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environment/2012/sep/19/extreme-weather-new-normal-climate-change | Get used to 'extreme' weather, it's the new normal | Connie Hedegaard | It has been a summer full of reports of extreme weather, of unparalleled scope and severity. Among the highlights: one of the warmest years on record in the US, record-high temperatures in central and eastern Europe, the wettest summer in the UK, the heaviest rainfalls in northern India and the Philippines and the most severe droughts in the US and east Africa. In short, climate change and weather extremes are not about a distant future. Formerly one-off extreme weather episodes seem to be becoming the new normal. Weather extremes are not that extreme any more. Heatwaves, floods, droughts and wildfires are the new reality of an ever warming world. And this should not come as a surprise. Scientists have been warning for years that as the planet heats up, we will have to deal with more severe, more changeable, more unpredictable weather. The evidence is mounting that human-caused warming is pushing normal warming effects to extremes. Heatwaves have increased in duration and frequency. Some parts of Europe are now gripped by severe water shortages while other parts have suffered extreme precipitations causing floods and increased crop losses. And although not every extreme weather event can be attributed to climate change, scientists are now much more confident about linking individual weather events to climate change. Take 2011's record warm November in the UK, the second hottest on record. Researchers say that it was at least 60 times more likely to happen because of climate change than because of natural variations in the earth's weather systems. This summer continued the pattern. The retreat of sea ice in the Arctic smashed the previous record, with just half the ice present compared to when satellite measurement began in 1979. Or take another example: Greenland's July thaw, where satellite data showed that about 97% of the massive ice sheet surface covering the island was melting. "Was this real or was it due to a data error?" a Nasa scientist questioned. Unfortunately, the data was correct. All this record-breaking news reveals that global climate breakdown is occurring more rapidly than most climate scientists had expected. Climate change is happening, and it exacerbates a whole range of other global problems, adding further instability in an already unstable world. But isn't it too costly to invest in a low-carbon world, some may ask? Well, yes it costs. But so does business-as-usual. It would be wrong to believe that to continue business-as-usual is the cheap option. It is not. On the contrary, it is very expensive. Just one example: the World Bank issued a global hunger warning recently after severe droughts in the US, Russia and the Ukraine sent food prices to a record high. According to the World Bank, prices for maize and sorghum increased by 113% and 200% respectively in some markets in Mozambique and in Sudan. This is the kind of cost that often gets ignored. Businesses don't need to be told about the financial losses caused by weather extremes. This summer's drought in the US devastated the multibillion-dollar corn and soybean crops. Insurers in the US may face as much as $20bn losses this year, their biggest ever loss in agriculture. This is not exactly helping fight the economic crisis. It is simply incredible what big risks some people are prepared to take on behalf of future generations. Despite the facts and evidence in front of us, there are still many interests advocating doing nothing or continuing with business-as-usual. Or just forgetting the climate crisis until we have solved the economic crisis. And whereas some see the current financial turmoil as a bitter setback for international climate protection, I see intelligent climate action as a driver of new opportunities for jobs in Europe, for investments in energy efficiency technologies, for boosting innovation and competitiveness, for lowering energy bills. To me, tackling the climate crisis helps, not damages, our economic security and prosperity. Both crises are interlinked and must be tackled together. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/drought', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/world', 'environment/water', 'environment/environment', 'environment/flooding', 'tone/comment', 'type/article', 'profile/connie-hedegaard'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-09-19T15:45:44Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
media/2006/jul/11/newmedia.worldcup2006 | World Cup success for sports websites | A quarter of the UK's online population - six million people - visited a sports or gambling website during the World Cup, with BBC Sport proving the most popular destination, according to research. Internet sports and gambling fans viewed 420m web pages in total during the tournament - the equivalent of an average of 71 pages each, according to Nielsen/Net Ratings. Two-thirds of the audience were men and 40% were over 45, while 25- to 44-year olds stayed online twice as long as the under-25s - 47 minutes compared with 25 minutes. "The 2006 Fifa World Cup will go down as an extraordinary success online ... the websites have provided a array of more interactive and engaging content than ever before. Whether this is text, photos, audio or video," said Alex Burmaster, European analyst at Nielson/Net Ratings. "Part of the success of the online media during the tournament lay in the significant advantages it holds over other traditional media when it comes to sheer levels of supply and demand. "Rather than having to wait for specific broadcast times or hoping the newspapers would provide the information fans were looking for, the online format is able to provide all this in a single sitting, at any time," Mr Burmaster said. The BBC Sport website was the most popular internet sports and gambling destination during the World Cup. It had 3.4 million unique users, a 58% share of the total sports and gambling audience, three times as many as its nearest rival, the official Fifa site, which had an 18% share, according to Nielson. MSN/Sky Sports proved the most popular site with women, with nearly half - 48% - of users being female. Overall, women spent an average of 16 minutes on sports and gambling sites each visit. However, gambling sites were twice as "sticky" as sports sites. Bet365 was the best site at capturing the audience - with each user spending on average two hours and nine minutes on the site during the tournament. · To contact the MediaGuardian newsdesk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 7239 9857 · If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". | ['media/digital-media', 'media/media', 'football/worldcup2006', 'football/football', 'world/world', 'media/worldcupthemedia', 'football/world-cup-football', 'type/article', 'profile/juliaday'] | media/worldcupthemedia | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2006-07-11T10:37:21Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
global-development-professionals-network/2014/aug/06/rural-electrification-renewables-solar-energy | Could renewable energy make rural electrification a reality? | In countries where the energy infrastructure is under-developed and few towns are adequately electrified, extending the grid is often not financially viable, and certainly not likely to happen in the short to medium term. And so 1.4 billion people are currently living without electricity. In sub-Saharan Africa, only 8% of the population in rural areas has access to mains electricity but mini-grids – localised generation, transmission and distribution of power – could change all that. As the cost of solar energy in rural Africa, parts of India and other countries in Asia has fallen dramatically in recent years, setting up a mini-grid powered by renewable energy has become the cheapest way to provide electricity. The International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) has recently awarded a $5m low-cost loan to the government of Mauritania, where just 1% of rural communities are electrified. The loan will help pay for an electricity grid to serve four fishing towns spread along Mauritania's northern coast. The people of Bellewakh, Lemcid, Loubeir and Lemhaijratt currently get by with candles, kerosene lamps and car batteries for lighting, and use costly and dangerous canisters of butane to power refrigeration units. Their new mini-grid will consist of 18 wind turbines of 15kW and will provide electricity for households, schools, health facilities, civic buildings, a desalination plant to produce drinking water and an ice-making plant. Frank Wouters, director of Irena, says there is "huge demand" for projects like this. His organisation has $50m a year to give out in low cost loans but last year received bids for projects totalling $1bn. Irena was able to assist six projects with funding but they had to turn down over 80 others. Where mini-grids already exist but are currently powered by diesel Wouters says it is now a no-brainer for them to switch to renewables: "Where people are using diesel to generate electricity any renewable source of energy is at the moment more cost effective." Hydroelectricty is by far the cheapest – where it is available – followed by windpower, and then solar panels. A report by the Alliance for Rural Electrification found that towns could save up to 60% of their bill if they switched from diesel to a hybrid of diesel and hydroelectricity or 16% if they switched to a hybrid of diesel and solar. The cost effectiveness of renewable energy has really changed the marketplace. Before, says Wouters, people thought: "solar is nice for [communities that are] off-grid, but it's expensive, but that is not true anymore. It's now cheap as well as being reliable, clean and low maintenance." So why aren't renewably-powered mini-grids popping up everywhere? Wouters says the first challenge has been making people aware of the falling prices. "When something halves in price every two years it's hard to catch up, but I think that we've reached the point were people understand. "There is a big focus by the Asia Development Bank on mini-grids and the Islamic Development Bank; all the development banks are looking at this as a very interesting, scalable opportunity for them to put their money to work." Second is the reality of little or no infrastructure to begin with, which means not even diesel is getting to poor rural communities. Before rural electrification can happen there needs to be some infrastructure in place, capacity building for human resources and sustainable business models. "The bottom line is that this is less and less a renewable energy issue, now it is just a development issue," Wouters says. The good news is that African economies are growing. Six out of 10 of the fastest growing economies in the world are in Africa. Combine that with the development banks' interest in mini-grids and suddenly the future is looking brighter. With every new installation the skills base is developed and the infrastructure grows a little. As Wouters said, all the problems that accompany any development still exist however, it is encouraging that the solution is getting cheaper and therefore just a little bit easier to reach. Read more stories like this: • Quiz: what do you know about renewable energy? • Infrastructure development in fragile states: is it worth it? • Chile's solar market is leading the way in South America Join the community of global development professionals and experts. Become a GDPN member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox | ['global-development-professionals-network/series/energy-access', 'global-development-professionals-network/renewable-energy-access-and-investment', 'working-in-development/working-in-development', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'global-development/global-development', 'tone/features', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/hydropower', 'world/world', 'global-development/natural-resources-and-development', 'type/article', 'profile/frederika-whitehead'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2014-08-06T14:27:00Z | true | ENERGY |
australia-news/2022/jun/24/government-extends-45m-of-funding-to-australian-solar-scientists-over-next-8-years | Silver lining: Australian researchers given $45m to study alternative solar panel materials | The Albanese government has extended funding for Australia’s world-leading solar energy scientists as they race to increase panel efficiency and shift to more abundant materials, before constraints on silver and other metals hobble the industry’s growth. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency will announce on Friday it will grant $45m over the next eight years to the University of NSW-based Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics. Most of the money will be spent within the first five years. The money will ensure as many as 60 scientists will retain funding, although the annual funding is at about the rate of the previous 10-year grant. It will involve two additional partners, the University of Sydney and CSIRO’s Newcastle energy group, and will seek to foster further growth by drawing in commercial partners. “Australia has all the ingredients to become a renewable energy superpower with this Government working collaboratively to ensure secure, affordable and reliable energy that drives down emissions,” the energy minister, Chris Bowen, said. “It’s a global race [and] we’ve for a long time we’ve been at the front of that, and been able to attract people internationally … and that’s still the case,” said Prof Renate Egan, who is UNSW’s lead at the centre. Australian researchers have pioneered a range of solar technologies with as much as 90% of the world’s annual panel production drawing on that pedigree. The Australian National University, the University of Melbourne, Monash University, University of Queensland, and CSIRO’s Clayton unit in Melbourne are partners of the centre. Martin Green, the UNSW professor who has long led the centre’s research, developed cells with a 20% efficiency of converting sunlight to electricity in 1989 and doubled that rate for lab cells by 2014, among a long list of achievements. Centre graduates also pepper many of the world’s big solar firms. “The next decade promises to be the most exciting and important in solar photovoltaics, ever, with massively increased uptake and technological change,” Green said. Egan said solar energy now provides only 3-4% of global electricity and about 15% in Australia. “We need to take that to over 50% here and internationally,” to enable the transition of fossil fuels and limit the impacts of heating climate, she said. “We’re really only just beginning on the solar technology development.” The extended research would help Arena meet its goals of mass production of solar cells with a 30% efficiency at a cost of 30 cents a watt by 2030. Panels on the market now can operate with 23-24% efficiency, at the cost of about 70 cent/watt. