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environment/2015/oct/07/paris-talks-un-cop-climate-finance-world-bank-vice-president | Paris climate talks should not put figure on finance, says World Bank vice-president | The Paris conference on climate change should not set a target for future financial assistance to developing countries, according to the World Bank’s top official on climate change. The question of how rich countries should provide money to poor countries to help them cut greenhouse gases and cope with the effects of global warming will be crucial to success at Paris, and the World Bank’s intervention is likely to be controversial in some quarters. At the last landmark climate conference, in Copenhagen in 2009, rich countries agreed that $100bn a year should flow to the poor world in “climate finance” by 2020, a figure still to be met. Most developing countries regard this as totemic issue, and it is likely to prove the make-or-break condition of the Paris meeting in December, where governments are hoping to forge a new global agreement for the decade beyond 2020. Rachel Kyte, World Bank vice-president and special envoy for climate change, told the Guardian that she rejected the idea that a Paris agreement should contain a similar pledge. She said: “I hope there is not a number [on climate finance] for beyond 2020 at Paris. I understand the need of developed countries to ensure that finance is going to those countries but that is not it.” She accused governments at the Copenhagen meeting of making up a symbolic number in the closing days of the talks, just to try to get a last-minute deal. “The $100bn was picked out of the air at Copenhagen,” she argued. “If you think about the global economy and the challenge for finance ministers in developed countries, I’m not sure that an abstract number like $100bn is helpful. It is not a meaningful number to a country managing its economy.” Climate change now affects many aspects of a country’s development and economy, she said, so that it would be difficult in future to separate out “climate finance” from other funds. The Paris conference is aimed at continuing where Copenhagen left off. In 2009, for the first time, developed and developing country governments jointly agreed targets on cutting or curbing their emissions up to 2020. But the summit was marred by scenes of chaos and bitter recriminations, and the resulting deal - though still valid - was not enshrined in a formal treaty. As a result, the targets agreed there are not legally binding at an international level, though many are at a country level. Hopes for Paris are for a treaty or another binding legal instrument that will ensure all the commitments on emissions are more formally treated. In order to gain developing country agreement, rich nations will have to show that they are fulfilling the $100bn pledge, as well as preparing to ramp up their contributions beyond 2020, when any Paris agreement would come into effect. Kyte said that the new agreement would not need a similar pledge on post-2020 financial assistance, but would be better made with a clear commitment to provide clearly defined climate finance, without setting a specific number on it. This was not only because a numerical pledge would be meaningless, but because the commitments on emissions (called Intended Nationally Defined Contributions, or INDCs in the UN jargon) are now much clearer than they were at Copenhagen. Countries will have to set out clear plans on how to meet them, and this will provide greater certainty on how much money will be required for that task. She told the Guardian: “It’s now a very different dynamic to the one at Copenhagen. We have INDCs so we can build from the bottom up from those numbers. INDCs start to give you a true sense of what is needed.” This would encourage further investment from the private sector, she predicted. The World Bank is one of the most important global contributors to climate finance, and all development banks are expected to produce clear plans as to how they will step up their efforts on climate finance to meet the $100bn goal by 2020. Other sources of climate finance are rich country governments, pledging taxpayer-funded amounts, and the private sector, which is increasingly investing in clean technology, as the price of renewables and other low-carbon technologies continues to fall. However, there is still a large gap between the sum of all the sources of climate finance and the $100bn pledge, and it must be shown that this can be closed if developing countries are to be satisfied. There is a “trust deficit” between developing countries anxious to receive the assistance, and the developed countries who pledged it six years ago, said Kyte. Kyte was adamant that the World Bank would continue to play its part in closing the gap, and would continue to play a major role in providing climate finance beyond 2020. She said that all finance provided to poor countries for their development should take account of the likely future ravages of global warming. | ['environment/cop-21-un-climate-change-conference-paris', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'global-development/global-development', 'global-development/climate-finance', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey'] | environment/cop-21-un-climate-change-conference-paris | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2015-10-07T08:30:38Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
australia-news/2024/dec/05/sydney-black-balls-wash-up-silver-beach-kurnell-debris-epa | More mystery balls wash up in south Sydney weeks after ‘fatbergs’ close eastern suburbs beaches | Mysterious green, grey and black balls have washed up on a beach in Kurnell, in Sydney’s south, with beachgoers warned to avoid the area. Authorities said the “ball-shaped debris” washed up along the eastern end of Silver beach on Tuesday. Sutherland Shire council was leading the clean-up after a local resident alerted the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority (EPA). Council installed warning signs on the beachfront advising of the suspected contamination. Beachgoers were advised not to enter the beach until the clean-up was completed. The NSW Greens said on Thursday the EPA didn’t appear “any closer” to discovering the source of the debris washing up on Sydney’s beaches. “The EPA can’t explain the source of the human waste causing the fatbergs and it can’t assure the public that Sydney’s beaches are safe to use,” the party’s environment spokesperson, Sue Higginson, said in a statement. “If our waste system is leaking sewage into the environment and onto our beaches, this should be a priority issue to resolve. This spate of human waste being washed up on beaches seems to be a red flag that we could be losing significant quantities of wastewater [from aged and cracked pipes] and we don’t even know about it.” Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Sutherland council said the discovery of the mystery balls at Kurnell was limited to a small section of the beach but it was monitoring the situation. “While the spread of debris is limited to the Botany Bay-facing Silver beach at present, council will continue to monitor other local beaches to ensure this debris is not affecting other areas of our coastline,” the statement said. “Council wishes to thank local residents for their patience and understanding while we work to remove all debris and ensure local residents and visitors to the area can once again enjoy this scenic stretch of Sutherland Shire’s coastline.” The EPA collected samples of the debris which were being tested and compared to black balls discovered along beaches in eastern Sydney in October. They were initially thought to be tar balls but later found to be “fatbergs” made up of organic and inorganic matter, including human faeces, motor oil, hair, food waste, animal matter and wastewater bacteria. Jon Beves, an associate professor at the University of NSW, said those balls were “consistent with human-generated waste, like the types of things you would find from domestic waste in a regular sewer”. In early November, Sydney Water said “there have been no issues with the normal operations of the Bondi or Malabar wastewater treatment plants”. The EPA on Thursday described the Kurnell debris as varying “in size, shape and colour with some rounded and golf ball size while larger ones are more irregular in shape”. “They range in colour from whitish or pale through green, grey and black,” the authority said. “EPA officers collected samples for analysis which will be tested and compared to others found in the last two months. This is a much smaller event than the incident in Sydney’s eastern suburbs in October, with fewer balls over a smaller area.” Officers from the EPA, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and Sutherland Shire council inspected nearby beaches without finding further balls. Sydney Water officers found a number of balls across Botany Bay at Dolls Point beach which were cleaned up. The EPA said on Thursday it had finalised testing on the black balls that washed up in the eastern suburbs in October – which confirmed earlier results that indicated their origin was “likely a source that releases mixed waste”. “Experts could not determine where the balls originated from as no source samples were available for comparison,” the EPA said. The EPA also said it was awaiting results of testing on debris balls which washed up in Kiama in November. Sydney Water was contacted for comment. | ['australia-news/new-south-wales', 'australia-news/sydney', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'campaign/email/breaking-news-australia', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/mostafa-rachwani-', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-state-news'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2024-12-05T05:00:47Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
games/2019/may/23/dreams-becomes-reality-the-game-that-can-make-an-artist-out-of-anyone | Dreams becomes reality: the game that can make an artist out of anyone | As a digital artist and experimental games designer, I was one of the first in line to dive into Dreams – a PlayStation 4 game that aims to give everyone the ability to unlock the potential artist within – when the developer Media Molecule opened up limited early access in April. From the breadth of its artistic toolset to the community of creators it is enabling, Dreams feels like the start of a genuine revolution in accessible, creative play. The promise was that Dreams would represent a space where almost anything is possible, and Media Molecule has somehow got closer than I ever imagined. Dreams is hard to sum up succinctly, but it sits somewhere at the intersection of art studio, game engine and vibrant creative community hub. Almost the first thing new players see is a fun video of the development staff, smiling together in their office and holding up handmade “Welcome” signs. This warmth permeates the rest of game, the friendly tone and slightly squishy visual style helping make the work of creation less intimidating. In my real-life work, I favour simple and efficient tools such as Processing, Pico 8 and Twine over sprawling complex packages, and the tools available in Dreams replicate them surprisingly well. Behind the soft, painterly presentation lies a powerful toolkit that allows players to digitally paint, sculpt, model, animate or compose. These components can be used to construct whole scenes, games, worlds, anything. The complexity was almost overwhelming at first, but over time I have found myself referring less and less to the on-screen prompts and focusing fully on what I was making. Practice makes perfect when waving a real paintbrush around, and this is apparently also true in Dreams. The learning curve feels just right, and in its own way reflects what being creative is like in real life: big broad strokes are easy, but getting more complex and nuanced takes some practice and a willingness to experiment. Even at this early stage, Dreams is already overflowing with the creations of its players, from homages to Metal Gear Solid to countless original short games, films and pieces of static art. As in the open-source software movement (of which I’m a passionate part), Dreams encourages players to remix and reinvent other people’s creations: everything is sharable, from the tiniest 3D model or sound clip right up to entire playable games. Knowledge is sharable, too, and there are a growing number of interactive tutorials in the Dreamiverse. On Dreamers’ in-game profiles, the game tellingly categorises their activities as “passions”: art, music, animation and even curation. Curation! I’m still very much exploring, but my own artistic interests are manifesting in my Dreams experiments already. I have been making visual pattern generators, glitchy sculptures, and I can see Dreams as a quick way into making game jam entries and prototypes in the future. It’s not a ridiculous notion that someone could prototype mechanics or sketch out concepts in Dreams before moving on to professional game development tools such as Unity or Unreal. The constant stream of creativity flowing from the wider community is a huge source of inspiration, and I have probably spent as long picking through the creations of other players as I have making my own things. I’d love to see non-digital artists take a run at working in Dreams too: real-world sculptors or musicians or animators exploring their work within the Dreamiverse. Dreams feels like a logical endpoint to the path that games such as LittleBigPlanet – also by Media Molecule – set out on years ago. But instead of a limited space with clear boundaries for players to work in, it feels as if the gates have been thrown wide open. And because creating things in Dreams is so efficient, the question stops being “Can I do this?” and becomes “What’s the best way to do this?” This is a hugely important cognitive leap for a creator to make, and is the point at which the good stuff really starts happening. Already, the range and ambition of some of the works in Dreams is incredible, and scrolling through the popular entries showcases the power and flexibility of its creative tools. In Dreams, I have played dozens of fully realised platformers, driving games, first-person shooters and even rudimentary RPG’s. As with other creation-focused games, such as Minecraft, there is a popular strand of players using the tools to recreate the well-known, which is understandable and part of the fun for many (my six-year-old was enthralled by the idea of playing Mario within Dreams – much more so than playing actual Mario). I’ve seen experimental music systems, sculptures, paintings, visualisations, scenic vignettes, episodic animations and some things that honestly I couldn’t identify but thought looked very pretty – and that’s part of the fun. People are creating and sharing things in the Dreamiverse just because, and that is really something special. | ['games/games', 'games/playstation-4', 'culture/culture', 'technology/digitalvideo', 'artanddesign/art', 'artanddesign/artanddesign', 'technology/technology', 'artanddesign/sculpture', 'games/playstation', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/dan-hett', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-culture'] | technology/digitalvideo | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2019-05-23T08:00:37Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
media-network/media-network-blog/2014/aug/21/personal-technology-retail-internet-3d-printing | It’s personal: how technology will change the way we shop | The dramatic progress we’ve seen over the past three years in the world of technology is starting to have material effects on the ways customers experience retail. The speed at which technology is innovating and developing is so fast that many of today’s fringe ideas could well become mainstream. There are four technology trends in particular that will fundamentally drive these changes to retail and they’re all centred around personalisation: data science, the internet of things, the back office and personal production. Data science Increasing volumes of data and improved techniques to hold, merge and act upon that data in real-time is driving personalisation via the more traditional marketing levers: price, promotions, product and place. Tesco and Ocado, for example, are the experts at personalising promotions via offers made specifically to an individual at a specific moment in time. Price personalisation has been pioneered (crudely) by Ryanair, easyJet and others. While they won’t reveal their methods, it’s widely believed airlines raise prices based on your flight search history to create a sense of urgency. On the product front, think of all those “you might also like” sections you find on big online marketplaces. In terms of place, Marks & Spencer is personalising clusters of products by merchandising outfit propositions – for example, shirt, trousers and socks – to encourage cross-shopping and category awareness. Micro-location technologies – most famously iBeacons – will have a big role to play in this area. Beacon technology is increasingly being used to pinpoint precisely where a customer is browsing in store. This is achieved by the beacon communicating with your smartphone, however in future wearables are likely to be the conduit for that data. The key to mastering beacons will be merging, in real-time, the context of a customer shopping trip in the store (what mission are they on?) with predictive analytics based on their past purchase behaviour (will they buy a sandwich or salad today?) with their location in the store (how long have they spent in the lunch food aisle?). Many retailers in all sectors are grappling with this challenge: Safeway, Waitrose and Macy’s have all deployed various micro-location technologies to provide customers with notifications, offers and inspiration. The internet of things The internet of things – the interconnection of everyday objects – is continuing to emerge. For example, in South Korea LG has demonstrated a fridge that is aware of its contents and their freshness, so the fridge itself can help plan shopping or even communicate with a smartphone while a customer is in store. There are also startups who have imagined and created products that are both connected to the internet and provide a technical capability previously unachievable. For instance, Vessyl is launching a cup that is both internet connected and aware of its content: sugar, caffeine, even the brand and flavour. It is easy to see how the data from this device can be merged with a shopper’s purchase data to fine-tune drinks based on individual preference. The back office The back office is often seen as the unglamorous brother of the customer-facing experience, but improvements in technology implementations in the supply chain will create personal experiences here too. Volvo, for example, is launching Volvo on Call, a service integrated into its cars that allows delivery couriers to access the customer’s vehicle using a smartphone key and smartphone location services (which the couriers will need to have). This will allow customers’ orders to be delivered (or returns picked up) from their vehicle. An accompanying app allows shoppers to track this. Personal production Personal production has focused very much to date on 3D printing, which Amazon has brought into the mainstream. A whole host of fashion houses and retailers are experimenting with 3D printing, including Cubify, which is 3D-printing shoes for the luxury end, while Tamicare is aiming at the mass-produced underwear market. Clues to the future might lie more with Coca-Cola’s recent tie up with Keurig, allowing for customers to make Coca-Cola at home in a machine. Again, it is not hard to imagine how this could combine with shopping or other consumption data to personalise the production of the Coca-Cola drink, tweaking the content to a specific individual, even if they’re in a certain mood – perhaps adding caffeine for those feeling down at the end of a tough week or reducing sugar for people on a health kick, evident from purchasing behaviour. The four technology trends described are far from discrete: each trend provides significant opportunity for retailers, manufacturers and marketers to engage customers in new ways and with new propositions. Those that ultimately win out will be the organisations that are able to bring technology development across these trends together. Jason Nathan is global multichannel capability director at dunnhumby, which you can follow on Twitter @dunnhumby More like this • Meet the shop assistant of the future • Six ways technology is changing the way we shop • Virtual reality and wearables offer opportunities for retailers To get weekly news analysis, job alerts and event notifications direct to your inbox, sign up free for Media Network membership. All Guardian Media Network content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled ‘Advertisement feature’. Find out more here. | ['media-network/media-network', 'media-network/media-network-blog', 'technology/internet-of-things', 'technology/3d-printing', 'technology/big-data', 'technology/technology', 'business/tesco', 'business/ocado', 'business/supermarkets', 'business/ryanair', 'business/easyjet', 'business/theairlineindustry', 'business/marksspencer', 'business/retail', 'business/cocacola', 'business/fooddrinks', 'business/business', 'tone/blog', 'type/article'] | technology/big-data | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2014-08-21T06:30:08Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
theguardian/2023/mar/03/walter-murgatroyd-obituary | Walter Murgatroyd obituary | My father, Walter Murgatroyd, who has died aged 101, worked for many years as a researcher in the field of civilian nuclear engineering before becoming disillusioned with the industry’s inability to properly deal with its waste. He then switched to working on thermal power, exploring how to use energy more efficiently and to generate it in new ways. Walter was born in Bradford to Harry, who worked in textile manufacturing, and Martha (nee Strachan), a housewife. He was educated at Blackpool grammar school, after which the second world war interrupted his engineering studies at Cambridge University; he was sent to work on designing engines for fighter jets, first with Hawker Siddeley and then with Rolls-Royce. After the war Walter resumed his studies, staying on at Cambridge to research and design pumps for liquid metals, using electromagnetism rather than moving parts in contact with the dangerous and corrosive fluids. In austerity Britain he required great ingenuity to obtain the necessary materials and craftsmanship for his work. In 1954 he joined the newly formed Atomic Energy Research Establishment as principal scientific officer, responsible for assessment of the various types of nuclear reactor then in development and tasked with working out what resources would be needed. Two years later he was appointed head of nuclear engineering at Queen Mary College in east London (now Queen Mary University of London) – the first such chair in Europe. While there he helped to build an experimental reactor in the Lea valley in London on what many years later was to become part of the 2012 Olympic park. When work began on the site, no trace was found of any radiation, making it one of the safest parts of the otherwise heavily polluted area. By 1968 he had become frustrated with the politics and vested interests of nuclear power generation, in particular the lack of progress on waste disposal, and decided to move away from the sector by becoming chair in thermal power at Imperial College London. There he foresaw the end of the era of cheap fossil fuels, recognising the need to reduce demand for energy – whether by curtailing economic growth, or by using energy more efficiently. He remained at Imperial College until retirement in the early 1980s, and over that period was often called on (via the United Nations or British Council) to advise on energy matters abroad. He was also asked to provide expertise to the energy select committee of the House of Commons. Walter was a good judge of character, and always knew the right questions to ask. Music was hugely important to him, and he could also be great fun. His strong regard for truth and personal integrity gained him wide respect, though it did not always make life easy. He married Denise Schlumberger in 1952; she died in 2014, and their son Alan died in a car crash in 1980. Walter is survived by two other children, Linda and Francis, and three grandchildren. | ['theguardian/series/otherlives', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'education/cambridgeuniversity', 'education/queenmaryuniversity', 'education/imperialcollegelondon', 'type/article', 'tone/obituaries', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/obituaries', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-obituaries'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2023-03-03T20:10:08Z | true | ENERGY |
sport/2020/mar/02/womens-world-t20-australia-new-zealand-match-report | Australia into Women's World T20 semis but joy tempered by Ellyse Perry injury | Opening bat Beth Mooney’s 60 set Australia up, before spinner Ash Gardner defended 20 runs from the final over to land the hosts a Twenty20 World Cup semi-final over New Zealand by four runs in the final pool match for both teams. That was the good news for Australia. The very bad was that star all-rounder Ellyse Perry is likely out of the tournament after leaving the field late in the game with an apparent hamstring strain, after already nursing shoulder and hip complaints. The virtual quarter-final at Melbourne’s Junction Oval was not quite as close as the scorecard suggests: 155-5 next to 151-7. The Kiwis were out of the chase when they needed 15 runs from the final two deliveries, at which point Katey Martin hit a four and a six that couldn’t change the result. Her closing contribution was 37 from 15 balls. But New Zealand had been behind the asking rate all day, with Australia’s leg-spinner Georgia Wareham and swing bowler Megan Schutt making timely interventions in the latter half of the innings, after Kiwi captain Sophie Devine had started it far short of her best. Devine is known in Australia for her devastating innings in the Big Bash League, where in five seasons she has battered over two thousand runs and bombed the grass banks and grandstands with a frankly obscene 88 sixes. After an underwhelming World Cup, though, when the stakes were high, Devine battled to 31 from 36 deliveries, facing 16 dot balls before the one that got her out. Her partner Rachel Priest initially covered the shortfall, clubbing three early boundaries to push the score to 25, but as happens so often the Australians were able to trip up a partnership using Jess Jonassen. The left-arm spinner did what she always does, bowling a suffocating line on the stumps and straightening the ball from round the wicket: we haven’t seen a Priest trapped so squarely since Thomas Becket. With Devine joined by Suzie Bates, New Zealand’s two best strikers were at the crease, but they couldn’t get the run rate up around the eight or nine per over that would have kept the pressure low. A combination of Wareham’s slider and Alyssa Healy’s reviewing broke that stand, with Australia’s wicketkeeper convincing her captain to go upstairs when Bates missed a sweep and was struck high but right back in front of her stumps on 14. The video projection showed the ball would have hit the top of middle. Devine and Maddy Green each hit a six, and Perry’s departure with injury posed a potential headache for Australia’s bowling rotations. But with seven overs left New Zealand were still 75 runs short, and attack was the only way. Wareham returned and anticipated Devine’s charge, bowling a slow leg-break well wide of off stump, turning past the bat for a stumping. Green and Martin smacked 16 from Nicola Carey, including a simple dropped catch by Schutt at cover, but Wareham replicated her previous dismissal to Green for 28. Needing 48 off 26 with Martin at the crease, it was still possible for New Zealand if the incoming Amelia Kerr could match her previous innings against India, when she spanked 34 off 19. Not to be, as Schutt made up for the drop by angling a ball into Kerr’s stumps for two, before having Hayley Jensen scuff a drive to Carey at mid-off next ball. That left 40 needed from three overs, and while Martin tried her best, there were not enough boundary offerings from Jonassen or Schutt, nor from Gardner until it was too late. Given the momentum of the finish, much of the attention had to go back to the start, when the field was up but the run rate wasn’t. An equal New Zealand regret might be Devine’s decision to bowl first, choosing the pressure of the chase in a knockout match, and giving Australia first bat on a pitch that had seen plenty of traffic. Australia made best use of the invitation, with Mooney’s calm 60 off 50 balls covering for Healy’s chip to the infield. There was some early pace and bounce in the wicket, with Lea Tahuhu topping 120kph and throwing in one very sharp bouncer, but Mooney was in perfect position to hook it away from grille height for four. Meg Lanning played some postcard shots, driving Devine through cover before cutting and lofting Anna Peterson, but was caught sweeping for 21. Mooney is not a six-hitter – she cleared the ropes twice in her 743 runs in the last edition of the WBBL – but in this innings the left-hander hit two in five balls, using the angle into her pads of seamer Rosemary Mair from around the wicket, then advancing to Peterson’s off-spin. Gardner was bowled on 20 trying to lift the rate, with Leigh Kasperek smartly darting a ball through her charge. Mooney was on track for her third six of the day before Bates flew into the frame at long-on for a spectacular leap and catch, while Rachael Haynes whacked an unbeaten 19 from 8 balls, and Perry was bowled for 21 off 15 with one ball to spare. Wickets had fallen, but the cake had been iced. Sadly for Australia, Perry’s leg would end up being iced as well. The champion all-rounder had to this date played every match for her country at a T20 world tournament, from the very first back in 2009. That run has surely come to an end, and should Australia make the final at the MCG, it will now be a one-Perry affair. | ['sport/womens-world-t20-2020', 'sport/womens-world-twenty20', 'sport/womenscricket', 'sport/cricket', 'sport/australia-women-s-cricket-team', 'sport/australia-sport', 'sport/sport', 'type/article', 'tone/matchreports', 'profile/geoff-lemon', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-sport'] | sport/womens-world-t20-2020 | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2020-03-02T07:12:18Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
world/2020/apr/03/farmers-across-europe-bank-on-improvised-armies-of-pickers-to-save-harvest | Farmers across Europe bank on improvised armies of pickers to save harvest | At this time of year John Greene is usually preparing to welcome dozens of Slovakian strawberry pickers for another harvest at his farm in County Wexford in south-east Ireland. The work is arduous and repetitive and he relies on their experience and stamina to get the fruit picked, packed and sold. Greene surveyed his fields this week with foreboding. “I look out my window and there’s no one to pick it. None of them are on site at the moment.” His pickers remain in Slovakia, immobilised by a continent-wide lockdown. It is a similar story for hundreds of thousands of other seasonal agricultural workers who cannot travel just at a time when Europe needs them for harvests. Fruit and vegetable crops in Spain, Italy, France, Germany, the UK and other countries risk rotting in the fields – putrefying testaments to the coronavirus pandemic. “It won’t be pretty,” said Eamonn Kehoe, a soft fruit specialist with Ireland’s agri-food agency, Teagasc. “If they don’t have the staff it won’t be picked. It’s a nightmare, a perfect storm.” He was referring to Ireland’s growers, but farmers and agriculture officials across Europe have equally grim warnings about abandoned fields and lost crops unless they can conjure improvised armies of pickers. Spain, which is the EU’s biggest exporter of fruit and vegetables, is already feeling the impact. “We’re very limited at the moment when it comes to having enough hands to pick and harvest,” said Pedro Barato, the president of Spain’s largest farming association, Asaja. The pandemic, and the restrictions to combat it, were affecting every region in Spain, he said. “The need for workers is only going to increase as the season wears on. We need people to be working in the fields, while also taking all the necessary health precautions. If we don’t have anyone in the countryside to harvest the products, they’re just going to stay there and there could be shortages.” In the Andalucían province of Huelva, for instance, only 7,000 of the 19,000 Moroccan workers who normally come had arrived before Morocco closed its border to passenger traffic. In Italy the need is even greater. Some 90% of its agricultural workers are seasonal, the majority from Romania. Massimiliano Giansanti, the president of Confagricoltura, the Italian agriculture association, said the sector needed 250,000 people to reap spring and summer harvests and to maintain vineyards. “Coronavirus and blocks on transport mean that people who usually come from afar can’t come, and those who come from within Europe need to do 14 days of quarantine upon arriving, and the same when they return home, so for this reason many prefer not to come.” In Germany, which relies on about 300,000 seasonal workers each year, there is mounting concern that white asparagus – so beloved it is nicknamed “white gold” – and other vegetables will languish in fields. The German government has launched a website called The Land Helps to link farmers with volunteers willing to help out with bringing in everything from hops to potatoes. The appeal has been made in particular to millions of people whose workplaces have closed and students whose exams have been cancelled. France has lost many of its usual workers from Spain and Poland, as well as French workers who are at home sick or caring for children, causing a shortage estimated at 200,000 people. African producers face their own crises. Pandemic-related restrictions have crippled Kenya’s exports of green beans and peas to Europe, prompting producers to send half their workers home on mandatory leave. South Africa, another important exporter, is enduring one of the world’s strictest lockdowns. If some harvests wither meals may look a bit less colourful for a while, but Europe is not going to go hungry. Food supply chains remain robust and supermarkets are keeping shelves stocked. And there is still hope that the continent’s fruit and veg will end up on dinner plates. Governments are trying to create “green lanes” to allow fresh produce to circumvent restrictions on travel and commerce. The European commission has guidelines to try to extend that flexibility to seasonal agriculture workers. Many farmers are buying time by delaying harvests. Strawberry producers, for instance, are ventilating tunnels and removing their fleeces to lower temperatures and slow ripening. For John Greene this will push back his harvest from early May to early June – enough time perhaps for the Slovakians to make it to Wexford. The great hope is that across Europe students, refugees, the newly unemployed and others - what France’s agriculture minister, Didier Guillaume, calls a “shadow army” of workers - will flock from cities to save harvests. Meanwhile, the Country Land and Business Association has channelled the UK’s second world war blitz spirit by calling for a “land army” of new farm workers in England and Wales. Italy’s agriculture minister, Teresa Bellanova, wants unemployed people to help farmers and work permits to be issued for asylum seekers and migrants. “For those who do not have legal documents, but who have perhaps worked in the fields, they should become legalised,” she said. Many are sceptical city dwellers will respond: agricultural work can be tough, and another deterrent is fear of infection. But some people are already helping. In the Seine-et-Marne department east of Paris around 70 people from five migrant and asylum seeker shelters responded to the prefecture’s call to harvest berries and asparagus. They will receive contracts and at least the minimum wage. However, some refugee advocates worried about “modern slavery” while rightwing activists complained about their presence in France. Hundreds of people have volunteered to help bring in the asparagus harvest in Brandenburg, the state surrounding Berlin. The crisis may have a silver lining. Consumers, perhaps to boost immune systems, have become healthier eaters, said Janusz Wojciechowski, the European commissioner for agriculture and rural development. “Consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables in the EU has been booming in recent weeks.” | ['world/europe-news', 'science/agriculture', 'food/food', 'environment/farming', 'world/france', 'world/ireland', 'world/italy', 'world/spain', 'world/germany', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'world/coronavirus-outbreak', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/rorycarroll', 'profile/samjones', 'profile/angela-giuffrida', 'profile/kim-willsher', 'profile/kateconnolly'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-04-03T04:00:09Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
education/2019/apr/26/sea-change-the-underwater-restaurant-with-a-new-approach-to-marine-research | Sea change: the underwater restaurant with a new approach to marine research | Sunlight is filtering through the turquoise waters, shimmering with the waves. Jellyfish float in graceful downwards zigzags like translucent baubles. Darting from left to right among clumps of swaying kelp are fishes speckled with bronze and streaked with silver. This isn’t a scene from the tropics – it’s southern Norway, and it’s the view from a recently opened underwater restaurant, Under, that’s finding a new way to educate people on the importance of local marine life. The restaurant is a 34-metre long structure semi-submerged in the ocean, designed by Oslo architecture firm Snøhetta. It was only installed last year, but is already being claimed by marine life: seaweed is growing on the exterior, and sea snails and barnacles stick to the windows. According to architect Andreas Nygaard, this was deliberate. The rough concrete was chosen to encourage marine life to grow on it, while the rugged coastline highlights the sea’s “drama”. “We call the whole thing an eye into the coastal ecosystem,” says Trond Rafoss, an associate professor at Agder University and the in-house marine biologist. “The biodiversity of cold waters is not well known. We think the more people gain knowledge of marine life, the more they will look after our oceans.” Rafoss thinks drawing attention to the “colourfulness” of the northern seas will motivate the public to understand the ways they are affected by climate change. He cites the leaching of agricultural chemicals into the ocean, overproduction of food on land, and how CO2 is causing ocean acidification. “But it can be reversed,” he says. The restaurant is vital for Rafoss’s research. It receives funding from the Norwegian government as an “underwater laboratory”, and Rafoss brings his master’s students in marine ecology regularly to find inspiration for research topics. So far research has looked at how to restore marine ecosystems in harbour areas, along with experimental studies on the extent to which wrasse fish are capable of learning. Without collaborating with a private business, the university couldn’t have funded such a resource. The relationship has also enabled Rafoss to secure funding from the Norwegian government, which paid for half of the project. “More and more [research funds are] tied to the impact on society and business,” he says. Rafoss plans to use the restaurant as part of an interdisciplinary research project into ways of measuring how much people can learn about science when they go on holiday or engage in an educational leisure activity. He thinks experiences can teach far more than written texts. “When people go on holiday they want to learn something new in an enjoyable way,” he says. “We’re interested in finding out about the type of experiences that increase knowledge of natural sciences among the public.” Instead of providing written explanations in the restaurant, he trains the waiters to inform diners about what they’re seeing. While some visitors have initially complained about poor visibility and dirty water, the restaurant’s team have been able to explain that the cloudy views are because springtime is growing season for marine life. Of course, this is not an experience accessible to everyone: there’s only one option for the menu, and it costs £199. But Stig Ubostad, one of the owners, sees it as a “bucket list” destination. Spending four hours tasting 18 courses of carefully curated seafood with an unparalleled view of life under the sea is undeniably a unique experience, albeit one that few can afford. The educational mission extends to the restaurant’s menu. “We want to drag everything from here into the kitchen and show the variety of what we have here in the southern part of Norway,” says the head chef, Nicolai Ellitsgaard. There’s a focus on sustainability, using all the parts of the fish, underappreciated species, and bycatch. Ubostad stresses that the research is a core part of the business. “Under will be much more than just a restaurant,” he says. “We want to foster curiosity for the sea.” There are cheaper ways for the public to engage with the restaurant’s window into marine life than booking a table. A camera will soon be set up online so people can watch, take snaps of new species they spot, and provide names and times as a “citizen science” project. After being validated by a scientist, these images will be fed into a machine learning algorithm, which will teach the camera how to recognise different marine life. It’s hoped that this experimental technology will be rolled out across the coast to monitor population levels. Heidi Pettersvold Nygaard, an interior architect at Snøhetta, says the building’s unusual structure was designed to be accessible to everyone. “You can stroll along the coastline and be part of the experience,” she says. “You can see how it works and sits in the landscape.” A new neighbouring public engagement centre will also be set up this year. Rafoss is still researching how best to make visitors learn, and specifically how to engage young people. One option they’re trialling is drone cameras on the seabed. “Young people want things in real-time, they want to explore on their own,” he says. “We hope [the centre] will attract young scientists to get more involved in research into marine ecosystems.” He believes the collaboration could work elsewhere. He envisions “more people involved in fighting for biodiversity”, thanks to its research and education work. “The key thing for me is that this restaurant concept can’t work without vibrant nature,” he says. “If you can connect business with a clean environment, that’s the main benefit I see of all the hours I’ve spent here over the last five years.” Rachel Hall’s visit to Norway was supported by the Norwegian embassy in London, which had no say in the content of this article | ['education/universities', 'education/education', 'education/higher-education', 'technology/technology', 'education/research', 'environment/environment', 'education/academics', 'travel/restaurants', 'environment/marine-life', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/rachel-hall', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-professional-networks'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2019-04-26T06:00:18Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
artanddesign/2015/jan/25/deadline-tate-value-bp-sponsorship | Deadline day for Tate to disclose value of BP sponsorship | One of the UK’s most controversial art sponsorships will be thrust into the spotlight on Monday when Tate is forced to reveal the value of its longstanding relationship with the oil firm BP. Tate lost an information tribunal case shortly before Christmas and was given 35 days to disclose the sums of BP sponsorship between 1990 and 2006. The deadline runs out on Monday. Anna Galinka, of the campaign group Platform, which helped bring the case, said the figures were likely to be “embarrassingly small” and proof that Tate did not need to take the money. Platform estimates that Tate gets £500,000 a year from BP, based on the £10m five-year sponsorship deal that was announced in 2012 by Tate, the British Museum, the National Portrait Gallery and the Royal Opera House. “That represents around half a per cent of Tate’s operating budget and it is quite likely that the earlier figures are going to be even lower,” Galinka said. “We are expecting these figures to show just how insignificant BP’s funding actually is. That the relationship is a lot more about politics, personal networks and BP buying cultural credibility than it is about actual money and actual reliance.” The campaign against oil money being used to fund Britain’s cultural institutions comes at a critical time for the oil industry. BP’s stock market value is a third less than it was before the Gulf of Mexico disaster in 2010, having been forced to sell off $40bn worth of assets to pay fines and compensation. The collapse in the oil price over the last six months plus questions about the wisdom of BP’s 20% holding in Russia’s Rosneft group has left the city openly questioning whether the company could be the next takeover target. But the wider concerns over BP, Shell and others are centred on a growing public debate about whether the core oil and gas extraction activities of these fossil fuel giants should be halted to help tackle climate change. Ed Davey, the energy and climate change secretary, recently wrote to the Bank of England about the potential risk to pension funds of holding shares in the fossil fuel sector amid fears of a “carbon bubble” in overpriced assets. A string of universities, pension funds, charities and businesses have pledged to disinvest from fossil fuel companies on the basis that such holdings are counter-productive to their aims to reduce global warming. The value of investments pulled out under the campaign so far is $50bn. Critics say oil companies will find themselves cast as business pariahs if they do not change direction and move into low carbon energy production. BP says it is proud of its long and well-established role of funding or partnering with the Tate, British Museum, National Portrait Gallery and the Royal Opera House. “We are aware that some disagree with our support for these institutions. But as a major company headquartered in the UK, we believe it is right that we contribute to the wider community, and not only through our business activities,” a spokesman said. Tate and other arts organisations have also stood by their relationship with BP, which sponsors the rehanged galleries at Tate Britain as well as the NPG’s annual portrait prize and the ROH’s Big Screens. When the latest sponsorship deal was announced in 2011, the Tate director Nicholas Serota said trustees had thought very hard about it “and decided it was the right thing to do to continue with BP, who have been great supporters of the arts”. A Tate statement said: “[BP’s] support has been instrumental in helping Tate develop access to the Tate collection and to present changing displays of work by a wide range of artists in the national collection of British art.” Monday’s revelation represents the latest chapter in a drawn out case. It was in April 2012 that Brendan Montague of the campaign group Request Initiative made an information request to Tate. The tribunal ruling in December upheld some of Tate’s redactions and commended them for being open and thorough. But, crucially, it ordered the release of sponsorship figures between 1990 and 2006. Tate’s submission included arguments that revealing more details would deter other sponsors and open them up to further protests. Tate in particular has been the target of protesters, with the art collective Liberate Tate regularly staging interventions, the last being the unfurling of a giant black square in the Turbine Hall – referencing Tate’s redactions and the Malevich Black Square hanging a few floors up. Galinka said one reason to focus on Tate was because “in many ways Tate is trying to be a progressive institution”. For example, it is part of the 10:10 campaign which encourages businesses, organisations and individuals to cut their carbon emissions. “It is an organisation that has some commitment to values around justice and human rights and environmental responsibility. We see it as a contradiction that Tate can be part of 10:10 and funded by BP,” she said. Tate, whose chairman is the former BP chief executive Lord Browne, has said it will not appeal the tribunal decision. | ['artanddesign/tatebritain', 'artanddesign/tate-modern', 'artanddesign/artanddesign', 'culture/arts-funding', 'culture/culture', 'business/bp', 'business/business', 'environment/activism', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/markbrown', 'profile/terrymacalister', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2015-01-25T17:11:14Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
technology/blog/audio/2008/nov/04/tech-weekly-podcast | Tech Weekly podcast: How technology helped win it for Obama | This week's Tech Weekly looks at how technology has been a key factor in this year's US election. Barack Obama proved a huge hit when it came to raising money and getting people out to vote through text messaging and social networking. His rival John McCain fared less well online. Why? The Guardian's blog editor Kevin Anderson speaks to National Public Radio's social media guru Andy Carvin, Todd Ziegler – vice president of electronic consultancy at The Bivings Group – and Garrett Graff, editor at large of the Washingtonian Magazine, about the hi-tech weaponry deployed in this year's campaigns. Bobbie Johnson is your host and is joined by Jemima Kiss and Charles Arthur to scrutinise your blog comments and this week's other tech news. Don't forget to ... • Comment below... • Call our Skype voicemail • Mail us at tech@guardian.co.uk • Get our Twitter feed for programme updates • Join our Facebook group • See our pics on Flickr/Post your tech pics | ['technology/series/techweekly', 'us-news/us-elections-2008', 'technology/politics', 'media/socialnetworking', 'technology/mobilephones', 'technology/digitalvideo', 'us-news/barack-obama', 'us-news/johnmccain', 'technology/web20', 'media/digital-media', 'politics/politics', 'technology/technology', 'world/world', 'technology/blog', 'media/pda', 'tone/interview', 'type/podcast', 'type/audio'] | technology/digitalvideo | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2008-11-04T19:25:00Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
