/caroline-spelman', 'politics/politics', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-02-20T14:55:49Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
sustainable-business/2014/nov/26/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-sustainable-palm-oil | 10 things you need to know about sustainable palm oil | 1. Businesses must take the lead Companies will be the key drivers of a sustainable palm oil industry. Fiona Wheatley, sustainable development manager at Marks and Spencer, says: “Brands and retailers have to lead, not wait for consumer demand. Companies can’t say they don’t know about the issues, so don’t wait for campaigns, don’t wait until your customers say they don’t trust you to deal with these issues. Leadership from business is key.” 2. ...but demand will force brands to act Many industry players are waiting to hear that their customers demand sustainable palm oil. Yusof Basiron, CEO of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, says: “The Malaysian palm oil industry aspires to supply what the consumers want. Customer is ‘king’. We can supply RSPO-certified or zero deforestation palm oil or normal palm oil, based on demand, preference and price being offered.” Annisa Rahmawati, forest campaigner at Greenpeace, says consumer demand will be driven by NGO pressure. 3. Lack of awareness is a major issue “Palm oil is too difficult a commodity to expect consumers to make conscious decisions on,” says Greenpeace’s Rahamwati. Supply chains are non-transparent and consumers often have little way of easily finding out about the exact ingredients of the products they purchase. This could change in Europe with the introduction of mandatory labeling of vegetable oils packs. 4. Asian markets will drive the industry With Indonesia and Malaysia the world’s two biggest palm oil producers and Asia one of the biggest consumers, the markets there could shape the global industry. “Making sure consumers in Asia are buying certified sustainable palm oil would really push the agenda forward,” says Adam Harrison, the palm oil lead for WWF International. So too would getting big national and multinational brands to use the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) logo. 5. Certification is key To educate consumers, third party-accredited certification bodies are needed. They conduct detailed audits against criteria – but different bodies use different criteria. Most of the big growers are signed up to the RSPO logo, but Greenpeace advise that this standard is “not strong enough to prevent deforestation” and advise companies to use the Charter of the Palm Oil Innovation Group. Although RSPO recognise that many of their members have gone beyond their criteria, they argue that the more systems that are created, the more confusing the market will become. 6. Businesses must be transparent Consumers do not know which brands they can trust with respect to palm oil. Katie McCoy, head of forests program at CDP, says: “One way companies can foster trust is to be completely transparent on their approach and report progress along this journey.” It is crucial that companies can trace back the palm oil they use back to the plantation and that those plantations meet strong standards, says Rahamwati of Greenpeace. “As NGOs and consumers it is key that we demand transparency from the whole supply chain. Change might not happen overnight, so we need to keep a close watch.” 7. Collaboration is crucial Because of the complexity of the supply chains, companies and organisations need to work together to build a sustainable palm oil industry. McCoy of CDP says: “Working together across the value chain is a key driver for a sustainable palm oil industry. Sharing best practice and developing innovative solutions is extremely important to move forward on this issue. Companies shouldn’t take a silo mentality - collaboration is key.” 8. Governments play a big role In some producer countries, deforestation is not illegal, so regulatory reform is essential. Alain Rival, senior agronomist and research director at Cirad, says: “The first thing is to transform RSPO Principles and Criteria into law, then put enough resources to ensure enforcement of these laws on the ground. This needs a huge effort and not all countries will be able to do so on the very short term.” Wheatley at M&S says government support for a sustainable palm oil industry is vital. “Government can be an enabler or an obstacle and we look forward to the new government in Indonesia showing leadership on moving this forward.” 9. Consumers should not boycott palm oil They should boycott unsustainable palm oil. McCoy says: “Palm oil is an incredibly high-yielding vegetable oil, which means that anything replacing it will have to use more land - that does not solve the issue of deforestation and associated land use change. Better to get palm oil production ‘right’ to avoid leaking the issue elsewhere to another commodity.” 10. Responsible sourcing will boost a brand Although awareness is not yet high among consumers, this will become a major issue and brands that have tackled it early will win their customers’ respect. Wheatley says: “Making sure social and economic development don’t cause irreversible deforestation is one of the great challenges of our time and in future years business will be held to account for their contribution. So the risk of inaction may seem small now, but if you want your brand to grow in the future you have to be proactive not reactive. Brand trust is hard to build but easy to lose!” More on the palm oil debate: From rainforest to your cupboard: the real story of palm oil - interactive The future of palm oil: can it be sustainable? - live chat The palm oil debate is funded by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled advertisement feature. Find out more here. Join the community of sustainability professionals and experts. Become a GSB member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox | ['sustainable-business/series/palm-oil-debate', 'sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'guardian-professional/sustainability', 'business/ethicalbusiness', 'environment/deforestation', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/forests', 'environment/palm-oil', 'environment/farming', 'type/article', 'profile/josephine-moulds', 'profile/emma-e-howard'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2014-11-26T15:00:07Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
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