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Achieving those goals will not be easy. The new funding will work on so-called tandem cells that stack two or more layers of materials to capture more energy of the spectrum of light, and operate more durably, particularly under higher temperatures. “We know it’s possible, but we’re going to end up with a completely different material set, and a different structure,” Egan said. The need to identify new minerals is driven in part because the present use of silver in particular will soon be challenging for the solar industry globally. With production doubling every three years for the past three decades, the solar PV industry consumes about 10% of the world’s silver in its 200 gigawatts of capacity added yearly. “So we can’t double and double it, otherwise we’re using 50% of the world’s silver, and that would clearly create a supply bottleneck and a price challenge,” Egan said, adding several alternative materials are being worked on but more research is needed. The centre will also look to collaborate more to develop manufacturing capacity in Australia. At 4GW of panels being installed annually, the local market is nearing the volumes necessary to justify onshore production, particularly if plans by Sun Cable and other firms for giant solar farms of 20GW each or larger proceed, she said. Australia’s best prospects might be in silicon refining, with wafer and cell processing done elsewhere and final module work done locally, she said. Richard Corkish, another UNSW professor and the centre’s chief operating officer, said the funding extension will be critical because there are only a few ways the world can reduce emissions from energy use at a pace fast enough to head off the climate crisis. “The big two are solar PV and wind” along with improved energy efficiency, Corkish said. “And in the long term, solar PV will be the one.” | ['australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/environment', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/peter-hannam', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2022-06-23T17:30:05Z | true | ENERGY |
australia-news/2022/mar/09/farmers-report-warns-climate-crisis-puts-australias-food-supply-at-increasing-risk | Farmers’ report warns climate crisis puts Australia’s food supply at increasing risk | Empty supermarket shelves will become a more frequent sight for Australians as the climate crisis heightens the risk of food shortages after extreme weather events, a new report says. The report, released on Wednesday by Farmers for Climate Action, entitled Fork in the road: impacts of climate change on our food supply, comes after recent food shortages across the country caused by the pandemic, bushfires, floods and inundation of rail lines. The report was prepared before the current flooding in Queensland and NSW lead to retail food shortages, but anticipated that global heating leading to a higher frequency and severity of extreme weather events would continue to put supply chains at risk. The author of the report, Stephen Bartos, an expert in food resilience and also the author of the last comprehensive review of the resilience in the Australian food supply chain, concluded that logistic chains were highly robust but would be at risk if affected by two or more catastrophic events simultaneously. Bartos said the latest report showed “there’s greater fragility in the food supply chain than had previously been thought due to the impact of climate change”. It found that while risks could also arise from causes other than global warming, “what climate change does is raise the base level risk of extreme weather events – putting further pressure, like an additional weight on the scales, on the balance of risks faced in food supply every day.” Bartos said Australians took for granted that food would always be available. “Climate change disrupts this. It creates and amplifies risks all the way through the supply chain, from farm to warehouse to supermarket shelves,” he said. Bartos said food shortages had a knock on effect, resulting in increased produce prices and increasing the costs of insurance and lending. CEO of Farmers for Climate Action, Fiona Davis, called on governments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as the most effective way to protect against the risks facing the food supply chain. The report found increasing the diversity of supply chains, with multiple nodes and connections, would reduce some risk and that government investment in more numerous and diverse transport connections was vital. But it warned inland rail, a flagship Coalition infrastructure project, may not be a panacea. “Several organisations consulted for this project were concerned that inland rail could be disrupted by flooding at the same time as other road and rail links,” the report found. It also recommended shorter supply chains, able to respond quickly to shortages. This was demonstrated during the pandemic when local butchers and greengrocers, especially in rural towns, were able to maintain continuity of supply through their networks with producers. Sign up to receive Guardian Australia’s fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter Bartos said farmers and supply chain operators are already investing in improving their risk management, but even the best systems would eventually collapse in the face of the impacts of climate collapse. “Adaptation is not sustainable if climate change continues unabated. Deep cuts to emissions are therefore required to protect food supply and food supply chains,” he said. “What the federal government action can do is to take what we already know is going to be a high risk and stop it from turning into an unmanageable risk.” Sign up for the Rural Network email newsletter Join the Rural Network group on Facebook to be part of the community | ['australia-news/series/the-rural-network', 'australia-news/australia-east-coast-floods-2022', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/flooding', 'food/food', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'australia-news/series/rural-network', 'profile/natasha-may', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/the-rural-network'] | australia-news/australia-east-coast-floods-2022 | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2022-03-08T17:00:09Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/richard-adams-blog/2010/mar/30/climate-change-scepticism-us-television | Climate change sceptics on your TV | Richard Adams | Winning over hearts and minds in the fight against climate change has run into a cold front: America's television weather forecasters. An academic survey of more than 500 US television meteorologists found that one in four of them say there is no global warming, and 27% agree with the statement "global warming is a scam". Perhaps even more worrying for the climate change camp are the 63% of weather presenters who think global warming is caused mainly by natural environmental change. A mere 31% agree with the scientific consensus that human activity is the cause. That's important, because TV weather forecasters have a daily direct line into American homes and are regarded as credible sources of information. "Our surveys of the public have shown that many Americans are looking to their local TV weathercaster for information about global warming," said Edward Maibach, director of the centre for climate change communication at George Mason University, which conducted the research along with the University of Texas at Austin. "The findings of this latest survey show that TV weathercasters play – or can play – an important role as informal climate change educators." An earlier survey found that a majority of of Americans (56%) trusted weather forecasters on the issue of global warming more than they trusted figures such as Al Gore or Sarah Palin, or other media outlets. The full survey can downloaded here [pdf]. Its findings include: More than half of our respondent (54%) indicated that global warming is happening, 25% indicated it isn't, and 21% say they don't know yet. About one-third (31%) reported that global warming is caused mostly by human activities, while almost two-thirds (63%) reported it is caused mostly by natural changes in the environment. Half indicated that they have thought "a lot" about global warming, and a large majority said they are fairly or very well informed about the causes of global warming (93%), the consequences of global warming (89%), and the ways to reduce global warming (86%) — numbers that are much higher than public responses to the same questions. Over half of weathercasters indicated that humans could reduce global warming (58%), and that the US should reduce greenhouse gas emissions regardless of what other countries do (63%). Almost half (47%) felt they needed some or a lot more information before forming a firm opinion about global warming, and almost one-third (30%) said they could easily change their mind about global warming. Just over one quarter (27%) agreed with the statement by a prominent TV weathercaster: "global warming is a scam." The views on climate change show a clear split between TV meterologists and academic climatologists, which the New York Times suggests may be the result of resentment on the part of the weather presenters: "Climatologists are almost always affiliated with universities or research institutions where a doctoral degree is required. Most meteorologists, however, can get jobs as weather forecasters with a college degree." | ['us-news/richard-adams-blog', 'environment/climate-change-scepticism', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'tv-and-radio/us-television', 'tv-and-radio/tv-news', 'media/tvnews', 'culture/tvandradioblog', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'tone/blog', 'environment/blog', 'commentisfree/cif-green', 'commentisfree/commentisfree', 'type/article', 'profile/richardadams'] | environment/climate-change-scepticism | CLIMATE_DENIAL | 2010-03-30T20:09:38Z | true | CLIMATE_DENIAL |
business/2024/apr/22/m-and-s-and-oxfam-trial-postal-donation-bags-for-unwearable-clothes | M&S and Oxfam trial postal donation bags for ‘unwearable’ clothes | Instead of throwing stained, ripped and misshapen clothing in the bin, Britons are being asked to stick the dregs of their wardrobe in the post in a trial aimed at tackling the “staggering” quantity of textiles sent to landfill or incinerated each year. A third of consumers do not know what to do with tops, dresses and trousers that can no longer be worn, figures show, with a similar number admitting to putting such items in their household waste bin. Now unwearable clothes from any label can be returned in a prepaid postal donation bag left with a courier as part of the experimental tie-up between Marks & Spencer and Oxfam, which runs alongside its existing scheme for wearable items. Katharine Beacham, M&S’s head of materials, sustainability and packaging, said the scheme made it possible for someone to clear out all their unloved clothing in one go. “Whether it is wearable or unwearable, we want it all,” she said. M&S and the charity have for a number of years been working together on the “shwopping” initiative, in which customers drop off old clothing in exchange for loyalty card perks. However, the postal scheme, which is being paid for out of a new £1m accelerator fund linked to the retailer’s ethical project Plan A, is part of a wider push to find ways to reduce textile waste. Research suggests the UK’s wardrobes contain 1.6bn items of unworn clothing. The bags can be ordered on the Oxfam website, and individuals are asked to enclose unwearable items in a separate sack. With a fifth of consumers telling M&S they did not know how to discriminate on wearability, the anti-waste charity Wrap stresses that “wearable” clothing is clean, dry, in good condition and ready to be worn. “Unwearable” items are damaged in some way, for instance torn, stained, faded, or stretched. Consumers can also use the service to donate preloved soft furnishings such as bed linen, towels, cushions, tablecloths and tea towels. However, the M&S in-store “shwopping” scheme continues to be for wearable, hand-me-down quality clothing only. Individuals are asked not to include soiled or contaminated clothing as it cannot be recycled. Still wearable donations will be sold through Oxfam’s stores and website, while the “unwearables” will be responsibly recycled by a UK Fashion and Textile Association (UKFT) project. It is working on a blueprint for an advanced textile sorting and pre-processing (ATSP) centre that would be capable of turning clothing unsuitable for resale into new garments, resulting in a completely circular system. Adam Mansell, the chief executive of UKFT, said urgent action was needed to tackle the “staggering amount” of textile waste that ended up in landfill or incinerated each year. “We’re aiming to encourage people to separate their items so that in future, worn-out clothing can make its way to an automated sorting facility and then be recycled into new textiles and garments here in the UK,” he said. | ['business/marksspencer', 'world/oxfam', 'environment/waste', 'environment/recycling', 'business/business', 'business/retail', 'fashion/fashion', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/zoewood', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2024-04-22T05:00:16Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2018/sep/20/air-pollution-sickens-us-in-a-car-addicted-society | Air pollution sickens us in a car-addicted society | Letters | Your report (School run is the ‘biggest polluter’ of air children breathe, 18 September) highlights the continuing failure of government to recognise the dangers of air pollution, specifically from diesel engines, and to take necessary action to limit the number of premature deaths. But the school run is only part of the problem facing infants, children and the wider population. Many schools are on what are now extremely busy roads; only a minority have had an air pollution survey; and because of austerity