technology/2014/sep/17/review-iphone-6-plus-apple | Apple iPhone 6 Plus: it's a very big phone and it feels great - review | Too big. This thing’s too big. Waaay too big. It’s... actually, that screen is pretty nice, isn’t it? Wow, you really can get a lot of content on there, can’t you? Hey, my hand’s getting used to the size. It’s quite comfortable, isn’t it? And that’s how it goes with the iPhone 6 Plus. I expected to find it far too big, and at first my expectations were met. But give it a few minutes, perhaps a couple of days, and you’ll find yourself strangely attracted to its huge-seeming screen. “Phablets”, as the 5.5in (14 cm)-plus screen size is described (which seems to derive from Scott Webster in June 2010, then referring to a 7in Huawei device), are increasingly popular. In Asia and particularly China, they’re very popular, though less so in the US and much less so in Europe. They make up about 15% of sales, although that’s growing fast. Enter the iPhone Since 2011, Samsung has had the high-end phablet market to itself with the Galaxy Note range, now in its fourth generation. Now, it has competition - and the Apple brand could badly dent its South Korean rival’s sales. Compared to the 4.7in iPhone 6, the 6 Plus soon stops feeling absurd when you try them side by side. I often found that I would reach for the larger screen, given the choice, just because you can read a lot more on it. The battery life is also better (proportionally more of the phone consists of batteries); and it has the same pleasing, rounded feel of the 6. The comparison becomes especially harsh against last year’s Galaxy Note 3, which has a 5.7in (14.5cm) screen at 1920x1080 pixels. The Note’s body is almost exactly the same size, but chrome-edged - which looks terribly retro now - with a wart-like camera. The iPhone 6 Plus camera sticks out too - an entire millimetre - but there’s no comparison in looks or feel. Specifications • Screen: 5.5in, 1920x1080 401ppi LED; 1300:1 contrast ratio • Processor: A8 64-bit ARM with M8 motion coprocessor • RAM: 1GB • Storage: 16GB, 64GB, 128GB • Operating system: iOS 8 • Camera: back: 8MP with 1.5micron pixels, f2.2, Optical image stabilisation, 240fps video, sapphire lens cover, auto-HDR, face detection, 43-megapixel panorama, burst mode 10fps; 1080p video at 30fps or 60fps. Front camera: 1.2MP (1280x960), f2.2, 720p HD, burst mode. • Connectivity: LTE, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0 with BLE, NFC; VoLTE (voice over LTE) capability, Wi-Fi call handoff capability • Dimensions: 158.1 x 778 x 7.1mm • Weight: 172g • Others: TouchID fingerprint sensor; NFC payment capability for ApplePay Camera The 6 Plus has optical image stabilisation (OIS) - long a staple of top-end Nokia (now Microsoft) Lumia phones - so that films taken while moving aren’t jerky. Instagram’s Hyperlapse got there first (calling on the gyroscope), but the 6 Plus also adds 240fps slow-motion filming; expect this device to become the new “must-have” among photographers who like travelling light. Screen and usability Many apps will need rewriting to deal with the new screen, which feels as though it inflates text in apps that don’t use Apple’s text system. Then again, those who struggled to read text on the 4in screen of the iPhone 5 will welcome the extra 88% of screen real estate. Apple has also introduced a “Zoomed” viewing setting that really does inflate everything as though you’d slapped a magnifying glass over it all - the “grandpa setting”, if you like. Another concession to the gigantism is the “two-tap” gesture: double-tap the home button lightly, and in portrait mode the top of the screen slides down to the halfway mark, so that you can reach any part of the screen without adjusting your hand position. Apple’s other tweak, specifically for the 6 Plus, is that when the home screen is rotated into landscape mode, the dock moves to the side; in the Mail app, you get a “two-up” view, with email headers on the left and body text on the right. Other apps will probably follow suit in exploiting this. Samsung, by contrast, offers various different user interface tweaks on the Note: there’s a quick app switching menu on the left-hand side, and you can also run two apps at a time (and resize each). The app switcher is just intrusive, though the two-up configuration clearly has potential uses (say, messaging while looking at a map). Samsung also has a stylus - though I’ve heard internal data that suggests it’s used only 10% of the time, which in turn implies a big chance for Apple via the 90%. Many of the best things about the 6 Plus - widgets, third-party keyboards, “extensions” to create app-based workflows - will only be exploited by new apps that appear in the next few months as developers get to grips with the new size and the potential it offers them. For now, though, it’s a surprisingly big phone that becomes increasingly familiar with use. Price The iPhone 6 Plus costs from £619 (inc VAT)/$749 (ex taxes) for 16GB storage. Verdict Choosing between the iPhone 6 Plus and the smaller iPhone 6 could be surprisingly difficult if your hand, and your wallet, is large enough. It is large, yet the extra screen space is a boon. But that also makes it unwieldy, and could increase the risk of dropping it. Compared to other phablets, it’s lighter and thinner – but not cheaper Pros: large and thin; bright screen; best battery life of any iPhone; adaptations for extra-large screen; iOS 8 allows third-party keyboards, workflow extensions and widgets Cons: pricey; may be unwieldy if you don’t have particularly large hands • Apple iPhone 6: thinner, faster and slightly cheaper - review • iOS 8 review: the iPhone and iPad get customised, extended and deepened • This footnote was appended on 23 September 2014. Charles Arthur’s travel and accommodation was paid for by Apple. | ['technology/iphone-6', 'technology/apple', 'technology/iphone', 'technology/technology', 'technology/smartphones', 'technology/phablets', 'technology/gadgets', 'technology/mobilephones', 'type/article', 'tone/reviews', 'tone/news', 'profile/charlesarthur'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2014-09-17T19:07:23Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/shortcuts/2018/jun/27/would-you-eat-whale-or-dolphin-meat-after-visiting-a-marine-sanctuary | Would you eat whale or dolphin meat after visiting a marine sanctuary? | Should you eat whale meat? Reports on Iceland’s new retirement home for beluga whales note that, after viewing the animals – rescued from a Shanghai marine park – tourists can then visit a harbourside restaurant where they can dine on whale meat. Last week, Iceland resumed whaling after a three-year hiatus, killing a 20-metre fin whale on the country’s west coast. The Iceland sanctuary has been set up with the assistance of the highly reputable Whale and Dolphin Conservation organisation. Danny Groves of WDC notes that only 3% of Iceland’s local population now eat whale. He points out that the country’s whale-watching industry far outweighs whaling economically. “The sanctuary ... should be championed as an alternative to the cruel practises of whale and dolphin hunting and the keeping of these animals in captivity,” he says. The sanctuary is funded by Merlin Entertainments, the owners of Legoland – ironically the site of Windsor Safari Park, where dolphins and an orca named Ramu were kept in an oversized swimming pool in the 1970s. (I remember it well. Ramu was the first whale I ever saw. The vision of his proud dorsal fin, flopped over with stress, has never left me.) Many people don’t see anything wrong in eating whales and dolphins. In 2013, the in-house cafe at a marine park in Taiji, Japan – scene of the documentary The Cove – put cetaceans on the menu. Love the dolphins? Now eat them! We Brits used to eat them, too. A medieval edict reserved whale meat for the monarch and the nobility. During the first world war, the scientists of the Natural History Museum in London invited journalists to eat a dolphin that had been unfortunate enough to swim up the Thames, to demonstrate a solution to wartime shortages. In the second world war and the period of austerity afterwards, the government published recipes for whale curries. Up until the 1960s, margarine often contained whale oil. And in 2015, Arthur Boyt, a retired biologist in Cornwall, ate a stranded dolphin for his Christmas dinner, rationalising that it was a good use of the marine “roadkill”. Quite apart from the ethics of eating a sentient animal, cetacean meat is positively dangerous – a result of their place at the top of the marine food chain, accumulating heavy metals in their bodies. In the Faroe Isles, where pilot whale meat is eaten regularly, islanders have been warned by their own government that the risks of consuming such contaminated food include infertility and premature senility. So, should you eat whale? Don’t be so bloody stupid. | ['environment/whales', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/cetaceans', 'environment/environment', 'environment/ethical-living', 'world/iceland', 'world/world', 'environment/food', 'food/food', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'news/shortcuts', 'environment/dolphins', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'profile/philip-hoare', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/g2', 'theguardian/g2/features'] | environment/cetaceans | BIODIVERSITY | 2018-06-27T14:30:28Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2015/apr/27/extreme-weather-already-on-increase-due-to-climate-change-study-finds | Extreme weather already on increase due to climate change, study finds | Extreme heatwaves and heavy rain storms are already happening with increasing regularity worldwide because of manmade climate change, according to new research. Global warming over the last century means heat extremes that previously only occurred once every 1,000 days are happening four to five times more often, the study published in Nature Climate Change said. It found that one in five extreme rain events experienced globally are a result of the 0.85C global rise in temperatre since the Industrial Revolution, as power plants, factories and cars continue to pump out greenhouse gas emissions. “A lot of us and our colleagues were surprised by how high these numbers are already now in the present day climate,” said Dr Erich Markus Fischer from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. What represents an extreme day varies depending on the background climate. In the south-east of England, for example, temperatures used to reach 33.2C once every 1,000 days, but are now happening as much as once every 200 days. Future warming will bring a more volatile, dangerous world, even if the world manages to keep temperature rises within a 2C limit to which governments have committed, Fischer’s research found. On average, any given place on Earth will experience 60% more extreme rain events and 27 extremely hot days. Numbers of extreme weather events spiral even higher at a rise of 3C, a level of warming that the world is on track to exceed with current levels of manmade global greenhouse gas emissions. Drawing links between specific weather events and climate change can erode the sense that climate change is something that will happen in the future, rather than causing havoc in the present. But the science, called attribution, has proved complicated. Peter Stott, a scientist at the UK’s Met Office Hadley Centre, said the new study was an important step in attribution science. “What has been lacking up to now is a robust calculation of how much more likely extreme temperatures and rainfall have become worldwide.” The study shows warming of the atmosphere increases the number of times temperatures reach extreme levels and evaporates more water from the oceans. It is from this hotter, wetter background that extreme weather events emerge. Longer events, such as heat waves and prolonged rainy periods, will also occur more often. “When we talk about 15-day precipitation or 15-day heat waves rather than one-day cases, one very robust finding is the longer the period the higher the fraction that is attributable to warming,” said Fischer.The study also found that the effects of warming will vary around the world. Weather events at the equator will become more extreme with 2C of warming, meaning tropical countries already dealing with frail infrastructure and poverty will experience more than 50 times as many extremely hot days and 2.5 times as many rainy ones. But some already dry regions including the parts of the Mediterranean, North Africa, Chile, the Middle East and Australia will experience less heavy rain days. “In the UK, for a one-in-a-thousand day, which is one in three years, we would probably be well adapted to that,” said Stott. “But I think we’ve shown that we are vulnerable to more extreme situations – those that happen once in a century. For example the wet winter we had in 2013-14. Or indeed the heatwave we had back in 2003 when many vulnerable, eldery people died. But in the tropics, in parts of the developing world, they are extremely vulnerable to one-in-three year events.” Saleemul Huq, a Bangladeshi scientist who has been involved in the UN climate negotiations, said the developing world was already struggling to cope with extreme events. “The increased probability of high rainfall events will enhance the adverse impacts of these events in many parts of the world, particularly for vulnerable communities. For example short bursts of intense rainfall in Dhaka already cause huge traffic jams and misery for its citizens,” he said. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'world/natural-disasters', 'environment/flooding', 'environment/drought', 'environment/water', 'world/world', 'uk/weather', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/karl-mathiesen'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2015-04-27T15:03:32Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
games/2022/sep/19/rockstar-owner-issues-takedowns-after-grand-theft-auto-vi-leak | Grand Theft Auto VI will have female playable character, leak confirms | The next instalment of Grand Theft Auto will include a female playable character for the first time and is to be set in Vice City, the in-game universe’s ersatz Miami, leaked footage confirms. More than 90 videos and images of the long-awaited Grand Theft Auto VI were leaked online over the weekend in one of the biggest confidential data breaches in gaming history. The footage was posted to the GTAForums website by a user going by the name teapotuberhacker, who claimed to have accessed it by hacking Rockstar’s internal company Slack feed and gaining access to their servers. It shows animation tests, level layouts and gameplay tests, including some fully voiced conversations between characters. The footage shows a female protagonist in a modern-day Vice City, also the setting of 2002’s Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. The original post was taken down, but not before the images and video proliferated across social media. Rockstar Games’ parent company, Take-Two Interactive, has been issuing takedowns to remove the footage from YouTube and Twitter. The hacker has also threatened to leak the source code for Grand Theft Auto V, the 2013 instalment of the game and one of the biggest-selling video games of all time, and the in-development version of Grand Theft Auto VI – inviting Rockstar Games to negotiate a deal. Sources close to Rockstar Games have indicated to the Guardian and Bloomberg that the leak represents an early-in-development build of the game that is already a year old. In a statement posted to social media, the developer confirmed the leak. “We recently suffered a network intrusion in which an unauthorized third-party illegally accessed and downloaded confidential information from our systems, including early development footage for the next Grand Theft Auto,” the company said. “At this time, we do not anticipate any disruption to our live game services nor any long-term effect on the development of our ongoing projects.” It added: “We are extremely disappointed to have any details of our next game shared with you all in this way.” The videos clearly show an in-progress version of the game, with debug commands and other technical information overlaid. Rockstar confirmed that GTA 6 was in “active development” earlier this year, though early work on the game probably began in 2014. Leaks are damaging to video game developers not just because of the confidential information that they represent, but because a leak can adversely affect a game’s perception before release. It is usual for in-development builds to look rough until the final months of development, and they are rarely representative of the finished game – something that uninformed viewers often don’t understand. Developers who spend years of their lives making big-budget games are demoralised by leaks that do not show the quality of work that they strive for in the complete product. Prominent developers across the games industry have spoken out in sympathy with the people working at Rockstar Games over the weekend. Neil Druckmann, of Naughty Dog, whose 2020 game The Last of Us Part II was leaked in its entirety prior to release, tweeted: “To my fellow devs out there affected by the latest leak, know that while it feels overwhelming right now, it’ll pass. One day we’ll be playing your game, appreciating your craft, and the leaks will be relegated to a footnote on a Wikipedia page.” Grand Theft Auto V has sold 170m copies in the nine years since its release, making it one of the most successful entertainment products ever released. Along with its online multiplayer mode, GTA Online, it is estimated to have generated in excess of $900m for Take Two in 2020 alone. Grand Theft Auto VI is expected to break records when it is released – though Rockstar has indicated that it is still several years away. | ['games/grand-theft-auto', 'games/games', 'technology/hacking', 'world/world', 'campaign/email/tech-scape', 'technology/technology', 'culture/culture', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/keza-macdonald', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | technology/hacking | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2022-09-19T16:57:59Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
food/2018/sep/15/how-to-turn-cheese-rinds-into-a-tasty-french-treat-recipe | How to turn cheese rinds into a tasty French treat – recipe | Cheese is one of life’s pleasures, as addictive as narcotics, but thankfully much better for us. Professor Tim Spector, author of The Diet Myth, has a theory that the French are slimmer because they eat funky cheeses full of good bacteria that are vital for a healthy digestive system. The aftercare of cheese is as important as the making, and my local cheesemonger’s advice is to keep it wrapped in wax paper in a container in the bottom drawer of the fridge, where there’s higher humidity (cheese likes to breathe, so doesn’t like plastic), and to scrape off any mould that forms, to prolong its life. Cheese is expensive, so it makes sense to enjoy it in its entirety. The rind can be powerfully flavoured, and most (except on waxed cheeses such as gouda) is edible. I leave the rind on when I take a slice of cheese, because it adds flavour, but some nubbins inevitably end up lost at the back of the fridge, slightly dry and without a home. If you have a similar collection of cheese ends, don’t feed them to the compost monster. Instead, put them in a jar and make a classic fromage fort. My friend Fadi Kattan, a Franco-Palestinian chef, taught me his own potent version: “Squash the old cheeses with a fork, add three bottle caps of armagnac per 250g cheese ends, mix and put in a jar. Leave to ferment for two to three weeks, adding more armagnac if it becomes dry. Then enjoy!” If you’re short of time, try my quick method. Cheese rind spread Blend cheese ends with half the amount of wine, a slice of garlic and a sprinkling of leek tops. Serve on toast. | ['food/series/waste-not', 'food/french', 'food/food', 'tone/recipes', 'tone/features', 'environment/food-waste', 'environment/environment', 'food/vegetables', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'environment/waste', 'food/cheese', 'food/wine', 'type/article', 'profile/tom-hunt', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/feast', 'theguardian/feast/feast', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/feast'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-09-15T05:00:47Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2015/jul/06/national-trust-to-invest-30m-in-renewable-energy-sources | National Trust to invest £30m in renewable energy sources | The National Trust is to invest £30m in solar panels, woodchip boilers and innovative technology that can extract heat from a lake, in a bid to supply half of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020. The significant investment in renewable power by Europe’s largest conservation organisation is an eightfold increase on the £3.5m the trust has already invested in five pilot green projects.Although the trust has opposed individual windfarms on visual grounds in the past it says it believes strongly in renewable energy and laid out a plan in 2010 to cut its fossil fuel use in half to tackle global warming. “In setting out our 10 year plan we recognised we will have to play our part in helping to mitigate climate change. A key part of that is to reduce our reliance on oil and look for greener energy solutions,” said Patrick Begg, the trust’s rural enterprises director. “We have a responsibility to look after the special places in our care, requiring us to make long-term decisions that will protect them for future generations.” The charity estimates the renewable energy schemes planned at 40 sites will save 2,586 tonnes of CO2 a year, and will cut its energy usage by 20% through energy efficiency measures. A big challenge for the trust is the historic and energy inefficient nature of many of its properties, many of which are off the gas grid. One of the pilots is a biomass boiler which will heat the entire property at Ickworth, a Georgian palace situated inside 8,000 acres of National Trust parkland in Suffolk. The boiler replaces the old oil one and sits where the gardner’s shed used to be, in a small building designed to reflect the property’s italian architecture, with customised slots where some of the nine bat species on site are able to roost. It runs automatically 24 hours a day and creates only waste ash in the process, filling a single wheelie bin every two months. Visitors can step inside to see – and smell – five tonnes of pungent pine wood chippings, the stored remains of about 20 trees from the estate. Its 600 acres of woodland will provide all of the fuel needed for the 200kW boiler. Last year they spent two weeks felling 440 tonnes of wood –18 months supply of wood chip – through a process of thinning 20% of the trees in the more tightly packed areas of woodland. Dee Gathorne-Hardy, the park’s senior ranger, says that far from being harmful, the thinning is a necessary part of woodland management that will increase biodiversity by creating light and space on the floor for new habitats and fresh plants to spring up. “It’s hardly noticeable – we’d be chopping down these trees anyway – to get the best value woods need thinning all the time. In fact at one point it used to cost more to go in, cut it down, get it out and sell it than the money you would get back. But with the raw incentive for renewables it actually creates value now.” The trust estimates the new system at Ickworth will save £13,000 a year in fuel costs, part of the £4m they hope to save in total. They also have plans to sell some of the electricity generated from the projects back to the national grid – money that it will reinvest in conservation projects. “This tank is alarmed” reads the sign on the 5,000 litre oil tank outside, which became redundant when the new boiler was switched on on Monday. The estate once suffered the theft of all of its oil, but this something it will no longer have to consider, as well as other risks such as the contamination of nearby ponds or vulnerability to fluctuations in the oil price. Many of the National Trust properties use oil because they are in isolated areas that often have no access to the national gas grid. Begg says that installing renewable technologies in these locations has been a “huge challenge”. “Some of our properties are in really sensitive locations so it was also a challenge to find people who can treat our places well,” he says. Two-thirds of the 40 projects will also run on biomass, to take advantage of the vast areas of National Trust woodland. Others will depend on solar, heat pumps and hydro. Projects include a hydro-electric project in the Lake District and a lake source heating project in Norfolk which compresses and expands the natural heat from the lake, using a heat exchanger to turn it into energy. The charity is the UK’s largest private landowner, with 250,000 hectares of land and has been previously criticised for successfully blocking onshore windfarm developments, the UK’s cheapest source of renewable energy. Two years ago they fought – and won – a high court battle against the development of a wind farm in Northamptonshire, which was within sight of one of its properties. But Begg told the Guardian that the charity “is not anti-wind, only anti-big infrastructure at the wrong scale and in the wrong location”. | ['environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'uk/national-trust', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/biomass-and-bioenergy', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/emma-e-howard'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2015-07-06T05:01:03Z | true | ENERGY |
media/2019/feb/12/fox-news-on-the-guardians-biodegradable-wrapper | Fox news on the Guardian’s biodegradable wrapper | Letter | I was impressed when my Guardian was delivered in its new biodegradable wrapper (The plastic solution, 9 February), but I wonder if it was adequately road-tested. First of all, it is water-permeable, so on a rainy day, if the delivery service leaves the paper on the front path, it is too wet to read. And second, because the little bags used for compostable foodstuffs are also made of potato starch, local foxes have learned to be attracted to them, meaning that I have sometimes found my newspaper carried into the middle of the road, its wrapper partially torn off by little teeth. No sign of it having been read though. Sue Joiner 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 | ['media/theguardian', 'environment/ethical-living', 'tone/letters', 'media/newspapers', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/plastic', 'media/pressandpublishing', 'media/national-newspapers', 'media/media', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-02-12T18:13:09Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
australia-news/2020/apr/30/australias-electricity-grid-could-run-with-75-renewables-market-operator-says | Australia's electricity grid could run with 75% renewables, market operator says | Australia already has the technical capacity to safely run a power grid in which 75% of the electricity comes from wind and solar and, if it gets regulations right, should occasionally reach this level within five years. A study by the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) looking at how to incorporate more renewable energy into the system while maintaining grid security found wind and solar capacity was increasing rapidly, but the operation of the electricity market could hold it back unless settings were changed. Audrey Zibelman, Aemo’s chief executive, said the study made it clear that “operating approaches and market frameworks” were becoming less effective as more renewable energy was injected into the grid. “Australia already has the technical capability to safely operate a power system where three quarters of our energy at times comes from wind and solar generation,” she said. “However, to do so requires changes in our markets and regulatory requirements. Otherwise, Aemo will be required to limit the contribution of these wind and solar resources to 50% or 60% of electricity supply at any point in time, even though they are the lowest cost way of providing electricity.” The overall share of renewable energy in the National Electricity Market (NEM) reached 26% over the past month, according to the website Open NEM. It has occasionally risen to more than 50% for brief sunny and windy periods when demand for heating and air-conditioning was low. The Aemo study, published on Thursday, calls for changes well before 2025 to allow greater use of clean energy, including the introduction of new standards to maximise the potential of rooftop solar panels and construction of new transmission lines. It says Aemo found no insurmountable reasons why the grid could not not operate securely at even higher levels of wind and solar generation after 2025, especially given the pace of technological advancement. Key challenges to overcome in the short term include increasing variability and uncertainty in energy supply, dealing with changes in frequency and system strength, and the impact of greater generation from distributed sources, which differ from the traditional model of each state having a handful of large power plants. The report comes as Aemo celebrates steps taken last week to allow energy generated at five solar farms in western Victoria and south-western New South Wales to resume full power supply into the grid after stability issues were dealt with. The plants had been limited to half capacity for eight months due to grid congestion. The Clean Energy Council has warned, and academics have found, that transmission and storage limitations are among the greatest roadblocks to the expansion of renewable energy. There has also been criticism of the Australian Electricity Market Commission, which sets rules for the grid, as being resistant to changes that would accelerate the influx of relatively cheap, variable clean energy. The report does not mention another often raised roadblock to future clean energy investment: the lack of an overarching national policy to guide the closure and replacement of coal-fired plants. The National Electricity Market, which covers the grid-connected country bar Western Australia and the Northern Territory, already has 17 gigawatts of wind and solar capacity. Aemo found under a “central” scenario mapped before the onset of Covid-19 that this could increase to 27 gigawatts by 2025. Zibelman said Aemo did not underestimate the scale of the work required to successfully adapt the national market, and said the report – the first in a multi-year project – would have far-reaching implications for the energy sector. “Given the pace and complexity of change in the [market], the study highlights the need for flexible market and regulatory frameworks that can adapt swiftly and effectively as our understanding of the changing power system evolves,” she said. In a statement on Thursday, the energy and emissions reduction minister, Angus Taylor, said the report highlighted the challenges of integrating record amounts of renewable energy into the grid. Taylor said the study recognised solar and wind energy “aren’t enough”, and the inertia in the system provided by synchronous generation would be crucial to maintaining grid security. He said an example of synchronous generation was a gas-fired plant, which runs on fossil fuel. It follows Taylor last week saying he wanted a “gas-fired recovery” from the Covid-19 pandemic. | ['australia-news/energy-australia', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/coal', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/icymi-australia', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/adam-morton', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/coal | ENERGY | 2020-04-29T22:00:03Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2020/may/13/green-energy-firms-on-track-to-deliver-multi-billion-pound-wind-farms | Green energy firms on track to deliver multibillion-pound windfarms | Britain’s biggest green energy companies are on track to deliver multibillion-pound windfarm investments across the north-east of England and Scotland to help power a cleaner economic recovery. Scottish Power plans to “repower” Scotland’s oldest commercial windfarm as part of a £150m scheme to develop a clean energy cluster in central Scotland capable of supplying 100,000 homes with green electricity. The windfarm cluster is expected to create 600 jobs at its peak, and 280 long-term jobs, to help the UK emerge from the worst economic downturn in 300 years while taking steps to meet its climate goals. Separately SSE and Equinor have revealed plans to use the Port of Tyne to host the operations base for the world’s largest offshore wind development, which will create 200 permanent jobs and support a local supply chain industry based on clean energy. Alok Sharma, the secretary of state for business, said projects like the Dogger Bank offshore windfarm will be “a key part of ensuring a green and resilient economic recovery as well as reaching our target of net-zero emissions by 2050”. “Renewable energy is one of the UK’s great success stories, providing over a third of our electricity and thousands of jobs,” he said. Keith Anderson, the boss of Scottish Power, told the Guardian that work to upgrade Scotland’s first commercial windfarm, Hagshaw Hill, will come alongside two separate agreements to buy two nearby development projects to create a clean energy cluster in South Lanarkshire totalling 220MW. The project is part of the company’s plan to develop 1,000MW of onshore wind power and battery storage after the government’s u-turn on support for onshore wind, but could also play a role in resuscitating the UK economy following the coronavirus pandemic, he said. “We’re kickstarting as many of our projects as we can so they are ready to help boost the economy when the pandemic ends. Not only do these projects help funnel money back through the supply chain and into jobs but they also make sure that the economic recovery is based on sustainable investments,” he said. Ignacio Galán, the chairman and chief executive of Iberdrola, which owns Scottish Power, said it is essential the financial recovery is aligned with climate goals. “As we begin to emerge from the coronavirus crisis, investment in green infrastructure can quickly be delivered, creating jobs and offering immediate economic and environmental benefits. This will help to support the UK’s overall recovery at this critical time,” he said. In the north-east, the £9bn Dogger Bank offshore wind development is on track to bring investment to the UK “at a challenging time for us all”, according to Stephen Bull, the head of Equinor’s UK business, which runs the site. Equinor and SSE Renewables picked the Port of Tyne to host the operations hub through a competitive tendering process, following its £10m overhaul to prepare for a surge in demand from windfarm developers. “The north-east has a strong industrial heritage and a supply area that stretches north and south of the River Tyne,” said Bull. “The Port of Tyne is clearly well set up to attract other clean energy investment which we hope will complement our activities.” Matt Beeton, the Port of Tyne’s chief executive, said the project is “extremely important for the wider region” in terms of spurring economic benefits for the local supply chain and creating employment opportunities. “This announcement is a huge step towards developing a cleaner future for the Port, the region and for industry in the north-east,” he said. | ['environment/renewableenergy', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment', 'business/scottish-power', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2020-05-13T05:00:31Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2020/dec/30/we-dont-sleep-when-its-raining-the-mental-health-impact-of-flooding | 'We don't sleep when it's raining': the mental health impact of flooding | When Julie Blackburn was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in 2016 she was told to avoid her triggers, scenarios which cause upsetting flashbacks. “But when your trigger is rain, there is no getting over it,” she said. “My husband and I don’t sleep when it’s raining, we take it in turns to stand at the window watching the rain – it’s just living in constant fear.” Blackburn’s house in Old Coulsdon, Croydon, has been flooded several times, first in 2000 when heavy rain overwhelmed the Victorian sewer system and filled her home with toxic waste. Rapid development and poor infrastructure led the south London borough to be rated the fourth worst area in England and Wales for surface water flooding in 2011. “You wouldn’t believe how long it takes to get over a flood. And I wouldn’t wish anyone to experience it,” said Blackburn, 52, who spends one to three hours a day on flood campaigning once she has finished work as a Cad technician. Even two decades on from the first major flood at the property, Blackburn struggles to feel comfortable inviting people over and fears leaving the house for too long. When they were away over the summer and the street flooded, neighbours had to deploy their sandbags. “It’s not just a little bit of water in your house, it’s the whole knock-on effect,” Blackburn said. “Mental health illness is still a taboo so perhaps it’s just not spoken about.” Research from the University of York and the Centre for Mental Health found people who have been flooded in the UK are nine times more likely to experience long-term mental health problems than the general population. PTSD was the most commonly reported condition, with a prevalence rate of between 7.06% and 43.7%. Anxiety and depression were also common. The report, which examined studies on flooding events in the UK from 1968 to 2016, found people affected by flooding experienced anxiety during heavy rain even years after being flooded. Symptoms included stress, sleep problems, panic attacks, nightmares, anger, mood swings and increased use of alcohol, prescription drugs or antidepressants. “We clearly need to think about longer term deployment of resources to areas that have been affected by flooding,” said Andy Bell, the deputy chief executive at the Centre for Mental Health. “For many people, mental health impacts may be felt years after the event but they’re just as serious.” Nikki Stocks, 59, lives in Todmorden, Calderdale, an area in West Yorkshire that has been particularly hit by floods in recent years – some residents have been flooded six times in the last five years. “You’re living on a knife edge, and it doesn’t ever seem to settle,” she said. “You don’t want to be reminded, you don’t want sandbags at your door all the time, but that’s how we live here.” She lives alone and is disabled, receiving her income through benefits, so has struggled to get her house repaired completely from when it was last flooded in 2015. “I can’t get loans to get it done all in one go, it’s just a slow process of saving a bit of money and then getting a bit of work done,” she said. Living with depression and PTSD, Stocks has relied heavily on the local charity Healthy Minds Calderdale over the years. “I feel like they saved my life,” she said. Lou Birks, the charity’s team lead for the area, said they launched a flooding project focused on bringing the community together so those affected could support each other. “We do support groups for people who want to just get stuff off their chest, and one-off workshops, for example on managing anxiety. “Every time it rains consistently, heavily, people’s anxiety levels go up. This is the climate we live in. It’s almost like a rolling programme of newly anxious people as we continue to get flooded.” Another Todmorden resident who has been flooded, Paul O’Reilly, said he experienced “massive anxiety attacks” during the storms in February this year, even though the water only came up to his back garden. “I get anxiety attacks when I read weather forecasts that predict awful weather. The threat of floods and heavy storms are triggers for me,” said the 67-year-old. “I used to think rain was a bloody nuisance, but then it became an enemy.” Dr Joana Cruz, a research associate at the University of York who led the study, said as the climate crisis increases the frequency and strength of storms, “we must provide tools for these communities to build resilience prior to flooding”. She added that more research on the issue is needed, particularly looking at the impact of flooding on people from minority ethnic backgrounds. The study also showed displacement and loss of a sense of place and home were common factors that underscored mental health problems related to flooding, even up to a year afterwards. O’Reilly, whose ground floor was gutted and rebuilt after floods in 2000 and then repaired and redecorated again after 2012 floods, said: “It’s like a major invasion of your privacy, it’s something that comes as a shock to the system that you’ve never experienced before.” With the added stress of coronavirus, O’Reilly has found this year particularly tough, but like many he has found solace in sharing his burden with people around him. “I’ve always been a self-reliant person, but you have to swallow it and say you need help sometimes, and I’m glad it’s been there when I needed it,” he said. For Stocks, she hopes that greater awareness of the mental health repercussions of flooding will encourage people to come forward: “It’s got to be talked about, even though it stresses me and I get upset, because if it isn’t talked about, it gets buried and people think they’re on their own.” | ['environment/flooding', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'society/mental-health', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tone/features', 'profile/jessica-murray', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2020-12-30T10:00:08Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
australia-news/2021/mar/23/catastrophe-declared-for-nsw-as-5000-insurance-claims-submitted-for-flood-damage | Catastrophe declared for NSW as 11,700 insurance claims submitted for flood damage | The Insurance Council of Australia has declared a catastrophe for large parts of New South Wales struck by devastating floods as the industry received more than 11,700 claims filed as of this morning. The worst affected reasons are mid-north coast towns of Port Macquarie, Kempsey, Laurieton and Taree, and west Sydney in areas around Penrith and the Hawkesbury-Nepean valley. While the ICA has yet to issue a catastrophe declaration for South East Queensland, it will be monitoring the situation as it develops. On Monday the industry declared a disaster allowing claims from flood-stricken areas to be fast-tracked with a triage set up to prioritise those worst-affected. Andrew Hall, the chief executive of the Insurance Council of Australia, said he expected the number of claims to grow. “This remains an active natural disaster and it will take some time to gain a clearer picture of the damage. Insurers expect a large number of claims will be lodged in coming days as property owners begin returning to homes and businesses,” Hall said. Floods are particularly costly natural disaster for insurers, with $1 billion paid out during the February 2020 east coast storms and flooding event alone. The disaster adds to a horror couple of years for people of the region and the insurance industry as they have been battered by increasingly extreme natural disasters. Between November 2019 and February 2020 alone the industry lost more than $5bn from extreme weather events and natural disasters. At a Senate hearing earlier this month, the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority warned that as the risk of extreme events is priced into insurance premiums, the cost of insurance may threaten the long-term stability of the financial system. Dr Chloe Lucas from the University of Tasmania, who studies the social affects of climate change, said past research suggests nearly one in two people across Victoria underinsured – though figures from the Insurance Council of Australia suggests four in five households across the country are likely to be underinsured. While those people will struggle, Lucas said even those with coverage can find themselves in trouble. “During an event, people are very active. They have agency,” Lucas said. “After the event, if you’re insured, everything gets handed over to the insurance company so what you’ve done is outsource your risk to the insurance company.” At that point, people can become overwhelmed by jargon, conflicting advice, lost paperwork or the act of having to retell their story several times which can cause people to be re-traumatised. While the exact size and scale of the floods is not known, Lucas said insurance companies faced with yet another catastrophe would likely be forced to draw on reinsurance (the insurance policies for insurers) to compensate for the financial hit. “Flood is the most expensive type of natural disaster that insurers deal with. This flood is affecting a huge number of people and it is going to be very expensive for them,” Lucas. “This event comes on the back of the Black Summer bushfires. There have been other major flood events in the last year, and we can’t expect the next few years will be any easier.” Labor senator Tim Ayres has been chairing a Senate inquiry into the Black Summer bushfires where the question of insurance coverage has become a sticking point. He said the floods represent yet another disaster in “four years of very closely sequenced” catastrophes that is increasingly putting pressure on regional communities and the insurance industry. “What the bushfires inquiry has demonstrated is that there is a significant level of non-insurance and under-insurance in some of these areas,” Ayres said. “We haven’t measured or seen the damage yet but some of these communities have already been through bushfires and now floods, and are communities that are already economically depressed and have been left behind.” “Bushfires are a very significant cost, but they’re dwarfed by floods and hail events, and the early figures for this significant flood event are really just touching the sides of what will be a devastating event for the insurance industry.” • The Insurance Council of Australia has activated its disaster hotline that can be reached on 1800 734 621. • Those struggling with insurance or other financial matters can call the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007 to speak to lawyers and financial counsellors depending on their needs. | ['australia-news/new-south-wales', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/flooding', 'australia-news/australia-weather', 'environment/environment', 'business/insurance', 'australia-news/business-australia', 'australia-news/rural-australia', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'australia-news/australia-east-coast-floods-2021', 'profile/royce-kurmelovs', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2021-03-23T03:20:43Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2011/nov/28/jacob-zuma-durban-cliamte-negotiations | Jacob Zuma opens Durban climate negotiations with plea to delegates | Global warming already is causing suffering and conflict in Africa, from drought in Sudan and Somalia to flooding in South Africa, President Jacob Zuma said on Monday, urging delegates at an international climate conference to look beyond national interests for solutions. "For most people in the developing countries and Africa, climate change is a matter of life and death," said the South African leader as he formally opened a two-week conference with participants from more than 190 nations. The conference is seeking ways to curb ever-rising emissions of climate-changing pollution, which scientists said last week have reached record levels of concentration in the atmosphere. Zuma said Sudan's drought is partly responsible for tribal wars there, and that drought and famine have driven people from their homes in Somalia. Floods along the South African coast have cost people their homes and jobs, he said. "Change and solutions are always possible. In these talks, states, parties, will need to look behind their national interests to find a solution for the common good and human benefit," he said. The UN climate chief, Christiana Figueres, said future commitments by industrial countries to slash greenhouse gas emissions is "the defining issue of this conference." But she said that is linked to pledges that developing countries must make to join the fight against climate change. She quoted Nelson Mandela: "It always seems impossible until it is done." The conference ends on 9 December. | ['environment/durban-climate-change-conference-2011', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'environment/environment', 'world/southafrica', 'world/africa', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'environment/green-politics', 'type/article'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2011-11-28T11:39:51Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
news/2021/sep/21/hungary-journalist-daniel-nemeth-phones-infected-with-nso-pegasus-spyware | Phones of journalist who tracked Viktor Orban’s childhood friend infected with spyware | Dániel Németh, a Budapest-based photojournalist, has tried to keep a low profile in his groundbreaking work investigating and documenting the luxury lifestyle of Hungary’s ruling elite. While his name is not well known, the 46-year-old has managed to use his drone, and public flight and ship tracking data, to find and photograph politicians and pro-government business figures, exposing their hidden luxuries such as yachts in exotic locations. Now, it has emerged, someone was watching him, too. An investigation by Direkt36, an investigative media outlet and member of the Pegasus Project consortium, which has investigated NSO Group, has revealed that two of Németh’s phones were recently hacked by a government client of the Israeli spyware company. Forensic analysis of Németh’s phones, conducted by researchers at Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto and confirmed by researchers at Amnesty International’s security lab, found that the phones were infected with NSO Group’s Pegasus surveillance software, which enables users to monitor a victim’s phone conversations, text messages, pictures and physical location. The spyware can also turn a mobile phone into a remotely operated listening device. The hacks occurred in July 2021 while Németh was reporting on the whereabouts of one of the prime minister, Viktor Orbán’s, childhood friends, Lőrinc Mészáros, a former gas fitter who has become one of Hungary’s richest men in the past few years. Mészáros has built a business empire that sprawls across multiple sectors since Orbán came to power in 2010, and his companies often win lucrative government tenders. In 2019, Forbes named him the richest person in Hungary. Orbán has repeatedly declined to comment on Mészáros’s meteoric rise in fortunes, saying politics and business should be kept separate. Mészáros shuns media attention, but in a 2014 interview with a Hungarian outlet attributed his success to “God, luck and Viktor Orbán”. A spokesperson for Mészáros’s company said in a statement: “Mr Mészáros does not pay attention to neither Dániel Németh, nor any other paparazzi’s activities, whereabouts or incidents related to them.” While it cannot be forensically proven which of NSO’s clients targeted Németh, because such analysis examines only whether a phone has been infected, the new revelation comes as Orbán’s far-right government is facing scrutiny in Brussels for its alleged use of the Pegasus spying tool against journalists, media owners, and political opposition figures. Didier Reynders, the European Commission’s justice commissioner, recently told MEPs that the bloc “totally condemned” alleged attempts by national security services to illegally access information on political opponents through their phones. Reynders said that the EU’s executive branch was closely following an investigation by Hungary’s data protection authority into claims that Orbán’s government was using the spy tool improperly. A consortium of 17 media outlets, which included the Guardian and was coordinated by the French media non-profit Forbidden Stories, revealed in July that global clients of NSO had used hacking software to target human rights activists, journalists and lawyers. Among those hacked using Pegasus were two Direkt36 journalists, András Szabó and Szabolcs Panyi. Hungarian law provides that in cases where national security is at stake, the intelligence services can order surveillance with no judicial oversight, only the signature of the minister of justice. Hungary’s justice minister, Judit Varga, has declined to comment, but said: “Every country needs such tools”. A spokesperson for the Hungarian government did not respond to a request for comment. NSO has said its spyware is intended to be used only by licensed law enforcement agencies against suspected terrorists and criminals. The company has said that it does not have access to data of its customers’ targets and that it investigates all credible claims of misuse. NSO declined to comment on the case specifically. After the Pegasus Project was published in July, documenting cases of abuse of NSO technology by government clients, Németh approached Citizen Lab through an acquaintance and asked the researchers to analyse his phones. The researchers found traces of the spyware on the devices, prompting Németh to alert Direkt36. The media outlet then asked experts at Amnesty Tech, the security lab of AI, to conduct a second analysis of the phones. Amnesty’s forensic analysis showed that Németh’s two phones were successfully hacked with Pegasus spyware, one from 1-9 July 2021 and the other from 5-9 July. During this period, Németh was in Hungary after returning from a reporting trip in southern Italy, where he was tracking the movements of Mészáros. “Amnesty Tech’s confirmation of a Pegasus infection on Dániel Németh’s device is yet another outrageous example of how NSO Group’s spyware is being used as a tool to silence journalists,” said Likhita Banerji, a researcher at Amnesty Tech. A security officer formerly with one of Hungary’s intelligence services told Direkt36 that, according to his knowledge, Hungarian services started using Pegasus in 2018. The Hungarian government has not denied that it uses Pegasus, nor did it deny the surveillance of the people Direkt36 has reported about. John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab, said the case showed the way in which the Hungarian government was seeking to target “politically inconvenient” people who were reporting on individuals close to the government. “Yet again, this is targeting a journalist. There is no excuse for it and no reason to believe that Hungary is using it for legitimate purposes. It seems pretty clear what is going on,” Scott-Railton said. On Németh’s most recent mission – which involved two trips to Naples, Italy – he had decided to leave his usual iPhone at home, and relied instead on an older device with a prepaid sim card. The phone had not been active in so long that he was forced to reactivate the sim. The very next day, forensic analysis shows, that phone was also hacked. | ['news/series/pegasus-project', 'world/hungary', 'technology/hacking', 'world/europe-news', 'media/media', 'world/amnesty-international', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/stephanie-kirchgaessner', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-foreign'] | technology/hacking | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2021-09-21T15:26:48Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2016/dec/05/how-norse-words-survived-the-northern-weather | How Norse words survived the northern weather | Thirty years ago farmers in the Yorkshire Dales never wore gloves even when the temperature was well below zero and there was snow on the ground. Asked if their hands felt cold one replied: “Aye a little, but only twice a day. “I feel it first thing in the morning when I first go out, but after a few minutes my fingers go numb, like, and then I don’t feel them again until I finish my evening work and go inside the house. Then they sting a bit as they warm up again.” This story from The Inn at the Top, an account by Neil Hanson of his time running the Tan Hill Inn, the highest pub in Britain, illustrates his admiration for his local clients, all sheep farmers, who, he claims, had as many terms for rain and wind as the Inuits have for snow. Words such as “slape”, for slippery or icy, “clashy”, meaning wet and windy, and “dowly” for dull and gloomy. Although many of these local dialect words do not appear in dictionaries, some do, and are ascribed roughly the same meanings as understood by the farmers. All of them that do get a mention are said to be derived from Norse words that have the same descriptive sound. This is an area where many landscape features – fell, beck, hag, scar and tarn – derive from Norse names, so it seems that the Vikings who settled here centuries ago have passed down their descriptions of local weather through many generations. Indeed Hanson says that Norwegian tourists found it easier to understand the local dialect than hill walkers from the soft south. | ['environment/winter', 'news/series/weatherwatch', 'uk/uk', 'world/world', 'science/meteorology', 'education/linguistics', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/paulbrown', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2016-12-05T21:30:34Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2006/apr/04/water.drought | Tim Dowling: This has got to be the wettest drought yet | Not being native to these isles, I used to have trouble understanding what people meant by the word drought. "It's terribly worrying, isn't it, the drought?" they would say. Perhaps, I thought to myself, they're talking about some obscure livestock ailment, or maybe they just pronounce "draft" funny. But I know they can't be talking about that other thing, the not having enough water thing, because it's raining frigging sideways. Even today when people say, "It's been so dry these last two winters, hasn't it?", I nod in vague agreement, but I think, "What are you talking about? Compared with where?" This week, hosepipe bans came into effect across the south-east, making it illegal for 10 million people to water their gardens or wash their cars with a hose. I have more or less accepted that England is a country where adequate water supplies are maintained only through unrelenting, round-the-clock rain, and that any gap in the clouds spells doom, followed by standpipes in the streets. I also know it's no use pointing out that it's raining right now. I know it's the wrong kind of rain. It's too wet, or something. This is nevertheless my first official hosepipe ban, and in a panic at the prospect of it I rushed out and spent a hundred quid on a giant water butt made out of an old whisky barrel. After I installed it I got a bit worried because I read that if you let a barrel dry out it will collapse into a pile of staves and hoops. Even my precaution seemed like a form of moronic optimism. Why didn't I just get the ugly green plastic kind of water butt? Didn't I realise there was a drought on? Well here it is, the first week in April, and my barrel runneth over. The lid is floating on its brimming surface. I've got more water than I know what to do with, presuming I can attach a hose to my barrel without breaking the law. But I still have many questions about the details of the ban. For example, can I wash my car with the water that flows under its wheels from the broken main up the road? It's been running like a babbling brook all winter, excepting the day the men from Thames Water came to fix it, when it exploded like a geyser and shot mud and gravel into the neighbour's open third-storey window, after which the men ran away. Sometimes I think it would be nice to have a standpipe instead, so we could at least turn it off. This is of course just a small part of the 915,000 litres a day - 17 Olympic swimming pools an hour - that Thames Water loses through leaks, representing a third of the total supply. They say they're currently spending £500,000 a day repairing London's network of 150-year-old Victorian pipes, but I am not very impressed with them leaving it so long. I blame their complacency on the relative harmlessness of water. You don't see the gas people letting a third of their product leak away in transit. If you want any water this summer, see me. I'll be giving it away, and mine tastes faintly of whisky. | ['environment/water', 'environment/environment', 'environment/drought', 'tone/comment', 'type/article', 'profile/timdowling', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/g2', 'theguardian/g2/features'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2006-04-03T23:01:45Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