measures they seldom have the resources to take remedial action by acquiring air purifiers. School buses keep their diesel engines ticking over for half an hour or longer and legal restrictions are simply ignored by bus companies and the police. Ice-cream vans in public parks and holiday resorts are diesel-powered, but they keep their engines running all day, even when located near children’s playgrounds. The implications are worrying: key public health issues are not prioritised and there is only a limited willingness to impose legislation – for example, why are school buses, ice-cream vans and taxis not required to be electric-powered? The health consequences are unacceptable in terms of reduced life expectancy, but they are also class-specific, as many of the older schools were built in working-class areas, aggravating the widening health differential between the rich and the poor. Professor Robert Lee Birkenhead, Merseyside • Parents or grandparents appear to believe they are protecting children by taking them to school by car. But last year you reported that “A range of experiments, some as far back as 2001, have shown that drivers inside vehicles are exposed to far higher levels of air pollution than those walking or cycling along the same urban routes” (Children in cars ‘at far greater risk from fumes’ than walking, 13 June 2017). Your report quoted Prof Stephen Holgate as saying air pollution “is nine to 12 times higher inside the car than outside”. Why not organise a “walking bus”, if you live close to the school, or, if it’s too far, drive them part of the way towards it, park the car and walk with them to the school? Dr Wiebina Heesterman Birmingham • Each month brings new evidence of the health effects of exposure to particulates (High pollution levels ‘causing huge reduction in intelligence’, 28 August). Now even the womb is not safe (Toxic air may reach placentas, study finds, 17 September). Thirty years ago this month the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations brought a breath of fresh air to the UK workplace. But this COSHH has since become a blunt instrument; while environmental air quality standards become ever more stringent, occupational limits gather dust. Dusts in workplaces can differ from ambient environments, but it can’t be right that a worker can now legitimately breathe in levels within the workplace 100 times higher than is permissible on the pavement outside. The cognitive deficit from a lifetime’s occupational exposure to the UK limit for so-called “nuisance” dust could be equivalent to leaving school at age 13. All dusts that can reach the lung are now known to increase cancer risk, yet we cannot formally call them carcinogenic. By law the smokers’ shack is outside the factory, but breathing the dust inside the workplace may equate to a few passive fags’ worth every shift. The research is piling up, but while consumer powers advance, the rights of workers to fresh air appear to have bitten the dust. Dr Brian Gardner Glasgow • On your front page with a headline about toxic air reaching placentas there was also a trail for the G2 feature by David Sedaris on “The joy of city walks”. Shouldn’t there have been a health warning accompanying this? Bernard Lancaster Mansfield, Nottinghamshire • Jon Vidal is absolutely right in that substantially curbing car use in cities and towns will reduce air pollution (We have an air pollution crisis. It’s time to leave the car at home, 20 September). But although measures such as pedestrianisation will help, road pricing would have the greatest impact. Using modern tracking technology, pricing could be greater at times of greatest congestion and in areas of greatest pollution. Road tax could be reduced to a notional amount, with drivers paying more if they drive more. The resulting revenue could be used to support buses, trains, cycling etc. Mike Parker Chair, Don’t Choke Britain 1991-2001 • Leaving the car at home may well help reduce local air pollution, but could exacerbate another damaging impact of our car-dependent society – the paving over of front gardens to provide parking. Electric vehicles may even accelerate the growth in this trend if car ownership increases with decreasing fuel costs, and the front drive becomes a convenient charging point. Green spaces make our cities liveable and already at least a quarter of UK front gardens in England are completely paved over. Time to green our cities and promote walking, cycling and better public transport. Dr Ruth Gelletlie Leeds • When I wrote to both Sir Michael Wilshaw and Justine Greening MP in 2016 about air pollution wrecking health and reducing IQ, both Ofsted and the Department for Education replied that air pollution was outside their remit and a matter for Defra. No government department will get involved in an issue that’s within the remit of another, and unless and until teachers, school staff and parents push for a change in that archaic system and get some action on the air pollution crisis, teachers and others who manage to reach retirement age can look forward to worse health and earlier deaths. Are teaching unions awake to this issue? Michael Ryan Shrewsbury • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters • Do you have a photo you’d like to share with Guardian readers? Click here to upload it and we’ll publish the best submissions in the letters spread of our print edition | ['environment/air-pollution', 'technology/motoring', 'environment/environment', 'environment/pollution', 'education/schools', 'education/education', 'society/mental-health', 'society/health', 'lifeandstyle/pregnancy', 'society/children', 'science/biology', 'world/road-transport', 'money/motoring', 'tone/letters', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-09-20T16:58:52Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2021/dec/08/excellent-wind-source-offshore-plan-to-power-alcoas-portland-aluminium-smelter-on-renewables | Planned $4bn offshore windfarm could fully power Alcoa Portland aluminium smelter | Australian power company Alinta Energy hopes to build an offshore windfarm off the coast of Victoria to help Alcoa’s Portland aluminium smelter go green. Though the project is in its earliest stages, a 500 sq km patch off the coast is being considered for the 1,000MW windfarm, dubbed Spinifex. Spinifex is expected to cost $4bn and would connect to the grid through Alcoa’s Portland smelter, ensuring the operation – which is the state’s largest energy consumer – draws its power from 100% renewable energy. Alinta’s head of project development, Kris Lynch, said the company believed it had identified an “excellent wind source” and preliminary work would begin next year. “The area we’re investigating is around 500 sq km and about 10 kilometres from the shoreline, and the great thing about this proposal is that we can connect to the grid via the smelter and won’t need to build new powerlines on private land,” Lynch said in a statement. “We think the windfarm would need to be around 1,000 MW to be viable.” Lynch said the announcement had been made early in order to ensure transparency as it goes forward. There are more than 10 proposed offshore wind projects scattered around Australia, with the potential to generate 25GW of renewable energy, but none have been built. This has largely been due to a lack of clear regulations or direction, a situation the federal government sought to address last month when it passed initial legislation to begin setting up a regulatory framework. Should it go ahead, Spinifex could take up to 10 years to construct and would be smaller than the proposed 2.2GW Star of the South offshore windfarm, which has served as a flagship for the industry in Australia. Earlier this year Alcoa’s Portland operation was given support by the Victorian state government and signed a deal with three major energy providers – AGL, Origin and Alinta – to supply it cheap power. Portland smelter manager Ron Jorgensen said the project may ensure the long-term viability of the operation. “This proposal offers an ability to make a step change impact to Portland Aluminium’s carbon footprint and we welcome the opportunity to be involved in supporting the early phase investigations of this exciting renewable project on the Australian energy landscape,” he said in a statement. Like steelmaking, aluminium production is an energy-intensive activity that is a major source of emissions, as most operations around the world draw their power from coal. As countries look to reduce CO2 emissions, demand for green aluminium is expected to grow, with Australia’s two other aluminium smelters already looking to draw all their power from renewable energy by the end of the decade. Alcoa has previously announced it is working on developing the next generation of carbon-neutral aluminium smelters. | ['environment/windpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/victoria', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'type/article', 'profile/royce-kurmelovs', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2021-12-08T06:45:47Z | true | ENERGY |
business/2018/jun/17/siemens-pilots-the-use-of-ammonia-for-green-energy-storage | Siemens pilots the use of ammonia for green energy storage | A chemical compound commonly used to boost crop yields could be the answer to helping the world increase its consumption of renewable energy. In a world first, Siemens is opening a £1.5m pilot project in Oxfordshire employing ammonia as a new form of energy storage. The German industrial firm hopes to prove that ammonia can be as useful as more established storage technologies, such as lithium-ion batteries, when it comes to managing the variable output of wind and solar power. The proof-of-concept facility at Harwell will turn electricity, water and air into ammonia without releasing carbon emissions. The ammonia is stored in a tank and later either burned to generate electricity, sold as a fuel for vehicles or for industrial purposes, such as refrigeration. Dr Ian Wilkinson, programme manager for Siemens’ green ammonia demonstrator, said: “Storage is recognised as the enabler for intermittent renewable power. “This is where we’re different from usual storage, we’re not just looking at power. Usually it’s [storage] just filling in the gaps when the sun’s not shining and the wind is not blowing. We’re looking at other uses, mobility and industrial uses.” Siemens believes ammonia has an advantage other over emerging storage technologies, such as “liquid air” and flow batteries, because it is repurposing existing technology and hardware. The world produces about 170m tonnes of ammonia a year, the vast majority of which is used by farmers as fertiliser. Most of that is made from natural gas, emitting greenhouse gas in the process, but the Harwell plant does not use fossil fuels. While the compound was used as a fuel in Nasa hypersonic jets in the 1960s and some cars have been converted to run on it, Siemens does not expect it to be used directly in cars. The hydrogen in ammonia, however, can be extracted for use. “I see it supporting a hydrogen economy, hydrogen vehicles,” Wilkinson said. Given the demonstration scheme is relatively small in terms of storage and power generation capacity, Siemens is not expecting to make money from the trial. Instead the hope is to establish that the concept can work and prove useful. If the technology took off, the German firm stands to benefit as it makes the electrolysers which use electricity to split water into oxygen, and the hydrogen that is a building block of ammonia. Wilkinson said: “Siemens is looking at a whole range of storage technologies, including batteries and chemical storage [including ammonia].” The Harwell facility opens on 26 June, and was funded with £500,000 by Siemens and £1m from government innovation agency Innovate UK. | ['business/energy-industry', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy-storage', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'business/business', 'uk/uk', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/adam-vaughan', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2018-06-17T13:01:07Z | true | ENERGY |
technology/2008/aug/01/yahoo.meeting | Jerry Yang prepares for showdown with Yahoo investors | Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang faces another test of his leadership today as he prepares for a showdown with angry investors at the company's annual general meeting. He will have to quell a rebellion from shareholders who believe he is the wrong man for the job and explain exactly why the company turned down a takeover offer from Microsoft worth almost $48bn. Yang, who co-founded the company in 1995 with fellow Stanford student David Filo, took over the chief executive's role after the departure of Terry Semel last summer. But despite his assurances over plans to revitalise the internet giant, he has failed to convince many shareholders that he will steer the company in the right direction. "The Microsoft negotiations were just the latest example of negligence by this board," said Eric Jackson, a dissident investor who represents a group of stockholders with more than three million shares. "There is still a lot of anger and frustration among shareholders right now." But the Yahoo board will not be facing its biggest critic, notorious corporate raider Carl Icahn, who has said he will not be attending the AGM. Icahn, who launched a vicious attack on the company's leaders after the collapse of the Microsoft deal, has quietened down his protests and withdrawn his threat to force a proxy vote to replace directors. This follows a deal in which he secured a minority presence on the board. "It will not do shareholders or Yahoo any good to have the annual meeting turn into a media event for no purpose," Icahn wrote in a statement on his website yesterday. "Last week I realised it was impossible to gain enough support from the large institutions to win a majority of the Yahoo directorships." "A few days ago I met with both Jerry Yang and [Yahoo chairman] Roy Bostock, and I believe both gentlemen genuinely wish that we will be able to work together to enhance value. While we still disagree on many points, I have great hope 'this will be the beginning of a beautiful friendship'." Shares in the Californian web company were selling at 19.89 cents at the close of trading on Thursday, valuing the company at $27.3bn. | ['technology/technology', 'technology/yahoo-takeover', 'technology/yahoo', 'technology/internet', 'tone/news', 'media/media', 'business/business', 'media/mediabusiness', 'media/digital-media', 'type/article', 'profile/bobbiejohnson'] | technology/yahoo-takeover | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2008-08-01T12:39:36Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