uk-news/2015/mar/12/activists-resist-eviction-bristol-treetops | Eco-activists resist eviction from Bristol treetops | Security workers have moved in to extract environmental campaigners from treetops in Bristol where they have camped for more than a month to try to halt work on a transport scheme they argue will wreck some of the city’s most precious food-growing land. The protest against a bus development that the activists say will ruin allotments and damage an award-winning community food-growing project has embarrassed the city, which has just launched 12 months of events and initiatives as European green capital 2015. Around 20 people were holding out against the crackdown in and around the Stapleton allotments and the Feed Bristol site. Among those still clinging to a tree on Thursday lunchtime was Jessy Mae, aka Squirrel. “I love this tree. I’m going to stay here,” she said. Minutes later officials tried to haul her out but she scrambled clear of them. Suzan Hackett, from Stapleton, was led away shouting slogans and singing. “This is my land, your land, everyone’s land. I’m here because it needs to be protected. This bus scheme is absurd.” A 21-year-old woman who identified herself only as K was carried from the site. “I came here to support the community and to try to stop them paving over fertile soil,” she said. The eviction may be a long drawn out affair. Nails have been hammered into trees to make them more dangerous to chainsaw down. A sign on a trailer warns that a treehouse will fall if the trailer is moved, which could kill the person occupying the tree. The protesters set up their camp at the start of February after hearing the site was about to be cleared as part of the Metrobus development. They accept the idea of improving public transport is a good one, but not if it means ruining land that is used to produce food. Belinda Faulkes, a spokesperson for Rising Up, which is spearheading the direct action, described the scheme as “ill-thought-out vandalism”. She said: “We are watching our camp being destroyed. Trees, soil and wildlife habitat as well as the much-loved, long-standing allotments will be totally destroyed if this development goes ahead. There has been a failure in democracy and a mockery of sustainable transport.” Rising Up claims building a road and bridge at the site, which is to the north of the city centre and beside the M32 motorway, will shave only three and half minutes off the bus journey into the centre of Bristol. Feed Bristol has also objected to the scheme, arguing that it will compromise its work, undermine its economic viability and and harm the local environment. Since it opened three years ago, 23,000 people, including some of the most disadvantaged in society and many hundreds of schoolchildren, have grown food and learned about working the land through the project. Many local people and allotment holders are also opposing the scheme. They point out that the area is part of Bristol’s blue finger, where there is prime growing soil. The MetroBus scheme comprises three bus routes and is designed to be an express service with faster and more reliable journey times. MetroBus is a joint project between Bristol city, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire councils. Bristol city council argues that the scheme will result in dramatic reductions in journey times for people heading into the city. It says any allotment plots affected will be relocated. Peter Mann, Bristol city council’s service director for transport, said: “Our top priority is to safely and effectively bring a resolution to this protest. We have engaged professional, experienced security experts to help protesters leave the site safely. “We respect people’s right to peaceful and democratic protest but that cannot extend to the illegal occupation of someone else’s land. Today’s actions follow several opportunities for the protesters to leave voluntarily and even today they are being offered the opportunity to leave of their own accord.” | ['uk/bristol', 'environment/activism', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/stevenmorris'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2015-03-12T14:32:41Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
environment/2009/nov/23/climate-sceptics-bob-ward-nigel-lawson | Climate change champion and sceptic call for inquiry into leaked emails | Prominent voices on both sides of the climate change debate today called for an independent inquiry into claims of collusion between climate scientists after it emerged last week that hundreds of their emails and documents had been leaked that allegedly manipulated data and destroyed evidence for Freedom of Information Act requests. Writing in the Times, Lord Lawson, the former Conservative chancellor and long-time climate change sceptic, said: "The integrity of the scientific evidence on which not merely the British government, but other countries, too, through the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, claim to base far-reaching and hugely expensive policy decisions, has been called into question. And the reputation of British science has been seriously tarnished. A high-level independent inquiry must be set up without delay." Bob Ward, director of policy and communications at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics, said: "Once appropriate action has been taken over the hacking, there has to be some process to assess the substance of the email messages as well. The selective disclosure and dissemination of the messages has created the impression of impropriety, and the only way of clearing the air now would be through a rigorous investigation. I have sympathy for the climate researchers at the University of East Anglia and other institutions who have been the target of an aggressive campaign by so-called 'sceptics' over a number of years. But I fear that only a thorough investigation could now clear their names." He added: "There needs to be an assurance that these email messages have not revealed inappropriate conduct in the preparation of journal articles and in dealing with requests from other researchers for access to data. This will probably require investigations both by the host institutions and by the relevant journals. There may also be a role for the UK Research Integrity Office to advise on any investigation." A spokesperson for Nature, the science journal mentioned by name in one of the alleged emails that sceptics say provides evidence of data manipulation and collusion, declined to comment. A spokesperson for the UK Research Integrity Office said it wouldn't comment on this case, but added: "UKRIO is not a regulatory body and does not have a case investigation role, though we can and do participate in investigations at the request of an employer, regulator or other appropriate body or person. If a field of research is not governed by statute, it normally devolves to the employer or grant funding body to investigate." The Met Office confirmed that none of its own computers has come under attack from hackers and said that it would not call for an inquiry. A spokesman at the Met Office, which jointly produces global temperature datasets with the Climate Research Unit, said there was no need for an inquiry. "If you look at the emails, there isn't any evidence that the data was falsified and there's no evidence that climate change is a hoax. It's a shame that some of the sceptics have had to take this rather shallow attempt to discredit robust science undertaken by some of the world's most respected scientists. The bottom line is that temperatures continue to rise and humans are responsible for it. We have every confidence in the science and the various datasets we use. The peer-review process is as robust as it could possibly be. It's no surprise, with the Copenhagen talks just days away, that this has happened now." Andy Atkins, Friends of the Earth's executive director, also dismissed calls for an inquiry. He said: "Calls for an inquiry look suspiciously like an attempt to cast doubt on the science of climate change ahead of crucial UN negotiations. The overwhelming majority of climate scientists believe that climate change is happening, that it is man-made, and that it poses a major threat to people across the planet. We can't afford to be distracted from the need for urgent action to combat global warming – rich countries must lead the way by agreeing to slash their emissions when they meet in Copenhagen next month." | ['environment/climate-change-scepticism', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'uk/uk', 'science/science', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'environment/hacked-climate-science-emails', 'politics/freedomofinformation', 'type/article', 'profile/leohickman'] | environment/climate-change-scepticism | CLIMATE_DENIAL | 2009-11-23T16:23:25Z | true | CLIMATE_DENIAL |
uk-news/2022/apr/19/ukrainian-workers-flee-modern-slavery-conditions-on-uk-farms | Ukrainian workers flee ‘modern slavery’ conditions on UK farms | Hundreds of Ukrainians are believed to be living and working informally in Britain after escaping from farms they were working at, with many claiming to have been subjected to conditions of modern slavery. Ukrainians made up by far the largest proportion of workers in the UK on seasonal worker visas in 2021. Of the 29,631 visas issued under the T5 seasonal work scheme, two-thirds (19,920) were given to Ukrainians. The Scottish Refugee Council estimates there are up to 6,000 Ukrainians in the UK. The farm workers are not eligible for the two main government schemes that support Ukrainian refugees – the family scheme and the community sponsorship scheme. From 3 May, the Ukraine extension scheme will be open for applications. This will allow people to stay for three years and switch to a different visa route, allowing them to seek alternative employment. However, it does not apply to those not working on farms at the time applications are made whose visas expired on or before 31 December 2021. Those whose visas expired on or after 1 January 2022 can apply for the new extension scheme even if they have left the farm. The Guardian has spoken to one Ukrainian worker who is in a state of acute distress about her situation after fleeing conditions on farms that she said were “akin to modern-day slavery”. She is an IT expert with two university degrees and came to the UK with her partner, who has almost finished his training to become a doctor, in the hope of earning money. She has provided an account almost 3,000 words long to the Work Rights Centre, a charity that helps migrants to access employment justice. It details appalling working conditions on the farms she and her partner worked on from August 2021 until they escaped in October 2021. She and her partner are now doing cleaning and construction work jobs respectively in the underground economy. “We have come across many, many other Ukrainians who, like us, have run away from farms, cannot return to Ukraine and so have been forced to work here illegally,” she said. “I feel like I am a hostage in the UK. My parents have told me I must not go back to Ukraine under any circumstances because our city is being shelled. I feel trapped.” She added: “Nobody cares what happens to seasonal workers. I thought our rights would be well protected in the UK but this has not happened. Working on the farm is probably one of the worst experiences and worst treatment of my life.” She and her boyfriend worked on a cherry farm, where they were not allowed to wear gloves, leading to their hands bleeding and skin beginning to peel off. She said workers on one farm staged a protest over the poor conditions and were punished by being suspended for a week. “They set unachievable targets,” she said. “Through threats and humiliation, people were forced to work tirelessly wearing off the skin on their hands and feet until it bleeds. If a person fell off a stepladder they were sent to the campsite to recover on their own or flew home.” On the huge farm workers’ campsite she and her partner were living on, all but 38 workers fled. She said: “People left to work illegally in the cities in order to solve their financial problems and protect their wellbeing. I will never go to work on any of the farms again – there are no happy stories. Everyone runs away.” A review by the Home Office and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) published at the end of last year found that seasonal workers on a post-Brexit pilot scheme launched in 2019 to harvest fruit and vegetables were subjected to “unacceptable” welfare conditions. Issues cited by some workers included a lack of health and safety equipment, racism, and accommodation without bathrooms, running water or kitchens. Graham O’Neill, the policy manager at the Scottish Refugee Council, said: “It is dreadful that hundreds of Ukrainians here, worried sick about family, friends and war crimes at home, now find themselves destitute, their seasonal visas expired due to having to flee conditions on farms.” He called on the home secretary to give seasonal workers the right to remain in the UK and bring family members to safety here. Dr Dora-Olivia Vicol, the director of the Work Rights Centre, said: “I’m extremely concerned for the safety of Ukrainians who had to flee exploitative work conditions on British farms and have since become undocumented.” She said many had resorted to working precariously in the underground economy. “The Home Office should acknowledge that the war in Ukraine is a humanitarian crisis, and offer protection to all Ukrainians in the UK, documented or otherwise,” she said. A government spokesperson said: “Ukrainians on seasonal worker visas can apply for three years’ leave under the Ukraine extension scheme. Under no circumstances should any seasonal workers in the agricultural sector be forced to work in exploitative conditions. We strongly advise any people in these circumstances to report issues to the police so steps can be taken for their safeguarding and wellbeing.” | ['uk/immigration', 'uk/uk', 'world/ukraine', 'money/work-and-careers', 'environment/farming', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'world/modern-slavery', 'profile/dianetaylor', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-04-19T12:09:14Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2008/nov/12/everglades-endangered-habitats | Florida trims Everglades buyback deal | A revised plan for the state of Florida to buy thousands of acres of land to nurture and restore the Everglades is to be unveiled later today. Changes to the landmark deal announced in June this year to buy up land from the US sugar industry and restore the pristine wetlands of the Everglades national park will see the 187,000 acres of farmland originally agreed cut to 181,000 acres. The cost of the deal has also been reduced from $1.75bn (£113bn) to $1.34bn, with the trade-off being that US Sugar gets to keep some of its assets, such as a mill and private railroad. Some 1,700 US Sugar workers will keep their job indefinitely under the new deal. Originally, production would have ceased completely after six years. It is not known what US Sugar intends to do with the assets but the company said switching to biofuels production was an option. Florida governor, Charlie Crist, has come under pressure to bring down the price the state has to pay for the acreage because land values have fallen significantly since the deal was first announced back in June. The state's budget shortfalls are so dire that the Florida's chief financial officer, Alex Sink, last week called for an emergency session of the state's legislature to tackle the problem. There is a fear among some environmentalists that even though the state will buy the land, there may not be the money there to invest in restoration. But others remained positive that the deal was proceeding. "I think it's the same great deal for the people of Florida at a lower cost. The goal was not to own the facilities, but to get the land so you can store and move the water to the Everglades," said Everglades Foundation chief, Kirk Fordham. The deal was hailed in June as one of the biggest environmental rebuilding projects in modern US history. The Everglades, a vast chain of marshes that is home to manatees, Florida panthers, Key deer and other threatened species, was declared a protected area in 1934. But the health of the park - dubbed the River of Grass - has suffered greatly in recent years, hurt by polluted runoff generated by sugar farms that lie in the centre of the ecosystem. The vital southward passage of water from Lake Okeechobee in central Florida to the Everglades also has become increasingly impeded by industry, posing another threat to the park. With the new acreage that will come from the deal, South Florida water managers will devise plans to recreate this historic flow of fresh water. | ['environment/conservation', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/water', 'environment/food', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'us-news/florida', 'type/article', 'profile/johnsterlicchi'] | environment/endangered-habitats | BIODIVERSITY | 2008-11-12T10:27:04Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2021/nov/30/white-sperm-whale-rarest-animals-captured-on-film-jamaica | Mythic white sperm whale captured on film near Jamaica | It is the most mythic animal in the ocean: a white sperm whale, filmed on Monday by Leo van Toly, watching from a Dutch merchant ship off Jamaica. Moving gracefully, outrageously pale against the blue waters of the Caribbean, for any fans of Moby-Dick, Herman Melville’s book of 1851, this vision is a CGI animation come to life. Sperm whales are generally grey, black or even brown in appearance. Hal Whitehead, an expert on the species, told the Guardian: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fully white sperm whale. I have seen ones with quite a lot of white on them, usually in patches on and near the belly.” Only a handful of pure white whales have been recorded this century. The last one to be photographed appeared off Sardinia in 2015, an individual that had not been seen for nine years before that. A white whale is not necessarily albino. Some have a condition known as leucism, an irregular distribution of melanin pigment in the skin that can affect many animals, from the common crow to orcas and dolphins. True albinos have pink eyes, and since this rare film was taken at a distance, it is difficult to diagnose the animal’s condition. A celebrated albino humpback whale, Migaloo, has been seen off the Australian coast since 1991. Melville’s white whale bit off Captain Ahab’s leg and sent the maddened seafarer halfway round the world in pursuit of it, seeking revenge. In the book, the whale becomes a shapeshifter, able to be present in more than one place at the same time. Ahab invests his cetacean foe with a sense of malignity – but Melville’s tale makes clear there is only one animal on Earth who exhibits evil, and that is his own species. The author goes further, seeing the whale’s whiteness as something eerie in itself, as he compares it with the great white shark or the polar bear. “It was the whiteness of the whale that appalled me,” his narrator, Ishmael, remarks. Many critics believe Melville was using the whiteness of the whale to critique the widespread abuse of enslaved people in the North American states. Even as he wrote his book, the author was aware of the potential violence that the struggle for abolition would bring to his country. Sperm whales, which can reach 18 metres in length, have the largest teeth of any animal. They also boast the biggest brain, use different dialects in their communicative clicks from one group to another and possess an intergenerational culture that is passed on matrilineally. Their sense of social expression and cohesion defines them: one feels this when in the water with them, as their sonorous clicks permit them to communicate with one another over great distances. This highly unusual sighting of an almost heraldic beast speaks to the paradoxical fragility of whales - the largest animals on earth, yet whose fates we hold in our hands. Video courtesy of Leo van Toly, with thanks to Annemarie van den Berg of SOS Dolfijn, and Jeroen Hoekendijk | ['environment/whales', 'environment/environment', 'books/hermanmelville', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/cetaceans', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'world/jamaica', 'world/world', 'world/americas', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/philip-hoare', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2021-11-30T16:53:01Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
global-development/2020/oct/13/ending-world-hunger-by-2030-would-cost-330bn-study-finds | Ending world hunger by 2030 would cost $330bn, study finds | Ending hunger by 2030 would come with a price tag of $330bn (£253bn), according to a study backed by the German government. Research groups compiled data from 23 countries and found international donors would need to add another $14bn a year to their spending on food security and nutrition over the next 10 years; more than twice their current contribution. Low and middle-income countries would also have to give another $19bn a year, potentially through taxation. The study, published this week, coincided with warnings that the world has an “immense mountain” to climb in order to end hunger, with 11 countries showing “alarming” levels of hunger, and “serious” levels in another 40, according to the Global Hunger Index. “We’re trying to solve a problem here – that is, hunger being on the rise – and still almost 700 million people are going to bed hungry at night. Whatever we’re currently spending is not helping those people,” said Carin Smaller, co-director of Ceres2030, a coalition funded by the German government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Smaller said researchers used an economic model that took existing spending and looked at how it could be improved in 14 areas, ranging from social protection and income support, to investment in research and training. “It’s not about doubling spending to do the same things,” she said. The research, from the Centre for Development Research, Cornell University, the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the International Food Policy Research Institute, and the International Institute for Sustainable Development, found that advancements in technology needed to be matched by support for farmers, especially women, who were often not able to benefit from new techniques or crops that could make harvests more reliable. It also suggested that work on reducing losses from harvests should be expanded beyond the existing focus on storage, to include more nutritious fruits and vegetables. The study included the development of an AI tool that analysed half a million research articles from the past 20 years to find evidence on what works to end hunger. “If rich countries double their aid commitments and help poor countries to prioritise, properly target and scale up cost effective interventions on agricultural R&D, technology, innovation, education, social protection and on trade facilitation, we can end hunger by 2030,” said Maximo Torero, chief economist at the FAO. | ['global-development/global-development', 'global-development/hunger', 'global-development/sustainable-development-goals', 'society/society', 'environment/sustainable-development', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/kaamil-ahmed', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/sustainable-development | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2020-10-13T10:44:08Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
world/2011/mar/15/radiation-tokyo-flights-cancelled | Radiation fears prompt Tokyo exodus | Airlines from Asia and Europe have halted flights into Tokyo, while multinational firms made plans to relocate employees as anxiety continued to grip Japan over the nuclear crisis. Despite official reassurances that radiation levels in the capital posed no threat to health, a steady stream of tourists, residents and expatriates left the capital by plane and bullet train. Austria said it was moving its embassy out of Tokyo to the western city of Osaka. Setbacks in the struggle to avert disaster at an atomic power plant in the north-east of the country also sparked a fresh round of panic-buying in the Japanese capital, where tiny amounts of radioactivity registered for the first time since last Friday's earthquake and subsequent tsunami. People in Tokyo endured another day of anxiety as they heard that the plant had been rocked by two more explosions and evidence emerged that water in a pool storing spent fuel rods may be boiling. Tokyo is already experiencing serious disruption to its transport network after Tepco, the city's electricity supplier, decided to implement rolling power cuts triggered by disruption to power generation by the disaster. "I'm not that worried about another earthquake – it's the radiation that scares me," said Masashi Yoshida, who was waiting for a flight out of Haneda airport with his five-year-old daughter. Those among Tokyo's 12 million people who decided to stay snapped up batteries, torches, candles and sleeping bags, and stripped shelves of bread, bottled water, instant noodles and canned food. The hoarding, partly prompted by the prospect of regular power cuts over the next six weeks, threatens to hamper efforts to divert supplies to the quake zone, where millions are suffering food and water shortages. Scientists said radiation levels near the Fukushima No 1 nuclear plant, where more than 200,000 people have been evacuated or told to stay inside, posed no immediate threat to the capital, which is 150 miles to the south. Naoto Kan, the prime minister, urged 140,000 people living within 19 miles of the plant to remain indoors. About 70,000 people living within 12 miles have already been evacuated. "I know that people are very worried, but I would like to ask you to stay calm," Kan said. "Radioactive material will reach Tokyo but it is not harmful to humans, because it will be dissipated by the time it gets there," said Koji Yamazaki, a professor of environmental science at Hokkaido University on Japan's main north island. Prolonged fears of a serious accident could weaken Tokyo's role as an international financial hub. Several firms said they were pulling staff out, including 350 Indian employees of the software services exporter Infosys Systems. But big financial firms in Japan were going about their "business as usual", said the International Bankers Association, which represents firms such as Goldman Sachs and Bank of America. The French embassy advised its citizens to leave and the German embassy advised people with families to do the same. China is poised to evacuate its nationals from badly affected areas of north-east Japan. Several international airlines said they would avoid Tokyo until they were certain the danger had passed. Lufthansa became the first European airline to announce its daily flights to Tokyo would switch to Osaka and Nagoya at least until the weekend, and Air China cancelled flights from Beijing and Shanghai. Taiwan's EVA Airways said it would not fly to Tokyo and Sapporo for the rest of the month. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic said services to Narita and Haneda, Tokyo's main airports, were not affected. Causes of concern The Fukushima engineers' main priorities now are to cool the three overheating reactors by pumping seawater into them and to ensure that water levels in the storage pools do not fall low enough to expose the spent fuel rods. In the best-case scenario, the storage pools do not overheat and engineers manage to pump cold seawater into the damaged reactors over the coming days and gradually bring them down to a safe temperature, when they can be put into cold storage. In a more worrying scenario, cooling at any or all of the reactors fails to prevent the nuclear cores from going into a meltdown. At very high temperatures, the core could melt through the containment system and cause an explosion inside the building. If that explosion damaged the outer containment structure, which is made of steel-lined reinforced concrete, radiation from the reactor could escape into the environment. In this scenario, one option would be to seal the whole reactor with lead and concrete. Another scenario causing concern involves the storage pools, because they do not have containment systems to stop radiation leaking from them. Because the cooling systems have failed, the storage pools have started to heat up. If they boil dry, the fuel rods will be exposed and could potentially release vast amounts of radiation directly into the environment. Ian Sample | ['world/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/japan', 'world/world', 'business/theairlineindustry', 'business/business', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'business/internationaltrade', 'business/economics', 'business/global-economy', 'tone/news', 'world/asia-pacific', 'environment/fukushima', 'type/article', 'profile/justinmccurry', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2011-03-15T19:39:35Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2021/mar/07/covid-data-show-sewage-monitoring-could-be-vital-in-infection-control | Covid data show sewage monitoring could be vital in infection control | Schools may have had more Covid-19 infections before Christmas than previous research showed, according to data from a pilot study that senior public health experts believe could provide a crucial early warning system against future outbreaks. Covid was present in the sewage of 80% of 16 primary and secondary schools in England during December, and researchers detected the virus about a week before community testing, according to Mariachiara Di Cesare, a senior lecturer in public health at Middlesex University who led the study. “In the earlier weeks, it was around 20% [of schools],” she said. “Starting from the end of November, we saw an increase in the percentage that returned positive. And that was in line with a lag of a week before what was happening in the community.” Di Cesare and other researchers from Term, a collaboration involving universities and the Joint Biosecurity Centre, saw a steady increase to 50% then 80% of schools taking part in the project, at a time when cases nationally seemed to be falling. “We were really worried, but the samples were consistent in the school and in other schools in the area, so we could see the virus was circulating,” she said. Di Cesare was keen to emphasise that the study, which took samples every five minutes from each school’s wastepipe for eight hours a day, had been attempting to show that wastewater could be used to discover Covid outbreaks, rather than their scale or how transmission might be occurring. “This is not data we would expect to be used to close a school,” she said. “One of the problems we are working on is how to communicate the data to public health teams.” The small sample size also means the study may not be representative of schools across England. A study by the Office for National Statistics of 105 schools in November, using PCR testing, found the virus in 55% of schools in one day of testing, although it also said the data could not be used to extrapolate to the whole of England. However, because wastewater seems to provide earlier signs of Covid infection, public health officials believe it is better and cheaper than relying on PCR or lateral flow testing. Maggie Rae, the president of the Faculty of Public Health, said having an effective early warning system in place was vital for preventing further outbreaks. “Test and trace is not cost effective and it’s not an early warning system,” Rae said. “Testing doesn’t tell us how many people have got the virus, just those who have come forward for a test,” she added. “Wastewater could give you a very very good sense of unknown infections that you can then track.” Local authority public health teams could potentially identify an area where Covid may be about to break out, and go door-to-door offering advice, support and testing equipment, she said. The water supply and sewerage systems have been used for public health ever since John Snow, a London physician, proved in 1854 that cholera was spreading from a well in Soho. The National Wastewater Epidemiology Surveillance Programme began looking last summer at whether Covid could be reliably detected in sewage, taking samples at 96 treatment plants in England, Wales and Scotland. Andrew Singer, who leads N-WESP, said they were able to detect Covid in the sewer system when at least one in 10,000 people is infected – about 15 people in a city the size of Oxford. The growth of new Covid variants is also detectable, he said. “You can get an early insight into variants of interest and quickly assess how worried we should be about them.” The programme is being expanded to more than 200 sites in England, covering 80% of the population. Sewage is routinely monitored in Australia to detect Covid outbreaks, and before the pandemic wastewater analysis was part of polio and norovirus detection in the UK. “We have the oldest sewer network in the world, practically. When you compare that with Australia’s, which has pipes that are 20 years old, and documentation that shows where they are – to be honest, I’m envious how easy it is.” | ['world/coronavirus-outbreak', 'science/infectiousdiseases', 'science/microbiology', 'science/science', 'uk/uk', 'education/schools', 'environment/waste', 'world/world', 'science/medical-research', 'society/health', 'education/education', 'society/society', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'profile/james-tapper', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-main'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-03-07T08:15:01Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2016/dec/11/windfarm-in-barnaby-joyces-nsw-electorate-gets-120m-cefc-loan | Windfarm in Barnaby Joyce's NSW electorate gets $120m CEFC loan | The Clean Energy Finance Corporation has made a multi-million dollar loan for a new windfarm in Barnaby Joyce’s electorate. It comes three months after Joyce slammed the South Australian government’s over-reliance on wind power, and linked SA’s damaging September blackout on the state’s lack of coal-fired baseload power. The new Sapphire windfarm will become the largest in NSW, powering 110,000 average homes and abating 600,000 tonnes of carbon emissions a year, with 75 wind turbines. The CEFC says its $120m loan will send an important signal to the industry that large-scale greenfield renewable energy assets can still get financing, despite the policy uncertainty emanating from Canberra. “In order to achieve Australia’s renewable energy target, we need to see the accelerated development of many more large-scale renewable energy projects in the near term,” CEFC wind sector lead, Andrew Gardner, said. Australia’s chief scientist, Dr Alan Finkel, warned last week that investment in the electricity sector had stalled because of “policy instability and uncertainty”. Over the weekend, the Australian Financial Review reported the pioneering Australian wave-power company Carnegie Wave Energy was planning to build its first commercial wave plant in Cornwall, England, because the climate policy chaos in Australia was too much. Carnegie is a former recipient of a $20m loan from the CEFC in 2014. The loan was the CEFC’s first wave-energy investment. The new Sapphire windfarm, worth $588m, will be located between Glen Innes and Inverell in the New England region of northern NSW, in Joyce’s electorate. It will produce a daily maximum 270 megawatts of electricity, 100 megawatts of which have been contracted to the ACT government to help the government meet its 100% renewable energy target by 2020. The windfarm developer is CWP Renewables, the same outfit behind the Boco Rock windfarm in southern NSW. In September, on the morning after damaging storms caused South Australia’s statewide blackout, Barnaby Joyce, during three separate interviews, argued the state had become too reliant on renewable energy, wind in particular. His comments were contradicted by the environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, who said repeatedly the blackout was caused by severe weather and was not linked to renewables. The storm had torn more than 2o separate transmission towers from the ground. In April, in the lead-up to the federal election campaign, Joyce had promoted a different windfarm in his electorate to send a pro-renewable message to voters to combat his political opponent, Tony Windsor. He said his electorate would be home to the largest windfarm in NSW, helping to broaden the local economy as part of a strategic plan. Besides the CEFC’s $120m direct loan, the balance of the windfarm’s $588m debt package has been provided through EKF, Denmark’s export credit agency, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. ANZ Financial Advisory managed the debt raise and Norton Rose was the legal advisor to the project. | ['environment/windpower', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/new-south-wales', 'australia-news/barnaby-joyce', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'environment/energy', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'australia-news/energy-australia', 'profile/gareth-hutchens', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2016-12-11T17:00:32Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2016/jun/04/greens-to-spend-265m-on-community-owned-renewable-energy-projects | Greens to spend $265m on community-owned renewable energy projects | The Greens will announce that they will spend $265.2m on community-owned renewable energy projects, including allowing these to generate tax-free profits from the electricity created. The Greens energy spokesman, Adam Bandt, will announce the four-year package on Saturday in North Fitzroy at an apartment block seeking to establish a community-owned renewable project. The Greens plan to create a $150m community energy start-up fund for 50 projects. The money will go towards planning, development, part of the capital costs and two years of operational funding. They will spend $102.9m on community groups, schools and other local institutions to invest in solar panels and storage, including some capital costs. The policy proposes allowing households and businesses to generate tax-free profits from their investment in community-owned clean energy. This will be capped at 150% of the annual average household electricity consumption and cost $4.3m over four years. The Greens also want to fund a network for community organisations to share information about renewable projects and have reiterated their opposition to regulatory barriers to such ventures. Bandt said: “The Greens want Australia to become a renewable energy powerhouse. “Not everyone is able to put solar on their home but by investing in community-owned renewable projects they are still able to be part of the solar revolution,” he said. “Australians are fed up with their energy companies. They want to take control of their electricity bills and do their bit to turn Australia’s energy system from one of the dirtiest in the world to one of the cleanest and help tackle climate change.” Labor has promised $98m for community power hubs, which it said would give people who don’t own their own roofs access to solar power. In a statement on Wednesday, the Labor climate change spokesman, Mark Butler, said: “While the rest of the world added 2m jobs in renewable energy over the last two years, Australia went backwards and lost over 2,000. “It is in everyone’s interest that confidence be restored, and that small-scale renewables be encouraged. Not just so that all Australians can have equal access to lower electricity bills, but also to secure jobs and lower carbon emissions for the economy as a whole.” Labor has also promised that, if elected, the federal government will source 50% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. It has set a target for Australia to be using 50% renewable energy by 2030, compared with the Greens’ target of 90%. In May, the Greens pledged a five-year support package for battery storage technology that would be rolled out to 1.2m homes and 30,000 businesses, estimated to cost $2.9bn. | ['environment/renewableenergy', 'australia-news/australian-greens', 'australia-news/adam-bandt', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'australia-news/labor-party', 'australia-news/coalition', 'environment/energy', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'australia-news/energy-australia', 'profile/paul-karp', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2016-06-03T23:38:36Z | true | ENERGY |
business/2018/dec/08/adani-thousands-protest-across-australia-against-carmichael-mine | Adani: thousands protest across Australia against Carmichael mine | Thousands of protestors campaigning against Indian mining giant Adani’s controversial Queensland coalmine have taken to the streets in major cities across Australia to call on the government to stop it going ahead. Protesters marched in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Cairns on Saturday, just a week after 15,000 school students demonstrated against government inaction on climate change. It follows the announcement last month by Adani it would self-finance the controversial project after scaling back its size and scope. The coal project is being downsized from a 60-million-tonnes a year, $16.5 billion mega-mine to a more manageable 10-to-15 million tonnes a year costing around $2 billion. In Brisbane, hundreds of protestors gathered outside Adani’s headquarters to voice their opposition to the project. “No longer will we sit back and be lectured to by people who are outdated and out of touch,” Thomas Cullen told the crowd. The 17-year-old was one of the thousands of students criticised by Prime Minister Scott Morrison for skipping school to stage national strikes calling for immediate action on climate change just over a week ago. This week he was among the students who travelled to Canberra for a sit-in in parliament to confront Morrison over the issue. “We are preparing to show our leaders that we will not stand for their inaction,” he said. April McCabe, 24, said there is a growing sense of urgency among university and high school students who want their governments to do more to tackle climate change. The Queensland university student said news that major works on the Carmichael mine in the state’s Galilee Basin are imminent had provoked more young people to push for change. “It has been talked about but now people are taking action,” she said. In Sydney, protesters carried an array of signs, including some reading “Time for a COALonoscopy”, “There is no Planet B”, “I bet the dinosaurs thought they had time too” and “The climate is changing, why aren’t we?” Jean Hinchliffe, 14, said Australia’s political leaders were displaying continued ignorance and had tried to disregard the student climate change protest she headed in Sydney’s Martin Place last Friday. “This is something we’re not going to sit on the fence about and we’re going to keep fighting until the Labor party rule out Adani’s coal mine and all other new coal mines for good,” she said. The crowd gathered outside Labor’s NSW headquarters in Sussex Street, before a “sit down” action planned outside deputy leader Tanya Plibersek’s office on Wednesday in the lead-up to the party’s national conference. It follows the release of a poll of more than 2,000 people from the Australian Youth Climate Coalition which found 58.1% of people thought Labor should oppose the mine, including 80.7% of Labor voters. In Melbourne more than 5,000 protesters marched down Swanston Street before occupying the intersection outside Flinders Street train station. Youth Climate Coalition organiser Alex Fuller said people were motivated to join the rally after seeing the recent school strikes. “People were feeling really inspired that we could create change but they were also feeling really frustrated,” she said. Adani Mining said the company recognised there are varied opinions about the Carmichael project and encouraged everyone to voice them safely and respectfully. “All we ask is that people’s opinions are based on facts and that they don’t put lives at risk through irresponsible, illegal and unsafe protest behaviour,” a spokesperson said in a statement. Australian Associated Press contributed to this report | ['business/adani-group', 'environment/carmichael-coalmine', 'australia-news/business-australia', 'business/mining', 'environment/mining', 'australia-news/queensland', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'world/india', 'type/article', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/mining | ENERGY | 2018-12-08T05:39:44Z | true | ENERGY |
uk/2012/jul/10/forecasters-predictions-summer-rain-july | UK weather: will we ever get a summer? | Will we ever get a summer? Who knows? Forecasters are reluctant to go into too much detail for more than 48 hours ahead and the Met Office is extremely cautious in its look ahead to the end of September. They are certainly not ready to promise long unbroken periods of sunshine any time soon – saying unsettled weather will remain with us into the Olympics – but that doesn't mean there won't be some fine spells. These just might be shorter than we hope. The Met Office's most recent three-month prediction, made on 20 June, suggested there might be above-average rainfall in July, but this was by no means certain. Meanwhile, Tiree in the Hebrides was the sunniest place in Britain from 9pm Sunday to 9pm Monday, enjoying 8.5 hours of sunshine. That is little consolation for those in Dorset, where weather stations saw over twice the average July rainfall in the first eight days of the month, or in Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, which has been hit by floods for the second time in under a month. At MeteoGroup, the Press Association's weather service, Aisling Creevey suggested that there won't be too much sun around in the next ten days: "There are always showers and longer spells of rain just close by." Temperatures remain cooler than normal. Whereas Heathrow airport usually enjoys 22C temperatures in July, it was more likely to continue seeing figures of 17C or 18C in coming days. Edinburgh, which might usually reach 18.5C or 19C, would experience 12-14C instead. Forecasters have learned to dampen expectations since the infamous barbecue summer of 2009, but forecasters have still been trying to give a glimmer of good cheer. "Parts of the north of Scotland over the last couple of months have been really, really lovely. There are some pockets of the UK that are really not too bad," said Sarah Holland of the Met Office. Sunseekers in the Western Isles may be happier than normal, but the jet stream that governs weather patterns over the Atlantic is not being kind to much of the rest of Britain. "It is normally sat above the UK, to the north of us. At the moment, it is firmly sat to the south of us. It means we are getting much more unsettled weather and more lows than we normally see," said Holland. The Met Office forecast for the next few days isn't too encouraging either. Many parts of Britain can expect some rain and cool temperatures, although there is some prospect of a respite in the south early next week. But even then, showers will be back soon. The current UK outlook for the end of July into August on the Met Office website hedges its bets, before adding: "Overall, conditions are unlikely to be as bad as we've seen so far this summer." | ['uk/weather', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'environment/flooding', 'type/article', 'profile/jamesmeikle', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-07-10T18:14:10Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2019/jan/07/country-diary-harts-tongue-ferns-thrive-in-the-gloom-otley-west-yorkshire | Country diary: hart’s tongue ferns thrive in the gloom | Deep in the underworld of Ellar Ghyll, in a place that has probably not seen sunlight since September, the drift of hart’s tongue fern glows in the gloom with a primeval energy. It is a pallid and lifeless winter afternoon, the sort of day that never brightens, and down in the ghyll, a wooded gorge in the shadow of the Chevin, the atmosphere is particularly downcast. But the evergreen brightness of the ferns resists the dreariness, evoking all the things the season lacks: lushness, fecundity, abundance. The glossy green of their fronds appears almost faintly unnatural, like it might have been the product of some diabolical magic. Where other plants fail, the ferns thrive. Hart’s tongue ferns are named for their distinctive undivided fronds, which seem to be gesturing at the air. You get the sense that if these tongues could talk, it would be in a primordial language. They sprout in and around the crater left behind by some crumbled ruins that are well on the way to being re-digested by nature, creating a scene that is part post-industrial Yorkshire, part Cretaceous jungle. The ferns appear to be leeching life from the remains, and indeed they might be. Asplenium scolopendrium prefers a neutral to alkaline substrate and around here I have usually only seen it lolling from cracks in walls, rooted in lime mortar, rather than growing from the ground. Have construction materials used in the old building created localised conditions for the ferns to thrive? The ghyll is one of those places most people pass through on the main road without a second thought, unless they have use for the sprawling scrapyard or the recycling site. But it is more than just a place for unwanted human detritus. Hunt around below the eyeline of the world and you find treasures. Next to the ferns, a curtain of water tumbles over an old industrial waterfall in a way that is positively picturesque. I am familiar enough with the spot to know that when May finally arrives, these surroundings will become a sun-dappled glade densely carpeted with the white flowers of wild garlic. These sunken days will, of course, pass. | ['environment/plants', 'uk-news/yorkshire', 'environment/forests', 'uk/uk', 'environment/series/country-diary', 'environment/environment', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'environment/winter', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/carey-davies', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2019-01-07T05:30:06Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2023/dec/21/prosanta-chakrabarty-i-discovered-cavefish-big-sickness-aoe | I discovered a cavefish that we named ‘big sickness’ – for good reason | There is no darkness like being in a cave. I love turning off my headlamp to experience that. It probably sounds horrifying and disconcerting, but caves also have a peaceful quality to them – at least for me. It’s like Earth giving me a little hug. I’m weirdly calm when I’m in a cave. As a professor and curator of fishes at Louisiana State University, I explore hidden corners of the world and find new species, which means going to places few people have been before. Caves are sometimes home to 20ft crocodiles, or freshwater eels the thickness of my arm, which can be really aggressive and look like pythons on land. I’ve seen tarantulas the size of my hand skipping across the surface. My focus is cavefish, which have evolved to be blind and pale. They look like little ghosts, with their white, flowing fins, moving slowly, sometimes towards you because they’re not used to predators. They’re often only three inches long so it’s not that scary. But it’s a privilege seeing wildlife coming towards you – that rarely happens. I’m a systematist, which is someone who studies the tree of life, figuring out who is related to who, often with DNA. Sometimes, we add new branches to the tree by discovering species new to science. I’ve described 15 species of fish, several of them cavefish. My favourite is Typhleotris mararybe from Madagascar, which means “big sickness” in Malagasy. It was the first time I’d gone into a cave and it should have put me off caving for ever. It was in 2008, and the sinkhole was called Grotte de Vitane, which is part of a partially unmapped system of waterways in the south-west of the country. The sinkhole is sacred to local people but they apparently didn’t know about this little fish living inside. They also didn’t swim in it – for good reason, it turns out. At the time I knew very little about caves and was not a great swimmer. I swam around for about half an hour and didn’t see anything. But my colleague John Sparks from the American Museum of Natural History continued snorkelling for another two hours or so. Finally, he passed up a specimen for me to look at – I knew it was new as soon as I saw it. Cavefish are generally white, or depigmented pinkish, with no eyes, but this one was very dark. No one had described or talked about a darkly pigmented cavefish before. I was absolutely enamoured right away. I thought, “Holy crap, this is really cool. This is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.” It was beautiful – or maybe only I find it beautiful. I just didn’t expect it – a cavefish with an adaptation for being in the light. Part of this cave system receives light and it’s probably beneficial to be dark so birds and other possible predators can’t see it near the surface. And it works, because it was really very hard to find. It was three or four inches long, and very thin. We later found that the closest relative of these southern Malagasy cavefish live more than 6,000km (3,700 miles) away in Australia. How could such a small fish find its way across the Indian ocean? I don’t think it did – it’s more likely that the continents moved, separating them more than 100m years ago. As far as we know, these species only live in subterranean systems in Madagascar and Australia. Not only did we discover a new fish on this trip, we also discovered a new sickness. At the time, we weren’t worried about disease, I was more worried about crocodiles. Then in the days and weeks after this first field site, people developed a viral sickness that no one could identify. We called it “sinkhole fever”. Some people got so sick they had to go home early. It was John’s idea to call this new species “big sickness”. There are about 200 species of cavefish, and that’s a very small percentage of the 35,000 species of fish. I think we’ve added about 100 in the last 20 or so years, because we’re exploring some really remote caves in places such as China. I wouldn’t be surprised if twice as many cavefish are discovered in the next 10 years. We don’t know how long many of these cavefish species live, or how they reproduce. There are some cave salamanders that don’t eat for years. It’s a mystery how many of these species entered these caves, why and when. Some get flushed into caves and then find ways to survive and diversify over millions of years. Others arrived more recently and quickly adapted to subterranean life. People often think we know every nook and cranny on the Earth, but the more we look, the more we find – wonderful things are out there. Sometimes, we become cynical about loss of organisms, and extinction happening at an unbelievable rate, but discoveries are happening at unbelievable rates, too. We need more people to go out there and look for stuff, working with the people who live in these areas and learning from them. There is still lots of space for people who are driven and curious and want to find new life in scary, dark caves, because there is so much beauty to be found in them. As told to Phoebe Weston Prosanta Chakrabarty is professor of ichthyology, evolution and systematics at Louisiana State University. He studies the evolution and biogeography of freshwater and marine fishes | ['environment/series/i-discovered--', 'environment/series/the-age-of-extinction', 'environment/environment', 'global-development/global-development', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/fish', 'world/madagascar', 'environment/wildlife', 'science/biology', 'science/zoology', 'science/science', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/phoebe-weston', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-age-of-extinction'] | environment/series/the-age-of-extinction | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-12-21T10:00:22Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2019/dec/06/christmas-jumpers-add-to-plastic-pollution-crisis-says-charity | Christmas jumpers add to plastic pollution crisis, says charity | Britons’ love of novelty Christmas jumpers is helping to fuel the world’s plastic pollution crisis, a report has warned. Whether emblazoned with flashing lights or alpine motifs, 12m jumpers are set to be snapped up this year, despite 65m already languishing in UK wardrobes. But as well as triggering huge levels of waste, the research by the environmental charity Hubbub has shown that most new sweaters contain plastic. Its analysis of 108 garments on sale this year from 11 high street and online retailers – including Primark, George at Asda and Topshop/Topman – found that 95% of the jumpers were made wholly or partly of plastic materials. The charity said the garment had become one of the worst examples of fast fashion, now recognised as hugely damaging to the environment. With so-called Christmas jumper day – an annual publicity push by the charity Save the Children – looming on Friday 13 December, millions of consumers are expected to scour shops for eye-catching festive woollies. Hubbub’s research found that two out of five Christmas jumpers are only worn once over the festive period, and one in three adults under 35 buys a new Christmas jumper every year. The plastic fibre acrylic was found in three-quarters of the jumpers tested, with 44% made entirely from acrylic. However, only 29% of consumers realised that most Christmas jumpers contain plastic. A recent study by Plymouth University found that acrylic was responsible for releasing nearly 730,000 microfibres per wash, five times more than polyester-cotton blend fabric and nearly 1.5 times as many as pure polyester. Sarah Divall, the project coordinator at Hubbub, said: “We don’t want to stop people dressing up and having a great time at Christmas but there are so many ways to do this without buying new. Fast fashion is a major threat to the natural world and Christmas jumpers are problematic as so many contain plastic. We’d urge people to swap, buy secondhand or rewear, and remember a jumper is for life not just for Christmas.” Its tips for eco-friendly options include customising existing sweaters and hunting for charity shop and vintage bargains. On behalf of the retailers in the study, Leah Riley Brown, a sustainability policy adviser at the British Retail Consortium, said: “Consumers can be assured that, on average, the clothes they are purchasing have lower environmental impacts. Retailers are making strides to ensure old clothes can be turned into new ones for a more circular economy. They are creating more takeback schemes so clothes can be reused and recycled to divert them away from landfill.” | ['environment/plastic', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'fashion/fashion', 'lifeandstyle/christmas', 'society/charities', 'environment/ethical-living', 'business/ethicalbusiness', 'money/ethical-money', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'society/society', 'fashion/fashion-industry', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/rebeccasmithers', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-12-06T06:30:34Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
world/2021/dec/30/guardian-readers-nominate-their-person-of-the-year | Guardian readers nominate their person of the year | Guardian readers were asked to offer suggestions of who they would choose as their person of the year. Dozens of names were put forward – from scientists to sports personalities, from healthcare workers to climate activists. And in a sign of the ongoing debate over gender issues, many readers also nominated the author JK Rowling, and online content creator Ranboo. Here is a selection of people you nominated. Healthcare and frontline workers Healthcare and frontline workers, they displayed the best of humanity – selflessness, compassion, stamina, courage while protecting as much of us as they could, by risking their lives everyday. Kushal, psychologist, India Eugene Goodman My choice for person of the year is Eugene Goodman, who led Capitol rioters away from the Senate chambers. He is a real hero. Lynn, retired, Colorado Greta Thunberg Greta Thunberg for challenging world leaders to take immediate action for climate change. An amazing young person, calling on all people to do their part to stop climate change. We need more people in the world like her. Anonymous, US Vanessa Nakate Vanessa Nakate. Young and courageous climate activist representing Africa and much more. Gérard, retired university professor in earth sciences, Switzerland Marcus Rashford What an incredible and inspiring young man. Yes he’s a very highly paid talented footballer but the commitment and drive he has to raise awareness and work tirelessly on such a key poverty issue as access to food is incredible and so vital. He’s not forgotten his roots or how it feels to have nothing. The way he has challenged and confronted government policy has been brilliant. I Long may his campaigning continue and inspire others to do the same. I must add that I am an ardent Liverpool FC fan but this transcends football allegiances! Anonymous, north Wales Prof Chris Whitty Prof Chris Whitty because he has to publicly present scientific policy in the midst of a global pandemic at the heart of a toxic and polarised debate. He has kept calm and a clear head while having to advise ministers on momentous policy decisions. He has also been exposed to the public in a way that he seems not to seek and with sometimes pernicious consequences. Top geek, top guy. Rob, 64, software developer, Hove Rose Ayling-Ellis Rose Ayling Ellis, for helping show that having a disability can be an absolute gift. She is authentic, true, joyful and an exquisite dancer who has helped inspire, comfort millions of disabled people, especially the deaf community who are so often marginalised. What a woman! Claire, 31, student support and guidance tutor, Brighton Dame Sarah Gilbert Prof Sarah Gilbert and her team at the Oxford Covid-19 Vaccine team, for their contribution to beating Covid, and for fighting for non-profit making vaccines. Sofia, 56, academic, London Richard Ratcliffe Richard Ratcliffe. A model of dignity and perseverance in his fight for justice for Nazanin, he has shown [his daughter] Gabriella and the whole of our society what it truly means to be a loving father and husband. His tenacity in the face of a seemingly intransigent political force is nothing short of amazing. I weep just thinking about it. Anonymous, Staffordshire JK Rowling JK Rowling. Superb writer and it’s her way of writing that has/still does, encourage children to read. Despite having experienced domestic abuse in her personal life, she uses her experiences and voice to centre women and children so that a wide audience is aware of the vulnerabilities children and women can face in today’s society. She donates to charities so is aware of her hard earned position and wants to give back to those in need. She is very inspiring for women and is supportive of women’s rights, despite people trying to drag her down. Michelle, 45, Wiltshire Simone Biles Simone Biles, for raising awareness of mental health issues in sports, and doing the right thing for herself and her health in the face of immense criticism and harassment. She still showed up and supported her teammates with grace and dignity. She’s a fantastic athlete, and an inspirational woman. Anonymous, UK Ranboo “Ranboo”, a young online content creator, notably on Twitch and YouTube, who’s had a large boost of success recently, and for good reason. He’s had a large focus of kid friendly content, and recently broke the most funds donated to the Trevor Project. He is currently one of the most watched personalities on Twitch, putting him in a position of fame which he has handled remarkably well: endorsing smart internet safety to younger children (undisclosed name or face, vigilant of what he says, who it may reach or how it may be misinterpreted). Provides widely accessible streams and videos with ADHD and dyslexia friendly captions, turning off Livestream screens with unforeseen flashing lights, epilepsy warnings. Anonymous, Australia Gareth Southgate Gareth Southgate, for demonstrating what it means to be a leader in modern England. Beyond his management of the national side to its best performance in decades, he has been a positive role model in supporting his players and fostering a culture of respect in football. He’s not been afraid to be honest and speak his mind, but at the same time has done so in a way that isn’t aggressive or antagonising. And he’s made waistcoats fashionable again, for which I am truly thankful. Janvier, Orpington | ['world/world', 'environment/greta-thunberg', 'football/marcus-rashford', 'uk-news/chris-whitty', 'tv-and-radio/rose-ayling-ellis', 'news/nazanin-zaghari-ratcliffe', 'books/jkrowling', 'sport/simone-biles', 'football/gareth-southgate', 'environment/environment', 'football/football', 'sport/sport', 'tv-and-radio/tv-and-radio', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/guardian-readers', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-communities-and-social'] | environment/greta-thunberg | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2021-12-30T17:00:02Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
australia-news/2022/feb/02/flooding-cuts-off-railway-supply-routes-to-northern-australia | Flooding cuts off key railway supply routes in central Australia | Supply chains already stretched due to Covid-related staff shortages have been severed after floods in South Australia washed away parts of the railway linking the eastern states with Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Parts of the Australian Rail Track Corporation network between Adelaide and Tarcoola in SA have temporarily ceased operation, as repair works are under way along a section of track over 300km in length. The operations to Perth and Darwin have been suspended since 21 January with the ARTC expecting the tracks to remain closed for “at least 12 days”. The disruption has sparked calls for greater strategic planning for key transport and logistics routes as climate disasters are projected to continue. The chief executive of Australia’s largest private rail freight company Pacific National, Paul Scurrah, described the Trans-Australian Railway as “the umbilical cord connecting our continent’s eastern and western seaboards – it’s a vital link in Australia’s supply chain”. Scurrah said while short term solutions are important, in the long term the rail network needs to be more resilient. The chief executive of Western Roads Federation, Cam Dumesny, said that 80% of WA’s land-based freight arrives via rail. The floods have also damaged key roads, including the Stuart Highway. Dumesny said the floods have exposed the vulnerability of the nation’s transportation networks and that a better national strategy is needed. “We’ve only got the two sealed roads across the continent, one on the north and one on the south, with 2000km in between … And we’ve got railway lines which run parallel to both roads so any event generally washes road and rail out simultaneously,” Dumesny said. The executive officer of the NT Road Transport Association, Louise Bilato, said the only way for supplies to get into the NT is now through Queensland across the Barkly Highway, with trucks forced to take a 3000km detour from Adelaide distribution centres. Bilato said the additional two days of driving time is not only problematic because of the shortage of truck drivers. It is also significantly more expensive with the price of the diesel exhaust fluid AdBlue surging over 300% since December. Bilato said even the Queensland entry point is vulnerable with substantial water on the Barkly Highway as well as heavier traffic “because it’s the only road open”. “It’s the perfect storm unfortunately because we were already compromised by the distribution of networks in NSW and Victoria impacted by Covid,” she said. She warned that rail entry into the NT could be out for another month, with more record breaking rain expected in the next day or two in the same region in SA. Gillian Fennell, who runs beef cattle in remote SA, has been frustrated by the lack of planning that has left her family with only potatoes and onions for fresh produce. “I find it mind-boggling that there’s only one major freight corridor that supplies all of the northern part of Australia through the centre and there’s no plan for when it gets cut,” she said. The situation isn’t new to Fennell who said that in the last two years there was a vehicle fire which saw the Stuart Highway close, with unsafe dirt roads the only option other than waiting for clearance. Fennell, along with her husband and three children, usually drives 75km to the town of Marla to do their grocery shopping but it hasn’t been resupplied for the past two weeks. On Monday the defence force dropped groceries to Coober Pedy, which is still 300km away for Fennell but she said she was mindful “there were a lot more vulnerable people in Coober Pedy who needed access to those groceries”. Fennell said because her family live remotely they are used to periods of isolation and are fairly well stocked. But she said because her children learn through distance education and mail hasn’t been delivered, they are starting the school year without learning materials such as reading books. The divisional general manager of South Deliveries for Australia Post, Shane Plant, said services have been disrupted since 21 January. Plant said Australia Post have been prioritising deliveries of medicine and essential services. He said in his experience while “it’s almost a given at one point there will be a delay, it’s normally measured in days not weeks”. The chief executive of Foodbank, Brianna Casey, said her organisation goes into every summer knowing they will see at least one significant disaster, but that this year is unique with the floods in SA coinciding with Covid-19. “Food insecurity and hunger in Australia isn’t just a product of the pandemic and isn’t just a product of natural disasters, it’s happening year round and things like the pandemic and floods simply exacerbate the problem.” Casey said. Scurrah said a long term plan for the country’s rail network should include projects like the $14bn inland rail infrastructure project to build a line from Melbourne to Brisbane. “I think the opportunity we’ve got is to get inland rail right and thinking needs to go into it, particularly that climate change will make flooding more frequent, make sure [the] asset is prepared for that,” Scurrah said. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning A spokesperson for the ARTC said, “we have the utmost confidence in our inland rail flood modelling which has been conducted by world-class Australian companies and is being independently verified. All of the modelling conducted meets national guidelines and state engineering requirements.” “Inland rail is being built to strengthen supply chains and address Australia’s increasing freight challenge.” | ['australia-news/series/the-rural-network', 'australia-news/transport', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'world/coronavirus-outbreak', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/flooding', 'australia-news/australia-weather', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'australia-news/series/rural-network', 'profile/natasha-may', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/the-rural-network'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2022-02-01T16:30:01Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2020/dec/01/liberal-mp-warren-entsch-urges-coalition-to-adopt-net-zero-emissions-target-by-2050 | Liberal MP Warren Entsch urges Coalition to adopt net zero emissions target by 2050 | The Morrison government’s special envoy for the Great Barrier Reef, Warren Entsch, has called for the Coalition to adopt a net zero emissions target by 2050, and endorsed the prime minister’s recent signal that Australia could meet the 2030 target without needing to use carryover credits. During Tuesday’s Coalition party room meeting – the second-last parliamentary gathering for 2020 – Entsch said the government should adopt the net zero target during a contribution where he called for targeted intervention to ensure people in north Queensland were able to access affordable insurance for cyclone events. The prime minister has gradually warmed up on the government adopting the mid-century target following the victory of Joe Biden in November’s presidential contest, but Scott Morrison is continuing to argue Australia will not make the 2050 commitment until he can outline the costs. Entch’s declaration was prompted by a contribution by the Queensland LNP senator Gerard Rennick, a critic of renewable energy. Rennick said the government should use carryover credits to meet its 2030 target, even though Australia has been blasted by other countries for signalling that intention. The trigger for Rennick’s contribution was a recent speech by the prime minister. Morrison told business leaders last month that Australia may not use carryovers – a controversial accounting mechanism from the Kyoto period – to meet the 2030 target, because he was “confident our policies will get this job done”. But Rennick told Tuesday’s party-room meeting the government should deploy carryovers to meet the target because Australia was entitled to use that accounting method. Entsch countered by telling colleagues he was encouraged by Morrison’s recent signal on meeting the 2030 target without deploying the Kyoto-era accounting concession, and added: “While we are at it, we should be adopting net zero by 2050.” Entsch told the Coalition party room that when it came to climate action, Australia should be seen as leaders and not “reluctant followers”. The veteran north Queensland Liberal later told Guardian Australia his political movement was a broad church, and it was important to represent the spectrum of views that existed inside the government. He said it was important to hear from supporters of climate action, not just internal critics. Entsch noted that Australia had managed the Covid-19 pandemic effectively because the government had followed scientific evidence, and the same rationale applied to climate action. “If there’s anything positive we can take out of Covid, it’s that: let’s follow the science and ignore the fringe views,” he said. The special envoy for the Great Barrier Reef said he had had access to the best scientific advice since assuming that environmental responsibility within the government. The government was well served by experts, he said, so it was incumbent on the Coalition to listen to them, as the government had during the pandemic. Separate to the exchange between Rennick and Entsch about carryovers and net zero, two Nationals – Matt Canavan and Barnaby Joyce – and the New South Wales Liberal Craig Kelly also used Tuesday’s party room to blast a recent commitment by the NSW government to build 12 gigawatts of clean energy. That commitment is roughly equivalent to the country’s entire existing large-scale renewable capacity. The NSW policy also includes constructing 2GW of energy storage in the state over the next decade. Canavan, a prominent supporter of new coal-fired power, told Tuesday’s meeting the NSW policy was at odds with federal energy policy. Kelly, meanwhile, declared the NSW plan – led by the state Liberal government with multi-party support – would drive coal out of the system before battery technologies were capable of firming the grid. | ['environment/great-barrier-reef', 'australia-news/warren-entsch', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/coalition', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/katharine-murphy', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/great-barrier-reef | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-12-01T06:39:01Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/feb/28/sustainable-development-government | Sustainable development: The UK's 'vision' looks weak | Damian Carrington | With little fanfare, and minimal formatting, the UK government has released its plan for "Mainstreaming sustainable development" in government. My instant impression is of lukewarm words and little substance. It's only seven pages long, so do please have a look and let me know in the comments below if your verdict is more charitable than a colleague of mine, who said it looked like it had been "knocked together by the work experience trainee" from departmental blurbs. Sustainable development is of course a vital issue: how do we live and prosper in perpetuity on a finite planet? The document articulates this concisely, borrowing the three-pillar concept: "Sustainable development recognises that the three 'pillars' of the economy, society and the environment are interconnected." And environment secretary Caroline Spelman sounds convinced: "Moving to a long-term, green and sustainable economy is essential if we are to rebuild our finances, improve our quality of life and protect our natural environment. Genuine sustainability will never again be an add-on or afterthought. It will be at the heart of everything we do - from making policy to running government buildings or purchasing goods and services." So how will this change happen? The document promises not just a vision, but also "what this means in practice." The government says new measures include: • The environment secretary to sit on "key" cabinet committees to enforce sustainable development • Defra reviewing the business plans of other Whitehall departments, with the minister for government policy (Oliver Letwin) brandishing the stick if needed • Real, measurable and published indicators of sustainability - details yet to be given • Monitoring of the sustainability of government operations by the Environmental Audit Committee, which is composed of MPs Not a thrilling list, is it? But what I think is far worse than a failure to quicken the pulse is that there is no independent scrutiny. Ensuring the government delivers on its promise to place sustainable development at the heart of all it does will be the job of, er, the government and MPs. Which brings us to the organisation not mentioned at all in the document, the soon-to-be-abolished Sustainable Development Commission, which since 2000 has been the government's independent watchdog on the issue. Rebecca Willis, the SDC's vice chair says the new plan is a "pretty weak package". That verdict is not sour grapes, she claims: "We accept there are other ways to [promote sustainable development] than an SDC." There are three problems, Willis says. "First, putting the environment secretary on Cabinet committees will not mainstream sustainable development. It needs to come from the centre, No 10, the cabinet office or the treasury." Second, she says, the EAC does not have the time or expertise to properly scrutinise the government's commitment to sustainable development. Lastly, putting up data on a website and letting the public draw their own conclusion is not a suitable replacement for expert analysis. Solitaire Townsend, co-founder of sustainability communications consultancy Futerra, says the government's plan has not met her expectations and agrees with Willis that independent scrutiny is lacking. "If we know one thing about the public at the moment, it is that trust is very low in government, in its delivery. While the EAC does good work it will not be seen by the public as independent." As I read through the document, the bulk of it seems to be the linking existing or future policies to sustainable development. Some of these links are completely justified, e.g. the Green Deal for home insulation. But the need to mention as many departments as possible has led the plan to overreach frequently. How is this policy, for instance, related to sustainable development? The Department for Education's Pupil Premium offers schools the opportunity to choose how to spend additional funding aimed specifically at helping develop children from disadvantaged backgrounds. For me the biggest test of this new plan will be whether this "new" commitment to sustainable development can tame the Treasury. Can it force the Chancellor's department to deliver a real Green Investment Bank which could transform the UK's infrastructure and put it on a sustainable footing? Or will that go the same way as the Green ISA's promised in the coalition agreement? | ['environment/damian-carrington-blog', 'environment/green-economy', 'environment/green-politics', 'environment/environment', 'tone/blog', 'politics/politics', 'environment/sustainable-development', 'type/article', 'profile/damiancarrington'] | environment/sustainable-development | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2011-02-28T17:58:25Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2019/jul/02/nuclear-power-is-helping-to-drive-the-climate-crisis | Nuclear power is helping to drive the climate crisis | Letters | Has the Confederation of British Industry got its head in the sand, or in the record levels of carbon-intensive concrete just poured at the Hinkley C nuclear site (Build more nuclear reactors to help climate crisis, says CBI, 28 June)? Nuclear power, apart from destroying biodiversity throughout its life cycle, produces up to 37 times the CO2 emissions of renewable energy sources, owing partly to the mining and refining of uranium. The impact of this process on people and the environment is not included in the rationale for nuclear power in the UK. As the CBI looks for investment from abroad, UK taxpayers will pick up the bill for the likely time and cost overruns of new nuclear build under the regulated asset-based funding proposals so welcomed by the CBI. Nuclear has failed to achieve the investment needed so far because it is no longer seen as economically viable. Even Hitachi (one of the world’s largest multinationals) cannot magic Wylfa Newydd into a commercially viable business. In January this year, Hitachi announced it had failed to squeeze the UK government for the very high levels of subsidies desired by large investors upfront for Wylfa. Nobody can afford the costs or the many risks attached to building new nuclear power stations. Linda Rogers PAWB (Pobl Atal Wylfa B/People Against Wylfa B) • The doctors’ letter (Doctors against climate catastrophe, 28 June) omitted two key concerns. The first is that gas escapes from previously frozen deposits could outweigh reduced human emissions, so geo-engineering may yet be necessary. The second is the need for funding for useful actions that already exist. It is no use politicians declaring a climate emergency and then lacking the backbone to deal with it. If taxes (including mine) need to increase, then so be it. If this seems overly alarmist or they are unforgivably prepared to let the world’s poor go hang, MPs should remember just how much food Britain imports and ask exactly who would guarantee our supplies if major global disruption occurred. Iain Climie Whitchurch, Hampshire | ['environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'tone/letters', 'uk-news/hinkley-point-c', 'uk/wales', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2019-07-02T16:43:16Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/article/2024/jul/11/cape-fur-seals-rabies-surfers-south-africa | ‘Everyone was paddling to get away’: seals with rabies alarm South Africa’s surfers | It’s happened to me dozens of times: I’m riding a wave when, out of the corner of my eye, I see a black shape coming up beneath me. Being in Cape Town – a great white shark hotspot – it’s hard not to assume the worst. But fear soon gives into relief when it becomes clear that I’m sharing the wave with a Cape fur seal. Sometimes, they get so close you can see the bubbles on their whiskers. Now, nine seals have tested positive for rabies – the world’s first significant outbreak of the disease in marine mammals – and people like me are watching the water along this 400-mile (600km) coastline for a different reason. “I was out surfing the other day, when this seal popped up in the lineup [of surfers] to sun itself,” says Gregg Oelofse, who is in charge of coastal management for Cape Town council. “Usually, surfers would enjoy the interaction. But now everyone was paddling as fast as they could to get away.” Last month, a single seal bit several surfers in a matter of minutes and another seal swam ashore with horrific facial injuries that could only have been inflicted by a seriously aggressive animal. These attacks convinced authorities to euthanise four animals and send their bodies to be tested for rabies. Three of those four seals tested positive, and the number of cases has since risen to nine. Scientists from the University of Pretoria are sequencing the virus to determine where and when rabies entered the seal population. Rabies is endemic among many wild animals in southern Africa (jackals, for example) but most of these animals do not live close to humans. Seal behaviour started to change a few years ago. Oelofse and his team noticed a marked increase in seal aggression in Cape Town in late 2021, after intermittent reports of seals attacking humans. To understand this highly unusual behaviour, they joined up with marine scientists from a local research organisation, Sea Search, and an animal welfare organisation, the SPCA, to catch animals and test them. They considered rabies as a possible cause, but the fact that there had only ever been one recorded case of a seal contracting rabies – in Norway’s Svalbard islands in 1980 – suggested this was very unlikely. Oelofse stresses that the increasing number of cases is not a sign of the outbreak increasing exponentially. “We are retrospectively testing euthanised animals,” he says. “We are very fortunate that Sea Search has sampled and kept 120 brains over the last two and a half years.” Testing these brains will allow them to get a better picture of when rabies first appeared in the population and how far it has spread. They will continue to test any animals that they suspect of having rabies. On Cape Town’s shoreline, swimmers and surfers like me are being given a clear message: anyone bitten by a seal, no matter how long ago, must seek medical attention immediately. Rabies can take anywhere between a week and two years to incubate, with a few months being the norm. But the evidence Oelofse has seen of reports is reassuring. “We think quite a few people have been bitten by rabid seals, but luckily no human has got infected yet,” he says. “We don’t know why. Perhaps the transfer rate is low? Does salt water in their mouth reduce the viral load?” Two million Cape fur seals live in colonies stretching from southern Angola to Algoa Bay on the east coast of South Africa, says Dr Greg Hofmeyr, a marine biologist who has been studying seals for 32 years. “They can spend days to weeks at sea, covering vast distances, and only hauling out on to islands occasionally to rest or to mate.” When they are on these offshore colonies, however, they live in extremely close proximity, where there are frequent fights. Rabies is primarily transmitted through saliva, so there is a concern that the disease could spread quickly among seals. Meanwhile, lifeguards and shark spotters have been instructed to close beaches if an aggressive seal is spotted, and members of the public are urged to report any unusual seal behaviour, to always keep their dogs on leashes and to stay away from seals in harbours that have become habituated to humans. While panic and the urge to swim away from any seal fast is understandable, Oelofse says it is not entirely justified. “If a seal is behaving weirdly or aggressively, stay well away and report it to the authorities,” he says. “A relaxed seal is unlikely to pose a threat.” The message seems to be getting through. I was out surfing yesterday when a seal joined us at the backline, rolling around on the surface like an oversized labrador. No one around me panicked and after a while the seal swam away from us. There is, Oelofse stresses, “no global ‘best practice’ to follow”, so the authorities are taking a proactive approach. “We really want to know the transfer rate [of the disease],” he says, expressing concern that rabies might become endemic in the seal population or jump to other coastal mammals such as Cape clawless otters. “We’re also super-worried about what it might mean for our seals,” he says. “And we really don’t want any humans to get rabies.” | ['environment/series/seascape-the-state-of-our-oceans', 'environment/mammals', 'environment/environment', 'science/infectiousdiseases', 'science/science', 'world/southafrica', 'travel/capetown', 'world/africa', 'travel/southafrica', 'travel/travel', 'world/world', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'sport/surfing', 'travel/surfing', 'sport/sport', 'global-development/global-development', 'environment/coastlines', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/nick-dall', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/environmentnews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-07-11T04:00:18Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
uk-news/2024/oct/10/edf-seeks-to-raise-up-to-4bn-to-finish-delayed-hinkley-point-c | EDF reportedly seeking up to £4bn from investors to finish Hinkley Point C | The French energy company EDF is reportedly in talks with investors to raise up to £4bn to finish the delayed Hinkley Point C project in Somerset, Britain’s first new nuclear reactors in a generation. The utilities company, owned by the French state, has approached investors to help cover the ballooning cost of constructing the nuclear plant, which is understood to have reached almost £50bn due in part to supply chain issues and struggles securing skilled engineers, according to Bloomberg. EDF is reportedly engaged in talks with sovereign wealth funds and large infrastructure funds to raise the extra money through a bespoke financial instrument that would hand investors a stake in Hinkley while protecting them against the risk that the project is not finished. Hinkley Point C is due to begin generating electricity by 2030, according to EDF – five years later than first planned and 12 years after construction began. The project’s costs have also spiralled, from £18bn when its contracts were signed in 2016 to £47.9bn in today’s money. The cost overruns and delays are understood to be in part due to spending on extra safety measures to satisfy UK authorities, and trouble securing skilled engineers after Brexit. A team of specialist engineers at the Hinkley site, represented by the trade union Prospect, voted to strike for 24 hours from Thursday after pay talks broke down. The union said the engineers had not had a pay increase in the last four years. The financial pressure on the project has deepened after EDF’s partner, China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN), a state-run company, declined to plough more funding into the project beyond its contracted term in 2023. CGN has scaled back its interest in investing in the UK after tensions between Westminster and Beijing over security concerns made it clear that a Chinese company would not be given permission to lead a nuclear project in the UK. In response, EDF has called on the UK government to stump up the cash to help finish the project, which will only benefit from bill payer subsidies once it begins generating, but the suggestion was rebuffed by the previous government. One of the companies considering an investment in the troubled project is Centrica, the owner of British Gas, which has previously been linked to investment talks relating to EDF’s planned nuclear project at Sizewell C in Suffolk. The FTSE 100 company is reportedly in early talks to invest up to £1bn in Hinkley Point C, according to the Daily Telegraph. Investing in new nuclear reactors would help to secure future electricity supplies for Centrica, which holds a 20% share in all five of EDF’s remaining UK nuclear power stations, four of which are due to close this decade. Centrica is understood to be interested in investing in either Hinkley or Sizewell – but not both. EDF and Centrica declined to comment. | ['uk-news/hinkley-point-c', 'business/edf', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'uk/uk', 'business/business', 'environment/energy', 'world/france', 'business/energy-industry', 'technology/energy', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2024-10-10T15:38:28Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2011/may/09/friends-earth-ipcc-proposals-policy | Campaigners demand Chris Huhne deliver adequate policy or resign | Friends of the Earth has stepped up the pressure on the government to follow the recommendations of its climate change advisers. The green group called on Monday for Chris Huhne, the secretary of state for energy to resign in protest if his fellow ministers try to water down the proposals. The government must lay the groundwork now for legislation slated for June, if it accepts the recommendations of the Committee on Climate Change, set up under the Climate Change Act to advise the government on how to meet its greenhouse gas targets. The committee recommends a "carbon budget" that would require a 50% carbon reduction by 2027 compared with 1990 levels. But a government decision has been stalled by opposition to the target from the departments for transport and for business, innovation and skills. Andy Atkins, the executive director of Friends of the Earth, said: "Failure to accept the committee's advice on the setting of future carbon budgets, or a decision to accept it in part, or in a watered-down form, would be completely incompatible with the government's ambition to be the 'greenest government ever'. "It would be a complete reversal of the arguments put forward by both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties as the Climate Change Act was being passed through the last parliament." Atkins wrote to Huhne on Monday afternoon urging him to resign if the recommendations are not followed in full. In his letter he told Huhne: "I do not call for your resignation with any relish, nor because I believe that your department is the real obstacle to accepting the advice of the committee ... However this is a completely different situation to the usual intergovernmental wrangles over policy. "If a particular energy efficiency or renewable energy policy is held up or watered down by other departments, it is understandable that you would stay in place to work on other policies to deliver the cuts in emissions we need. "If carbon budgets are set at a lower level than the committee advises are necessary then you will have no power in government to deliver policies that make the cuts in emissions we need. You will only be able to deliver policies you know are inadequate." The letter follows a warning from David Kennedy, the chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change, that the "the key test" of the government's green credentials will be whether or not it accepts his recommendations on carbon-cutting. | ['environment/friends-of-the-earth', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'environment/green-politics', 'politics/chrishuhne', 'politics/politics', 'environment/ipcc', 'world/unitednations', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'environment/committee-on-climate-change', 'type/article', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/green-politics | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2011-05-09T16:56:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
commentisfree/2022/oct/13/green-energy-guardian-reader-growth-net-zero-liz-truss-jacob-rees-mogg | I’m maligned as a ‘green energy sceptic’. I’m not. Dear Guardian reader, here’s what I think | Jacob Rees-Mogg | It is always intriguing to see my own views through the lens of a newspaper refracted away from what I think. Although I am no admirer of Extinction Rebellion, I can assure Guardian readers that I am not a “green energy sceptic”. I am in favour of intelligent net zero in which green energy will play the biggest role. I’m proud to belong to a country that has cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 40% since 1990, while growing the economy by over 70% in that time. It is in this light that we can achieve our commitments to net zero by 2050, as dark satanic mills are replaced by onshore and offshore windfarms. But if the green agenda does not provide economic growth, it will ultimately not have political support and it will be self-defeating. Getting the British people on board with net zero requires us to demonstrate that we can go green in a way that makes them better off, not worse off, that drives growth instead of hindering it and that stimulates investment and innovation rather than driving traditional industries to the brink of ruin. The effect we have had on energy-intensive industries increases carbon emissions as we import more from abroad while destroying high-paid jobs in the United Kingdom. There are ways to make this work which the country is adopting. Consider the Contracts for Difference scheme. This programme has grown to support a bountiful range of renewable energy sources, from onshore wind to offshore, solar power to tidal and from remote island wind to energy production from waste – all while bringing down costs and growing the economy. The drive to produce up to 50GW of offshore wind by 2030 means that this sector alone should grow to support 90,000 jobs. The scheme has successfully overcome demands for upfront capital and settled uncertainties for generators navigating volatile wholesale prices. It has spurred £90bn of investment in renewables since 2012 and contributed to a five-fold increase in electricity generation from renewable sources over the decade. The latest auction round last year secured 93 new contracts for 11GW of renewable generation capacity – enough to power 12m homes. In 2010, renewables accounted for a mere 7% of the UK’s electricity generation. Programmes such as Contracts for Difference mean that renewables now meet about 40% of our needs, reducing our reliance on authoritarian regimes such as Russia and strengthening our domestic energy sector. The war in Ukraine has thrown into sharp relief the need to rapidly increase our domestic energy supply and strengthen our energy security, from all forms of renewables to nuclear and our domestic oil and gas reserves, which are of course significantly greener than shipping liquefied natural gas from overseas. That is why our recently announced growth plan will accelerate the delivery of major infrastructure projects including onshore and offshore windfarms. This plan will also boost the UK’s nascent hydrogen industry, which will work in harmony with the renewables and gas sectors alike. The government will also align onshore wind planning policy with other infrastructure to allow it to be deployed more easily in England. We understand the strength of feeling that some people have about the impact of wind turbines in England. The plans will maintain local communities’ ability to contribute to proposals, including developing local partnerships for communities that wish to see new onshore wind infrastructure in return for benefits such as lower energy bills. We are exploring options to support low-cost finance to help householders with the upfront costs of solar installation, permitted development rights to support deployment of more small-scale solar in commercial settings and designing performance standards to further encourage renewables, including solar PV, in new homes and buildings. We also need to focus on another key part of our energy infrastructure, reinforcing the grid so that renewable electricity can be transported to homes and businesses all over the country. Grid connection can often be on the critical path for getting new renewable infrastructure online, which is why I am committed to significantly reducing timelines for building new network infrastructure. But in exchange for the unprecedented support that is being offered to renewable energy companies, they must charge consumers and taxpayers a fair price for the energy they produce. By separating the price of renewable energy from the most expensive form of production, which today is gas, and moving these companies on to Contracts for Difference, the government is providing the renewables sector with long-term stability and a sensible price that is fair to the industry and consumers alike. The energy prices bill, introduced this week, will strengthen energy security and stop Putin holding our energy policy to ransom. It also has the potential to save billions of pounds for British billpayers, without deterring essential investment in low-carbon generation as we progress towards net zero. Given the stakes, it’s important that the public debate on net zero and energy security is robust and lively, but I hope my commitment to making it a reality is clear. • Jacob Rees-Mogg is secretary of state for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy 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', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'business/energy-industry', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/windpower', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/jacob-rees-mogg', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2022-10-13T05:00:02Z | true | ENERGY |