news/2011/may/27/weather-drought | Cereal farmers are praying for rain | Records are tumbling across the east and south of the country for the driest spell since records began. Cambridge Botanical Gardens, for example, had the driest March (3mm) and April (1.7mm) since 1893, and had only recorded 3.5mm of rain in May until heavy showers yesterday. Cambridge's dire figures are typical of the main cereal growing regions of eastern and southern England, which is suffering a drought that, even if the weather changes, is going to severely affect yield. A drop of 10% to 30% of wheat tonnage per acre is expected even if it starts raining heavily this weekend. Even a lot farther west sheep and cattle farmers are short of grass and animals are struggling to find enough to eat. While some wildlife – butterflies, some birds and lizards – thrive in such conditions, pond life is badly affected. Many ponds have dried up before tadpoles could turn into frogs. Rivers in the south-east fed by springs from chalk aquifers still have relatively healthy flows, while those in the West Country and Midlands that rely on surface run-off are already very low. The Met Office expects some light rain in the worst affected regions over the next few days, but this will not enough to lift the drought. About 100mm of rain in a week is what cereal farmers are praying for (double the monthly average in Cambridge), while forecasters continue to predict less rain than average in the worst hit regions. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'uk/weather', 'uk/uk', 'tone/features', 'environment/drought', 'type/article', 'profile/paulbrown', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-05-26T23:05:11Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2014/mar/25/arnold-schwarzenegger-destructive-logging-companies | Arnold Schwarzenegger 'linked to destructive logging companies' | Arnold Schwarzenegger, the one-time action hero fronting a blockbuster TV special on climate change next month, has financial ties to some of the world’s most destructive logging companies, an investigation group found on Tuesday. The former governor and climate champion is a part owner of an investment company, Dimensional Fund Advisers, with significant holdings in tropical forestry companies. A number of those forestry companies were implicated in highly destructive and illegal logging which has destroyed rainforest and critical orangutan habitat in Borneo, and fuelled conflict and arms trafficking in Liberia, the investigators from Global Witness said. The group, whose founder won this year’s $1 million TED prize for its campaigns, said the holdings were at odds with Schwarzenegger’s public image as a climate champion. Tropical forests are an important store of carbon that would otherwise accelerate climate change. “He is a very prominent environmental champion in his public life while profiting from some of the most egregiously notorious companies operating in the forestry sector, and in our view that is deeply hypocritical, ” said Oliver Courtney, a Global Witness spokesman. There was no immediate comment from Schwarzenegger. DFA responded through an email from a public relations firm, saying: “We are a privately held company and cannot comment on Mr. Schwarzenegger’s investment in Dimensional.” The emailed statement from Alex Stockham of Rubinstein Associates said DFA had systems in place for clients seeking to ensure investments free of serious environmental or ethical impacts. “Dimensional understands that some clients have perspectives and preferences related to social, sustainability and/or environmental issues and works to accommodate those preferences in customised separate accounts.” Global Witness said their research indicated Schwarzenegger held an estimated 5% stake in the firm, which manages an estimated $338 billion globally. Those holdings included $174 million in about 20 forestry companies. Global Witness has questioned the allegedly destructive activities of some of those firms. The group said Schwarzenegger had disclosed the investment in DFA while he was still serving as California’s governor. Schwarzenegger and DFA did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It is not clear whether Schwarzenegger was aware of how the investments were made. Schwarzenegger pushed for action on climate change while serving as Republican governor of California. In the run-up to the Copenhagen climate conference in 2009, he joined regional leaders from Indonesia and Brazil urging Barack Obama and other leaders to help developing countries stop deforestation. In his post-political career, he has raised his profile as a climate champion even further as executive producer of an ambitious new television series airing on Showtime from 13 April, Years of Living Dangerously. The series – fronted by a slew of Hollywood A-listers from Matt Damon to Jessica Alba and Don Cheadle – aims to make climate change part of mainstream conversation. “A scientist will never get the attention of an actor,” Schwarzenegger told a press tour in January. “I always felt there was a communication gap in bringing people in and making them part of the movement.” For his episode, Schwarzenegger went out with “hot shot” crew to fight an active wildfire in Montana. In his disclosure forms, which date from 2011, Schwarzenegger said he had stock of “more than $1 million” in DFA – the highest category. He also listed annual dividends of at least $100,000. The forms did not require full disclosure of Schwarzenegger’s entire holdings in DFA, the group noted. A number of campaign groups – and ethical investment networks – have grown more concerned over the years about human rights abuses and environmental destruction caused by illegal logging. Global Witness singled out six of the forestry companies in DFA portfolios for engaging in deforestation on an industrial-scale in countries across South-East Asia and Africa. Four of the companies held by DFA were blacklisted by investment managers for the Norwegian government’s sovereign wealth fund. In 2012, the Norwegian government found one of those companies, Ta Ann, had clear felled at least 100,000 hectares of tropical forest in Sarawak - critical habitat for endangered orangutan. "There can be no doubt that [this destruction] will have serious, irreversible consequences for biodiversity and the ecosystem services delivered by the forest,” the Norwegian investigation found. Global Witness said DFA had $4.15 million investment in Ta Ann as of November 2013. | ['environment/deforestation', 'environment/environment', 'environment/forests', 'film/arnold-schwarzenegger', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/suzannegoldenberg'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2014-03-25T23:00:30Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2018/oct/30/election-of-jair-bolsonaro-in-brazil-threatens-the-planet | Election of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil threatens the planet | Letter | President-Elect Jair Bolsonaro’s mission to “change the destiny of Brazil” (Report, 29 October) looks set to abolish environmental protection and exacerbate the bloodshed linked to the unregulated exploitation of the Amazon. For a decade Brazil has been the most dangerous country in the world for environmental and land defenders. Courageous indigenous and rural landless communities are being killed with little recourse to justice. Impunity and lack of rule of law have exacerbated this trend – of the 1,270 murders since 1985 linked to land conflict in Brazil, less than 10% have ever reached court. The policy proposals of Bolsonaro’s Social Liberal party to halt the demarcation of indigenous lands, open existing reserves to mining and persecute social movements that protect environmental defenders will affect us all. Irreparable damage to the world’s largest rainforest threatens to irreversibly accelerate climate change for future generations worldwide. Esther Gillingham Brazil programme officer, Cafod • 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 | ['world/brazil', 'world/jair-bolsonaro', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'world/americas', 'environment/deforestation', 'environment/forests', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'tone/letters', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/amazon-rainforest | BIODIVERSITY | 2018-10-30T18:08:40Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/2018/aug/02/tessa-tennant-obituary | Tessa Tennant obituary | Tessa Tennant, who has died of cancer aged 59, was led by her ruling passions into a position of huge influence in the world of green finance. Realising the need to reconcile planetary limits with the power of directing investment, for 30 years she was at the forefront of a movement that has encouraged fund managers to invest money in a more socially and environmentally responsible fashion. Tessa co-founded the UK’s first green investment fund, the Merlin (now Jupiter) Ecology Fund, in 1988. She was later head of responsible investment at NPI (now part of Janus Henderson Investors), where she managed massive amounts of institutional money on socially and environmentally responsible lines – for instance by refusing to take shares in high-polluting companies or those involved in child labour. In 1991 she co-founded the UK Social Investment Forum, which lobbied for the wider adoption of responsible investment in Britain. She was also involved in setting up what is now the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative, an alliance of more than 200 financial institutions that seeks to improve understanding of how banks, insurance companies and other major investors can take account of environmental, social and governance factors when deciding where to put their money. In addition Tessa co-founded, in 2000, the Carbon Disclosure Project, a successful programme that has encouraged major companies to make annual disclosures of the greenhouse gas emissions they generate, and which works with them to cut those emissions. Now known as CDP, the project has grown dramatically since its inception, and works with more than 6,000 companies across the globe, including most of the biggest corporations. Tessa was born in Bletchingley, Surrey, to John Cormack, a pilot, and Jean Davies, the daughter of a Liberal peer. After leaving Prior’s Field school, in Godalming, she gained an environmental studies degree at King’s College London. Working after her degree at the environmental thinktank Green Alliance, she spotted the power that was latent in fund management, and noted that few investors at the time were routinely weighing up the environmental impacts of their decisions. Fewer still considered that excellent long-term returns could be had by investing in business that respects the natural world. After an internship in the US with the green asset management firm Trillium and its inspiring leader Joan Bavaria, she co-founded Merlin (now Jupiter) Fund Management in London and was its head of social investments. There she helped to build up an investment team that featured many people who fanned out into new responsible investment operations across the world over the next quarter of a century. At NPI she built and led a team that grew sustainable assets under management faster than any other group in the UK, winning large institutional mandates.Seeing the implications of billions of far eastern consumers joining the global economy, in 2000 she relocated to Hong Kong. There she set up the Association for Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Asia, which is now part of Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), an international network of investors pledged to incorporate social and environmental issues into their investment analysis and decision-making processes. After helping to create the Carbon Disclosure Project, she became its first executive chair and then a board member until 2014 – encouraging, sometimes embarrassing, corporations into measuring and reporting their emissions. Through defining and disclosing their climate impacts, companies saw the need to bring them down – reducing demand for fossil fuels and driving finance into low-carbon technologies. Over the last 20 years of her life Tessa developed an impressive portfolio of directorships. These included non-executive directorships at the Green Investment Bank and Solarcentury, a solar electricity company. She was possessed of an exceptional combination of energy, social confidence and free-spirited charm that brought her many admirers – her advice was sought by politicians including Tony Blair. In 1983 she had married Henry Tennant, whose father became Lord Glenconner. Tessa and Henry had a son, Euan, shortly before Henry recognised that he was gay. They separated but remained close; in 1990 Henry died from complications of Aids. Tessa took over his forebears’ mansion in the Scottish borders, the grade A-listed Glen House, with accompanying farmland, cottages, steadings and offices. In 2006 she met Bill Staempfli, a New York architect who was in Oxford on sabbatical studying environmental policy, and they married in 2007. Responsibility for managing the Glen estate without the financial means to run it was a legacy that Tessa occasionally thought she could do without, but in partnership with Bill she brought the farm back in hand by managing it organically, planting new native woods, tackling a backlog of repairs and hiring it out for film and fashion shoots. In 2012 Tessa discovered she had ovarian cancer – recording her treatment with wry commentary on a blog. In 2017 she found it had returned – though she spared her friends the knowledge. She declined further treatment, spending her last months at Glen with Bill, Euan, and her two grandchildren, who all survive her. One of her last acts was to be driven by Bill in their all-electric car to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, to collect the insignia of her OBE from the Queen. • Teresa Mary Tennant, green investment campaigner, born 29 May 1959; died 7 July 2018 | ['business/ethicalbusiness', 'environment/green-economy', 'environment/green-investment-bank', 'environment/environment', 'tone/obituaries', 'business/business', 'society/society', 'environment/carbon-offset-projects', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'uk/scotland', 'type/article', 'profile/hugh-raven', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/obituaries', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-obituaries'] | environment/carbon-offset-projects | EMISSIONS | 2018-08-02T10:47:17Z | true | EMISSIONS |