australia-news/2019/apr/26/labors-support-for-carbon-disaster-in-betaloo-basin-condemned | Labor's support for 'carbon disaster' in Beetaloo basin condemned | Labor’s support for unlocking the gas supply from the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo basin has drawn the anger of environmental groups, who say its emissions would dwarf those from Adani’s proposed Carmichael coalmine. Earlier this week Labor announced it would replace the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility with a different fund to finance infrastructure projects of national significance in the north of the country. The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, said up to $1.5bn of Labor’s fund would be earmarked to unlock gas supply in Queensland’s Galilee and Bowen basins and to connect the Beetaloo sub-basin – about 28,000km sq south of Katherine and part of the McArthur basin – to Darwin and the east coast. But environment groups say that would undermine Labor’s target of reducing carbon emissions by 45% of 2005 levels by 2030. In August 2017, a Northern Territory inquiry into hydraulic fracturing heard the McArthur basin could release four to five times the volume of greenhouse gas emissions as the Carmichael mine, if fracked. The gas-rich Beetaloo basin alone would dwarf Adani’s expected emissions, said Tim Forcey, a chemical engineer with decades of experience in the petrochemicals industry. And the emissions figures may be underestimated, he said. The final report from the NT inquiry suggested McArthur gas extraction could contribute more than 6% of Australia’s emissions. It also noted the life cycle of greenhouse gas emissions from shale gas-generated electricity are 50%–60% of that from coal-generated electricity. Naomi Hogan, a spokeswoman for the Lock the Gate Alliance, said unlocking it could “unleash a carbon disaster which would make it impossible for Australia to meet our Paris targets”. “Fracking the gas out of the Beetaloo basin has been measured to be the pollution equivalent of building and operating at least 50 new coal-fired power stations,” she said. “Federal Labor has ruled out Naif funding for the climate-wrecking project of Adani, how can it justify propping up an industry that will trash the Northern Territory with fracking?” Dan Gocher, from the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility, said all fossil fuel expansion subsidies should be ruled out. “This would be a terrible investment for the Australian people and makes a mockery of the ALP’s climate commitments,” he said. “We call on the ALP and Bill Shorten to reverse this position.” Labor’s announcement showed the political system remained “fully in the thrall of the fossil fuels industry”, he said. Questioned on the incongruity of the two policies on Wednesday, Shorten said gas would be “a transition-baseload energy source of the future”. “What we also need to do as we move towards 45% [is] make sure we’ve still got an Australian manufacturing sector,” he said. “Therefore, opening up the gas reserves will ensure cheap domestic gas for Australia, so we can keep tens of thousands of people in their jobs in the south-east and indeed in Darwin and Brisbane.” His earlier announcement had said opening up the Beetaloo could provide up to 400 years of domestic gas supply. The Coalition’s federal budget included $8.4m to open the Beetaloo sub-basin for exploration and development, after the federal and NT governments signed a memorandum of understanding to guide the area’s development. The Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, said his party would seek to block legislation of the Beetaloo project in the Senate. “We are in the middle of a climate emergency and we can’t be opening up any more coal, oil or gas fields if we are going to hand over a sustainable environment to our children and grandchildren,” said Di Natale. “The Greens will use our numbers in the new Senate to exclude any Naif funding for fossil fuel projects because taxpayer money shouldn’t be used to continue subsidising polluting industries.” The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association has previously rejected warnings of the cost of offsetting fracking emissions, saying they ignored the positive impact on emissions of gas replacing coal. It welcomed the bipartisan support for unlocking the Beetaloo sub-basin and rejected Lock the Gate’s figures as “grossly inflated”. The APPEA chief executive, Andrew McConville, noted the NT inquiry had found submissions from the Australia Institute – which did not comment on this week’s Labor announcement – to be “highly inflated”. McConville said the inquiry echoed previous reports, including the Finkel review, in “highlighting the positive role natural gas can play in reducing emissions”. “Access to a reliable and affordable gas supply is in the interest of all Australians given its direct use for heating, electricity generation and as a feedstock in manufacturing,” the NT report said. Origin and Santos both have interests in the Beetaloo, and intend to develop it now the moratorium on fracking has been lifted. The NT inquiry recommended the practise could go ahead with appropriate safegurds, and handed down 135 recommendations for the government. Before the moratorium, Origin Energy had found an estimated 6.6tr cubic feet of dry gas resources at its project site in the Beetaloo. Citi market analysis has found there could be 100tn cubic feet (2.8tn cubic metres) in the sub-basin. The question has been hugely divisive in the NT. Apart from the matter of emissions, there are also widespread concerns about the potential environmental risks to the aquifers and rivers, but these have come up against the need for the estimated billions of dollars the fracking industry could bring to the struggling NT economy. | ['australia-news/northern-territory', 'australia-news/labor-party', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'business/adani-group', 'environment/coal', 'environment/fracking', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/helen-davidson', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/coal | ENERGY | 2019-04-25T18:00:13Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2011/oct/17/bolivia-president-election-road-protest | Bolivian president facing election blow amid road protests | Bolivia's president, Evo Morales, appears to have suffered his first electoral defeat since taking power in 2005, amid growing protests against the construction of a road through indigenous lands in the Amazon. An estimated 5.2 million voters were expected at the polls to elect 28 national judges and 28 other members of the judiciary. But according to one preliminary count, around 45% of voters spoiled their ballots while around 20% abstained. The high proportion of spoilt ballots was widely interpreted as a rebuke to Morales over his stance on a 185-mile road that is set to be built through indigenous lands. The poll, by pollsters Ipsos Apoyo Opinión y Mercado, was based on around 90% of votes. In the runup to the elections, analysts had described the vote as a referendum on the presidency of Bolivia's first indigenous president who came to power promising to fight for the country's dispossessed. Morales was re-elected by a landslide in 2009. He hopes to stand for a third term in 2014. With many of the judicial candidates female or indigenous, Morales had described Sunday's election as another step towards the "re-foundation" of one of South America's most unequal societies. But his popularity has been hit by discontent over the construction of the $420m highway and anger over plans, which were eventually shelved, to scrap petrol subsidies earlier this year. Bolivia's opposition urged voters to boycott the judicial elections as a signal of unhappiness with the president. Speaking at a press conference on Sunday night, Morales said he was very pleased with the turnout and blamed the high number of spoilt ballots on a lack of information. More than 1,000 protesters are still marching towards La Paz, the Bolivia's administrative capital, to voice their anger at plans for the Amazon road and are expected to arrive over the coming days. | ['world/evo-morales', 'world/world', 'world/bolivia', 'world/indigenous-peoples', 'world/americas', 'world/road-transport', 'world/protest', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'environment/forests', 'environment/deforestation', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/tomphillips', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | environment/amazon-rainforest | BIODIVERSITY | 2011-10-17T12:34:35Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
sport/article/2024/jul/20/cricket-the-hundred-twenty20-format-ecb-name-change | ECB wants to keep the Hundred name even if it switches to Twenty20 format | The England and Wales Cricket Board is pushing ahead with proposals to switch the Hundred to a Twenty20 format, but plans to keep the competition’s name. The Observer has learned that a return to traditional six-ball overs is on the cards when the next television rights cycle begins in 2029, although the Hundred title and branding will remain. The ECB announced plans for the new shorter format in 2018, with the 100-ball innings divided into sets of five or 10 balls instead of overs, but as it prepares to sell stakes in the eight franchises this autumn a reversion to T20 is expected. Any change to the playing conditions would require the support of the ECB’s TV rights partner, Sky Sports, which expressed scepticism when the idea was first floated last year. Sky has committed to investing £375m in the Hundred over nine seasons, until 2028, so is reluctant to sanction a U-turn, although keeping the name may be enough to win its backing in a compromise agreement. The secondary rights partner, BBC Sport, is also a big fan of the format as shorter matches suit its evening TV schedules, but it pays around £1m for its rights so has less influence. The existing eight city-based Hundred franchises will remain, with the ECB hoping for two extra teams, in the north-east and south-west, in time for the 2029 season. “We have no plans to abandon the Hundred,” said a source involved in the discussions. “Our plan is to grow the competition and build on its success, whatever the format. “Hundred is a well-known cricketing term so keeping the competition’s name will not be a problem. It’s a really powerful brand that has attracted interest from all over the world. But T20 is the global format and will be an Olympic sport from 2028 so we have to explore that option.” The ECB caused controversy and upset many cricket supporters by announcing the creation of the new format in 2018, with the Hundred launching in 2021 after a 12-month delay caused by Covid. While the competition has been successful in attracting new audiences and advertisers to the sport, particularly to the women’s Hundred, it has not caught on around the rest of the world. Hopes the Hundred could become the Olympic format when cricket joins the Games in Los Angeles in four years’ time proved fanciful, while the ECB has been unable to attract Indian players or broadcasters. The ECB first floated reverting to T20 in discussions with the counties last year, an idea that has since solidified as part of its plans to attract outside investment to the Hundred. While the ECB owns the eight franchises it is planning to hand a 51% stake in each of the teams to their constituent counties at the end of this season’s competition, which begins with a double header between Oval Invincibles and Birmingham Phoenix in south London on Tuesday. The ECB is hoping to sell its remaining 49% share to outside investors in an auction process due to begin in September, with the host counties welcome to sell as much or as little of their share as they please. Given most of the potential investors are expected to come from the United States and India the ECB is understood to have reached the conclusion that selling a T20 competition makes more sense, albeit while retaining the Hundred brand. The ECB is hopeful of raising up to £500m from selling half the Hundred, but concerns have been raised about the sales process. Several private equity sources have told the Observer that such a valuation is overly optimistic. The only firm offer the ECB has received came in November 2022 from the Bridgepoint Group, which offered £400m for a 75% stake, which was firmly rejected. The ECB declined to comment. | ['sport/ecb', 'sport/the-hundred', 'sport/twenty20', 'sport/sport-politics', 'sport/cricket', 'sport/sport', 'campaign/email/the-spin', 'media/sportsrights', 'media/media', 'media/sky-sports', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/matthughes', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/sport', 'theobserver/sport/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-sport'] | sport/ecb | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2024-07-20T11:11:33Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
business/nils-pratley-on-finance/2016/sep/15/business-nils-prately-on-finance-hinkley-point-c-deep-rethink-nuclear-power-uk-china-edf-cost-design | Hinkley Point C: now for a deep rethink on the nuclear adventure? | It’s astonishing. British governments have fiddled for a decade with the terms and structure of the Hinkley Point deal. The proposed agreement runs to thousands of pages, as you would expect with an £18bn contract to build the first new nuclear power station in the UK for a generation. Yet nobody seems to have considered what would happen if EDF, an over-indebted outfit over-reliant on the goodwill of current and future French politicians, ever wanted to sell Hinkley. Theresa May’s review is a let-down on the central question of whether the Hinkley Point C project should proceed; she should have binned the project because the technology was unproven and the financial terms a rip-off. But she has addressed the question of future ownership. The UK government will be able to block EDF from selling its stake before and after construction. Similar powers will be secured in future by the UK government taking a special share in infrastructure projects deemed critical to the nation’s security. This is welcome and overdue. Before the clause was inserted, it would have been possible, in theory, for EDF to sell its majority stake in Hinkley to its Chinese co-financiers, the state-backed CGN firm. Overnight, 7% of the UK’s energy supply could have been in the hands of a country with a long and dishonourable history of cyber espionage. David Cameron and George Osborne, as they conducted their love-in with Beijing in recent years, ignored the worry in their desperation to find a new partner for EDF after Centrica, the owner of British Gas, dropped out of the Hinkley consortium in 2013. The energy select committee, shamefully, also danced around the subject of national security. May deserves some credit for addressing it. The Brexit vote, incidentally, may have strengthened her hand. The EU tends to hate golden shares. Outside the club, it should be easier for the UK to adopt stronger protection over ownership of critical infrastructure. But the government is overstating matters when it says the UK’s policy will now fall into line with other big economies. The US imposes far stricter restrictions on foreign ownership of nuclear plants on its soil. That is why, one assumes, the Chinese appear happy to accept May’s “significant new safeguards”. For Beijing, the big prize has always been the chance to gain international recognition for Chinese technology by building a nuclear power station in Bradwell, Essex, to its own design. That prospect is still alive. But let’s hope May’s brief probe of Hinkley heralds a deeper rethink on the UK’s entire nuclear programme. On cost and design, the adventure has lost touch with common sense. First, cost. Hinkley, as everybody knows by now, is hideously expensive. If it were up and running today, EDF and CGN would be receiving annual revenues of £2.8bn, calculates Peter Atherton, of Cornwall Energy. But only £1.2bn would represent the market price of the electricity produced. The rest, £1.6bn, would be a top-up payment ultimately paid by the public. The figure is large but, if it were a one-off, perhaps tolerable. The UK’s 27m households use about 40% of the country’s energy. Crunch the numbers and a theoretical “Hinkley subsidy” works out to about £24 per household a year at current prices. The problem, of course, is that Hinkley in north Somerset is not a one-off. It will provide about 3,200MW of capacity. The government’s decarbonisation programme envisages up to 18,000MW of nuclear capacity by 2035. If Hinkley-style handouts are repeated, you’re talking serious money for consumers and a big hit to the competitiveness of UK industry. That risk is real because of the second issue: the madness of a nuclear new-build programme in which all are invited to pitch. It’s not just China that wants to bring its kit – Japanese, South Korean and US firms are also on the ticket for new plants. The UK could end up building four different reactor designs from five different manufacturers. That is inherently more expensive than picking the best design, replicating it and harvesting economies of scale. The UK’s approach, argues Atherton, is “the equivalent of having the four new Trident nuclear subs built in different shipyards to different designs”. It’s too late, it seems, to stop Hinkley. But May should order a rethink of the rest of the UK’s nuclear plan. It’s a badly designed mess that no other country would copy. | ['business/nils-pratley-on-finance', 'uk-news/hinkley-point-c', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'business/edf', 'politics/theresamay', 'world/china', 'business/centrica', 'politics/politics', 'business/utilities', 'business/business', 'uk/uk', 'world/world', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tone/comment', 'profile/nilspratley', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2016-09-15T18:44:17Z | true | ENERGY |
travel/article/2024/jul/18/tell-us-if-youve-booked-a-last-minute-summer-holiday-share-why-and-where-you-are-going | Tell us: if you’ve booked a last minute summer holiday, share why and where you are going | As extreme weather may have contributed to the rise in late bookings reported by the holiday firm Jet2 this summer, with many Britons making arrangements for last minute getways, we’d like to know where people are going. If you have booked a last minute holiday this summer or are about to, tell us where you’re headed and why you’ve waited until now to book. This Community callout closed on 2 October 2024. You can contribute to open Community callouts here or Share a story here. | ['travel/travel', 'world/extreme-weather', 'environment/extreme-heat', 'business/travelleisure', 'type/article', 'environment/environment', 'environment/summer', 'technology/airbnb', 'world/air-transport', 'tone/callout', 'campaign/callout/callout-last-minute-summer-holidays-2024', 'profile/guardian-community-team', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-communities-and-social'] | environment/extreme-heat | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2024-07-18T15:18:09Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
australia-news/2019/feb/18/nsw-labor-pledges-state-owned-renewable-energy-company-to-power-three-million-homes | NSW Labor pledges state-owned renewable energy company to power three million homes | A New South Wales Labor government would establish a state-owned renewable energy company to support the rollout of enough renewable energy to power more than three million homes across the state in the next decade. On Monday the NSW opposition leader, Michael Daley, announced that if elected on 23 March, Labor would deliver seven gigawatts of extra renewable energy by 2030. Labor would also establish a new state-owned power company to deliver a further one gigawatt of renewable energy and storage. “I want to make NSW a global leader of the clean energy industry. I want NSW workers and families to reap the benefits,” Daley said in a statement. “NSW cannot be a supplicant state for energy. We have to produce our own energy, create our own jobs and give energy security to our own people. If we don’t move now, we will completely fall behind and lose our advantage.” Based off modelling of a similar scheme in Victoria, NSW Labor expects to raise $9.5bn through a series of competitive tenders and long-term contracts – known as reverse auctions – in which governments invite bids for projects from developers at the lowest price they would accept. Daley said in the announcement that the timing, size and content of each auction round would be determined in conjunction with the Australian Energy Market Operator. Environment groups have been quick to welcome the policy, with the Nature Conservation Council calling it a “game-changer” for the state. “State Labor’s pledge to add seven gigawatts of large-scale solar, wind and storage to the grid is a game-changer that would make NSW a leader in clean energy in Australia, slash the state’s carbon emissions by 12% and power about three million households,” chief executive Kate Smolski said in a statement. “The ALP’s pledge on rooftop solar and large-scale renewables would see NSW go from laggard to leader in clean energy in Australia by increasing the mix of solar, wind and hydro up to 35% by 2023. “This is a very welcome announcement and sets a standard that we call on the Coalition to match or exceed in coming weeks.” A study by the Climate Council last year found that while NSW had a “strong pipeline of renewable energy projects with planning approval”, it was lagging behind most states in the amount of energy it sourced from renewables. That’s despite the energy minister, Don Harwin, criticising his Coalition colleagues in the federal government for blocking his attempt to debate emissions reduction at an energy ministers meeting at the end of last year. In December, Harwin said he was “very disappointed” with the outcome of the Council of Australian Governments energy council, saying an obligation to reduce emissions was “absolutely critical” to encourage investment in new power generation and lower prices. The NSW Labor announcement comes after Daley last week said the party would aim to see half a million more homes in the state install rooftop solar over the next decade by allowing owner-occupied households in NSW with a combined income of $180,000 or less to claim a capped solar rebate. | ['australia-news/new-south-wales-politics', 'australia-news/new-south-wales', 'australia-news/labor-party', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'australia-news/energy-australia', 'environment/environment', 'environment/solarpower', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'australia-news/michael-daley', 'profile/michael-mcgowan', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2019-02-18T04:33:03Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2011/jan/26/mark-kennedy-german-bundestag | Mark Kennedy infiltrated German anti-fascists, Bundestag told | The international row over undercover police officer Mark Kennedy escalated tonight after the full scope of his activities were revealed in a secret sitting at the German parliament. Germany's federal police chief, Jörg Ziercke, was forced to admit to MPs at the Bundestag that not only had Kennedy had a long-term lover in Berlin – in direct violation of a law forbidding police officers to have sexual relationships while undercover – but that he had been invited to Germany by the authorities to infiltrate the anti-fascist movement. Ziercke also revealed that Kennedy, the Metropolitan police officer at the centre of a controversy over the infiltration of peaceful environmental groups across Europe, worked for three German states during at least five visits to the country between 2004 and 2009. He said the agent committed at least two crimes, but the cases against him were dropped at the behest of German authorities who knew Kennedy's true identity. Kennedy first broke the law during protests at Heiligendamm, the town near Rostock where the G8 meetings took place in 2007. He later committed arson, Der Spiegel said, during a demonstration in Berlin at which he set fire to containers. The revelations are published today in Der Spiegel, which says Kennedy's involvement in criminal activity during his time in Germany highlights concerns that he was working as an agent provocateur and not just an observer of the activists. In addition, the newspaper says, the fact that investigations into both crimes were shelved suggests police authorities wielded an unacceptable influence over the country's judicial process. Kennedy spent long periods in Germany and lived with individuals in the "black block" anarchist movement during his time in the country. At the same time, he entered 22 different countries across Europe using a fake passport, including Spain, Italy and Iceland – where he helped found the activist movement. The revelations about Kennedy's role in Germany came despite the government maintaining its refusal to answer a series of parliamentary questions from opposition politicians. The Bundestag said "operational reasons" prevented them answering any questions about the country's co-operation with undercover police officers from other countries, and Kennedy in particular. But Ziercke admitted Kennedy had been hired by police in three German states: Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , where the G8 meeting was taking place, Baden-Württemberg and Berlin. The agent was working on a contract brokered directly by the German parliament, Der Speigel claims. He was, the newspaper adds, considered to be a "trusted agent" and safe pair of hands by the authorities. Kennedy, who has already been revealed as having conducted numerous sexual relationships with female activists across Europe, is also revealed to have conducted a long-term, long-distance relationship with a woman living in Berlin. Such behaviour, said Ziercke, directly contravenes German laws, which forbid undercover agents conducting "tactical love relationships" with those under surveillance. Ziercke went on to acknowledge that Kennedy's behaviour revealed there were obviously "control-deficits" when it comes to foreign undercover officers. | ['uk/mark-kennedy', 'world/germany', 'environment/activism', 'uk/police', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'world/europe-news', 'uk/undercover-police-and-policing', 'type/article', 'profile/ameliahill', 'profile/lukeharding', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2011-01-26T22:51:15Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
environment/2023/feb/24/pollutionwatch-london-ulez-cuts-traffic-fumes-but-heating-is-concern | Pollutionwatch: London Ulez cuts traffic fumes but heating is concern | Research on the air in London suggests the ultra low emission zone (Ulez) may be working better than expected, but the heating of buildings may become a barrier to reducing air pollution. The research was done from the top of the BT Tower. Sam Cliff, of the University of York, said: “The observatory is a tiny room, 35 floors up, surrounded by telecommunications kit and crammed full of scientific instruments. The view is great but on windy days maintenance can be really challenging.” From the top of the tower, Cliff measured air pollution drifting upwards from the streets and buildings below, allowing him to gradually map the sources within about 3.5km. Air pollution hotspots included the buses and taxis feeding Euston station, the congested streets around Oxford Street and Piccadilly, and the combined heating and power generation systems in Bloomsbury. Covid restrictions and home working during 2020 and 2021 completely changed air pollution in central London. A 32% decrease in carbon dioxide rising from around BT Tower allowed Cliff and the team to estimate the improvements in air pollution that should have resulted from the reduction in fuel use. But the Covid-induced changes were bigger. There was a 73% decrease in nitrogen oxides, the group of pollutants that includes nitrogen dioxide, levels of which regularly break legal limits on the streets below. Predicted changes from the Ulez were added to those expected from less fuel use. The Ulez appeared to be working at least as well as expected, if not better. Another factor was less congestion on the roads below, meaning less stop-start and less slow-moving traffic. This led Cliff and team to conclude that traffic reduction in combination with Ulez-type schemes would be an optimal policy for public health, especially if road space was then given over to walking and cycling. The Covid period also gave us a glimpse of future air pollution as road transport is electrified but heating buildings with fossil gas may remain. Building heating is already the largest source of nitrogen oxides in London’s financial district. This is not a unique problem. By 2030, home heating is expected to exceed traffic as the main source of nitrogen oxides in the city of York. It is possible that hydrogen will replace fossil gas heating in future, but burning hydrogen still produces nitrogen oxides. Prof Ally Lewis, of the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, said: “Getting combustion out of cities is central to further improving air quality in the UK. This means tackling more than just wood-burning stoves. Burning natural gas, or possibly burning hydrogen in the future, will keep pollution sources close to where people live. We will either need to electrify the heating of homes and businesses or think much more seriously about how pollution from gas burning can be cleaned up, as we currently do for cars, trucks and buses.” | ['environment/series/pollutionwatch', 'environment/air-pollution', 'uk/london', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'environment/low-emission-zones', 'profile/gary-fuller', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2023-02-24T06:00:16Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2021/may/19/food-giants-accused-of-links-to-amazon-deforestation | Food giants accused of links to illegal Amazon deforestation | Three of the world’s biggest food businesses have been accused of buying soya from a farmer linked to illegal deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Cargill, Bunge and Cofco sourced soya beans from the Chinese-owned Fiagril and the multinational Aliança Agrícola do Cerrado, both of which have allegedly been supplied by a farmer fined and sanctioned multiple times after destroying swathes of rainforest, according to a new investigation. Soya beans are a key ingredient in poultry, pig and cattle feed, particularly for animals reared on intensive farms. The fate of the Amazon is the subject of intense focus as world leaders scramble to agree on how to tackle the climate emergency. Research published in the academic journal Nature Climate Change last month found the area deforested in the Amazon almost quadrupled in 2019 – President Bolsonaro’s first year in power – compared with the year before. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), Unearthed and Repórter Brasil used satellite images and enforcement records to uncover how soya was planted on land that had previously been placed under embargo – a form of government ban that stops farmers found to have breached deforestation rules or caused other environmental damage using parts of their land. At least 15 sq km of forest registered to a farmer supplying soya to Aliança and Fiagril was embargoed in 2019 by Brazil’s environmental regulator Ibama after being deforested. A separate embargo, issued by Mato Grosso’s state environment agency in 2016, names the same farmer in relation to further illegal deforestation. Using satellite analysis from MapBiomas, Repórter Brasil established that soya was illegally grown on this land in 2018 and 2019, despite the embargo. Public records show that the farmer has been fined a total of R$12m (£1.3m) for breaches of forest protection rules – the fines were in 2013 and 2019. The farmer, based in the remote Marcelândia region of Brazil’s Mato Grosso state, allegedly sold soya to Fiagril and Aliança in 2019 after the government embargo on the land. Bunge bought soya from Fiagril, and Cargill and Cofco purchased soya from Aliança, after the two companies had been supplied by the farm in 2019, according to records seen by TBIJ. Fiagril and Aliança, as well as Cargill, Bunge and Cofco, are signatories to the soya moratorium. Signatories commit to not “sell, purchase and finance soya from areas deforested in the Amazon biome after July 2008”. However, the companies can legitimately buy soya from the farm because it is the land that is embargoed rather than the entire farm or farmer. It is not known if the soya bought by Fiagril and Aliança came from prohibited land. The moratorium’s monitoring system is understood to usually only prohibit the land where the breaches occurred, excluding other properties owned by the same farmer. “Allowing different properties operated by the same person or group to follow different rules opens a loophole that farmers can use to circumvent the soy moratorium,” said Lisa Rausch, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin. Fiagril told TBIJ that it condemns illegal activity and is “committed to the legal enforcement of sustainability in agriculture with our clients and suppliers”. The company denied sourcing soya from the embargoed farm. Aliança said it was regularly audited and in compliance with all regulations and that “there are no facts or official rulings that mention, connect or in any other way refer to Aliança in any environmental violations”. The company said it deals with “countless farmers and producers in Brazil” and “businesses outside of Aliança’s control remain within the sole responsibility of a particular farmer/producer”. Cargill said it did not source soya “directly” from the farm. It added: “We have firmly upheld the Brazilian soy moratorium in the Amazon since 2006 … We will investigate Fiagril and Aliança do Cerrado in accordance with our soy grievance process.” Bunge said it has not bought soya beans from Aliança since 2017, and that Fiagril had not supplied them with soya beans from the Marcelândia region. “As a signatory of the Amazon soy moratorium, purchases made by Fiagril are audited by independent entities. In addition, Bunge’s contracts with suppliers have clauses in which the supplier expressly commits to supply grains in accordance with the applicable legislation, including environmental laws,” the company said. Cofco said: “We conduct monthly internal audits, as well as annual external audits, on suppliers’ compliance with the moratorium. The 2019 audit confirmed that all our suppliers complied with moratorium requirements in the past season.” Sign up here for the Animals farmed monthly update to get a roundup of the best farming and food stories across the world and keep up with our investigations. And you can send us your stories and thoughts at animalsfarmed@theguardian.com | ['environment/series/animals-farmed', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'environment/food', 'world/brazil', 'environment/deforestation', 'environment/forests', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'world/americas', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/andrew-wasley', 'profile/alexandra-heal', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/deforestation | BIODIVERSITY | 2021-05-19T05:00:19Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
uk-news/2020/aug/27/hunterston-scottish-nuclear-power-station-to-shut-down-early-after-reactor-problems | Scottish nuclear power station to shut down early after reactor problems | Hunterston nuclear power station, one of the UK’s oldest remaining nuclear plants, is to close down next year, earlier than expected, after encountering a series of safety-critical problems in its reactors. Industry sources told the Guardian that EDF Energy, the state-owned French operator of Hunterston, decided at a board meeting on Thursday afternoon that the plant would stop generating electricity in late 2021, at least two years earlier than planned. The energy company had hoped to keep generating electricity from the 44-year-old nuclear plant on the Firth of Clyde until 2023, after ploughing more than £200m into repairing the reactor. Hunterston, which first began generating electricity in 1976, has been offline since 2018 after inspectors discovered 350 microscopic cracks in the reactor’s graphite core. In October last year the Ferret, an investigative website, reported that at least 58 fragments and pieces of debris had fallen off the graphite blocks as the cracks worsened. It quoted the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) as saying this had created “significant uncertainty” about the risks of debris blocking channels for cooling the reactor and causing fuel cladding to melt. After a two-year investigation, the ONR said on Thursday that reactor 3 at Hunterston would be allowed to restart as planned, but it would only be allowed to generate electricity for approximately six months. EDF then plans to apply next spring to extend its life for one final six-month run. EDF said it would begin the process of decommissioning Hunterston no later than the first week of 2022. EDF also operates Scotland’s second nuclear power station, Torness, on the east coast south of Edinburgh. Running since 1988, its two reactors can produce up to 1.2GW of electricity. It is due to remain operational until 2030 at the earliest. Hunterston’s closure has reignited concern over energy policy. Both the UK and Scottish governments aim to increase low-carbon energy supplies to help meet climate goals. Gary Smith, the regional secretary of the union GMB Scotland, said the job losses from the closure “would pose massive long-term challenges for what is quite a deprived area of Scotland. The Scottish government now has a huge problem with its energy policy: more imported gas will be burnt to keep the lights on. Renewables on their own won’t do that.” The Scottish National party government in Edinburgh has an anti-nuclear policy but has backed efforts to extend the life of Hunterston and Torness, while phasing out coal-fired power stations and building up renewable sources in Scotland. In 2016 Scotland’s two nuclear stations produced 43% of its electricity. In 2018, the year Hunterston went offline after the reactor cracks were uncovered, that fell to 28%. Richard Dixon, the director of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: “In terms of energy security, clearly there’s no problem. Its reactors haven’t been running and the lights haven’t gone out. What’s more urgent now is to build up renewables and energy efficiency, to make sure the gap left by Hunterston is filled by zero-carbon electricity or energy saving.” Simone Rossi, EDF’s UK chief executive, said the decision to shut the nuclear plant “underlines the urgent need for investment in new, low-carbon nuclear power to help Britain achieve net zero and secure the future for its nuclear industry, supply chain and workers.” Across the UK there are eight operational nuclear power plants, which generate a steady supply of electricity about two-thirds of the time. In total they supplied 18.7% of the UK’s electricity in 2018, down from just over 20% the year before. All but one are due to close within the next decade. Tom Greatrex, the chief executive of the Nuclear Industry Association, said a nuclear programme would help create “tens of thousands of secure, skilled and well-paid jobs” while helping to meet the UK’s future electricity demand, which is projected to quadruple in the coming decades. EDF said in a letter to the local community this month that it had invested more than £200m in investigating whether Hunterston’s graphite reactor would remain safe under a range of worst-case scenarios, including a one-in-10,000-years seismic event, which is much larger than the UK has ever recorded. | ['uk/scotland', 'business/edf', 'business/energy-industry', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'business/business', 'uk/uk', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/severincarrell', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2020-08-27T17:15:43Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2005/dec/10/tsunami2004.thailand | A year after the tsunami, couple believe image shows missing girl is alive | A huge search was under way last night in the Thai province of Phuket after the parents of a four-year-old girl who went missing in the Boxing Day tsunami saw a picture on a website of a child they are convinced is her. Manas Nooruk, secretary to the Phuket governor, said that officials were scouring every orphanage and many other locations for Solitaire Meissmer after her parents, Sascha Meissmer, from Germany, and his Thai wife, Patchara, reported that she might be alive. Their hopes were raised when they saw a photograph on the website www.phuketremembers.com of a young Eurasian child sitting in the Phuket provincial administration office with several officials. The picture, which someone in Germany posted on the site, was taken after the tsunami struck the resort island last year. "We are a million percent sure that the girl in the picture is our daughter," Mrs Meissmer told the Associated Press yesterday. The authorities are taking the report seriously, because there is no record of Solitaire being found, either dead or alive. But their efforts to locate the girl have drawn a blank. "This girl might be their daughter, but maybe not," Mr Manas said. "It's not completely clear because it's a print from a website." The officials pictured with the girl have been questioned, but they reportedly cannot remember when the photograph was taken, let alone the name of the child. "They think it was on December 26," Mr Manas said. "None of them could remember the girl. They said they were very busy that afternoon and saw many children. They don't remember [the child in the photograph]." The Meissmers said that Solitaire, who speaks German and Thai, had been wearing different clothes than the child in the photo when she was ripped from her mother's arms in the floodwaters. When the tsunami hit they were in the province of Phang-nga to the north of Phuket, where Mr Meissmer, who is from Frankfurt but has lived in Thailand for eight years, owned a bungalow and beachside restaurant. If the photograph is of Solitaire, it is not clear how she would have travelled the 60 miles from Phang-nga to the Phuket administration office. Mrs Meissmer said this was not the first report that Solitaire had survived the tsunami, which killed about 5,400 people in Thailand, with another 2,822 still listed as missing. "We never gave up searching for her because several people saw her still alive one week after the tsunami," Mrs Meissmer said. "I hope and pray to get my daughter back as a Christmas present." Mr Meissmer said the couple had had to conduct the search on their own. "Nobody helped us. Even friends said they didn't believe our daughter had survived," he said. "But everything was possible that day. It was the craziest day of my life. I was standing about 100 metres away from the water and didn't even get wet." A paediatric mental health expert, Dr Srivieng Pairojkul from Khon Kaen University, said it could not be ruled out that Solitaire had survived and remained separated. "As she was not even four years old at the time she would probably not have been able to explain exactly who she was and where she came from." But Dr Srivieng thought the girl in the photo was unlikely to be the Meissmers' daughter. "The information system in Thailand is such that it is very hard for a child to disappear [once she has been reported by the health authorities]," she said. "Unlike in neighbouring countries, there are very few cases of child trafficking here." The Meissmers, who now live in Phuket, are to meet the Phuket governor on Tuesday to discuss the case. | ['world/tsunami2004', 'world/world', 'world/thailand', 'world/asia-pacific', 'type/article', 'profile/johnaglionby', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories2'] | world/tsunami2004 | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2005-12-10T00:08:41Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
australia-news/2021/oct/21/no-room-for-complacency-france-urges-scott-morrison-to-act-on-2030-targets | ‘No room for complacency’: France urges Scott Morrison to act on 2030 targets | France’s ambassador has urged Australia to embrace stronger 2030 emission reduction targets, as he declared there was “no room for complacency” or “procrastination” ahead of the crucial Glasgow summit. Jean-Pierre Thébault pointedly praised all state and territory governments for already committing to net-zero by 2050, while describing NSW’s recent pledge to halve emissions by the end of this decade as being in “the right direction”. Thébault called on Australia to “defend the interests of its Pacific neighbours” – for which climate change was “a daily threat” – and to “announce the strong commitments that are needed and expected by all stakeholders”. The forthright intervention – his first since he returned to Canberra after his recall to Paris over the scrapping of the $90bn submarine deal – comes as the Morrison government seeks to resolve internal dispute over climate policy within days. New analysis by the Climate Council – published on Thursday – found Australia ranked bottom on climate of all developed countries, and would remain there unless a net-zero pledge was accompanied by a more ambitious 2030 target. While senior Liberals and Nationals are confident a deal on net zero can be reached, the proposal has implacable critics in the Nationals party room. That pushback resulted in Morrison abandoning an effort to formally increase the 2030 target in the lead-up to Glasgow, despite pressure from the US and the UK to lift interim targets to help keep the limit of 1.5C of warming within reach. It is now seen as more likely the government will tout a projected overachievement of the Abbott-era goal of 26 to 28% on 2005 levels. Thébault said acting swiftly and decisively on the climate crisis was not just “a moral and a political responsibility” but also could be an opportunity. “There is no room for complacency, for hesitation, anything that could be felt as procrastination. There is no plan B, in the same way that there is no second planet,” he said. “In Glasgow, in front of the public opinion of the whole planet, the world leaders will face the challenge of the millennium. “I have no doubt, personally, after about one year of presence here … that Australia has the ability to be a strong voice in Glasgow, and can announce the strong commitments that are needed, and expected by all stakeholders.” Asked for his opinion on Australia’s 2030 target, Thébault noted there had been “a lot of experts, very respected, very well known here in Australia, who have already said what they thought should be the right thing to be done”. He added that setting targets was key to the success of any strategy. “Failing to set targets is failing towards the industry, is failing towards the local communities, is failing towards the global public and opinion,” he said. The Italian ambassador, Francesca Tardioli, who has previously urged the Morrison government to increase its 2030 target, told the same webinar she hoped leaders of G20 nations including Australia took “the bold decisions that are needed to save our planet”. Italy is hosting the G20 summit in Rome, just before the UK hosts Cop26 in Glasgow, with the prime minister, Scott Morrison, now planning to attend both events. The British high commissioner, Vicki Treadell, said it was “fantastic” that Morrison had confirmed he would attend. Treadell did not comment on what Australia should bring to the table, saying she did not want to “get in the way” of the government’s current deliberations. She argued Glasgow would not be about “words” or “signing up to a target for target’s sake”, but would be about “our actions”. “Investment decisions are being taken where there is certainty,” Treadell said. The Climate Council report found Australia was the worst performing of all developed countries on cutting emissions and eliminating fossil fuel use, taking into account both domestic use and exports of coal and gas. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning It said there were more than 80 coal projects, five new large gas basins and dozens of smaller gas projects proposed in Australia at a time when it said it would cut emissions, and scientists were urging rapid reductions. The organisation’s chief climate councillor, Tim Flannery, said net zero by 2050 was “last year’s story”. “It is the scale and pace of action through the 2020s that matters, and which Glasgow’s success or failure will be measured by,” Flannery said. But the emissions reduction minister, Angus Taylor, dismissed the report as “misleading and complete rubbish”, claiming it was “excluding sources of emissions reductions to suit a politically-motivated narrative”. Bridget McKenzie, a cabinet minister who leads the Nationals in the Senate, warned on Wednesday it could get “ugly” if Morrison committed to net zero without the explicit support of the junior Coalition party. The former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said it looked “as though our federal government is determined to be literally the last people in Australia” to support net zero. | ['australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/environment', 'world/france', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'australia-news/coalition', 'australia-news/scott-morrison', 'environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/daniel-hurst', 'profile/adam-morton', 'profile/katharine-murphy', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021 | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2021-10-20T22:42:29Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2018/nov/12/uk-governments-air-pollution-strategy-a-shambolic-mess | UK government's air pollution strategy 'a shambolic mess' | The government’s plan to tackle air pollution in some of the worst affected cities in the UK is unravelling into a “shambolic and piecemeal mess”, according to environmental lawyers. ClientEarth, which has successfully defeated the government three times in court, said the emphasis on local authorities taking action was backfiring with no joined-up strategy, delays and poorly researched proposals. Two of the first five authorities tasked with tackling dangerous levels of poisonous air missed their targets. ClientEarth said one authority, Derby, was proposing a scheme that would lead to new traffic lights and traffic-calming measures on one road, the removal of a bike lane and “bus infrastructure”, but little else. Katie Nield, a ClientEarth lawyer, said Derby’s proposals were “deeply concerning”. “Their preferred option does not seem to be based on any kind of assessment of the possible impacts on air pollution in the city … from our point of view that is totally inadequate and seems to be creating more space for more cars and little else.” Derby council declined to comment when approached by the Guardian. In 2015, five local authorities with some of the worst pollution outside London – Derby, Southampton, Leeds, Nottingham and Birmingham – were ordered to produce proposals to tackle air pollution by 15 September. Scores more councils are being tasked with tackling air pollution in their cities in the coming months, but Nield said the Derby plan would set a dangerous precedent. She said that unless the national government took more forceful enforcement action and drove through a coordinated plan, the UK’s air pollution crisis would continue. “What we are concerned about is a lack of government leadership on this. Things are coming out in a piecemeal fashion, different schemes being put forward by different authorities of different quality, with different charging levels with different exemptions. It is creating a very confusing picture and it is coming across as pretty shambolic.” Air pollution kills tens of thousands of people each year across Britain and affects the health of hundreds of thousands more. Last month, the UN warned that the UK government was endangering people’s health by denying their right to clean air, and the world’s biggest children’s charity, Unicef, told the Guardian it had refocused its British operation to tackle air pollution because of the scale of the “health crisis” facing young people in the country. In October, the World Health Organization said air pollution was the “new tobacco”, causing 7 million deaths around the world and harming billions more. Health experts say that, as well as respiratory conditions such as asthma, emphysema and bronchiectasis, air pollution causes developmental problems for children’s lungs, making them more vulnerable to these conditions in adulthood. Other effects include chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer, strokes, dementia and reduced cognitive ability. A Defra spokesperson said: “Tackling air pollution requires collective action, which is why we are working with towns and cities to improve local air quality. We have published a £3.5bn plan to reduce harmful emissions and our ambitious new clean air strategy has been welcomed by the World Health Organization. Our forthcoming environment bill will also include provisions to improve air quality. “We have given local authorities technical support in developing their plans and nearly £500m in funding for air quality improvements, but they are best placed to decide how to tackle air quality in their communities.” | ['environment/air-pollution', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'society/localgovernment', 'society/society', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/matthewtaylor', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-11-12T10:00:35Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2015/jun/30/russias-rosneft-charged-over-pipeline-leak-that-caused-oil-to-come-out-of-taps | Russia's Rosneft charged over pipeline leak that caused oil to come out of taps | Russia’s environmental watchdog has opened a case against state-owned oil corporation Rosneft after a pipeline leak resulted in oily water filling backyards and flowing out of locals’ taps in Siberia. RN Yuganskneftegaz, a subsidiary of Rosneft, has been charged with an administrative violation of water protection regulations leading to contamination. The leak occurred last week just outside Nefteyugansk, a major oil town near the Ob river in the Khanty-Mansiysk region of Siberia, and quickly contaminated several hectares of water in the area, which has been suffering from flooding. The leak had been stopped as of Monday, the watchdog said. A regional prosecutor is investigating the company’s actions to prevent accidents and to clean up after the spill. Although the spill is only one of thousands that happen across the oil-exporting country’s ageing pipeline infrastructure each year, it’s proximity to the city of 120,000 has made it particularly visible. More than 10,000 oil leaks have been reported in Russia in previous years, and the Hydrometeorological Centre of Russia estimates 4.5m tonnes of oil are spilled on the Russian mainland each year, or seven times more than the BP Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. “The fact that it’s in Nefteyugansk is a good reason to change a system that is designed not to protect the environment but rather to favour oil companies, the system for following up on oil spills,” said Yevgeniya Belyakova, Arctic project coordinator at Greenpeace Russia. According to the environmental oversight agency, the pipeline leak started on 23 June 1km (0.6 miles) outside Nefteyugansk, releasing oil into the Cheuskin channel, part of the intricate network of rivers and streams ultimately connected to the Ob. A film of oil 1mm thick formed over a four-hectare area, although the “exact extent of the contamination, as well as the environmental damage, are being determined”, it said in a statement. Previous estimates put the contamination at 10 hectares or more. A regional official told RBC newspaper that five to nine homes outside Nefteyugansk had been contaminated by the spill, but aerial footage of the area appeared to show dozens of small homes surrounded by black water lapping up against their walls. Locals uploaded photographs of oily water standing in their gardens and coming out of their taps. RN Yuganskneftegaz attributed the accident to the failure of an oil-gathering pipeline at the Ust Balykskoye field it said leaked 0.44 cubic metres of oil liquids. The company told RBC newspaper it had deployed 60 people and eight pieces of equipment to clean up the spill, and said the oil did not pose a threat of flowing into the nearby Yuganskaya branch of the major Ob river. Warning that oil could get into people’s basements and release fumes over an extended period, Belyakova called the leak a catastrophe, one which pointed to a larger problem. After the government assesses the damage from a spill, oil companies are given a choice to pay a fine or clean up the contamination, with minimal oversight of the “recultivation” programme they draw up and carry out in the affected area, she said. “The problem is the system of control over oil drilling and how resource-extraction companies conduct themselves,” she said. “Leaking oil is simpler and less expensive than to fix infrastructure, [and] take measures so that there aren’t spills.” According to Belyakova, most of the oil pipelines near Nefteyugansk are Soviet-built and prone to leaks. Greenpeace Russia had observed an oil leak contaminating 4 sq km at the nearby Mamontovskoye oil field that has been growing for the past 11 years, she added. | ['environment/oil-spills', 'world/russia', 'business/oil', 'environment/greenpeace', 'world/world', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/alec-luhn'] | environment/greenpeace | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2015-06-30T18:31:34Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