fashion/2018/jun/07/plastic-is-not-cool-is-fashion-finally-cleaning-up-its-act | 'Plastic is not cool' – is fashion finally cleaning up its act? | In April, at a Net-a-Porter event where the online retailer’s trends for this autumn were presented, one of the most popular accessories was not a leather handbag by Gucci or a leopard-print, high-vamp shoe, but the black Net-a-Porter.com-branded “keep” cups that the coffee was served in. At least one fashion editor was witnessed shouldering her way over to the bar muttering: “I just need one of those cups!” Fashion fans are followers and consumers. If something’s in, hip, hot or cool they will want it and they will buy it. And if it’s not, they won’t. So when Lucy Yeomans, editor-in-chief of Net-a-Porter’s glossy publication, Porter magazine, says – as she did over the phone this week – “Plastic is not cool” then plastic should be afraid. Very afraid. In the lead up to World Oceans Day on Friday, Yeomans will be at the United Nations in New York with Parley for the Ocean, an organisation tackling the global plastic crisis, to discuss how plastic pollution is destroying the environment. The current issue of Porter is dedicated to this cause (while still also dedicated to selling luxury fashion and accessories), done in collaboration with Parley, and guest-edited by its ambassador, the model Anja Rubik. Subscriptions issues of the magazine will be delivered this month in paper rather than its usual plastic packaging – and once the company has used up all its remaining stock of the latter, it will move to using paper packaging on a permanent basis. It’s part of a commitment that the company has made to rid itself of unnecessary plastic. Its fashion shoots are now plastic-free zones – no throwaway bottles, coffee cups or cutlery, and so is the office. “I can’t see a single plastic bottle on any desk in here,” says Yeomans, who is also global content director for Yoox Net-a-Porter group. But it’s going to take more than a plastic bottle ban to counterbalance the part the fashion industry has played in what Erik Solheim, the UN environment chief, writing in The Guardian this week, called a global “plastic calamity”. Each year it extracts more and more raw materials from the earth to make innumerable virgin plastic products – fabrics, zips, buttons, the many components of shoes, trainers and bags – that will end up in landfill or at the bottom of the ocean where they take centuries to decompose. That’s just one aspect of the problem. “We now know there is a real issue in the the shedding of microfibres during the wash cycle for synthetic fibres,” says Livia Firth, environmental campaigner and founder of the sustainability consultancy Eco-Age. “Many low-cost, fast fashion brands have blended synthetics into billions of products, on the basis of cost. There is a big job to do in re-establishing natural fibres.” A really big job – particularly given that shiny, plastic-y look – vinyl, PVC and glossed up leather – is a key look for 2018. Parley’s founder, Cyrill Gutsch, has said that designers and brands need to wean themselves off the “plastic drug”. The organisation advocates a policy of avoid, intercept, redesign: stop using virgin plastic; collect “ocean plastic” accumulated at the bottom of the sea; recycle it into new materials and textiles. A number of established designers and brands are listening. Stella McCartney, who worked with Parley in 2016 to make ocean plastic trainers for Adidas, now uses recycled polyester and Econyl – a regenerated nylon made from industrial plastic, waste fabric and fishing nets – in certain accessories and outerwear, with a commitment to stop using any virgin nylon by 2020. Last year, H&M used the equivalent of more than 100m plastic PET bottles in recycled polyester throughout its products. It also launched its first garments made from recycled shoreline waste, a new material named Bionic and collaborated on a project in Indonesia called Bottle2Fashion, which turns recycled plastic waste into polyester. Marks & Spencer has set itself “a simple goal” of using plastic in its business only where it has “a clear and demonstrable benefit”. Those plastic covers on the 500,000 cashmere jumpers it is selling? They are coming off. This summer it has launched a recycled polyester packaway mac made with 50% recycled polyester, sourced from used plastic bottles. This is part of its sustainability plan, which commits to making at least 25% of clothing and home products from reused or recycled materials by 2025. But while these are all good moves, in terms of scale they are almost negligible. This year Adidas announced that it had sold 1m pairs of its ocean plastic trainers. Sounds great. Except that the company produced 403m pairs of trainers, according to statista.com, in 2017 alone. Where are those 403m pairs of trainers going to be by 2019? Wardrobes or landfill? “The challenge for the future is to create a world where brands make a product, consumers use it and then return it to the manufacturer to make another product,” says Giulio Bonazzi, CEO and president of Aquafil, a company that transforms plastic ocean and landfill waste into textiles. “For me this is not just about avoiding the use of plastic. There needs to be a fundamental shift in how we approach the design of products. We have to think about the end of life – what happens when the garment is finished with? If it is going to end up in landfill or filling our oceans then we should not be making it.” Yeomans is happy to play her part in delivering a similar statement. “Aside from the practical issues, the messaging is one of the most important things that we can deliver,” she says. “As members of the fashion industry, I hope that with what we do this week and going forward, we can use our influence to establish that plastic is not fantastic.” • This article was amended on 28 June 2018 to correct the spelling of Giulio Bonazzi’s last name from Onazzi. | ['fashion/fashion', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'environment/plastic', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-fashion'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-06-07T16:30:47Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2017/jan/27/coal-power-plan-twice-the-cost-of-renewables-route-emissions-reduction | Australia's coal power plan twice as costly as renewables route, report finds | A plan for new coal power plants, which government ministers say could reduce emissions from coal-generated electricity by 27%, would cost more than $60bn, a new analysis has found. Achieving the same reduction using only renewable energy would cost just half as much – between $24bn and $34bn – the report found. The resources minister, Matthew Canavan, and the energy and environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, have been arguing for new coal power plants to be built in Australia. Last week, Canavan released analysis he commissioned from the industry department, which found replacing all Australia’s coal power stations with the latest “ultra super-critical” coal-fired power stations would reduce emissions in that sector by 27%. Frydenberg has also raised the conclusions in interviews, and promoted the benefits of coal power. Neither has responded to questions about the cost of reducing coal-fired power emissions by 27% using the latest technology. So Dylan McConnell from the Climate and Energy College at the University of Melbourne crunched the numbers, and found that the 27% reduction in the coal sector could be achieved, but it would cost $62bn. McConnell said at a conservative estimate, achieving the reduction would require 20GW of new capacity. According to the latest estimates from the CSIRO, new ultra super-critical black coal costs $3,100 per kW to build. “No wonder no one wants to talk about the costs,” McConnell said. He said $62bn would be enough to build between 35GW and 39GW of wind and solar energy. Because that would produce less electricity than 20GW of coal power, it would not completely replace coal power, but it would reduce its emissions by up to 65%. And that would amount to an emissions reduction of between 50% and 60% in the electricity sector as a whole. McConnell found that if the 27% reduction in emissions from the coal generation sector were to be achieved with renewables, rather than with new coal, about 13-19GW of renewable energy would be needed, which would cost between $24bn and $34bn. He said the scenario proposed by Canavan and Frydenberg would end up with 20GW of highly polluting coal power stations that were unlikely to be retired for decades. On the other hand, McConnell said, if that money were spent on renewables, it would leave some coal and gas in place, which ultimately would still need to be removed to meet long-term emissions reduction targets. Neither Canavan nor Frydenberg responded to questions about the costs of building new coal power stations. In a statement, Frydenberg said only that the government was committed to a “technology neutral” approach to meeting emissions targets. “Arbitrarily excluding certain technologies for ideological reasons will lead to higher cost outcomes,” the statement said. The Opposition spokesman for climate change and energy, Mark Butler, said: “This analysis clearly shows the government is off on an economically and environmentally irresponsible frolic with their trumpeting of ‘clean coal’. “As the Australian Industry Group and many others have made clear, replacing our existing coal power with more coal power just doesn’t stack up; either on environmental or economic grounds. “This is just the latest effort of a weak government to appease its irrational extreme right wing and distract from the fact they’re simply incapable of delivering real policy solutions to our significant energy challenges,” Butler said. McConnell pointed out that the latest coal-powered fire stations were not at all “clean”. They produced about 700 grams of CO2 for every kilowatt hour of electricity – much more than the 400 grams from new combined cycle gas turbines, and much more than the average produced by OECD countries, 420 grams per kilowatt hour in 2014, according to the International Energy Agency. OECD countries will need to reduce that figure to just 15 grams per kilowatt hour if the world is to keep global temperature increases below 2C, the agency has said. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/coal', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'australia-news/josh-frydenberg', 'australia-news/matthew-canavan', 'australia-news/coalition', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/michael-slezak', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/coal | ENERGY | 2017-01-27T03:15:03Z | true | ENERGY |
news/2011/may/20/summer-scotland-snow-mountains | Weatherwatch: Why have all the snow-capped peaks vanished? | Travellers to the Scottish Highlands used to admire a sight that is now exceedingly rare – the mountain tops capped with snow all summer long. Daniel Defoe, John Keats, Robbie Burns and even Queen Victoria all wrote about the white-topped peaks in summer. There was a tradition for Highland tenants to give their landlords buckets of snow in summer for chilling the food and wine cellar. And one gentlemen's climbing party in August 1786 described how they stopped for lunch at a high ridge "depositing our champagne, porter etc. in one of the large snow drifts." England, too, had year-round snow patches, most remarkable of all at Brockhampton Quarry in the Cotswolds. In 1634 one report described that "on January did fall the greatest snow that known in the memory of man … and in August following a great quantity of the same snow and ice did remayne at Brockhampton quares." In Cool Britannia (Paragon Publishing, 2010), veteran mountain expert Adam Watson and mountain hiker Iain Cameron have compiled a remarkable compendium of year-round snow patches in Britain through history. But from the 1930s onwards the snow patches vanished, and since then they have become a rare sight, presumably a victim of Britain's changing climate. The days of gentlemen climbers cooling their champagne in summer snows are long gone. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'tone/features', 'travel/scotland', 'uk/weather', 'type/article', 'profile/jeremy-plester', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-05-19T23:05:02Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/jun/21/nuclear-power-safety-regulator-nrc | The timebomb of ageing US nuclear reactors revealed | Damian Carrington | Getting old isn't pleasant: things start to creak or stop working all together. The good news, you would think, in the case of nuclear power plants is that you can replace worn, corroded or cracked parts with new ones. But an impressive year-long investigation into the US nuclear power industry by Associated Press reveals how the regulators and the industry have repeatedly found a much simpler solution to ageing: weaken the safety standards until the creaking plants meet them. On yesterday's post, some commenters argued the engineering safety issue is not unique to nuclear power, meaning it is unfair to criticise the nuclear industry for failings that pass unnoticed elsewhere. I disagree for the simple reason that the stakes are so vastly higher for nuclear reactors: safety standards have to be far more stringent because the consequences of serious accidents have such huge economic and social costs. Remember, the pact you sign when you build a reactor is to control that atomic inferno for decades and then look after the waste for thousands of years. That leads to the point that underlies the AP investigation. The incentive to maintain costly safety regimes runs entirely counter to the primary incentive of the nuclear power plant operators, which, perfectly reasonably, is to make money. The problem comes when, as years roll by without serious incidents, that heavy, expensive regulation starts to look like an unnecessary burden. And that's exactly what AP's reporters found: Federal regulators have been working closely with the US nuclear power industry to keep the nation's ageing reactors operating within safety standards by repeatedly weakening those standards, or simply failing to enforce them. Time after time, officials at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) have decided that original regulations were too strict, arguing that