environment/2018/jan/02/rubbish-already-building-up-at-uk-recycling-plants-due-to-china-import-ban | Rubbish already building up at UK recycling plants due to China import ban | A ban on imports of millions of tonnes of plastic waste by the Chinese government is already causing a build up of rubbish at recycling plants around the UK and will bring chaos for councils in the weeks ahead, according to industry experts. Simon Ellin, chief executive of the UK Recycling Association, said his members had already seen some lower grade plastics piling up at their yards and warned urgent action was needed. “You can already see the impact if you walk round some of our members’ yards. Plastic is building up and if you were to go around those yards in a couple of months’ time the situation would be even worse.” The Chinese plastic ban came in on 1 January but Ellin said many UK recycling businesses stopped shipping plastic to China in the autumn because of fears it might not arrive before the deadline. “We have relied on exporting plastic recycling to China for 20 years and now people do not know what is going to happen. A lot of [our members] are now sitting back and seeing what comes out of the woodwork, but people are very worried.” China’s dominance in manufacturing means that for years it has been the world’s largest importer of recyclable materials. In 2016, it imported 7.3m tonnes of waste plastics from developed countries including the UK, the US and Japan. British companies alone have shipped more than 2.7m tonnes of plastic waste to China and Hong Kong since 2012 – two-thirds of the UK’s total waste plastic exports, according to data from Greenpeace released last month. But last summer the Chinese government announced it intended to stop the importation of 24 kinds of solid waste by the end of the year, including polyethylene terephthalate (Pet) drinks bottles, other plastic bottles and containers, and all mixed paper, in a campaign against yang laji or “foreign garbage”. Ellin warned that the ban could have severe consequences for council recycling in the UK – at least in the short term. “If it no longer pays for our members to take this waste and sort it once it has been collected by councils then that might stop. “That might mean that councils no longer collect recycling in the same way. It could be chaos, it really could.” Michael Gove, the environment secretary, announced a “four-point plan for tackling plastic waste” last month including cutting the total amount of plastic in circulation, reducing the number of different plastics in use and making recycling easier. But when asked recently about the impact of the China waste ban he said: “I don’t know what impact it will have. It is ... something to which – I will be completely honest – I have not given it sufficient thought.” Mary Creagh MP, chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, has warned the ban could mean “a double whammy for council tax payers” if the price of exported waste falls and the cost of UK disposal rises. And she has called on the government to invest in more reprocessing facilities at home “to reuse these valuable materials, create green jobs and prevent plastic and paper pollution.” A Defra spokesperson insisted the government was taking “significant steps” to tackle plastic waste, from the ban on plastic microbeads to the introduction of the carrier bag charge. “We recognise more needs to be done to protect our environment from the scourge of plastics, and have launched a call for evidence around deposit reward and return schemes for plastic bottles and other drinks containers.” Some experts believe that in the long term the decision by China could be an opportunity for the UK to develop its recycling infrastructure. Ellin agreed that if there was the political will this could be an opportunity in the medium term. “We need to look at the entire system from producing less, to better, simpler design, to standardised recycling. In the medium term this should be seen as a great opportunity for us to drastically improve how we do these things.” | ['environment/plastic', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment', 'environment/ethical-living', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/matthewtaylor', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-01-02T17:33:31Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
global-development/poverty-matters/2012/jun/20/rio20-development-gains | Forget Rio+20, the right steps can bring instant and lasting development gains | Kevin Watkins | The debate over the British prime minister's role in deciding what should replace the 2015 millennium development goals (MDGs) has been nothing if not predictable. Critics point to David Cameron's limited credentials on global poverty reduction. Supporters highlight his willingness to defend the aid budget and host a hunger summit during the Olympics. Fair points all round, but a diversion from the real issue. As 2015 nears, the twin challenge is to galvanise international efforts to deliver on the MDG deadline while framing an agenda that addresses the great 21st-century challenges of eradicating poverty, narrowing extreme inequalities, and combating climate change. We are failing on both fronts. The MDGs have provided a focal point for international co-operation on poverty reduction. Despite their many design flaws, the targets made a difference. They helped focus political attention on shared goals – combating hunger, preventing child deaths, tackling killer diseases and putting children in school – and provided a reference point for campaigners. Much has been achieved. Since 2000, child deaths have fallen by 2m, partly because of the success of the global health funds in terms of reducing malaria, extending access to vaccines, and reducing mother-to-child Aids transmission. Out of school numbers have dropped by 40m. And poverty in Africa is down for the first time in more than a generation. As the 2015 deadline nears, governments and donors around the world should be building on these foundations and redoubling their efforts. They could be calculating how to bring the child survival MDGs within reach, focusing their efforts on the 70% of deaths that happen in the first year of life. With 61 million children still out of school, they could be developing strategies for accelerating progress towards universal primary education. And they could be ramping up efforts in areas that have registered little gain, including malnutrition and maternal health. This is what the former UN secretary general Kofi Annan has called for. Last month, his Africa Progress Panel report urged a "big push" towards the MDGs, with African governments adopting strategies to achieve the targets. Meanwhile, the former UK prime minister Gordon Brown has been pressing for the creation of a global fund for education to help reach children in conflict-affected states. Sadly, all this has fallen on deaf ears. The MDGs are drifting off the international agenda, replaced by a dialogue aimed at producing a wishlist for the future. Instead of rallying support for a drive towards the unmet promises of 2015, UN agencies, aid donors and governments have embarked on a frenzy of post-2015 MDG reflection. This debases the currency of international development targets as a force for change. Leadership is at the heart of the problem. The MDGs provided political leaders and campaigners with a lever for achieving change, helping to galvanise support for debt relief, increased aid and a broad array of initiatives, especially in public health. Not any more. The current state of international co-operation on development is epitomised by the high-cost, low-impact talkshop that is the Rio+20 summit. It's a case study in what happens when you combine an absence of political leadership with vague agendas and weak coalitions for change. None of this is to discount the case for targets – including post-2015 goals – that mobilise action to counter a deepening ecological crisis. But we also need a bridge between action to deliver on the MDGs and a debate about the future. That bridge could be built around two key pillars. The first is a strengthened focus on inequality. There is now overwhelming evidence that MDG progress has been inhibited by the failure of governments to tackle extreme disparities in the distribution of income and access to basic services. High and rising levels of income inequality are slowing the rate at which economic growth cuts poverty. Death rates among children from poor households in much of Africa are three times those in rich households – and in many countries, the gap is widening. Strengthening equity now would accelerate progress towards the MDGs. And the remit for the high-level panel on post-2015 goals should include the development of explicit targets for reducing disparities. One example: all countries should halve the wealth gap in child survival and school completion over five years. The second pillar is putting money in the hands of the poor. As Homi Kharas, a Brookings Institution poverty analyst, says: "As the world has got richer and poverty numbers have fallen, so the potential cost of putting a social floor under the world's poorest people has tumbled." Lifting the 1.2 billion people now in poverty above the $1.25 threshold would cost around $41bn. That's less than 0.1% of global GDP – and shrinking. Social protection programmes that transfer cash to poor people deliver results, cutting malnutrition, reducing poverty, improving health, and enabling parents to put their children in school. Above all, they empower poor people to manage risks and work their way out of poverty. Look at the evidence from Brazil, where social protection has contributed to a decline in extreme poverty, from 10% to 2%, and an equally dramatic decline in malnutrition. This type of model could be developed on a global scale. Governments willing to invest 1% of GDP in targeted transfers could be made eligible for aid that would cover the additional costs of reaching everyone below the poverty line. In terms of economic growth and increased productivity, the benefits of reducing malnutrition alone would dwarf the costs. The MDGs have brought us a long way. The challenge now is to go the extra mile. We need to keep our sights on the prize of a poverty breakthrough by 2015, while preparing the ground for a post-2015 global compact on social protection capable of delivering a poverty-free world by 2025. | ['global-development/poverty-matters', 'global-development/future-of-development', 'global-development/environmental-sustainability', 'global-development/millennium-development-goals', 'global-development/global-development', 'environment/rio-20-earth-summit', 'environment/sustainable-development', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'environment/environment', 'tone/blog', 'type/article', 'profile/kevinwatkins'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2012-06-20T06:00:02Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2019/dec/04/dont-pursue-economic-growth-at-expense-of-environment-report | Don't pursue economic growth at expense of environment - report | Pursuing economic growth at the expense of the environment is no longer an option as Europe faces “unprecedented” challenges from climate chaos, pollution, biodiversity loss and the overconsumption of natural resources, according to a report from Europe’s environmental watchdog. Europe was reaching the limits of what could be achieved by gradual means, by making efficiencies and small cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, with “transformational” change now necessary to stave off the impacts of global heating and environmental collapse, warned Hans Bruyninckx, executive director of the European Environment Agency. “Marginal efficiency gains are not enough – they are not working to bring down emissions,” he said. “There is also a higher cost to marginal efficiency gains, if we keep investing in that. If we focus on making current technologies more efficient, there are limits. If we stick to what we know, it may seem easy but it doesn’t work in the long term.” The EEA scored 35 key measures of environmental health, from greenhouse gases and air pollution, waste management and climate change to soil condition and birds and butterfly species, and found only six in which Europe was performing adequately. “Incremental changes have resulted in progress in some areas but not nearly enough to meet our long-term goals,” said Bruyninckx. Further marginal changes would grow only more expensive, he predicted, making large-scale change necessary. “We already have the knowledge, technologies and tools we need to make key production and consumption systems such as food, mobility and energy sustainable.” Wholesale changes could include banning internal combustion engines and scaling up public transport, abandoning fossil fuels in favour of 100% renewable energy, stipulating that products must be designed and manufactured to create no waste, and changes to our diets and agricultural production. Environmental goals could not be seen as separate to or lesser than economic goals, and accepting environmental damage as an inevitable cost would lead to ecological collapse, Bruyninckx warned. The old system – of “continuing to promote economic growth and seeking to manage the environmental and social impacts” – would not deliver the EU’s long-term vision of “living well, within the limits of the planet”, the report warned. The report, known as European Environment – State and Outlook (SOER), is a comprehensive study produced every five years and details the health or otherwise of all natural systems across EU member states and others including Norway, Switzerland and Turkey. The 2020 edition was brought forward to inform the incoming European commission as they discuss a promised “green new deal”, and for delegates at COP25, the UN conference on climate change currently taking place in Madrid. There has been little improvement since the last report in 2015, despite promises, policies and targets, according to SOER 2020. Fewer than a quarter of protected species and only 16% of habitats are in a good state of conservation. Reduced pollution has improved water quality, but Europe will miss by a long way its goal of having a “good” rating for all water bodies by 2020. Though air quality has improved, about a fifth of the urban population live in areas where concentrations of pollutants exceed at least one EU air quality standard, and 62% of ecosystems are exposed to excessive nitrogen levels. Global heating has added to the risks to health. For instance, Bruyninckx pointed to the melting ice and permafrost in the far north as a little-considered danger. “Russia has buried some very toxic chemicals beneath the ice and we expect melting ice to release some of them,” he said. “Some chemicals are also sensitive to heat, so if we have more heatwaves that is a risk too.” Frans Timmermans, the incoming executive vice-president of the European commission, said: “In the next five years, we will put in place a truly transformative agenda, rolling out new clean technologies, helping citizens to adapt to new job opportunities and changing industries, and shifting to cleaner and more efficient mobility systems and more sustainable food and farming. There will be multiple benefits for Europeans if we get this right and our economy and our planet will be winners too.” Green campaigners called for urgent radical action. “Banning plastic straws and nudging renewable energy targets is no longer enough,” said Jagoda Munić, director of Friends of the Earth Europe. “Only the boldest action to transform our consumption and growth-obsessed economy will do. Every decision [Ursula von der Leyen, the new European commission president] makes must put environment, climate and justice first.” Franziska Achterberg of Greenpeace added: “The new commission must follow [the EEA] advice and rethink the economic system that for decades has rewarded pollution, environmental destruction and human exploitation.” | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/fossil-fuels', 'environment/environment', 'environment/cop-25-un-climate-change-conference', 'world/eu', 'world/world', 'world/europe-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/fossil-fuels | EMISSIONS | 2019-12-04T06:00:42Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/2011/feb/05/illegal-timber-sold-in-britain | Illegal timber sold by British businesses putting world's forests at risk | British firms are still selling wood products that come from questionable sources in parts of the world where illegal logging is having a devastating effect, a new study has revealed. The report found that wood used in kitchen worktops, doors and decking, on sale in the UK, comes from parts of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Congo Basin where illegal felling is putting animals, plants and people under threat. Numerous species, including the orangutan, are under direct threat of extinction because of the black market trade in timber. The "What Wood You Choose?" study suggested British businesses aren't checking their sources and in some cases are even misleading the public that the wood they are selling has ethical credentials where none exist. New EU timber laws are due to come into force next year, but this WWF-funded study shows few retailers are prepared for the legislation which could leave them open to conviction. The study found that in some cases companies had little idea where their wood products originated from and were reluctant to find out. It also found that some companies' websites were misusing the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) logo, implying that all their products are covered by the certification scheme when in fact only some are. WWF used a combination of formal requests, investigators posing as buyers and made phone calls and visits to sawmills in Indonesia and Malaysia to track timber products. Colin Butfield, WWF's head of campaigns, said: "This study should act as a wake-up call to companies here in the UK. Consumers are the ones with the power to demand that whatever they're buying, from doors to kitchen worktops, is FSC [certified]. If it doesn't have the FSC logo then it could originate from a place where there have been devastating impacts on species, such as the orangutan, and communities that earn a living from the forest. "The EU law, coming into force in early 2013, will mean anyone intending to sell timber products into the UK market will have to show where it's come from and that it isn't illegal. The study suggests that UK businesses are a long way from meeting the demands of that new law." | ['environment/deforestation', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/forests', 'environment/wwf', 'environment/endangeredspecies', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'environment/environment', 'business/business', 'uk/uk', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/tracymcveigh'] | environment/endangered-habitats | BIODIVERSITY | 2011-02-05T14:09:00Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
news/2017/may/30/steve-aurora-mystery-of-the-night-sky-weatherwatch | Purple streaker Steve a mystery of the night sky | A mysterious streak of purple light spotted by aurora watchers adds to a growing list of upper atmospheric phenomena. Previously spotted electrical effects have been called elves, sprites and gnomes; the newcomer has the less fairytale name of Steve. The name was bestowed by the Alberta Aurora Chasers, an online skywatching group who first noticed the phenomenon. Initially it looked like a faint contrail, but longer exposures showed that it was luminous with a distinctive purple colour. The Aurora Chasers initially called their discovery a proton arc, but when Eric Donovan, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Calgary, explained that protons were probably not involved, they changed the name to Steve. Donovan investigated the phenomenon himself, matching pictures taken from the ground with readings from the European Space Agency’s Swarm satellites, whiche have sensitive instruments to measure Earth’s magnetic field. One satellite flew through Steve, and the agency’s readings indicated an encounter with a ribbon of charged gas, about 15 miles wide, moving at four miles a second or about 13,420mph. Steve is hot, around 3,000C (5,400F) hotter than air surrounding it at an altitude of 186 miles. But the satellite remained undamaged. Steve’s exact cause remains unexplained so far, but Donovan will be publishing a paper on the phenomenon this year. Like sprites and elves, Steve had been overlooked because there were so few observers looking in the right place. “Citizen scientists” on social media, plus a profusion of new sensors, may well find many more like Steve. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'science/astronomy', 'science/european-space-agency', 'science/space', 'science/series/spacewatch', 'science/science', 'science/meteorology', 'travel/northernlights', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/davidhambling', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2017-05-30T20:30:04Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2021/jun/28/new-zealand-to-ban-most-single-use-plastics-by-2025 | New Zealand to ban most single-use plastics by 2025 | New Zealanders will be farewelling their plastics – bags, ear buds, spoons and straws – as the government attempts to match the country’s reality to its “clean green” reputation. Currently one of the top 10 per-capita producers of landfill waste in the world, New Zealand has announced it will ban a swathe of single-use plastics, including cotton buds, bags, cutlery, plates and bowls, straws and fruit labels. “Every day, New Zealanders throw away an estimated 159g of plastic waste per person, making us some of the highest waste generators in the world,” the environment minister, David Parker, said. The bans, which will be phased in between 2022 and 2025, would “ensure we live up to our clean, green reputation”, he said. Officials estimate that the new policy will remove more than 2bn single-use plastic items from the country’s landfills and environment each year. New Zealand had already banned most single-use plastic bags in 2019, but the changes will include packaging for produce, as well as a range of other items. These steps follow similar bans overseas: outlawing plastic bags is now common around the world, and the UK introduced a ban on plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds in 2020. The EU has voted for a similar ban to be introduced this year. In some countries, Covid-19 has stalled progress on plastics – a number of US states rolled back their bans on plastic bags and halted new legislation to limit plastic products as the pandemic reached its height. Environmental groups have also reported enormous quantities of “Covid waste” – including plastic gloves, hand sanitiser bottles and surgical masks – are clogging oceans. The new bans were an important step, but still missed many of the largest producers of plastic waste in New Zealand, said Assoc Prof Terri-Ann Berry, the director of Environmental Solutions Research Centre at Unitec. She said that while drawing public attention to household waste was vital, “it’s very easy to forget that some of our more commercial sectors are also big plastic users”. Construction and demolition, for example, accounted for up to 50% of landfill waste in New Zealand. The New Zealand government also has coffee cups and wet wipes in its sights, but Parker said work needed to be done to devise alternatives, and the government would announce the next steps for those items next year. The government also announced a fund for businesses to research alternatives to single-use plastics. | ['world/newzealand', 'world/asia-pacific', 'environment/plastic', 'environment/environment', 'environment/pollution', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/tess-mcclure', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-foreign', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/new-zealand'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-06-28T02:16:48Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
news/2019/may/08/weatherwatch-cyclones-strike-in-unexpected-places | Weatherwatch: cyclones strike in unexpected places | Cyclone Fani has battered areas of north-east India and Bangladesh, a region notorious for catastrophic storms. But tropical cyclones have also appeared in unexpected areas, including extremely powerful Cyclone Kenneth, which recently struck the north of Mozambique, a region previously unknown for these storms. That came shortly after powerful Cyclone Idai tore through central Mozambique and neighbouring countries. In March, Tropical Storm Ibai appeared in the South Atlantic, where tropical storms are very rare. That same month, two powerful tropical cyclones hit Australia within 48 hours, another unusual occurrence. In January, Tropical Storm Pabuk hit southern Thailand. Although not strong, it was the first known tropical storm to hit Thailand so early in the year – cyclones there usually come later in the year. In 2018, Tropical Cyclone Sagar tore through the Gulf of Aden. It was the strongest cyclone to hit Somalia and the farthest west a tropical storm has made landfall in the country. Also last year, a bizarre subtropical cyclone formed off the coast of Chile, the first such storm to hit this region, where the seas are usually too cold for tropical storms. What has caused so many uncommon tropical cyclones to appear is not clear, but unusually warm seas in various regions may have played their part. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'world/extreme-weather', 'world/natural-disasters', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'tone/news', 'profile/jeremy-plester', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2019-05-08T20:30:21Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2021/jul/16/all-wrecked-german-town-stunned-flood-damage | ‘It’s all wrecked’: German town stunned by flood damage | Anatoli Neugebauer is standing just a hundred metres from his family home, at the edge of the Blessem district of Erftstadt, a commuter-belt town 12 miles (20km) south of Cologne. Even though flood waters from the Erft River had begun to recede by midday on Friday, he still had to wade through waist-high brown water just to get inside the stuccoed terrace house. “It’s completely indescribable,” says Neugebauer, 40. “A catastrophe.” “I was there twice yesterday trying to save what I could. But you open the door and the water’s to your chest and you just wonder, why am I even doing this? It’s all wrecked.” Neugebauer was one of the 1,905 residents of the village evacuated on Thursday as the river began to overflow after record rainfall. Familiar landscape turned into treacherous terrain: a gravel quarry south of Blessem, 40 hectares (99 acres) wide and 60 metres deep, rapidly filled with water, its edge expanding towards the town through headward erosion, swallowing up several cars, three half-timbered buildings and parts of a castle. Local authorities are still searching for 15 people they believe to have been inside the houses. “We assume there to be fatalities but we don’t know for sure,” says Herbert Reul, the interior minister of the state of North-Rhine Westphalia. A near-stationary low-pressure weather system brought record levels of rain in the Rhein-Erft-Kreis region until about 9pm on Wednesday, initially flooding fields and farms. Hay and vegetable fields that a few weeks ago were wilting under years of drought conditions were suddenly filled with standing water. Basements and ground-floor houses and apartments in the farming region began to flood. “For a while we thought we would have to evacuate our 200 animals,” says farmer Peter Zens, who runs the Gertrudenhof petting zoo in Hürth, located halfway between Erftstadt and Cologne. “But we spent 18 hours pumping out water through the night, and in the end we had a lucky escape.” But as Zens managed to drain his farm, waters in the rivers, brooks and streams that cross the region were beginning to rise. “We have the Rotbach brook here that often dries out in the summer,” Zens says. “Now it was a foaming stream like the Rhine.” When the river burst its banks the following day, it nonetheless caught many in Erftstadt by surprise. “We were constantly riding our bikes through town, watching as the river waters grew higher,” says Neugebauer. “We waited as long as we could, but when we saw the trucks on Luxemburger Strasse underwater we packed up the car and the kids and went to a family in the next town over.” Water along Luxemburger Strasse, the main thoroughfare connecting Erftstadt to Cologne, appears to have rushed in without warning, trapping lorries and cars alike, throwing vehicles up against guardrails and along the crumbling walls of the on-ramp. Parts of the A1 motorway outside the town crumbled and collapsed into the Erft. Neugebauer says they had left before receiving any official evacuation orders. Officials say many others in the town did not heed the warning to leave. Police say they used boats to rescue about 50 people from their homes. Storms and floods are nothing new in Rhein-Erft-Kreis, an area dotted with opencast mines historically used to extract brown coal, gravel or sand. When the owners of the Blessem gravel quarry applied for an expansion in 2015, local authorities granted their request on the condition they would build a 1.2km protective wall to prevent the pit from filling with water in the event of a flood. But the kind of extreme weather events the world is seeing with increasing frequency come with unpredictable consequences. The protective wall between the gravel pit and the Erft proved ineffective as the water overflowed higher up the river, gushing through the streets of the town before collecting at the lowest point. Matthias Habel, a Bonn-based geographer who studied flood protection measures in the area as part of his degree, says the catastrophic outcome of the floods would not come as a surprise to those familiar with the situation on the ground. “Where the Erft passes Erftstadt it is no longer a naturally flowing river but more like an artificially straightened canal,” Habel tells the Guardian. “It flows much faster here than elsewhere and lacks the natural floodplains that could deal with overflow.” On Friday afternoon, the town was nearly empty of people, other than soldiers trying in vain to keep onlookers at bay. At the far end of Frauentaler Strasse, normally 100 metres from the Erft, a redbrick building was missing its bottom floors, the walls hanging precariously over the flood water. Water was oil-slicked and the smell of gas hung in the air. Improvised bags of potting soil and sandbox sand had failed to keep the flood from seeping past: water marks on the older brick buildings showed it reaching at least over a metre high. People from nearby villages arrived to check on their neighbours. “It’s absolutely shocking,” one young couple said. “We drive through here every day and it’s unlike anything we’ve ever seen.” | ['world/germany', 'environment/flooding', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/philip-oltermann', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2021-07-16T18:20:41Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2024/nov/29/country-diary-this-snow-heavy-tree-is-crackling-with-invisible-birds | Country diary: This snow-heavy tree is crackling with invisible birds | Paul Evans | I had to cut my way out of the garden this morning. Last night’s snow, a dollop of wet confection, was too heavy for a liquidambar, full of leaf in glorious gold, red and purple. Branches snapped and folded into an impenetrable tangle: a drastic winter pruning and a reminder of how vulnerable trees are to sudden snowfall. The flakes were more dove than goose down, but still falling seriously on Brogyntyn Park. It was transformed. The white pages that covered the grass were written on by joyfully anarchic footprints of early wanderers and their dogs, transgressing erased paths. Someone had made a snowman and snowdog. The lime avenue, arching and leafless, created a tunnel leading to a white glow like an out-of-body experience. On some oaks, each ochre leaf carried a layer of snow, as if it were a white shadow of itself. In the middle of the park, the tall and stately small-leafed lime was crackling with invisible birds. An October video of a bird migration radar map showed the vogeltrek – an explosion of thousands of songbirds from Vlieland in the north-west Netherlands crossing the Wadden Sea. Birds were represented by coloured circles and numbers denoting individuals (red for medium to large birds, yellow for small birds) detected by radar flying below 200 metres on easterly winds towards the UK. Some of those red circles had returned to Brogyntyn and were taking cover in the lime tree’s central thatch of twigs. Schack, schack, crackled the fieldfares, recently arrived from their Netherlands stopover, their Nordic dialects cutting through snowy stillness. A fieldfare, Turdus pilaris, is a thrush dressed up for a wedding. In their smart grey, chestnut and speckled plumage, bands of fieldfares fly in from Scandinavia and Russia in autumn. They are facultative migrants, driven by environmental conditions and the availability of food. Research from Norway shows that it’s the abundance of rowanberries rather than the weather that gets them moving. In Brogyntyn Park, the rowanberries, produced by young trees, have been snaffled up. The silhouettes of two fieldfares flew over the tree. Maybe they were scouting for rowans. The birds began a soft bubbling song like snow through winter trees. • Under the Changing Skies: The Best of the Guardian’s Country Diary, 2018-2024 is published by Guardian Faber; order at guardianbookshop.com and get a 15% discount | ['environment/series/country-diary', 'environment/birds', 'environment/environment', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'uk/uk', 'environment/forests', 'environment/wildlife', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/paulevans', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-11-29T05:30:47Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
commentisfree/2013/jun/24/umi-child-deaths-africa-prevented | Don't let Umi die in vain. Child deaths in Africa can be prevented | Two years ago, in the midst of the worst drought to hit Kenya in decades, I met a little girl called Umi. She was very ill: malnourished, dehydrated, and close to death. She had been spotted by one of our mobile health clinics and rushed to hospital. The struggle of this tiny, frail baby, just three months old and clinging to life by a thread, moved me to tears. In the most dramatic humanitarian crises, sometimes a single story tells us everything we need to know. Umi's was one of those stories. Pictures of her as she fought to survive were beamed around the world and prompted an outpouring of generosity that raised millions of pounds and saved thousands of lives. The BBC sent a crew to her village to interview her parents. Andrew Mitchell, then the development secretary, visited her with me in a small hospital. As the scale of the crisis became apparent, the story of her survival took on a deeper significance, a prick of hope amid the despair. As east Africa began its slow recovery, she began her own, putting on weight and gaining strength with every passing day. By Christmas 2011, pictures of her transformation appeared on the front of newspapers. The BBC ran a follow-up story on her recovery. Having been the embodiment of the crisis at its worst, as the situation improved, little Umi, still less than a year old, became a symbol of regional recovery and the wider progress being made to reduce child deaths in the world. Last week, Umi's story ended. She died in hospital from pneumonia and diarrhoea – the two biggest killers of children in the world. In the end, after all she had been through, she was not the victim of a humanitarian disaster. The crops in her village had not failed and the herd of goats owned by her father had not starved, wiping out his income. Umi died because she'd been weakened by that initial bout of hunger, and because she lived miles from the nearest hospital. She arrived there too late. She died because her family were poor. Kenya is one of Africa's most prosperous nations, a place of bustling ports, fertile land and international tourism. In many ways, it is one of the continent's success stories. When I was there last month, visiting the remote north-eastern province, it didn't feel like it. The villages that dot the harsh landscape of this remote corner of Africa are not connected by roads. In the tumbledown hospitals and clinics, staff are stretched to breaking point. I met mothers whose children had died from easily treatable illnesses because they didn't have access to the basic healthcare that would have saved their lives. In the town of Wajir, the region's main hospital has just closed its maternity ward, and the stabilisation centre, where the most dangerously ill children are treated is kept afloat, just, by funding from the Kenyan government and Save the Children. Meanwhile health workers supported by Save the Children run clinics on a shoestring in remote villages, administering vaccinations under trees. The lack of drugs and manpower means that children die of the most innocuous diseases. In the hospital where Umi fought and lost her final battle, a single nurse was tending two wards. Africa may be rising, but its ascent is far from even. Inequality and marginalisation mean that, while the continent is home to six of the world's 10 fastest-growing economies, every year more than 3 million of its children will, like Umi, die preventable deaths. Those who argue that aid is not necessary and economic growth alone will protect these children from death and disease should pay a visit to northern Kenya, where even in a good year, thousands of children will die of illnesses we know how to treat, despite their country's development. There is a bitter irony in the fact that Umi's death came days after the world agreed an action plan to battle hunger and malnutrition that will save the lives of 1.7 million children over the next six years. A bout of extreme malnutrition in early childhood can leave children weak for the rest of their lives: six weeks before her death, we had received confirmation that Umi had been stunted by her experience of hunger as a baby, two years ago. Ultimately, it meant she was less able to fight that final, fatal illness. Umi was a little girl whose life and death were unwittingly bound up with some of the world's biggest problems. She never understood it, but her survival against the odds sent a message of hope in darkest of times. Her death is a tragedy, but it will drive us on, renewing our resolve to help children living in the world's toughest places share in the dramatic progress we are making in fighting child mortality. Within our lifetimes, we could stop any child, anywhere, dying as Umi did last week. That would be the only fitting tribute to her extraordinary, but tragically short, life. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'world/infant-and-child-mortality', 'global-development/malnutrition', 'society/society', 'global-development/global-development', 'global-development/poverty-matters', 'global-development/hunger', 'environment/drought', 'environment/environment', 'world/kenya', 'world/africa', 'world/world', 'society/health', 'tone/comment', 'type/article', 'profile/justin-forsyth'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2013-06-24T17:08:01Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
lifeandstyle/2023/jan/09/too-many-smelly-candles-heres-how-scents-impact-the-air-quality-in-your-home | Too many smelly candles? Here’s how scents impact the air quality in your home | There’s nothing wrong with wanting your home to smell nice and fresh – and from candles to diffusers, there’s no shortage of home scent products to help you achieve that. But having rampant fragrances in our indoor air can dramatically impact air quality, coming with a host of potential problems. Indoor air quality is a going concern People in high- and middle-income countries spend 85-90% of their time indoors. An average person inhales up to 20,000 litres of air daily, and exposure to air pollutants in stagnant air indoors can pose risks to our health and wellbeing, causing symptoms such as eye irritation, respiratory issues and even headaches. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), levels of indoor air pollutants are typically more than three times higher than outdoors. Sources of indoor pollution can be many: cooking, heating and scented cleaning products, as well as the products we use to deodorise our living or working spaces – candles, diffusers, room sprays, gels, beads and other products. The sole purpose of home scents is to make the air smell nice. This means we’re intentionally releasing a mix of chemicals in an indoor environment and potentially lowering the indoor air quality. Meet the VOCs Air fresheners emit more than 100 different chemicals, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These are airborne chemicals that include wide classes of organic compounds: terpenes such as limonene (lemon scent), alpha-pinene (the smell of pine trees), and beta-pinene; solvents such as ethanol, formaldehyde, benzene, toluene and xylene; and many other compounds. These VOCs will react with ozone and other indoor oxidants to generate a range of oxidation products, which are potentially toxic molecules. The level of exposure and concentration determines the potential toxicity. Sign up for our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Fragrances and ozone can also generate pollutants such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and free radicals, all classified as toxic or hazardous by agencies such as the EPA. The type and amount of pollutants created by your home fragrance will depend on many factors, such as the type of product (does it burn or is it a vapour?), its composition (although ingredients aren’t always known), and the indoor air itself. All air freshener types produce high emissions of volatile organic compounds in some settings. How scents are delivered into the space is reported to be less important for emissions than the composition of the scent in question. But, legally, the chemicals used in air fresheners do not have to be disclosed; studies have found vast variation in what gets disclosed on the label. Apart from fragrance compounds, a home scent can also emit solvents such as ethanol, isopropanol, dipropylene glycol and tens of others. Odourless solvents are of specific concern, as it is difficult for a consumer to predict the impact and to be aware of higher concentrations present in the air. Notably, manufacturers of scents can use the words “fragrance”, “perfume” and “essential oil” in their list of ingredients without specifying which chemicals are actually used to form the fragrance. Typically, it can be tens or hundreds of different chemicals that aren’t disclosed. ‘Green’ isn’t always better either Even when the ingredients are listed on the label, it doesn’t mean the product is entirely off the hook. For example, consumers can be easily misled by labels such as “green”, “organic” or “natural” on their products, also known as greenwashing. There is generally a lack of awareness that the scents marketed as green or organic release similar amounts of potentially hazardous materials into the air as other products, as there’s no regulation on what can be labelled “green”. For example, essential oils are natural aromatic compounds but – once released into the air – can form nanoparticles and pollutants such as formaldehyde, a known carcinogen. Keeping it fresh Our ubiquitous exposure to fragranced products, even at low levels, has been associated with various adverse health effects. In a study across the US, UK, Australia and Sweden, 32.2% of people were reported to have a sensitivity to fragrance. In those who are sensitive, fragrances are a risk factor for asthma and headaches. All this doesn’t mean you must throw your scented candles in the bin. But using them in moderation is highly advisable if you care about the overall quality of your indoor air. Although there is no safe threshold for exposure to particulate matter (such as soot) and VOCs, burning soy, beeswax or other non-paraffin candles in a moderate way – along with proper ventilation and indoor air filtration – should be considered generally safe. That said, removing air fresheners, fragrances and scented candles will probably improve your indoor air quality overall, and will also make your living space safer for your family, pets and friends. Other measures you may consider to make your indoor environment cleaner and healthier are frequently ventilating spaces, using vacuum cleaners with Hepa filters, using air purifiers, surrounding yourself with greenery and cleaning regularly. This article was originally published by the Conversation. Svetlana Stevanovic is a senior lecturer in environmental engineering at Deakin University | ['lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'lifeandstyle/homes', 'environment/air-pollution', 'fashion/fragrance', 'environment/environment', 'campaign/email/saved-for-later', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-lifestyle'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2023-01-09T00:47:58Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
business/2021/jan/05/cold-snap-sees-uk-electricity-market-prices-reach-new-high | Cold snap forces UK electricity market prices to new high | Plunging temperatures and a drop in wind turbine power generation have pushed UK electricity market prices to a new high and prompted the National Grid to put out an urgent call for suppliers to provide extra capacity. The National Grid control room warned that its spare electricity supplies would be “tight” this week, and on Tuesday issued an official call for generators to bring forward an extra 524 megawatts of electricity capacity within 24 hours. Electricity market prices have surged tenfold in a day to reach a new record high of £1,000 per megawatt hour, as colder than normal temperatures and lower electricity generation left a dent in Great Britain’s power supplies. The cold snap is forecast to drive energy demand to its highest level for this winter, while wind turbines come to a virtual standstill only weeks after setting a new generation record. The combination of high demand and low wind speeds has emerged as supplies from many traditional power plants remain out of action, causing electricity prices on the wholesale market to soar. The electricity system operator, a branch of National Grid, said that although a warning notice can “sound quite serious”, it is “a routine way” to encourage generators to produce more electricity, and does not mean electricity supply is “at risk”. The National Grid control centre has issued a flurry of informal and official warnings this winter, which it expected to be one of the tightest winters for electricity supplies in the last four years. There were two official warnings on consecutive days in November, and another in December. Hartree Solutions, a merchant commodities trading business, said that the UK is “at much greater risk of blackouts this winter than the National Grid has forecast”, which is reflected in market prices. The wholesale price of electricity to meet Wednesday’s peak demand, which will be in the hour from 4pm, climbed to £1,000 per megawatt on one of the UK’s most important electricity auction platforms, the highest price since the auction began in 2014 and 10 times the price for the same hour on Tuesday. Hartree said the shrinking electricity supply margins mean the National Grid control room “will need to be issuing alerts, warnings and utilising many – if not all – of their balancing tools on Wednesday to keep the lights on”. The official warning from the electricity system operator said: “In the short-term, we would like a greater safety cushion (margin) between power demand and available supply. It does not signal that blackouts are imminent or that there is not enough generation to meet current demand.” | ['business/energy-industry', 'business/nationalgrid', 'uk/uk', 'business/utilities', 'environment/windpower', 'business/business', 'environment/energy-storage', 'environment/environment', 'environment/energy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2021-01-05T17:35:56Z | true | ENERGY |
australia-news/article/2024/jun/08/heat-pumps-save-money-australia-how-a-pump-works-carbon-footprint-electricity-bill | Heat pumps: how to reduce your carbon footprint while saving money this winter | As any Australian who has lived overseas knows, Australia’s houses are uniquely cold. Where residents of other nations enjoy the benefit of stable internal temperatures, Australians are mostly left to endure colder, leakier homes with no central heating that have more in common with open-air tents. Sweden may have made double glazing on windows mandatory since 1960, and triple glazing may be common in many countries, but Australians have stuck with single. This has much to do with how Australian regulations have lagged – the country only got around to introducing energy efficiency standards into the building code in 2003. Even then, some states like South Australia have, at times, exempted developers from having to comply with national energy efficiency regulations on some projects – a decision that will cost residents more in the long run. As a wet and chilly winter rolls around, Australians are once again missing out on a cheaper, more efficient way to heat their homes. The rest of the world has already fallen in love with the “magic” technology of the heat pump, but Australians are only just starting to catch on. Here’s how heat pumps could save you money, reduce your carbon footprint and keep you warm this winter. What is a heat pump? Heat pumps are sometimes described as a “reverse fridge”, as they use a mixture of evaporation and condensation to transfer heat from outside a building to the inside – even in cold weather. Heat pumps are considered to be very efficient and though they have several industrial uses, in the home they are most commonly used for heating, hot water, heating swimming pools and dryers. I have a gas system. What’s the difference? As the name implies, a traditional gas system requires a gas supply to operate – which represents another bill – and can be prone to annoying issues, like when the pilot light goes out. Heat pumps are electric and turn on so long as there’s power. Both systems require maintenance – it is important to clean a heat pump’s air filter every few months – but heat pumps don’t have the added health and safety risks posed by gas if something goes wrong. How do heat pumps work? Heat pumps work by moving heat from the area surrounding the system into the system you are trying to heat. The Guardian has published a helpful illustrated guide to the process. But, as with a fridge, a heat pump contains a circuit of pipes containing a material called a refrigerant. The pump uses pressure to force the refrigerant to change state: from a liquid to a gas and back again. During that process, the refrigerant has to absorb energy, and also give off that energy has it returns to liquid form. And that is what allows the refrigerant to transfer heat energy from one place to another. What does it mean for the environment? Replacing a gas-fired system with a heat pump means you are no longer burning gas to generate heat. Natural gas is composed of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that can escape from pipes and valves. Not only does this create a safety risk, as natural gas is highly flammable and explosive, but according to the Climate Council, 1 tonne of methane in the atmosphere warms 86 times as much as 1 tonne of carbon. The act of burning gas in heaters, stoves and hot water systems also produces carbon dioxide, the most potent greenhouse gas that is feeding the catastrophic risk posed by climate change, and nitrogen dioxide, which can be hazardous to health if allowed to build up. Will heat pumps save me money? Bottom line: yes. Direct comparisons with gas-fired systems are not straightforward. Some estimates suggest switching to a heat pump could bring savings of 60-85%. The ACT government suggests that savings can fall into the 50-80% range. Paired with solar, it is thought a heat pump could be 90% cheaper to run than the gas system it replaces and installing a home battery virtually eliminates the risk posed by power outages. The only catch is that even as heat pumps deliver the best overall savings – and one fewer bill – they generally have a higher upfront cost of purchase and installation. How much do heat pumps cost? Heat pump hot water systems can range from about $2,100 for smaller systems to $6,000 or more for those capable of supporting eight-person-plus households. Heat pump dryers can range from about $800 to $2,000 depending on the system. The individual unit for an air-sourced heat pump may range between $2,000 and $5,000, but as every household is different and depending on the climatic zone you live in, installation and labour costs may vary. What are governments doing to help? Though many federal programs have largely been tailored towards businesses, state governments have been increasingly moving to support uptake. The Victorian government, which has committed to ending gas connections in new homes, ran a program to help low-income and vulnerable households install heat pumps between 2020 and 2023, but continues to offer a $1,000 rebate to help those looking to switch. The Queensland, New South Wales, ACT and South Australian governments also offer rebates and loan schemes on heat pumps, but some research is necessary to check the specifics depending on where you live. How do I choose the right heat pump? Like any major purchase, it is important to research what is available in the market and its specific operating conditions. A bigger heat pump hot water system, for example, will cost more but may be overkill for a smaller home, and a cheaper system may not cut it for bigger homes in particular regions. Resources such as YourHome and Choice can assist. • This story was amended on 8 June 2024 to clarify the process in which a heat pump operates. | ['australia-news/series/change-by-degrees', 'australia-news/energy-australia', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/energyefficiency', 'money/household-bills', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/royce-kurmelovs', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-opinion'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2024-06-07T15:00:23Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/2014/aug/10/are-loom-bands-next-environmental-disaster | Are loom bands the next environmental disaster? | Lucy Siegle | Watching his daughters make bracelets from rubber bands, Cheong Choon Ng, an engineer working for Nissan in the US, developed a plastic loom on which to weave coloured synthetic rubber bands. These have proved catnip for four- to eight-year-olds (the recommended age), who churn out homemade plastic jewellery. We now have a craze on our hands. Ask any teacher – some schools have banned loom bands on the grounds that they’re a distraction or threaten the blood flow of small fingers. Cheong Choon Ng has left Nissan to be the first loom band oligarch. Who can begrudge him his good fortune or that of children who want to put down their electronic devices and make something? This is a handicraft, and ordinarily I would approve wholeheartedly. Unfortunately it’s also a litter time bomb. I’ve lost count of the number of loom band spillages I’ve seen on pavements. Washed down drains and into water courses, millions of little bands of synthetic, silicone-based rubber add to the more than 7m tonnes of rubbish that reach the world’s oceans each year. You may remember the furore a few years ago over red rubber bands (now brown) discarded by postmen. The rubber was said to threaten wildlife, particularly hedgehogs. The loom band presents a similar danger to pets and wild animals. Some have asked if latex bands would be more sustainable. Natural rubber can be seen as ecologically superior to synthetic, which consumes energy and produces carbon dioxide. But natural rubber plantations are fraught with ethical problems, too – from enslaved rubber tappers to the annexation of rainforest. If the loom band inventor had also invented a new source of bio rubber (see Green Crush, below), then I’d be happy. As it is, I’m deeply sceptical that any existing bands are biodegradable. In practice they’re photosensitive (they break down in light) instead. In waterways they break down into small fragments, so are potentially even more easily ingested by wildlife. In anaerobic landfill they don’t really break down at all. Loom bands are everywhere – it’s hard to convince children that they are precious. But this is the message we should be trying to convey. Encourage children to store their loose bands in a box as if it they were as precious as a Tiffany necklace. The biggest enemy is your indifference. Green crush Surfers have always liked to take the ecological high ground (or wave), so it’s particularly irksome when a piece of their kit doesn’t match up. Conventional wetsuits are made from petroleum-based neoprene, which is not a good look. But Patagonia’s R2 and R3 wetsuits are cut from a different cloth – namely 605 Yulex biorubber, made from the desert plant guayule, aka ‘the wonder weed’. It’s exactly the kind of thing which might help with the loom band dilemma. As Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia’s founder, once explained of his need to find eco alternatives: “There is no business to be done on a dead planet.” Available in the UK from September, at around £500 Greenspeak: The Green Blob {∂I gri:n blvb} noun Coined by the outgoing environment minister, Owen Paterson, to describe what he saw as the self-serving lobby of ‘green’ or environmental organisations which he blamed for his sacking | ['environment/series/its-not-easy-being-green', 'environment/series/ask-leo-lucy', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/environment', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'theobserver/magazine/life-and-style', 'theobserver/magazine', 'tone/features', 'fashion/fashion', 'society/children', 'society/society', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'type/article', 'profile/lucysiegle'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2014-08-10T05:00:06Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
us-news/article/2024/jun/22/new-mexico-wildfires-floods-disaster | ‘Multiple disasters all in one day’: New Mexico’s brutal week of fire and flood | It’s been a harrowing week of fire and flood in New Mexico. Just days after a pair of fast-moving fires roared across drought-stricken landscapes and into communities, a tropical storm swirled north, unleashing downpours and golf ball-sized hail over scorched slopes that had only just burned. As the dueling dangers of two weather extremes converged, charred debris flowed into neighborhoods, crews were temporarily evacuated from the firefight as emergency officials pivoted from fire support to flood rescues, and strong winds swept up dried soils to create one of the largest dust storms the state has ever seen. Across the arid south-west, where fire risks typically rise with the temperatures in the spring before they are doused in a summer monsoon, weather patterns like these aren’t unheard of. But the climate crisis has supercharged extreme conditions, setting the stage for new types of catastrophes that are increasing in both intensity and frequency. When they overlap, the dangers grow. “We are used to these disasters, but I don’t think this agency has ever dealt with anything like this,” said Dr Jeremy Klass, the recovery and mitigation bureau chief of New Mexico’s department of homeland security and emergency management. “We are dealing with two disasters right on top of one another.” The South Fork and Salt fires are still burning and remain at 0% containment and communities across the south of the state are bracing for more rain. After erupting on the Mescalero Apache Reservation, the blazes burned hot and fast, sweeping across more than 23,400 areas collectively and leveling neighborhoods. An estimated 1,400 structures have been lost to the flames, according to officials who are still finishing the grim tallies of burned buildings, and at least two people died while fleeing the fires. Meanwhile, roughly 8,000 people have been displaced, as they await the news of what will remain when they are allowed to return. While the infusion of moisture from Tropical Storm Alberto – the first named storm in what’s expected to be a heavy hurricane season – helped slow the fires’ spread and bumped local humidity, it also caused chaos. Emergency management crews had to quickly shift gears from fire support to water rescues as curtains of rain inundated the burn scar. Up to 8in of rain poured on villages in the central part of New Mexico – more rainfall than some parts of the state typically see in a year. Fire crews had to be temporarily evacuated from the fire line for their safety as the storm hit, according to officials, before they rushed to try to mitigate the risks of more debris flows. “On most fires, we get through the fire phase and can secure things before storms start to hit,” Arthur Gonzalez, a fire behavior analyst on the incident team, said during a community meeting on Thursday, explaining that there are usually weeks to prepare for such an event. “We are having to do both at the same time.” As first responders and officials grappled with a chaotic mix of conditions, the wild weather had one more curveball to throw at New Mexico: the gusty winds kicked up a wall of dust that stretched hundreds of miles long. The dust storm, known as a “haboob”, rapidly clouded visibility across major highways as it swept across New Mexico and into Arizona. Ali Rye, the state director of New Mexico’s department of homeland security and emergency management, said she’d spent Thursday morning trying to support recovery efforts from the fires and floods when she got the call that there was a 20-car pile-up that shut down the interstate. Fifty people were injured in the accident. “It is multiple disasters all in one day,” she said, adding that the overlap has made each more traumatizing for affected communities. It’s part of a troubling trend. By Rye’s tally, the number of state-declared disasters in New Mexico has quadrupled since 2019. “We are seeing an increase in the impacts to our state in various ways and it has become increasingly challenging over the last couple of years,” she said. “And we are not out of the clear yet.” The threats are only going to rise as the world continues to warm. While it will take time for scientists to better understand whether this week’s events are tied to the climate crisis, “temperatures are easily attributable to climate change”, said Dr Andrew Hoell, a research meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa). Broiling weather across the south-west has baked more moisture out of landscapes and plants, accelerating drought and increasing wildfire risks. It has also dried the topsoils that are carried by winds to create dust storms. New Mexico has been in the grips of a severe drought and conditions are only expected to intensify through the end of the summer, even with the monsoons. “That’s the lingering long-term drought over the area,” said the state climatologist, Dr David DuBois, who added that record-high temperatures have taken a toll. “We have had 11 days over 100F already – and it’s still June.” DuBois said the state is preparing for a flip to monsoon season, when there will be more rain and more risks to burn scars, but the tropical storm that blew north this week was unexpected. There are hopes that, even with the negative impacts from the rain, the wetter weather will help quiet fire activity and give crews what they need to corral the blazes. But it’s expected to do little to relieve the longterm dryness. “We have had some really good bumps of rain, but it is lost through higher temperatures,” DuBois said. “One season doesn’t change the whole situation – that’s what’s on my mind. We may get a bunch of rain but then it goes back to really dry again.” | ['us-news/newmexico', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/wildfires', 'world/extreme-weather', 'environment/environment', 'environment/flooding', 'environment/extreme-heat', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/gabrielle-canon', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2024-06-22T13:00:33Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2019/may/02/four-charts-that-show-how-the-uk-stacks-up-on-climate-change | Four charts that show how the UK stacks up on climate change | Should the UK declare a “climate emergency” that would inform public policy and the national budget? The question was been debated in parliament on Wednesday, with the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn declaring the government should “embrace hope” through stronger actions on greenhouse gas emissions, and the environment secretary, Michael Gove, calling the problem of climate change “an emergency”. Outside parliament, the activist group Extinction Rebellion has brought London motor traffic to a standstill on several occasions, and the youth activist Greta Thunberg has held meetings with leading politicians, including Gove and Corbyn but excluding the prime minister. These events have taken place while the courts have given the go-ahead for a new runway expansion at Heathrow, rejecting the UK’s participation in the Paris climate change agreement as the basis on which transport policy should be decided. Meanwhile the government’s statutory advisers on climate change are likely to warn on Thursday that reducing greenhouse gases to net zero by 2050 is achievable but will require sizeable changes in public consumption habits, industry and government policy. The UK’s emissions of greenhouse gases have fallen rapidly in recent decades, but the reasons have been complex. One has been the shift away from manufacturing and towards services, including financial services, which are lucrative but light on emissions, as the basis for economic growth and prosperity. This has come at a cost – the UK coal mining industry was nearly annihilated in the 1980s and 1990s, and other areas of heavy industry shed more than a million jobs in the late 1990s and 2000s. But other areas of industry, such as renewable energy and research and development into low-carbon forms of technology, have shown rapid growth. There are estimated to be about half a million jobs in the low-carbon economy in the UK, though estimates vary widely depending on what jobs are classed as “green”. Tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted per person have tumbled in the UK, while for other countries the equivalent emissions have risen. In the UK, the shift away from coal to natural gas – from the North Sea – in the 1990s was a key factor. In many developing countries, by contrast, in recent decades the shift has been towards bringing electrical power to those who previously were denied it. Taking people out of “energy poverty” has been a key factor in economic growth in the developing world, benefiting all sectors of society. Yet it is possible for societies to move away from greenhouse gases while achieving growth in gross domestic product, as the UK’s recent history shows. This “decoupling” has been heralded by the UK government as an example to other countries, and the growth of renewable energy and much greater energy efficiency have been key to achieving this success. Renewable energy, in the form of onshore and offshore wind and solar panels, was subsidised by successive governments from the 1990s, helping its early growth and boosting developments in the technology that brought down costs and made it more easily adopted. In recent years those subsidies in the UK have been slashed, but worldwide the costs of renewables have come down rapidly, making them more accessible to all countries. Historic emissions have long been a bone of contention at international talks on climate change, which are carried on annually and in 2015 resulted in the landmark Paris agreement, which required countries to stay within at least 2C of global warming, with an aspiration to limit warming to no more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. For many years, developing countries argued that one reason for wealthy countries to take on the lion’s share of emissions cuts was their greater responsibility for emissions before the 1980s, when climate change began to be recognised as a problem. In recent years, however, the rapidly rising emissions from developing countries such as China have dwarfed the UK’s own historic emissions, and this trend is likely to continue. • This article was amended on 3 May 2019. The final two graphics represent megatonnes of carbon dioxide, not metric tonnes as stated in an earlier version. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'politics/michaelgove', 'politics/jeremy-corbyn', 'politics/politics', 'environment/extinction-rebellion', 'uk/uk', 'environment/greta-thunberg', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/g1'] | environment/extinction-rebellion | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2019-05-02T05:00:16Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
australia-news/2021/oct/25/young-australians-lodge-human-rights-complaints-with-un-over-alleged-government-inaction-on-climate | Young Australians lodge human rights complaints with UN over alleged government inaction on climate | Five young Australians, including members of First Nations and disability communities, have lodged three human rights complaints with the United Nations over what they claim is the Morrison government’s inaction on climate. The complainants – aged between 14 and 24 years old – argue that the Australian government’s 2030 emissions reduction target fails to uphold the rights of every young person in Australia. They claim the target is putting young First Nations people and people with disabilities at risk of acute harm from climate change. They filed the complaint just days before the Cop26 climate conference in Glasgow, where key allies, like the US and UK, will expect to see improvements to Australia’s emissions reduction targets. Among the complainants is Ethan Lyons, a 15-year-old Wiradjuri teenager, who first heard about the opportunity through the School Strike 4 Climate campaign. “As a Wiradjuri teen, it is so vital that representation of First Nations mob is seen in the broader climate movement, and as the complaint is being presented on such a large level. I was motivated to bring my concerns surrounding climate change and its effects on culture,” he told Guardian Australia. “Additionally, as a young person, also living with a disability, I feel it is necessary to do as much as I can to demand a safe future for all young people … we have seen things like worsened bushfire seasons, destructions of sacred land for coal, bigger heatwaves, and it is time to start taking action on the people that will not do anything about it.” Australia currently has a 2030 target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 26-28% of 2005 levels. The target has been widely criticised as inconsistent with scientific advice and inadequate to slow global warming. The group, represented by lawyers from Environmental Justice Australia, have filed complaints with the UN special rapporteurs for human rights and the environment, the rights of Indigenous people, and the rights of persons with disabilities. Senior climate specialist lawyer at Environmental Justice Australia, Hollie Kerwin, says this is significant because special rapporteurs have the power to investigate a breach of human rights, and report these breaches to the Australian representative to the United Nations, and the UN Human Rights Council. The group is calling on the special rapporteurs to urge the Australian government to increase its 2030 emissions reduction targets. They have also asked for an explanation from the Australian government as to how its alleged current inaction on climate change is consistent with his human rights obligations to young people. But, Kerwin adds, “the act of appealing to the special rapporteurs is significant itself because it shows that these young people know how serious the stakes are and are stepping up and bravely saying ‘this is happening to us’. It’s not a thing in the future, it is happening now.” “It also allows them to call out on the world stage and domestically what they think of Australia’s dangerously low 2030 target,” she says. Lyons says that First Nations communities risk losing connection to country and culture as a result of climate change. “The overarching issue of the climate crisis and how it impacts First Nations communities is the greater loss of cultural understanding and engagement to the land,” he says. “Not only does the climate crisis uniquely impact our culture but it also directly impacts our health – vulnerable elders, natural medicines and healing practices are all at risk because of climate change.” “On the topic of tradition, there is a mob whose culture depends on waterways and because of droughts, those profound and deep links to heritage are diminished; you also have to consider those communities who are living rurally without proper housing.” Another member of the group, 18-year-old Leila Mangos, says that young people are the ones will pay the price for what she says is the government’s climate inaction. “By 2030, I will only be 26. My life will have barely begun. We’re told time and time again that we will save the planet, and those who should be responsible for climate action – our world leaders – pass the responsibility down to us, the generation who can do nothing about it,” she says. “I have struggled with depression and anxiety brought on by the knowledge that without action by our governments, the planet I live on has an expiry date.” | ['australia-news/australian-politics', 'australia-news/scott-morrison', 'environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021', 'world/unitednations', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'world/world', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021 | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2021-10-24T16:30:15Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2003/nov/17/conservationandendangeredspecies.internationalnews | Development threatens ecosystem on Mexican coast | A tourism mega-project that environmentalists fear will lead to disaster for more than 1,000 miles of pristine coastline has won the initial approval of Mexico's environmental authorities. The Escalera Nautica, or Nautical Ladder, aims to attract wealthy American tourists with expensive boats and a free-spending spirit to a chain of 27 marinas around the perimeter of the Baja California peninsula and down the main Mexican coast. Visitors would be able to relax in the recognisable surroundings of their decks and marvel at the stark beauty of the Mexican desert landscape and the waters packed with wildlife. Their sense of comfortable familiarity would not end when they stepped ashore, however; that is because in the past decade Californians have bought swaths of the coastline, turning Baja into an American backyard. But Mexican nationalism hardly figures in local objections to the Escalera Nautica, which focus on the fragility of the ecosystems in and around the 800-mile peninsula in the Pacific, cradling the Sea of Cortes, or Gulf of California. There are five protected areas here, all of which could be damaged by the national tourism fund-sponsored project, environmentalists say. The construction of the marinas is due to begin next year and be completed by 2015. Last week's approval by the environment ministry requires the builders to include measures to "prevent, mitigate and/or compensate for" any negative impact on the environment. The activists - long accustomed to what they say is Mexico's cavalier attitude to environmental regulations - believe that sounds more like a suggestion than an order. Their concerns are as varied as the project is vast. Maria Elena Martinez of the Baja-based Isla campaign group is particularly worried about a marina at Santa Rosalia, near the peninsula's only oasis, as well as the fate of the endemic species on the 900 islands in the Sea of Cortes. Serge Dedina of the California-based Wildcoast conservation group fears for the sea turtle feeding grounds at Bahia de los Angeles, a bay on Sea of Cortes where whale sharks up to 12 metres long also converge to eat plankton. The poet and veteran Mexico City environmentalist Homero Aridjis sees a threat to the migration routes of the region's grey whales. They all fear that the marinas will provoke rampant land speculation and uncontrolled development. Baja, they say, has retained its wild purity precisely because of its isolation and the limited water supplies which have kept all but a few developments relatively small, and the population tiny. To cover it with roads could cause irreparable environmental damage and destroy the smaller-scale local eco-tourism and fishing economies. "The Escalera Nautica could condemn the ecosystem to death - not tomorrow, but little by little," says Mr Aridjis, who was a leading light in a campaign three years ago that stopped the construction of an industrial salt plant next to the whales' main nursery. The environment ministry's authorisation refers only to the marinas, but the grand vision of the developers goes far beyond their construction. The original scheme presented by President Vicente Fox two years ago also promised a "land bridge" that would allow sailors to tow their boats over the mountains, as well as top-range accommodation, golf courses, and airports. To critics, it conjured up images of Cancun-like hotel strips and swim-with-the-dolphins resorts swallowing up the unspoilt beaches. Not so, said Salvador Nito at the government agency in charge of the project. He insists that the Escalera Nautica project is deeply ecological, and blames its bad image on "communications failures" and early "confusions". Furthermore, he said, the controversial land bridge has been scrapped and replaced by an "ecological tourist corridor", and the planners no longer talk about boats, only "nautical tourists". And the golf courses? "Everything will be sensitive to the small communities," Mr Nito pledged. For Mr Dedina of Wildcoast, such evasive talk only confirms his conviction that the Escalera Nautica is doomed to failure - a pipe dream that will never attract the private investment needed to make the government seed capital in the marinas and the road worthwhile. "There are going to be scores of white elephants up and down the coast," Mr Dedina predicts. "This is going to be Mexico's Titanic, or its Enron." | ['environment/environment', 'environment/conservation', 'world/world', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'world/mexico', 'world/americas', 'type/article', 'profile/jotuckman'] | environment/endangered-habitats | BIODIVERSITY | 2003-11-17T17:48:41Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
australia-news/2019/feb/20/townsville-homes-may-become-uninsurable-due-to-flooding-from-climate-change | Townsville homes may become 'uninsurable' due to flooding from climate change | Houses in flood-hit Townsville and other parts of north Queensland are “on track to become uninsurable”, according to analysis that shows the risk to homes from flooding will more than double under climate change. The modelling, based on current global emissions trajectories, says flooding in Townsville is already about 20% more to likely to occur than previously thought. The total flood risk in the region is likely to increase by 130% by the end of the century. Climate Valuation, which advises the property and finance industry, said the result would be that more homes would find flood cover difficult to obtain and too expensive. Home and business owners have reported being caught out by the scale of this month’s flooding in Townsville. Many say they did not have specific flood cover, and that the city planning codes rated properties outside the “one in 100 years” flood zone as effectively flood-free. Experts have repeatedly said planning controls must be tightened to account for the increased likelihood of extreme natural disasters fuelled by climate change. The director of science and systems at Climate Valuation, Karl Mallon, said the risk of increased flooding left homeowners and business financially vulnerable. “Unfortunately, there are a lot of properties out there that planners in years past considered acceptable, but which homeowners may find are not insurable today or won’t be very soon,” he said. “Generally insurance companies often draw a line in the sand at the frequency of a one-in-100 year flood event. This means that as the risks of flooding increase, many Townsville houses will be uninsurable or the owners will find cover unaffordable. “We strongly urge people to check with councils and insurers if their homes are in flood zones, and if they can expect long-term affordable cover. If not they should know they will have to plan for the risks on their own and think about adapting their homes for climate change.” Insurance is already a problematic subject in north Queensland. According to an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission report last year, insurance in the cyclone-prone north can be three to five times more expensive than elsewhere. Most policies cover flooding as standard but it is not a requirement. Some exclude it. On others it is an optional extra. Guardian Australia reported last week that people in Townsville had in many cases opted for the cheaper option, in the mistaken belief their properties were not at risk. | ['australia-news/queensland', 'australia-news/townsville', 'environment/flooding', 'world/natural-disasters', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/ben-smee', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2019-02-20T00:48:47Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/2022/aug/28/national-grid-nears-deal-third-coal-power-station-on-standby | Closure of coal power station set to be delayed to prevent UK blackouts | The effort to prevent electricity blackouts this winter is expected to delay the closure of part of a coal-fired power station in Nottinghamshire, with the plant’s German owner nearing agreement with the UK authorities. In the third in a series of deals to have more coal power on standby if needed, National Grid’s electricity system operator (NGESO) is working towards finalising an agreement with Uniper to keep all of the operations at the Ratcliffe-on-Soar site open through the winter. In May, the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, wrote to NGESO asking executives to work with Uniper and fellow owners of coal-power stations Drax and EDF to slow their closure plans after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shook the energy markets. Uniper had been due to decommission one of its 500-megawatt units at the Nottinghamshire plant at the end of September, two years before closing the remaining three units at the site. Under the deal, NGESO is expected to pay the company a fee to delay the decommissioning so all three units can be called on if needed. Uniper will also be compensated for costs incurred, including coal purchases, with any additional charges eventually being fed through to consumers’ energy bills. The UK government has committed to ending the use of coal power in Great Britain by October 2024, a year earlier than originally planned. But that target is now at risk as ministers and power operators race to ensure security of supply. Deals with Drax and EDF to extend the life of two units each from October to the end of March have already been agreed. Drax, which operates a power plant in Yorkshire, said it had agreed to source up to 400,000 tonnes of additional coal which, with current stocks, is enough for 1 terawatt hour of electricity generation. The plant will only operate when instructed to do so by National Grid. EDF agreed in June to extend the life of its West Burton A coal plant in Nottinghamshire by six months. It is retaining 200 workers to ensure 400 MW is available as and when needed from one unit, with a second unit as backup. NGESO said this month that it expected the “upfront cost” of the series of deals to be “£220m to £420m, subject to the procurement and use of the coal”. According to the US Energy Information Administration, Russia’s natural gas exports by pipeline to the EU and the UK fell by almost 40% during the first seven months of 2022, compared with the same period last year. As Russia has dramatically reduced its gas exports, coal prices have surged. Global consumption of coal is expected to increase to the record levels reached 10 years ago. The UK is not reliant on Russian gas, but it is a big importer of gas from Norway and electricity from France. There is a danger those countries may reduce exports to Britain this winter as they try to meet their own needs. The UK government has insisted that access to North Sea gas reserves and liquified natural gas imports means “households, businesses and industry can be confident they will get the electricity and gas they need”. The proportion of coal in the national electricity generation mix has fallen from 26% in 2010 to 7% in 2020, according to a recent government review. Ministers say the new deals will not derail the target of ending coal use by autumn 2024. Sources close to the situation said officials hoped not to have to turn to the coal plants and that the deals were a contingency plan. “It is not the base case assumption that they will be turned on,” said one. Earlier this month it emerged that official analysis suggested there could be four days of blackouts for consumers and businesses in January under a “reasonable worst case scenario”. Robert Buckley, the head of relationship development at the energy consultancy Cornwall Insight, said the coal deals boosted Britain’s short-term security of supply. “At the margins coal could play a significant part this winter and maybe even next. The ability of coal power to ramp up quickly when the wind drops or it suddenly gets very cold could be very important,” he said. Coal plants can be fired up with about 12 hours notice. Buckley said a return to polluting coal power was a “trade off” between progress in tackling the climate crisis and ensuring energy supplies continue smoothly this winter. “There are trade offs everywhere. The big trade off that Europe got wrong was relying on Russian gas,” he added. The price of carbon in the EU’s emissions trading scheme have hit record highs in recent weeks as coal plants, notably in Germany, have taken on greater significance in the energy mix. A Uniper spokesperson said the company was “continuing discussions with National Grid ESO in line with the government’s request to keep our unit at Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station, which is due to close in September 2022, available if needed during the winter. We cannot comment further at this time.” A government spokesperson said: “While there is no shortage of supply for both the immediate and long term, we may need to keep other remaining coal-fired power stations available to provide additional back up electricity this coming winter if needed, in light of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. “However, it remains our firm commitment to end the use of coal power by October 2024.” A NGESO spokesperson said it was conducting negotiations as requested by the government. • This article was amended on 30 August 2022 to refer to 1 terrawatt hour, rather than 1 terrawatt, of electricity generation. | ['business/energy-industry', 'business/nationalgrid', 'environment/coal', 'environment/energy', 'business/business', 'business/utilities', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/alex-lawson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2022-08-28T15:29:41Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2019/jun/16/france-to-declare-natural-disaster-after-storms-rip-through-crops | France to declare natural disaster after storms rip through crops | France will declare a state of natural disaster after rain and hail storms lashed a swathe of the south-east on Saturday, devastating crops. The flash storms, which brought hailstones as big as pingpong balls to some areas, killed two people in France and Switzerland, and injured at least 10 others. The worst-hit area, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alps region, is at the heart of France’s food production and known as the “orchard of France”. Didier Guillaume, the agriculture minister, said the government would organise a “general mobilisation” and introduce emergency measures to deal with what he described as a catastrophe for farmers. “Everything will be done to help. The state of natural disaster will be declared,” Guillaume told French television. “The goal is that no farmers will have to shut down business.” Nine French departments were put on alert at the weekend after warnings of violent storms, hail and winds. When the storms struck, they were brief but catastrophic, particularly in the Drôme and Isère. “It lasted 10 minutes, but 10 minutes of a hail storm … there’s a lot of damage in a 10km zone in the Drôme,” the minister added. Guillaume said many farmers had lost 80-100% of their crops. He added that the state of disaster would be declared when the extent of the devastation was known in “a day or two”. A 51-year-old German tourist was killed on Saturday afternoon after a tree crushed her camping car at a holiday site at Tanninges in the Haute-Savoie. Storms also struck western Switzerland with winds reaching up to 110km/h, according to the national forecaster MeteoSwiss. A woman drowned in Lake Geneva when her boat sank, police said. A man in the same boat was able to swim to another vessel and fired off two flares, but by the time rescuers arrived they could not find the woman. Her body was later recovered by divers. The storm also damaged 465 boats taking part in an annual regatta on the lake. Grégory Chardon, a fruit grower from La Roche-de-Glun, at the centre of the storm, said most of his apricots, peaches and cherries had been destroyed. Chardon, president of the local farmer’s union, said he had never before witnessed weather like it. “The damage is enormous in a wide area – cereals, greenhouses, vegetable crops as well as vines have been hit,” he said. The hailstones smashed car windscreens and also damaged homes, schools and public buildings. Several trees fell on train lines and fire and emergency services struggled to deal with smashed roofs. More than 2,000 homes were without electricity on Sunday. Marie-Hélène Thoravaldes, mayor of Romans-sur-Isère , which was also badly hit, said: “It was apocalyptic.” FranceInfo published photographs showing uprooted trees, floods and storm destruction. Videos on social networks showed the scale of the disaster. The local prefect tweeted photographs of a school with its windows smashed and of the agriculture minister meeting firefighters called in to deal with the flooding and damage. | ['world/france', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'weather/france', 'environment/farming', 'weather/index/europe', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/kim-willsher', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2019-06-16T16:08:02Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
lifeandstyle/2018/aug/11/cloth-nappies-millennial-parents-stop-plastic-waste | All change as millennial parents turn to cloth nappies | If the idea of cloth nappies conjures images of towelling squares loosely held by a large safety pin, think again. Modern versions have come a long way and are now available in bright colours and a variety of materials, including cotton, bamboo, microfibre and hemp. Growing consumer concern over plastic waste, and a more pragmatic desire to save money, means boom times for the reusable nappy industry. “There is increased awareness of the impact of disposable nappies – they are a single-use plastic. It started with coffee cups, then disposable wipes, and the jump from wipes to nappies is clear,” said Wendy Richards, director of UK online provider The Nappy Lady. She says the number of people using the service has grown by 80% in the past year. The business has doubled its staff since the start of 2018. About 25% of a disposable nappy is plastic and three billion nappies a year end up in landfill. Some councils in Britain now give new parents vouchers worth up to £55 to help pay for a set of reusable nappies. Alice Walker, of campaign and information group Real Nappies for London, said: “We weren’t having this conversation [about plastic waste] before. Now parents are more aware of their choices and word of mouth is spreading the message.” Bambino Mio, based in Northamptonshire, sells reusable nappy products online and in supermarkets, and says it has seen sales increase by 50% in the past year. It says more than 30% of parents now try plastic-free alternatives. “The impact of single-use plastics is a hot topic across the globe,” said spokesperson Victoria Williams. “There is no greater single-use product than a disposable nappies – plastic bottles and bags can be reused; disposable nappies are certainly only used once.” Another explanation for the rise in reusable nappies is economic. Data from Nottinghamshire county council’s nappy project finds that using real nappies and washing them at home saves £200 a year compared with buying disposables. “This could help UK parents save as much as £360m a year, while helping us move towards a zero-waste society,” said Amelia Womack, deputy leader of the Green party. The Treasury is looking at a nationwide voucher scheme as part of a consultation on plastic waste, but Womack said the government and local councils need to do more. Social media platforms have also helped spread the word. Kasia Reszel has a two-month-old son, Julian. “On Facebook you can buy secondhand nappies, which are cheaper, and there’s a massive network to show you how to do it,” she said. “We do one wash a day and it’s pretty easy. You rinse before putting on a longer cycle and wash at 60C.” Others agree. “I thought I’d just find the plain white towels that my nan told me about, but these are actually really stylish,” said Andrea Snook, who has a one-year-old son. “The designs you can get nowadays are much softer and more reliable.” Upfront costs can, however, be a deterrent. With full nappy starter kits ranging from £100 to £350, some low-income parents are wary about making the switch. Georgina Dewhirst and her husband Luke, who have a five-week-old, are considering cloth nappies because their wheelie bin gets full of disposables and is emptied only once a fortnight. As well as the initial outlay, they worry about the cost of all the hot washes. “We will try it, but at the moment the expense is putting us off,” said Dewhirst. According to Charlotte Faircloth, sociology lecturer at University College London, it is often socially aware middle-class parents who have the luxury of worrying about natural styles of parenting. “Other people are more concerned about meeting bills,” she said. | ['lifeandstyle/parents-and-parenting', 'lifeandstyle/family', 'environment/plastic', 'environment/environment', 'society/children', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/tess-reidy', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-main'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-08-11T13:00:32Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