safety margins could be eased without peril, according to records and interviews. Examples abound. When valves leaked, more leakage was allowed — up to 20 times the original limit. When rampant cracking caused radioactive leaks from steam generator tubing, an easier test of the tubes was devised, so plants could meet standards. Failed cables. Busted seals. Broken nozzles, clogged screens, cracked concrete, dented containers, corroded metals and rusty underground pipes — all of these and thousands of other problems linked to ageing were uncovered. And all of them could escalate dangers in the event of an accident. Yet despite the many problems linked to ageing, not a single official body in government or industry has studied the overall frequency and potential impact on safety of such breakdowns in recent years, even as the NRC has extended the licenses of dozens of reactors. The problem of ageing is another where the incentive to close old reactors down in favour of newer, safer reactors is easily overwhelmed by the incentive to keep it running. The plant exists and the capital costs are paid off, so as long you can sell the electricity for more than the maintenance costs, you have a money-printing machine. At the time, the 30 to 40 year licences granted to nuclear power plants were seen as the absolute maximum period for which they would run: the period matched their design lifetimes. Now, AP found, 66 of the 104 operating units in the US have been relicenced for 20 extra years, with applications being considered for 16 more. Globally, the oldest operational nuclear power plant is in the UK: the 44-year-old Oldbury reactors, 15 miles north of Bristol on the bank of the river Severn. Of the 440 reactors in the world, 22 are older than 40 years, and 163 are older than 30 years. AP quote NRC chief spokesman Eliot Brenner defending the licence extensions: "When a plant gets to be 40 years old, about the only thing that's 40 years old is the ink on the license. Most, if not all of the major components, will have been changed out." But a former NRC head, Ivan Selin, has a different view. "It's as if we were all driving Model T's today and trying to bring them up to current mileage standards." So here's the choice. You can back nuclear, an industry far more inherently dangerous than its rivals, with a history of capturing its safety regulators and dumping its costs on taxpayers. Or you can do all you can to back energy efficiency, renewable energy and energy storage plans. | ['environment/damian-carrington-blog', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/nuclear-waste', 'environment/environment', 'tone/blog', 'technology/technology', 'technology/blog', 'science/science', 'science/blog', 'environment/energy', 'technology/energy', 'science/energy', 'environment/fukushima', 'type/article', 'profile/damiancarrington'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2011-06-21T16:08:15Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2004/dec/30/tsunami2004.italy | Berlusconi calls for G8 tsunami talks | The Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, today called for a special meeting of the world's eight leading industrialised countries to discuss their response to the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster. Mr Berlusconi's proposal for the emergency meeting came as the death toll from Sunday's tsunami climbed to more than 120,000. Aid agencies are struggling to carry out one of the biggest humanitarian exercises in history. "I want to propose an extraordinary G8 meeting," Mr Berlusconi told reporters. "The meeting should discuss the organisation of aid and the possible reduction of debt." The German chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, yesterday said that the Paris Club of 19 creditor nations should consider letting Indonesia and Somalia delay debt repayments in order to help them recover. "Before making the proposal, I want to talk to the other partners," Mr Berlusconi said, adding he would telephone Tony Blair later today. Britain takes over the presidency of the G8 this week. Singapore's prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, has called for an urgent meeting of leaders of Asean, the south-east Asian grouping, to coordinate relief efforts for victims of the tsunamis. He said the meeting should also include other countries affected by the disaster and major aid donors - Japan, South Korea, China, the US and Australia - and international organisations such as the UN and the World Health Organisation. Sixty nations have pledged more than $220m (£114.6m) in cash and hundreds of millions of dollars worth of emergency supplies. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) today launched an appeal for $59m. "The scale of this disaster is growing by the hour. The devastation is unimaginable," the IFRC secretary general, Markku Niskala, said, adding that the money would provide emergency relief for two million people. Oxfam said national aid groups were "rising to the challenge", but called on the UN to lead the way. "Given the scale and scope of this crisis, strong UN leadership is critical," Jasmine Whitbread, the international director of the charity, said. The UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, cut short a holiday to oversee the relief operation from New York. The UN will launch a major appeal on January 6. | ['world/world', 'world/tsunami2004', 'world/italy', 'world/g8', 'world/silvio-berlusconi', 'world/europe-news', 'type/article', 'profile/marktran'] | world/tsunami2004 | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2004-12-30T15:21:01Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
film/2020/feb/21/minamata-review-heartfelt-look-at-disaster-that-struck-japanese-town | Minamata review – Johnny Depp attempts redemption in heartfelt look at disaster that struck Japanese town | Minamata is not a masterpiece and there are one or two cliches here about western saviours and boozy, difficult, passionate journalists who occupy the perennial Venn diagram overlap between integrity and alcoholism. This movie’s producer-star Johnny Depp has form on this score, with his starstruck impersonation of Hunter Thompson. And once again, he has chosen a role in which he wears a hat indoors. But Minamata is a forthright, heartfelt movie, an old-fashioned “issue picture” with a worthwhile story to tell about how communities can stand up to overweening corporations and how journalists dedicated to truthful news can help them. Depp plays real-life US photojournalist W Eugene Smith whose glory days were in the second world war and the decades following, working for Life magazine in that now-forgotten era when analogue cameras were incapable of lying and magazines with compelling photos could command newsstand sales. The drama finds him in his declining years, drunk, depressed, impossible to work with – and of course ripe for Hollywood-style redemption. Apparently by chance, he finds himself befriended by Japanese-American Aileen (Minami Hinase) who alerts him to an environmental atrocity in Japan that he could do something about, if he chose to rouse himself from his grumpy self-indulgent ennui. In the coastal town of Minamata on Japan’s south-western coast, the Chisso corporation has been dumping mercury waste into the water, which is poisoning the fish and then the humans who eat them – causing horrendous disfigurements in men, women and children. Truculent, impulsive Smith barges into the office of his editor (a straightforward, American-accented role for Bill Nighy) demanding to be sent to cover the story and his exasperated boss agrees. From there, Smith finds a community who treat him with respect and politeness, though some are suspicious of a brash foreigner who may simply make things worse and alienate a powerful employer that could turn against making any settlement. Of course, the hard-nosed professional in Smith knows that pictures of sick children, carefully and tactfully managed, are going to deliver the biggest punch and he became famous for a picture that heartbroken and intensely private parents were at first reluctant to give him: Tomoko Uemura in Her Bath, the Pietà-esque black and white photograph of a mother cradling her sick daughter in a traditional Japanese tub. Director Andrew Levitas gives us a context-free glimpse of this challenging image at the beginning of the film and builds to its eventful composition as his emotional finale. Perhaps its use here is a little glib, but the film does at least emphasise a kind of journalism that is at the service of the people that it depicts. And it reminds of a time when the environmental debate was about pollution not climate change – although that issue has not by any stretch gone away. Over its closing credits Minamata concludes with a list of grotesque and often unpunished “spills” including Bhopal, Deepwater Horizon and more. Perhaps these are the microcosmic crimes and our fossil-fuel use is the larger, global issue. At any rate, Minamata is a decent reminder of what is still to be done. | ['film/berlin-film-festival-2020', 'film/berlinfilmfestival', 'film/johnnydepp', 'artanddesign/photography', 'film/film', 'culture/culture', 'artanddesign/artanddesign', 'culture/festivals', 'world/japan', 'environment/pollution', 'world/world', 'environment/environment', 'world/asia-pacific', 'film/bill-nighy', 'type/article', 'tone/reviews', 'profile/peterbradshaw', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-culture'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2020-02-21T20:30:03Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
business/2015/oct/21/chinese-deal-hinkley-puts-west-somerset-heart-nuclear-debate | Nuclear debate: 'It doesn’t matter where the money comes from' | Fishing boat skipper Steve Yeandle was in no doubt. “Bring it on. We all want the lights to work when we press the switch. We need secure energy. Yes, I’d prefer it if it was our government putting the money in, but you can’t have everything. Nuclear seems to be the viable way to go, and if it is Chinese money making it happen then so be it.” Yeandle was working on his boat – Scooby Doo Too – in the harbour at Watchet, a modest town on the Somerset coast a few miles west of Hinkley Point. For more than 30 years, he has escorted anglers on to the Bristol Channel in search of cod, skate and whiting. They tend to quiz him briefly about the squat towers of the Hinkley A and B nuclear power station as they chug away from the harbour – and then get on with their fishing. “People don’t get upset about Hinkley around here. We’ve lived with it for years. Actually, what more people get upset about is the emissions from the Aberthaw coal-fired power station [across the water in south Wales]. That’s like a yellow snake streaking across the sky. Nobody around here worries about Hinkley.” Yeandle’s friend George Reeder, who works at the chandlery at Watchet, agreed. “Hinkley is a good thing. I would say that, I know, because my son works there. But this area needs those sort of good jobs.” Reeder pointed to the stationary harbourside crane. “Only me and one other person know how to work that now. Skills in engineering are being lost in this country. If we can get some of them back by creating jobs at places like Hinkley, that’s a good thing. It doesn’t matter where the money comes from.” West Somerset is a picture-postcard kind of place. Just inland from Hinkley are the rolling Quantock Hills; further west, past Watchet, Exmoor plunges into the sea. It is a landscape that inspired the romantic poets William Wordsworth and his friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who lived briefly in a cottage a few miles from where many thousands of tonnes of soil are now being moved to prepare the way for Hinkley C. “It’s beautiful,” said West Somerset council leader Anthony Trollope-Bellew, “but there are areas of hidden deprivation.” As far as the council is concerned, too many of its able, ambitious young people tend to move away to find well-paid, challenging jobs. Which is why West Somerset, neighbouring authorities and the Somerset Chamber of Commerce is working hard to make sure that local businesses – from bakers to skilled technicians – will benefit from the vast building project when Hinkley C gets the final go-ahead. Asked if he worried about Beijing being involved in West Somerset, Trollope-Bellew said: “That’s not in my remit. That’s for central government. But it will be used as a stick by the anti-nuclear lobby.” Sure enough, on the roundabout at the site’s gates, a hardy band of protesters had set up camp to protest against nuclear power in general – and Chinese involvement in particular. Nelly, a giant blow-up white elephant (borrowed from Friends of the Earth Scotland), poked its head above the camp fence. A poster stuck to Nelly’s side read, in Mandarin: “Nuclear power the wrong investment.” Protestor Theo Simon, from Shepton Mallet in Somerset, said it was deeply disturbing that the Chinese would be so closely involved with Hinkley. “George Osborne has had to go to China to get them to bail out this project, hitching our nuclear energy future to the Chinese state for 100 years,” he said. “We can have no confidence that will always be a good relationship, but they will be at the centre of our most hazardous electricity generation.” Another protestor, Nikki Clark, who lives down the road in Bridgwater, the nearest town to Hinkley, said she did not swallow the line that the project would create 25,000 jobs. “Most of those jobs will be short term. There may be 25,000 tasks to carry out, but there aren’t 25,000 sustainable, long-term jobs.” Simon and Clark claim opposition to Hinkley C is growing in the area. “We’ve had people come to us and tell us privately that they are against it, but can’t speak out because there are so many vested interests here,” said Simon. “We’ve been given more cakes and supplies than we can eat. That shows the level of support for us.” Up the road at the village of Nether Stowey, retired health managers Gordon and Margaret Alexander, 84 and 78 respectively, were admiring the flowers outside Coleridge’s old cottage. “I think it’s disgusting that Chinese money is being used,” said Margaret. “Why can’t our government find the money?” her husband said. He would much rather money be ploughed into renewable energy sources. “We’re storing up problems for future generations,” he said. Nether Stowey butcher Andrew Pope, who lives on a farm next door to the site, was more relaxed. “You grow up with Hinkley, you get used to it. My father used to work there, and I know loads of people who are still there. The new plant will be good for business, good for the area. Yes, it does seem strange to think of Chinese investment coming in, but that’s the way of the world now. We’ve just got to get on with it.” | ['business/energy-industry', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'business/business', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/stevenmorris'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2015-10-21T15:30:01Z | true | ENERGY |
uk-news/2017/aug/02/birmingham-residents-collect-rubbish-strike | Birmingham residents start collecting their own rubbish | Volunteers in Birmingham will hit the streets in a tipper truck on Wednesday as they attempt to clean the area of rubbish which has been piling up because of a refuse collectors’ strike. Workers began a series of walkouts on 30 June after an industrial dispute between unions and Birmingham city council over job losses. The walkouts were initially for two hours a day, although the time was extended by an hour a day. Strike action is due to continue until September. Residents have begun collecting rubbish in Balsall Heath and neighbouring Small Heath. Naveed Sadiq from Bearded Broz, a group set up and run by volunteers from the Muslim community in Birmingham, is working with Balsall Heath Forum to collect waste on Wednesday at 6pm. Sadiq said: “[Balsall Heath Forum] have a tipper truck and I came up with the initiative … this is getting out of hand really and someone needs to take ownership of this rubbish and we have decided to do that.” The garage owner added: “My attitude is that once this dispute [between the council and union] is over the rats will remain. If you are inviting rats into the area there will be a shedload of them … So the strike may end but rats will remain. There are bin bags lying all over and kids are walking around. It’s also a health and safety issue.” Abdullah Rehman, chief executive of Balsall Heath Forum, said: “If you could walk these streets now … on the road on the left there’s piles of bags. Further down the road there are rubbish bags open with nappies on the street. Apart from anything else it’s a health hazard.” Rehman said: “This is community-led and resident-led and the Balsall Heath Forum has always supported residents that are active and willing to step up.” Balsall Heath Forum has been given passes to allow them to drop waste at the council’s Redfern Road depot. The dispute between the council and refuse workers centres on claims restructuring plans threaten the jobs of more than 120 staff. The Unite union also claims that workers on £21,000 a year could face a pay cut of up to £5,000. The Labour-run council argues, however, that it plans to modernise the service and save £5m a year. Thousands have also signed a petition calling for a partial council tax refund due to a lack of refuse and recycling collections. Conservative councillor Alex Yip launched the petition, which so far has 4,648 signatures, after a lot of “annoyed and frustrated” residents contacted him. He said: “The beauty of the petition is the more people sign it, the stronger it is.” However, he agreed there was no right to a tax refund and that the petition was more symbolic. A Birmingham city council spokesperson said: “We have continued to build on the clear-up work of last week – and by the end of today expect to have cleared half of the city’s streets. “Positive discussions are continuing to take place with the unions and we hope to be able to resolve this sooner rather than later. This has always been about delivering a reliable, efficient and value for money waste collection services in the city. “We will work through the remaining areas in the coming days to tackle the backlog and get collections back on track. We fully appreciate this has been a frustrating time for Birmingham citizens and we thank them for their ongoing patience as we seek to resolve the dispute with the unions as quickly as possible. “We would also stress that changes to the service involve no job losses, no cuts to basic salary and 220 permanent new jobs.” | ['uk/birmingham', 'uk/uk', 'uk-news/industrial-action', 'society/policy', 'society/society', 'environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'society/localgovernment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/sarah-marsh', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-08-02T12:33:21Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
sport/2010/oct/06/gareth-thomas-wales-italy-wrexham | Gareth Thomas scores on Test debut but Wales are beaten by Italy | Gareth Thomas scored a try with his second touch as a dual code international but his Wales rugby league debut ended in a surprise 13-6 defeat by Italy in Wrexham tonight. The former Wales and Lions rugby union captain, who was making his first appearance since suffering a groin injury more than two months ago, slid over for the game's first try. He was substituted after half an hour, in order to ensure his fitness for the first game of Wales's Alitalia European Cup campaign, against Scotland in Glasgow on Sunday. The Wales coach, Iestyn Harris, treated the game as a development exercise by resting many of his senior players. A determined and enterprising Italy team pulled level at half-time through a Christophe Caligari try that was converted by Josh Mantellato. Ben Falcone surged over in the 61st minute and Ben Stewart kicked a late drop goal to secure a significant win for the Italians. "The crazy thing is I never thought I would pull on the Wales shirt again when I retired from international rugby union," said Thomas. "So to be given this opportunity was so special, especially in a team when you're surrounded by a lot of kids at various stages of their development and were so proud to wear the Wales badge." Harris said: "I think it says a lot for the progress we're making in Wales that we could take on an Italy side with a lot of experience in Australia with nine or 10 kids of under 19. Lee Briers, the experienced Warrington half-back who won the Lance Todd Trophy as man of the match in the Wolves' Challenge Cup final victory over Leeds, will take over the captaincy in Scotland, when Wales begin their bid to qualify for a crack at England in next autumn's Four Nations series. | ['sport/gareth-thomas', 'sport/wales-rugby-league-team', 'sport/rugbyleague', 'sport/sport', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/andywilson'] | sport/wales-rugby-league-team | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2010-10-06T21:36:34Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2019/jul/12/us-philanthropists-vow-to-raise-millions-for-climate-activists | US philanthropists vow to raise millions for climate activists | A group of wealthy US philanthropists and investors have donated almost half a million pounds to support the grassroots movement Extinction Rebellion and school strike groups – with the promise of tens of millions more in the months ahead. Trevor Neilson, an investor and philanthropist who has worked with some of the world’s richest families, has teamed up with Rory Kennedy – daughter of Robert Kennedy – and Aileen Getty, whose family wealth comes from the oil industry, to launch the Climate Emergency Fund. Neilson, who has worked with figures such as Bill Gates and Richard Branson, said the fund was inspired by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg and the Extinction Rebellion protesters in the UK in April. Neilson said the three founders were using their contacts among the global mega-rich to get “a hundred times” more in the weeks and months ahead. “This might be the single best chance we have to stop the greatest emergency we have ever faced,” he told the Guardian. The new fund has the author and environmentalist Bill McKibben, who set up 350.org, and David Wallace Wells, who wrote international best seller Uninhabitable Earth, on its advisory board. The money will initially be used to support school strike and Extinction Rebellion groups in the US, but will also be available to help “seed” similar groups around the world. It offers tiers of funding to support different-sized groups, from teenage activists wanting money for leaflets and megaphones, to funding for salaries and offices for established groups in big cities. It has already committed some of the fund to support Extinction Rebellion groups in New York and Los Angeles. Neilson, who co-founded investment company IX investments, said although he had been a longtime backer of environmental projects, it was only when he was forced to flee his house in California last year during a wildfire that he realised that radical action was needed. “Something about throwing my two-year-old and wife in the car and evacuating from the worst fire in the history of southern California brought the issue into a new type of focus,” he said. He said the new fund would back non-violent legal action.“It will provide resources to grassroots activists who seek to disrupt in a non-violent way [and] to demand that governments declare a climate emergency and put in place policies to address this crisis.” He said that most “of the world’s biggest philanthropists are still in a gradualist mindset”, adding: “We do not have time for gradualism.” “History shows us that change comes from the people. It is grassroots movements throughout history that force governments to act when government is resistant.” A spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion welcomed the move, saying: “It’s a signal that we are coming to a tipping point. In the past, philanthropy has often been about personal interest, but now people are realising that we are all in this together and putting their money forward for our collective wellbeing.” | ['environment/environment', 'environment/extinction-rebellion', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/matthewtaylor', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/extinction-rebellion | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2019-07-12T07:00:17Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
world/2016/oct/14/haiti-cholera-hurricane-matthew-aid-agencies | Haiti faces fresh cholera outbreak after Hurricane Matthew, aid agencies fear | Cholera is surging in Haiti after Hurricane Matthew fouled wells, flooded rivers and latrines and forced survivors to drink contaminated storm water – even in regions that have received some deliveries of emergency aid. Less than two weeks after the earthquake, at least 200 suspected new cases of cholera have been detected in the country, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which is sending 1m cholera vaccines to Haiti at the end of this week. Aid agencies fear that without a major effort by the international community, survivors of the storm will face a fresh outbreak of the disease. “There will be many more cases of cholera, and unnecessary deaths, all across areas affected by the hurricane if large-scale cholera treatment and prevention response doesn’t reach them immediately,” said Conor Shapiro, president and CEO of the St Boniface Haiti Foundation, which operates a hospital in the southern part of Haiti. Hurricane Matthew killed at least 473 people, and 752 people are missing, according to the United Nations’ latest tally. And if access to food, water and shelter does not improve immediately, the death toll is expected to increase. In its wake, the hurricane left pools of stagnant water, overflowing rivers and dead bodies – creating a breeding ground for the waterborne disease. In the worst-hit regions, efforts to deliver water treatment equipment have been hampered by debris that still blocks roads. And even those places that have received support have reported “huge” shortages of clean drinking water, forcing people to drink stormwater, said Beatrice Lindstrom, staff attorney at the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH). “It’s a race against time,” she said. Lindstrom’s group has led a campaign to hold the UN accountable for its role in the cholera outbreak that hit nine months after the January 2010 earthquake. The disease was previously unknown in Haiti, and overwhelming evidence suggests that it was introduced to the country by UN peacekeepers from Nepal. More than 9,200 people have since died from cholera and more than 769,000 have been treated in hospitals for the disease – and Lindstrom said that the hurricane has prompted fears of a fresh epidemic. “In the first month after cholera broke out, after the earthquake, a thousand people were impacted,” said Lindstrom. “We’re really afraid that the same thing will happen in this situation – it just seems like access to water is already so, so limited.” Those seeking treatment for the disease must confront a depleted healthcare system – a quarter of Haiti’s healthcare facilities, including cholera treatment centers, have been destroyed. “What Matthew didn’t kill, cholera and infections are going to. Infections are coming in,” said the Haitian Health Foundation country director, Nadesha Mijoba, speaking from Jérémie, a city of 30,000 that was hit by the full force of the category 4 hurricane. The foundation serves Jérémie and 105 nearby mountain villages and is sending weekly food dispatches to 15 local orphanages, which have no refrigeration or storage. Of the foundation’s 184 staff members, 130 were made homeless by the hurricane. “The situation was not easy after the earthquake, and with Hurricane Matthew, the situation has become more critical,” said Marie Thérèse Frédérique Jean Pierre, the Haiti director for children’s humanitarian group, Plan International. In some places, 80% of the roofs have been lost, and 100% of the crops – which are grown primarily to feed the people who harvest them – have been destroyed. “The devastation will have a direct consequence on the population [and] will increase the malnutrition problems, mainly for children,” said Jean Pierre. “I’m not afraid to say it, but in another three, four months, Haitians are going to die of starvation,” Emmanuel Valcourt, a farmer in the south, told the Miami Herald. “I really don’t see how we’re going to rebuild. We don’t have the financial means. We don’t have a job that would have allowed us to have savings. The few animals that we had are all dead.” Jean-Luc Poncelet, a WHO representative in Haiti, said crop destruction in Haiti is particularly devastating because the food is grown by people to feed themselves. “That [food] has been washed away either by floods, and landslides and winds,” said Poncelet. He said that since only 10% of the country’s population was affected by the hurricane, recovery efforts and resources should be channeled through the country’s remaining population and institutions. “Channeling through institutions that exist in the country would be the most efficient,” Poncelet said. But amid these concerns about food and shelter, the threat of contaminated water reigns. “It really does seem like this is one of the most urgent situations that’s facing people after the hurricane,” said IJDH’s Lindstrom. “The reports we’re getting from the ground so far are pretty horrific. There are still a number of towns that are completely cut off from aid because they are so inaccessible by road and even the ones who are slowly getting aid in, there is a huge shortage of potable water,” she said. Plan International’s Jean Pierre said: “All our action through this emergency response will be to make sure children are safe and their families have some opportunities, some capacities to return to the normal life.” | ['world/haiti', 'world/hurricane-matthew', 'world/world', 'world/hurricanes', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/americas', 'society/cholera', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/amanda-holpuch', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-foreign'] | world/hurricane-matthew | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2016-10-14T10:00:33Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