small-business-network/2014/feb/25/floods-helping-small-businesses-affected-weather | Helping small businesses affected by the UK floods | Since the floods hit we've been taking some heartbreaking calls, including some from business owners facing tremendous financial hardship. It's obvious there has been widespread devastation with large numbers of businesses affected, because the number of daily calls we take has almost doubled during the past few weeks. Every call is different, because every business is unique, so it's important that we don't judge or assume, but tailor our advice for each call. We usually start by asking some questions about the organisation's legal structure: whether they are a sole trader, a limited company, and whether they have employees. Next we'll ask where they are based. Although much of the support on offer is England-wide, there are also lots of local initiatives. We have a knowledge bank with information about local schemes, which councils and businesses feed into. For example, one owner was concerned about the effect of the floods on her stranded employees. We discussed how she was communicating with her employees, paying staff and managing the knock-on effect of personal survival. We talked about the importance of keeping her employees updated with the business situation at regular intervals. The client already had business interruption as part of her overall insurance package, so luckily employees would still receive a wage while the cleanup operation was taking place. Although she was covered, she still needed short-term financial support while the insurance payments were processed, so we told her about financial solutions being offered by her bank. In some instances, however, we may have to address possible closure issues and implications of making redundancies. As a high proportion of her employees were also suffering with personal flooding problems, we were able to advise on local flood support information, such as volunteer sites, Citizens Advice Bureau, food parcel support offered by Asda, bank support for mortgage repayment holidays and council tax payment issues from the local authority. With each call we seek clarification of a customer's situation and what stage they're at. If the flooding hit a company in December, it might want advice about managing recovery and future resilience. If the business is still water-logged, it needs entirely different support. Customers awaiting insurance pay-outs may be struggling with cashflow. We'll advise people to salvage whatever they can, and take photos and videos of the damage if possible, which can help to make insurance claims much smoother. We'll also establish whether they have insurance, and what type – that can make a massive difference to the support they need. There are some who haven't taken out contents insurance and have real financial problems. If the floods have completely ruined a business's property, one of the best ways to help could be to find alternative premises. Regus has offered free workspace to flood-hit companies, so if appropriate, we would suggest contacting them and making use of their business lounges for the interim. If the property is still partially useable we would advise the customer to get it safety-checked (for example checking the electrics) and suggest ways they can keep going as efficiently as possible. After a phone conversation with the owner of a flooded hair salon, she decided her best bet was to "go mobile" temporarily, and she's currently visiting people's homes and offices to cut hair. Another caller contacted all 200 of her customers to update them on her situation and explain how the floods had affected her. Although she couldn't keep trading, she could at least keep her reputation intact – and she felt much better after taking some action. Other businesses might not have been flooded themselves, but have still been affected because their subcontractors are underwater, or the roads around them are closed, for example. They might not think to call us, but they should, as we can give them advice too. A lot of the financial support, such as the £10m Business Support Scheme, which will provide money, through local authorities, for businesses suffering hardship as a result of the floods to spend on things like cleanup costs and materials. Companies House and HMRC will also accommodate late filing and payment and we can direct businesses to the right contacts if they need to do this. With each call we take a step-by-step approach. We look at everything that's on offer, but also offer an impartial sounding board. Callers often just want to speak to someone who can empathise with their situation. All the advisers have experience of the world of business as well as extensive training in how to support companies. The length of calls we take can vary greatly. Some more intensive calls can last up to 40 or 50 minutes. We ensure every caller gets as much guidance and support as possible, helping them to prioritise and move forward. If we haven't been able to give all the answers at first we'll discuss the case among the Business Support Helpline team, research and explore possible support, and then contact the business owner with any information we've gathered. It means that, as advisers, we're always learning too. Helen Watson is an adviser at the Business Support Helpline, which is funded by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills. You can call the helpline on 0300 456 3565 Sign up to become a member of the Guardian Small Business Network here for more advice, insight and best practice direct to your inbox | ['small-business-network/managing-your-cashflow', 'small-business-network/small-business-network', 'environment/flooding', 'business/business', 'business/small-business', 'tone/blog', 'type/article'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2014-02-25T09:04:53Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2016/jun/16/garden-bridge-london-blackfriars-trees-allies-and-morrison | Why build the garden bridge when we could plant trees on Blackfriars? | When is a garden bridge not a garden bridge? When it’s a bridge garden, according to Allies and Morrison, the Southwark-based architects who have come up with a cheap and cheerful alternative to the eye-wateringly expensive, contractually dubious proposal by Thomas Heatherwick and Joanna Lumley for a floating forest across the Thames. Rather than spending £175m on installing two gargantuan copper-nickel plant pots in the middle of the river, in a public-private business model that could burden the taxpayer for years to come, they have realised we could simply plant some trees on a bridge that already exists. But which one? Blackfriars bridge, which lands just a few hundred metres from the Allies and Morrison office, stretches up to 40 metres wide between its stately stone piers, carrying four lanes of traffic and a generous pavement on either side. With a bit of rejigging, the pavements could be consolidated into one 14 metre-wide, tree-planted park, while leaving enough room for cars, buses and a separated cycle lane. By contrast, proposals for the garden bridge suggest bikes would be banned. The controversial crossing, whose campaigners have already spent almost £40m of its £60m public funding before construction has even started, would also be shut at night and closed several days a year for corporate events – part of a shaky business plan that also expects bridge users to donate £2 per crossing. Large groups will be encouraged to register their visits in advance, phone signals will be tracked in a bid to deter protesters, while a list of draconian rules will prohibit playing musical instruments, flying kites and taking part in a “gathering of any kind”. Freed from the burden of a huge debt and the demands of corporate sponsors, the Blackfriars bridge garden could be a truly public space. Constructed by engineer Joseph Cubitt in 1869, the structure has a built-in generosity emblematic of the days of Victorian civic pride. It already incorporates charming stone seating nooks above its five bastions, which would be incorporated into the park: “riverside alcoves for a sandwich at lunchtime, a break from a jog or a place for families to gather,” as the architects put it, “a garden for morning commuters as well as the quiet moments of urban life”. The proposal is the latest, and perhaps the most feasible, in a series of alternatives to the costly vanity project, which was championed by Boris Johnson and remains supported by London’s new mayor Sadiq Khan, whose odd defence is that cancelling the scheme would cost twice as much as completing it. It follows the satirical Folly for London competition, whose winner proposed constructing an eternal bonfire on the Thames. Fuelled by trees felled from London’s parks, usefully freeing up land for private development, it would be “an eternal flame dedicated to 21st-century planning departments and developers”. Other entries to the contest included a “Scrotopolis” of bulging pink scrota and the Jesus bridge, an invisible crossing that would allow commuters to walk on water – a dream as probable as the idea that Heatherwick’s scheme could ever get this far. | ['artanddesign/architecture-design-blog', 'artanddesign/architecture', 'artanddesign/design', 'artanddesign/artanddesign', 'uk/london', 'uk/transport', 'lifeandstyle/gardens', 'culture/culture', 'uk/uk', 'lifeandstyle/cycling', 'environment/forests', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/oliver-wainwright', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-culture'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2016-06-16T12:49:38Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
science/2019/sep/02/weatherwatch-unsung-climate-hero-eunice-foote-comes-in-from-cold | Weatherwatch: an unsung climate hero comes in from the cold | This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Eunice Foote, a pioneer in climate research of whom few people have heard. She showed that water vapour and carbon dioxide helped to heat Earth’s atmosphere, and realised that when the atmosphere had higher levels of carbon dioxide it made the climate much warmer. Her work was presented in August 1856 at a prestigious scientific conference in the US, but had to be given by a male colleague because women were not allowed to give talks at the meeting. Her study was not even included in the conference proceedings, although a summary of the talk appeared in a report about the meeting a year later. In 1859, the renowned physicist John Tyndall, working in London, demonstrated how certain gases such as carbon dioxide and water vapour in the atmosphere warmed the climate – what later became known as the greenhouse effect. He made no mention of Foote in his research and whether he did not know of her work or deliberately ignored it remains unknown. But Tyndall’s experiments became widely accepted as a cornerstone of work on the greenhouse effect. Despite Foote’s insights, her contribution to climate research became a footnote in history and is only now starting to come to light. | ['science/scienceofclimatechange', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'news/series/weatherwatch', 'science/science', 'lifeandstyle/women', 'world/gender', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/jeremy-plester', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2019-09-02T20:30:37Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2020/jun/30/snowy-hydro-20-wins-final-federal-thumbs-up-despite-environmental-fears | Snowy Hydro 2.0 wins final federal 'thumbs-up' – despite environmental fears | Scott Morrison has announced federal approval for the Snowy 2.0 project in the closing days of the Eden-Monaro byelection campaign, declaring Snowy Hydro would spend $100m on measures aimed at allaying environmental concerns. The prime minister told reporters on Tuesday he was excited to announce “the thumbs-up, green light for the Snowy 2.0 project to now move to its full implementation phase” with construction to begin over the next two years. “We know we need to get this up and running to meet our timetable for getting this energy into the system, to getting our emissions reduction targets achieved, and ensuring that the jobs that are so necessary now … as we’re building our way out of the Covid recession,” Morrison said at a media conference, where he was introduced by the Liberal candidate for Saturday’s byelection, Fiona Kotvojs. Last month the New South Wales government gave its approval for the 2,000-megawatt pumped hydro storage project in the Snowy Mountains but it still required federal environmental approval before work could start. The federal environment minister, Sussan Ley, said on Tuesday she had signed off the final approval and highlighted a commitment by Snowy Hydro to spent $100m on biodiversity and environmental enhancements. These funds would include $73.8m for an offset fund through the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service “to protect threatened species and deliver long-term conservation outcomes”, a government statement said. Ley thanked Snowy Hydro for its work on the environmental impact statement “to make sure that the threatened species, the communities, the precious amenity of Kosciuszko national park will be protected, remediated and even enhanced”. “Remember that the construction footprint for this second stage of this nation-building renewable energy project is just 0.1% of the park,” she said. “The actual final operating area is just 0.01%. So I’m giving a sense of the vastness of Kosciuszko. Yes, it’s an intense activity but we will, in remediating, in enhancing, in looking after the species that are so important to making this park special, invest through Snowy Hydro – they will invest $100m.” Snowy 2.0 was announced by the then prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, in March 2017 as a 50% expansion and transformation of the historic Snowy scheme to include pumped hydro storage that could be called on to provide electricity when required. He said the project would provide some of the “firm” generation needed as more variable wind and solar power was introduced into the national grid. It was expected to cost $2bn, a sum that has since more than doubled. The development has been criticised by some energy specialists, environmental groups and scientists. In March 30 engineers, economists, energy professionals and environmentalists wrote to Morrison to call for a final decision on the development to be delayed to allow an independent review, and said there was evidence it would cost far more and deliver far less than promised. They said it would permanently damage a much larger area of the Kosciuszko national park, that about 40% of the energy would be lost before it reached consumers and it was likely to cost at least $10bn. The director of the Victoria energy policy centre at Victoria University, Bruce Mountain, said there were cheaper and more environmentally friendly alternatives. Mark Lintermans, an associate professor at the University of Canberra, resigned as chair of the NSW threatened fishes committee after the project won state government approval in May. Lintermans said he would not serve an administration that had “wilfully ignored” the development’s impact on species including the critically endangered stocky galaxias, which he said was likely to be driven to extinction in the wild. The National Parks Association of NSW described the project as “environmental vandalism”. Ley was asked on Tuesday how the government could reassure the public that proper care had been taken, in light of the range of environmental concerns raised by expert scientific advisers to government. She said Lintermans had been concerned about the NSW environmental impact statement and she had asked her department to speak to him. “Now it’s really important to understand that Snowy will be investing $25m in effectively netting the tunnels that lead from Tantangara reservoir in the incredibly unlikely event that … pest fish could manage to come up the tunnel into Tantangara and damage the natural environment for the stocky galaxia. So we’ve got it covered.” There would also be a $5m captive breeding program in a separately built weir, Ley added. It’s not the first time the federal government has sought to highlight Snowy 2.0 as part of campaigning for the Eden-Monaro byelection. The Liberal candidate also introduced Morrison at a press conference at Polo Flat on 19 June, when the prime minister declared that the government was “all in for Snowy 2.0”. | ['environment/hydropower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/national-parks', 'australia-news/new-south-wales', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'australia-news/scott-morrison', 'australia-news/sussan-ley', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/energy-australia', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/endangeredspecies', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/daniel-hurst', 'profile/adam-morton', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2020-06-30T05:47:44Z | true | ENERGY |
technology/2010/nov/30/ipad-branson-project-magazine-launch | Richard Branson launches Project as 'first truly digital' magazine for iPad | "This is not a battle! This is not a war!" Richard Branson declared, guns blazing, at the launch in New York today of his new digital venture – a monthly interactive magazine custom-designed for the iPad. Fighting words from the Virgin tycoon, intended to squash reports that his entry into the exploding iPad applications market brings him head-to-head with Rupert Murdoch who is soon to launch his own digital-only iPad publication, the Daily. Having told his audience of about 50 journalists and technophiles in a downtown Manhattan hotel suite that he was picking no fight with Murdoch, Branson went on to say that he was picking a fight with Murdoch over quality. "If it's a battle, it's a battle over quality. Based on 30 years of reading News of the World and other papers [Murdoch] publishes, I think on quality we'll be willing to be judged." So that's clear then. This is not a battle, though it is a battle over quality. Then Branson unveiled his "new baby" which, after several incarnations, has settled on the name Project. Never short of a soundbite nor shy of hyperbole, he described it as "the first truly digital magazine by creative people for creative people". For the price of a cup of coffee – "an expensive cup of coffee," Branson said, earning brownie points for honesty – the iPad user can download Project through the Apple app store. For £1.79 or $2.99 a month you will have about 100 pages of content poured into your tablet computer. Project's editor, Anthony Noguera, said the small team that developed the product – including Seven Squared, an agency part-owned by the Guardian Media Group – had tried to combine the best of print magazines with the opportunities of digital technology. The launch cover features actor Jeff Bridges whose sequel to Tron (1982), Tron: Legacy, is scheduled to hit cinemas in two weeks. At first glance the cover is conventional, staid almost, with a portrait of Bridges and elegant cover lines. Touch the iPad screen and it comes alive. Bridges starts to walk across the magazine front, which takes on the distorted feel of the sci-fi film. Inside, there is a gallery of photographs from Bridges's previous films; touch any one and the actor's grainy voice is heard recalling the making of each work. A travel feature about Tokyo is illustrated not only with photographs shown off to striking effect, but also videos that take you into the heart of the city. An item on a Jaguar car in prototype allows users to look around the inside of the vehicle as well as to listen to the engine sound. By bringing together traditional words and pictures with digital sound and video, Noguera said he hoped Project would stand out amid the cacophony of the internet. "This is a much more immersive experience than a website. When you talk to iPad users they say they are reading more than they ever have." Specialist digital publishing websites that had the chance to test-drive the app were not entirely convinced. CNET said the Bridges videos were "cringeworthy to watch" and questioned the concept of a digital magazine that saddled itself with the restrictions of print. PaidContent found it to be frustrating and confusing, and more in tune with a print magazine than with the iPad. Project will have some obvious strengths and weaknesses when it does come up against Murdoch's effort, which is expected to go live in the new year. As a monthly with 20 full-time staff, Project will be more static than the Daily with its 24-hour turnround and staff of 100, although Branson promises regular updates and additional content. On the other hand, Project promises to be highly interactive, with links to blogs and open access to users to comment on and contribute to its content. The Daily has already been criticised, even before launch, for having no links in or out of its iPad pages. | ['technology/ipad', 'media/magazines', 'media/digital-media', 'media/media', 'technology/apple', 'technology/digitalvideo', 'technology/tablet-computer', 'technology/computing', 'technology/technology', 'media/pressandpublishing', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/edpilkington', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | technology/digitalvideo | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2010-11-30T20:40:02Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
uk-news/2018/apr/16/weatherwatch-april-can-still-be-fickle-and-extremely-wet | Weatherwatch: April can still be fickle and extremely wet | We tend to think of April as being one of the less extreme months, weather wise. And usually it is: a mixture of Chaucer’s sweet April showers and spells of sunshine, leavened by light southerly breezes, bringing back the birds from Africa. That is the theory. In practice, April’s weather can be just as fickle as any other month. And in the first year of the new millennium, it was the wettest April on record across much of the UK. The England and Wales precipitation series began in 1766, yet is still used by the Met Office to assess rainfall records (be they droughts or downpours). Taking the average across the whole area, a total of 143mm (more than 5.6in) of rain fell in April 2000. This easily beat previous wet Aprils, such as 1782, 1818 and more recently 1998, all of which topped the 130mm mark. The highest figures were in the south, with Bournemouth, Bristol and Southampton all getting more rain than elsewhere. In comparison, typical April rainfall is roughly 40-80mm, while in some years it can drop as low as 10mm – barely noticeable at all. • Stephen Moss will be one of the panel of Weatherwatch contributors taking part in Freak Weather in History at the British Library on Wednesday 2 May, at 7pm | ['uk/weather', 'environment/spring', 'science/meteorology', 'news/series/weatherwatch', 'environment/environment', '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 | 2018-04-16T20:30:18Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
commentisfree/2012/jul/02/obama-colorado-obeying-post-katrina-imperative | Obama in Colorado: obeying the post-Katrina imperative | Ana Marie Cox | Critics of President Obama would like to point to his appearance in Colorado as opportunistic, a kind of political ambulance-chasing. But the truth is that disasters, natural and otherwise, are politicians' natural habitat. The nearest elected official showing up at the scene of a crisis is a familiar enough trope that even Springfield's Mayor Quimby can be counted on to gladhand around local tragedies. The only calamities that a politician can be counted on to avoid are those that involve other politicians, whether the source of the trouble is scandal or simply a sagging poll. Not showing up at the scene is what gets noticed. George W Bush was on hand for the California wildfires, he toured the wreckage of the Minneapolis bridge collapse, he hugged victims of the Alabama's earthquake, and in 2004, when Florida was hit by multiple storms, he made multiple visits. And where he didn't set foot, he put his money where his mouth wasn't, decreeing more events "natural disasters" during his terms in office than either Clinton or Reagan – and those decrees create the framework for federal help. This is not to say that his holding back from post-Katrina New Orleans wasn't: a) stupid; and b) maybe due to (ultimately misguided) political calculations (Louisiana is not as voter-rich as Florida) – but that mistake just underscores the status quo. Politicians visit disaster areas so regularly that no one even polls about it: try to find a public response to Obama going to Joplin, Missouri. When the administration appeared to drag its feet on the BP oil spill, on the other hand … But if political disaster tourism is a given, it's worth asking how this normal came to be – and if it's actually the best way to handle things. I'm as shocked as you to hear myself say that Bush's "I didn't want to cause a fuss" excuse about his New Orleans fly-over makes a lot sense, but he's not wrong … just howlingly inconsistent with his administration's behavior as a whole. If your policy is to avoid causing more chaos at an already-chaotic scene, then maybe he should have stayed away from Iraq. A presidential touch-down consumes about $200,000 of federal tax dollars, plus about $30,000 of local resources. In the scope of what we spend on disaster relief, it's almost not worthy of notice. Presidential visits that happen to coincide with fundraising or campaign efforts are a different story – though hardly a partisan one: both Bush and Obama have been liberal in that regard, and there is no concrete method for determining exactly how much presidents should have to reimburse taxpayers for such travel. There isn't even an official Federal Election Commission definition of "campaign event". There may never be: in this day and age, isn't everything a campaign event? Even a visit to a suffering locale? If the cost for sympathy stopovers is incalculable, so is the benefit. At best, a presidential visit can draw attention to an event that needs national focus. It can be a morale-booster to the downtrodden. It can also be an expression of empathy – or an occasion for photos of expressions of empathy. A speech at the site of a truly epic disaster or wrenching tragedy can focus the grief of nation and start us toward acceptance over anger. The most valuable benefit of a president's presence, however, is the easiest to forget because we never know if it really has any effect: it brings him face to face with the physical truth of another person's humanity – their loss, their sorry, their pain. If only it didn't take a disaster for a politician to seek that kind of connection, because, frankly, they can't happen enough. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'world/natural-disasters', 'us-news/obama-administration', 'us-news/barack-obama', 'us-news/colorado', 'us-news/george-bush', 'us-news/hurricane-katrina', 'us-news/louisiana', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/wildfires', 'tone/comment', 'commentisfree/series/ana-marie-cox-column', 'us-news/us-politics', 'world/tornadoes', 'us-news/missouri', 'type/article', 'profile/ana-marie-cox'] | world/tornadoes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-07-02T20:25:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/2008/aug/09/itv.digitalvideo | Internet: Watchdog continues to sniff around ITV's Project Kangaroo | ITV suffered a further blow yesterday when the Competition Commission yesterday extended the deadline for its investigation into its broadband video joint venture, Project Kangaroo. The UK's largest commercial broadcaster's venture with Channel 4 and BBC Worldwide will allow internet users to watch more than 10,000 hours of classic TV from the broadcasters' archives. Some programmes will be free, provided viewers are willing to put up with adverts, while others will be available to buy and download. The venture will also sell its archive to other video-on-demand services, such as BT Vision. It was originally due to launch this year but the Competition Commission inquiry, which is concerned that the venture could come to have a stranglehold on TV content, has pushed that back to 2009. This week ITV's boss, Michael Grade, said delays to the project were part of the reason the company's online arm would miss its revenue target of £150m. Instead of hitting that target by the end of the decade, ITV will have to wait until 2012. When the inquiry was announced in late June, Grade lashed out at what he saw as an unnecessary delay "at the very same time that non-UK companies like Google and Apple are free to build market-dominating positions online in the UK without so much as a regulatory murmur". The commission was meant to complete its investigation and publish its report by December 14, but that deadline has been extended until "mid-January". It said yesterday that the partners missed a deadline for providing details on the scope of the proposed online TV service. On July 31 the commission requested more information from the joint venture partners on the proposed scope and activities of Kangaroo. It gave the broadcasters six days to provide the information. "The Competition Commission's questions have revealed a number of important issues which are outstanding between the parties and which they have indicated they are unable to resolve without further negotiation," the regulator said. The regulator is seeking to establish whether the launch of Project Kangaroo will result in a "merger situation" leading to competition issues in the online video market. It will look at the effect of competition on pricing, range of content offered by different video-on-demand suppliers, quality and innovation. The commission will look at four distinct markets: retail supply of video-on-demand (VOD) services, wholesale supply of VOD service, acquisition of VOD content rights, and advertising. Issues the regulator wants to address include whether the market for advertising - either surrounding or embedded in VOD content - should be regarded as the market for online video advertising, an overall internet display-ad market, or whether it should be defined more widely to include TV advertising. In terms of VOD content rights, the commission will look at the issue of whether when dealing with producers the market should be defined more widely to include traditional TV rights. | ['business/itv', 'technology/digitalvideo', 'business/business', 'media/ITV', 'media/bbc', 'media/channel4', 'media/digital-media', 'media/media', 'technology/internet', 'money/money', 'technology/technology', 'tone/news', 'money/internetphonesbroadband', 'media/television', 'technology/television', 'media/kangaroo', 'technology/broadband', 'media/online-tv', 'type/article', 'profile/marksweney', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3'] | technology/digitalvideo | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2008-08-08T23:01:00Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
world/2019/apr/21/dutch-engineers-build-worlds-biggest-sun-seeking-solar-farm | Dutch engineers build world's biggest sun-seeking solar farm | Dutch engineers are building what will be the world’s largest archipelago of islands made up of sun-tracking solar panels. Growing resistance to the construction of wind turbines or fields of solar panels on land has led the renewable energy industry to look for alternative options. Large islands of solar panels are under construction or already in place in reservoirs and lakes across the Netherlands, China, the UK and Japan. In a development that is to become the largest of its type in the world, construction will begin this year on 15 solar islands on the Andijk reservoir in north Holland. The islands, containing 73,500 panels, will have the sunflower-like ability to move to face the light. The first phase of the project, involving three islands, each of which will be 140 metres in diameter, is due to be finished by November, once the migratory season for birds has come to an end. Arnoud van Druten, the managing director of Floating Solar, a solar panel supplier, said: “We would like to have started earlier but because of the environmental issues regarding bird seasons, there is only a limited period in the year, these three months, that we can put anything in the water.” Along with a second project at Hoofddorp, near Amsterdam, which will involve static solar panels, the water company PWN, which owns the land on which the farms will be located, is expected to create enough energy to power 10,000 households. Van Druten said: “The sun-tracking system involves three buoys for anchoring with cable around it, which turns the island and at the same time keeps the island together. It ensures the island is turned towards the sun. “You can have two options: one is tracking automatically to the light. But because the position of the sun is not expected to change too much in the coming years, an algorithm can be easily programmed.” Another feature of the islands is that they can reposition themselves in extreme weather to minimise damage. “Andijk is a very severe environment,” Van Druten said. “So we have optimal solar tracking, which is generating extra energy, and weather risk management [WRM], which is a technology that makes sure that if an island is under severe pressure due to wind or storms, it moves itself automatically in a position so the wind and waves travel easily through the island. “We have already tested that the system can sustain, without WRM, wind speeds of around 60mph.” To avoid damaging the reservoir’s ecosystems, half its surface area will be covered by the islands. The added benefit of floating solar panels is that the water cools the electrical wiring. “There is a lot of pressure from pressure environmental groups about wind turbines, so the alternative to land is water. But what does it do to the water quality?” Van Druten said. “Our design has the least impact on the ecosystem as possible so the water quality remains almost the same. “At the same time, because the island is moving, we don’t have a fixed shadow shape.” Critics of floating solar farms say they are ugly and reflect the light, disturbing nearby communities. But Van Druten said the fusion of light on the water created a blurring effect that made the panels disappear from afar. | ['world/netherlands', 'environment/solarpower', 'world/series/the-upside', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'world/europe-news', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/daniel-boffey', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2019-04-21T09:59:51Z | true | ENERGY |
society/2021/dec/22/microplastics-may-be-linked-to-inflammatory-bowel-disease-study-finds | Microplastics may be linked to inflammatory bowel disease, study finds | People with inflammatory bowel disease have 50% more microplastics in their faeces, a study has revealed. Previous research has shown that microplastics can cause intestinal inflammation and other gut problems in laboratory animals, but the research is the first to investigate potential effects on humans. The scientists found 42 microplastic pieces per gram in dried samples from people with IBD and 28 pieces in those from healthy people. The concentration of microplastics was also higher for those with more severe IBD, suggesting a connection between the two. However, the study does not prove a causal link, and the scientists said further research must be done. It may be that IBD causes people to retain more microplastics in their guts, for example. Microplastic pollution has contaminated the entire planet, from the summit of Mount Everest to the deepest oceans. People were already known to consume the tiny particles via food and water as well as breathing them in. Microplastics are known to harm wildlife but very little is known about their impact on people’s health, although a study published earlier in December found they damaged human cells in the laboratory. The study, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, analysed samples from 50 healthy people and 52 people with IBD, but otherwise healthy. The participants were from across China and also completed a questionnaire including information on their dietary and drinking habits in the previous year. As well as the link to IBD, the scientists found that people who tended to drink bottled water or eat takeaway food had about double the concentration of microplastics in their stools. In total, 15 different types of plastic were found among the microplastics. The most common were PET, used on water bottles and food containers and polyamide, which is also found in food packaging. The level of microplastics in the faeces was similar to those in the few previous studies conducted, once differences in methodology are taken into account. One study found infants had more microplastics than adults in their faeces. This may be due to infants chewing plastic items or use of milk bottles which are known to shed millions of microplastics. Diet and environmental factors can trigger or exacerbate IBD, which includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. “In recent years, the prevalence of IBD has sharply increased in developing countries in Asia,” said the researchers from Nanjing University in China. “It is estimated that there will be 1.5 million IBD patients in China by 2025 which will cause a serious disease burden.” “This study provides evidence that we are indeed ingesting microplastics,” said Evangelos Danopoulos at Hull York Medical school in the UK, who was not part of the study team. “It is an important study, as it widens the evidence base for human exposures. More data about possible confounding factors is needed to build a causal association to specific human health conditions.” | ['society/health', 'environment/plastic', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'society/society', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damiancarrington', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-12-22T13:00:26Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
australia-news/2016/aug/17/coal-ship-crew-stranded-without-food-or-fuel-off-australias-east-coast | Coal ship crew stranded without food or fuel off Australia's east coast | The Chinese coal ship crew who were left without enough food, wages, or fuel for their return voyage to China remain in limbo off Australia’s east coast. The Five Stars Fujian has been detained off Gladstone, on the central Queensland coast, by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority since Friday, when inspectors confirmed complaints by the ship captain about a lack of food and wages not paid since May. The ship is carrying about $40m worth of coal. The parlous situation of the crew, who according to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) are paid below the international minimum at about US$2 an hour, was revealed after the ship’s release from a federal court-ordered arrest over a commercial debt in late July. Mark Bailey, the Queensland ports minister, condemned the “shameful and disrespectful behavior” of those responsible for the ship. It is owned by Five Stars Fujian Shipping and operated by MCL Management, both based in Hong Kong. “No seafarer should be abandoned by the employer on the other side of the globe, let alone be left without basic provisions,” Bailey said. A spokesman for Amsa, which detained the ship over crew welfare provisions contained in the international Maritime Labor Convention, said it had been notified of money transferred to a supplier to deliver supplies to the ship. The supplier is yet to confirm the payment, which ITF coordinator Matt Purcell said followed repeated promises from the ships’ owners that had not been forthcoming. Amsa and the Gladstone Port Authority organised an emergency helicopter drop of 200kg of food donated by the Gladstone Mission to Seafarers on Monday. The ship, which contains an estimated $40m worth of coal originally sold by Rio Tinto to a China-based commodity trader, will not be released by Amsa until sufficient fuel for the return journey is organised and unpaid wage commitments are met. Purcell said despite the latest assurances, there were concerns about the immediate prospects for the crew and the financial status of the owners, who he said had repeatedly reneged on promises to pay. “Amsa’s saying [the crew] weren’t abandoned but really it seems to me they’re in a deep mire,” he said. “I don’t think [the owners] have got any money to be honest.” Purcell said the crew were “very uptight, very concerned, unsure of their future”. “It’s not a good thing to be stuck at anchorage 12km off the coast and it doesn’t really do any good for their morale,” he said. Purcell said crew of the Five Stars Fujian were paid US$700 to US$800 a month, below the international minimum of US$1,100. ITF brokered-agreements start at nearly US$2,000. “We’ve been seeing a lot of this for a long time,” he said. “The Chinese [crews] for years have been mistreated and downtrodden but in the last couple of years they’ve started to speak out and they want to be paid the right money, they want to be treated fairly.” | ['australia-news/queensland', 'australia-news/australian-trade-unions', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'world/china', 'australia-news/business-australia', 'world/asia-pacific', 'environment/coal', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/joshua-robertson', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/coal | ENERGY | 2016-08-17T02:01:02Z | true | ENERGY |
media/mediamonkeyblog/2009/oct/21/pr-week-awards-plane-stupid | Protesters fly in for PR Week awards | Media Monkey | You couldn't make it up: PR awards bash halted... by PR stunt. The great and the good of the UK PR industry got a bit of their own medicine at the annual PR Week magazine awards last night. The swanky black tie affair, held at Grosvenor House on Park Lane, was infiltrated by members of airport activist group Plane Stupid. The interlopers targeted the table booked by Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic. A kerfuffle ensued during the dinner phase of the evening which reportedly resulted in five police vehicles – and as many as 20 bobbies – turning up removing the Plane Stupid members. One awards goer said that in the resulting melee "one girl [was] being pinned to the floor by about five police". "It was a pretty blue chip response being in Park Lane," added another attendee. "There was an immense commotion, we think they must have handcuffed themselves under the table as the place was swimming with staff. We thought it was an embarassing stripogram or something, I mean you don't expect a stunt at the PR Week awards do you?" After about an hour of disruption the awards were just getting underway, hosted by Alexander Armstrong, when one Plane Stupid member who had eluded capture heckled the host. A shoo-in for best stunt of the year at next year's PR Week bash, surely? | ['media/marketingandpr', 'media/mediamonkeyblog', 'tone/blog', 'media/media', 'environment/activism', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'profile/monkey'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2009-10-21T12:59:23Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
environment/2024/nov/18/heat-pump-scheme-for-edwardian-social-housing-aims-to-bust-low-carbon-myths | Heat pump scheme for Edwardian social housing aims to bust low-carbon myths | Some of the earliest examples of purpose-built social housing in the UK can still be found tucked away along central London’s more affluent streets. Built in Edwardian baroque style, the Sutton Dwellings in Chelsea are perhaps an unlikely site for an innovative scheme at the new frontier of Britain’s low-carbon journey. This winter more than 80 of the estate’s flats will be warmed by heat pumps that tap the warmth of the earth well below the streets of central London. The scheme’s 27 boreholes burrow deep into the ground directly beneath the estate to where piped water is warmed and fed to a network of “shoebox” heat pumps in a cupboard in each flat. Here, each heat pump – roughly the size of a gas boiler – tops up the heat of the water pipes so that each household can control their own heating, setting it to their preference or using thermostats. The scheme was completed in late autumn as part of a refurbishment of the more than 100-year-old block of flats, confounding the myths around the UK’s heat pump roll out, such as claims that they do not work in older buildings. It aims to show that heat pumps are not only for newer buildings and that ground source heat pumps are not only for homes with extensive outdoor space. The developer, Kensa, has completed schemes across the south-east of England, installing shoebox heat pumps in 273 flats across multiple 1960s tower blocks in Thurrock, Essex, and in more than 400 flats across eight tower blocks owned by Enfield council. The Sutton Dwellings project proves that prewar housing can benefit, too. “Often you see claims heat pumps don’t work, they aren’t suitable for older buildings, there isn’t enough space to install ground source heat pumps in cities,” said Stuart Gadsden, a commercial director at Kensa. “Hopefully, this project can serve as a blueprint for other social housing providers with properties that need decarbonising.” Heating the UK’s 28m homes accounts for almost a fifth of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, and as temperatures drop this winter, ministers will face rising questions over its plan to tackle this area of the economy. The government is expected to set out the full details of a major funding plan in the coming weeks. Air source heat pumps are expected to play a big role; according to some forecasts, the outdoor heating units will replace gas boilers in more than 40% of homes. A fifth of homes could have a ground source heat pump for heating and hot water. Kensa believes its network approach may help to upgrade social housing and tower blocks across the country, and could even be adapted to meet the heating needs of entire streets, with boreholes prepared in advance for homes to connect to when they choose to upgrade their heating system. Making low-carbon heating an affordable – and desirable – alternative to traditional gas boilers will be key to the success of the government’s ambition to create a net zero economy by 2050. Less than two miles from Sutton Dwellings at the Lillington Gardens estate in Pimlico, residents are deeply sceptical. Here, leaseholders have been warned by Westminster city council that they could face bills of between £30,000 and £66,000 each to replace its buckling heat network. The council has proposed a low-carbon scheme that would cost up to £185m and help the local authority reach its target of becoming net zero by 2030. In the 1960s, the Lillington heat network was once at the vanguard of low-carbon home heating, making use of the waste heat emitted by miles of underground pipes from the nearby Battersea power station. Since then the network has come to rely on centrally located gas boilers and has fallen into disrepair, leaving residents to battle burst pipes, hot water leaks and sewage spills. The Labour-led council has blamed “historic underinvestment” for the failure of the heat network and said it is costing £3.5m a year in insurance to manage the “constant leaks that have negatively affected the lives of residents”. The councillor Liza Begum said the council was working with residents to urgently find a long-term solution, and reduce the costs for residents and leaseholders. The council has joined the Greater London Authority and London councils in a pan-London consortium bid for government funding that aims to help provide low-carbon heating projects and heating upgrades to low-income homes in England. Huge funding opportunities have been promised by the Labour government but the details of how such schemes will work are not known. The Treasury used its first budget since Labour came to power to promise £3.4bn for the warm homes plan; it is considered the first phase of an ambitious £13.2bn commitment over this parliament to increase the grants available to homes that choose to swap their gas boilers for heat pumps and to upgrade the energy efficiency of Britain’s draughtiest housing stock. Households connected to communal or district heat networks are often paying twice as much for their heat as those with their own gas boiler, according to Heat Trust. The consumer champion for heat network users has urged the government to help lower their costs by bringing in two reforms: first to extend the energy price cap to include homes connected to a heat network, and second, to provide support to help cover the costs of repairing old heat networks. Stephen Knight, the chief executive of the Heat Trust, said: “Heat networks will have an increasing role to play in how we heat our homes in cities and towns in the coming decades, as we move away from a reliance on gas boilers. However, we currently see too many examples of poorly designed, inefficient heat networks that generate heat using expensive commercial energy contracts. This often results in high heating bills for their residents as the end consumers.” | ['environment/heat-pumps', 'environment/environment', 'environment/energy', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'uk/uk', 'uk/london', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2024-11-18T12:57:24Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2008/jul/08/conservation.endangeredhabitats | Environment: Italian court draws line in vanishing sand | An appeal court has been forced to step in between two southern Italian towns battling it out over the disappearing sand on their rapidly eroding beaches. Over 40% of beaches in Italy are under attack from coastal erosion, with the situation particularly bleak in Puglia, the newly fashionable region popular with foreign homebuyers snapping up old farmhouses amid ancient olive groves, where over 65% of beaches are at risk. Faced with losing the pristine San Cataldo beach to creeping Adriatic sea currents, the town of Lecce in Puglia arranged to dig up 200,000 cubic metres of sand out at sea in front of neighbour - and rival - Brindisi. But with EU-funded work set to start proud locals in the port city of Brindisi rose up in protest, with 10,000 signing a petition to stop the digging, hundreds forming a human chain along their own, eroding, beach, and fans at a local football match unfurling a banner stating: "Don't touch the sand." "Displaying real arrogance the politicians over in Lecce wanted to pinch the sand which stops our own beaches eroding further," said Michele Errico, president of Brindisi province. After a series of legal battles the appeal court sided with Brindisi, stopping the digging for sand after ruling it would "create damage equal to, or greater, than the benefits". Such hostilities could be the first of many. Experts believe that with the reinforcement of Italian river banks less sand and silt is now flowing out to sea, where it drifts down the coast to compensate the natural erosion caused by the sea. "It is also due to the fact that the cutting down of trees in Italy up until the late 19th century helped land erosion which in turn increased the material flowing out to sea," said Enzo Pranzini, a researcher with Italy's National Group for Coastal Research. "Now that has stopped and there is less erosion." He said that beaches near river deltas were especially at risk, with one particularly wide stretch near the Arno river in Tuscany now nearly a mile narrower today than in 1880. "There is little impact yet from the rising of sea levels, but that is next." San Cataldo beach at Lecce may have only lost a few metres, but that was enough to submerge half the volleyball court, said lifeguard Mauro della Valle. "Customers are ringing to ask: 'Do you have any sand this year?'" he told La Stampa. Local rivalry is also suspected of fuelling Brindisi's resistance to Lecce's plan. Only 25 miles apart, industrial Brindisi is in a different world to elegant, baroque Lecce. The city's deputy mayor, Adriana Poli Bortone, blamed the rivalry, telling La Stampa newspaper that Errico, her counterpart in Brindisi, was "unable to read the documents and is seriously prejudiced". Poli Bortone said she was not phased. "Brindisi won't give us sand? We'll get it from Albania," she said, adding that Tirana had already given the green light. | ['environment/conservation', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'environment/environment', 'travel/italy', 'world/italy', 'world/world', 'world/europe-news', 'type/article', 'profile/tomkington', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | environment/endangered-habitats | BIODIVERSITY | 2008-07-07T23:01:00Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2013/nov/21/arctic-30-two-more-britons-granted-bail-russia | Arctic 30: two more Britons granted bail by Russian court | Two more Britons were hoping to be reunited with their families after a court in Saint Petersburg granted them bail on charges of hooliganism over a Greenpeace protest in the Arctic. Frank Hewetson, a 45-year-old logistics co-ordinator from north London, and Iain Rogers, a crew member on the Arctic Sunrise icebreaker, joined communications officer Alexandra Harris, activist Anthony Perrett and journalist Keiron Bryan in having their requests for bail granted. Eleven of the 28 protesters and two journalists have so far left jail, with the six Britons hoping they will soon follow suit. Twenty-six of the Arctic 30 have now been granted bail at £38,000 each. Philip Ball, from Oxfordshire, and two others face bail hearings on Friday. Only 59-year-old Australian citizen Colin Russell has had his detention extended. The Australian ambassador to Russia, Paul Myler, tweeted after visiting Russell: "Not the most inviting-looking accommodation but Colin in good spirits and confident his appeal will be successful." He added: "As am I following discussions with investigative committee, lawyers and prison head. General consensus - the first pancake never works out." Sue Turner, Rogers' mother, said: "I am still taking it in. I am really pleased [at news of his pending release] but I am not very pleased that the charges haven't been withdrawn. "I don't know what that means yet. He might not be able to leave Russia or Saint Petersburg but it will give him a little more freedom." Hewetson, who lives with his partner, Nina Gold, and teenage children Nell and Joe, has been arrested on several other protests before but this detention, which has so far lasted more than two months, is his longest period of imprisonment. Gold, welcoming the "fantastic news" and echoing other families' concerns about the continuing charges and uncertain bail conditions, said: "It is not all over yet. I am in the process of applying for a visa to go and see him." Their son and daughter were thrilled too, she said. "They want to go and see their dad as soon as possible as well." The latest developments suggest that Russia may be relaxing the ultra-tough stance it has taken against the Arctic 30 since they were arrested two months ago. The activists still face hooliganism charges that could result in seven-year sentences, but they will be able to leave prison while the investigation continues, as soon as their bail payments are made. Greenpeace International said bail payments were being made as quickly as possible and it had booked hotel rooms for the activists. But none of the activists have valid Russian visas, so it is unclear how they can stay in Russia. Brazil has a visa-free arrangement with Russia, meaning the issue is not pressing for Ana Paula, but it is unclear how Russian authorities will handle the Europeans among the 30. Lawyers said it was unfamiliar legal territory. On Wednesday evening, Greenpeace representatives would not say where Ana Paula was or what her plans for the coming days and weeks are. The activists were apprehended in September, when armed coastguard officers descended from helicopters on to the Arctic Sunrise, Greenpeace's icebreaker. They were originally charged with piracy but now face charges of hooliganism as part of an organised group, which carries a maximum jail sentence of seven years. They were initially held in detention in the Arctic port of Murmansk but were moved to Saint Petersburg by prison train earlier in November. The 30 are being held at three different pre-trial detention centres across the city, with 14 men inside Kresty, the notorious jail that dates back to Tsarist times and once held Leon Trotsky. British consular officials were present at the hearings, and have met with all six British activists since their arrival in Saint Petersburg from Murmansk, however they were also unaware of exactly how bail might look for the foreign Greenpeace activists. | ['environment/arctic-30-protesters', 'world/russia', 'world/world', 'world/protest', 'environment/activism', 'environment/greenpeace', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/shaun-walker', 'profile/jamesmeikle'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2013-11-21T15:23:00Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
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