us-news/2016/mar/11/republican-debate-miami-nine-things-we-learned-us-election | Nine things we learned from the Republican debate in Miami | The 12th Republican debate took place in Miami, Florida, on Thursday night. Here’s how it went down: It was a civil affair. Ted Cruz bopped Donald Trump a bit for giving money to Hillary Clinton. But gone were the peppery attacks of debates past. The debate was policy-heavy. Think trade, H1-B visas, social security, Common Core, the Islamic State, Israel, Tiananmen Square, climate change, Cuba policy, Iran, veterans affairs … Trump confirmed that former candidate Ben Carson would endorse him in the morning. Cruz and Marco Rubio distanced themselves from Trump on the question of assassinating the families of terrorism suspects, which Trump has proposed. The other two said they would not do that. “If we nominate Donald Trump, Hillary wins,” Cruz said. Trump suggested Republican rules for awarding the nomination based on a majority of delegates should be jettisoned. “I think that whoever gets the most delegates should win,” he said. Neither Rubio nor Ohio governor John Kasich would admit the extreme narrowness of his path to the nomination. “Math doesn’t tell the whole story in politics,” Kasich said. Rubio dismissed a human role in climate change: “Sure, the climate is changing,” he said. “There was never a time when the climate was not changing.” Asked about violence at his rallies, Trump said he did not condone it, but his supporters “have anger that’s unbelievable”. “They love this country,” he said. “They don’t like seeing bad trade deals.” | ['us-news/us-elections-2016', 'us-news/us-politics', 'us-news/us-news', 'us-news/republicans', 'us-news/us-foreign-policy', 'us-news/usdomesticpolicy', 'us-news/donaldtrump', 'us-news/ted-cruz', 'us-news/marco-rubio', 'us-news/john-kasich', 'environment/climate-change-scepticism', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'type/article', 'tone/analysis', 'profile/tommccarthy'] | environment/climate-change-scepticism | CLIMATE_DENIAL | 2016-03-11T05:28:42Z | true | CLIMATE_DENIAL |
commentisfree/2023/sep/07/the-guardian-view-on-electric-vehicles-uk-boom-could-run-out-of-juice-before-it-begins | The Guardian view on electric vehicles: UK boom could run out of juice before it begins | Editorial | Rishi Sunak’s decision this summer to keep the government’s target to ban petrol and diesel cars by 2030 was the easy bit. The hard stuff has barely been tackled. There is no feasible way to decarbonise transport without electric vehicles (EVs), which don’t spew out greenhouse gases. The good news is that the UK’s only dedicated manufacturing plant for EVs opened on Thursday and more than one in five new cars registered last month were electric. Transport & Environment, a European thinktank, estimates that by 2025 a new EV will cost the same as a petrol or diesel car. Yet the infrastructure needed to support the growth in EVs is falling behind the pace demanded to meet government targets. The country currently has one public standard charger for every 36 plug-in cars on the road, down from 31 in 2021. The National Infrastructure Commission warned this March that the government would substantially miss its decade-end target of 300,000 chargers by 2030. Ministers will point to the 180 new chargers opened on Thursday near Birmingham as progress, but it is painfully slow. Car owners without a driveway need public charging stations to keep batteries full. While in London there are 152 public charging points per 100,000 people, in England’s north-west the figure is just 39. Britain’s EV boom could run out of juice before it begins. The boss of the service station operator Moto, Ken McMeikan, warned this May that by 2030 “EV charging capacity will require an incredible twelve times as much energy as we currently use today”. New generating projects face lengthening queues before they can get online. A supplier asking for a grid connection today can expect to be offered one for some time between 2030 and 2038. Those drawing power face similar issues: an EV fast-charging point in Scotland could not be turned on owing to a delay in hooking up to the electricity grid. Part of the problem is how market mechanisms coordinate the necessary decarbonisation investments to transform society. To reach its emissions targets, virtually all UK transport will need to be greened. Incentivising electrification of public transport and bolstering its role as the backbone of city mobility systems will be essential to reduce congestion and improve air quality. E-bikes and e-scooters can trigger a move away from the use of private cars – but they only underline the growing electricity demand. The Common Wealth thinktank suggests that the national wealth fund which Labour plans to set up, initially capitalised with £8bn, could use its clout to ensure a more “democratic negotiation over which industries to prioritise and what plans or pathways to pursue”. The state will need to play a bigger role, because corralling animal spirits with light-touch regulation hasn’t yielded the required results. The pro-market argument falls down partly because its Tory proponents have lost their reputation for competence. Nowhere is this more evident than on green issues. But there is no exit from Earth, as this summer – the world’s hottest on record– surely attests. The transition from an economic system run on fossil fuels into a new metals-based one will see winners and losers. Established carmakers will rage against the dying of the light, by promoting alternative fuels and hoping to convince ambitious Conservative politicians to back them. But globally, EV sales grew more than 50% in 2022. The UK needs a government that is prepared to grasp the future, not champion the past. • This article was amended on 8 and 11 September 2023. An earlier version said that the new hub in Birmingham had 180 super-fast chargers. In fact, of the 180 new chargers only 30 are super-fast. The figures used in an earlier version were from April; these have been updated to statistics from July. Also, the ratio of chargers to vehicles is for standard chargers. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/electric-cars', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'technology/technology', 'politics/conservatives', 'type/article', 'tone/editorials', 'tone/comment', 'profile/editorial', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/opinion', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2023-09-07T17:31:01Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/2013/may/07/light-heat-energy-supply | Letters: More light and less heat over energy supply | Why is it necessary for those writing about the future UK energy situation like Michael Hanlon (Energy, not bribery, 2 May) to refer to "the lights going out"? The outcome is likely to be far less dramatic. It's quite correct that a great deal of old coal and nuclear capacity will be retired over the next few years. For the rest of this decade, that will be replaced by as much renewables as can be built (mostly wind) and gas. Most of the gas-fired power generation which is needed has already been built; around 4GW is currently not in operation because it is unprofitable and most of the rest is running at far lower load factors than in previous years. If "the lights threaten to go out", existing gas-fired generation will run at higher load factors and more can quickly be built. Contrary to Mr Hanlon's assertion, this is unlikely to leave consumers "at the mercy of Russia and Kazakhstan" (neither of which supply the UK with any significant volumes of gas); but there will be increased dependence on Norway, Netherlands, Qatar and perhaps the US. Towards the end of the decade, the UK may produce some shale gas if drilling and fracking prove to be environmentally acceptable; the volumes will not be great and are unlikely to be "cheap" in comparison to imports. Post 2020, other carbon (with carbon capture and storage) and non-carbon generation options may become available, including increased production of shale gas. Outcomes will depend on costs, and costs will be affected by environmental acceptability and carbon pricing. The future of the UK power sector over the next decade has already been determined: wind and gas may not be the best possible option, but it is far from the worst, in relation to costs and carbon emissions. Apologies for the lack of apocalyptic or visionary sentiments about our future energy situation, but these are simply obscuring rather than illuminating the debate. Professor Jonathan Stern Chairman and senior research fellow, natural gas research programme, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies | ['environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'tone/letters', 'business/energy-industry', 'business/business', 'technology/energy', 'technology/technology', 'business/gas', 'environment/gas', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2013-05-07T20:00:04Z | true | ENERGY |
australia-news/2024/feb/27/victoria-fires-bushfires-evacuations-warnings-extreme-danger-ballarat-ararat | Victoria fires: more than 30,000 evacuations urged ahead of Wednesday’s bushfire risk | More than 30,000 Victorians have been urged to leave their homes ahead of what authorities fear could be the worst fire day for the state in four years, with temperatures forecast to reach the mid 40s in some areas. Authorities on Tuesday urged people living in a potential fire impact zone between Ballarat and Ararat, in Victoria’s west, to leave their homes overnight or by Wednesday morning. Victoria’s Emergency Management commissioner, Rick Nugent, said about 30,000 people in the area, including in the towns of Amphitheatre, Beaufort, Clunes, Elmhurst, Lexton, Glenbrae and Learmonth, would be notified via text message on Tuesday to leave. He said hot and windy conditions forecast for Wednesday would probably cause an exisiting bushfire at Bayindeen, north-west of Ballarat, to spread, potentially affecting the towns. “Fire, spot fires and ember attack are quite possible in these areas; these could result in loss of homes, closure of roads and isolating [of] communities,” Nugent told reporters. “If you are located in these areas, we ask you to leave.” Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Nugent said the Bayindeen bushfire had burnt through 21,300 hectares, and destroyed six homes and 10 outbuildings since it started on Thursday. “Its devastating for families to lose all of those possessions but they can be replaced; a life can’t,” he said. “This is all about saving lives.” Two relief centres have been set up in Ararat and Maryborough for people planning to leave, while residents of aged care communities in the area and all prisoners from the Langi Kal Kal prison have already been evacuated. Nugent said anyone in bushfire risk areas in the Wimmera region in the state’s west, which now has a catastrophic fire danger rating, or the five other regions where an extreme fire danger is forecast should also consider leaving. “Essentially, half of our state is in our high fire danger rating tomorrow,” he said. “If you are in a bushfire risk area, please leave and leave early.” The Country Fire Authority’s chief officer, Jason Heffernan, said any fire that begins in the Wimmera on Wednesday could become “uncontrolled very quickly”. “No homes are designed to withstand those catastrophic conditions,” he said. The premier, Jacinta Allan, said Wednesday would be “incredibly difficult” with temperatures soaring to the mid-40s in north-west Victoria, and to the high 30s and low 40s for the rest of the state. An afternoon cool change was predicted to bring wind gusts of up to 80km/h and dry lightning. “Tomorrow is likely to be one of the most dangerous fire days Victoria has experienced in recent years,” she said. About 110 firefighters from New South Wales have been deployed to Ballarat and Halls Gap, alongside thousands of Victorian firefighters and more than 60 aircraft. Allan said about 100 schools and early childhood facilities will close on Wednesday as a precaution, with the department to notify affected families. In Melbourne, the mercury is expected to reach 38C on Wednesday, with north to north-easterly winds of up to 50km/h shifting west to south westerly in the late evening. There is a chance of a thunderstorm in the afternoon and evening but authorities do not expect to see a repeat of the destructive storms that left more than half a million homes without power in Victoria. The energy minister, Lily D’Amrobosio, on Tuesday announced longtime consumer advocate Rosemary Sinclair would chair a review into the response by energy companies to the storm. Gerard Brody, the former chief executive of the Consumer Action Law Centre, and Kevin Kehl, former electrical engineer and executive leader at Powerlink Queensland and Energy, are also on the panel, which is expected to deliver an interim report to the minister in June and final report in August 2024. | ['australia-news/victoria', 'world/wildfires', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/benita-kolovos', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-state-news'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2024-02-27T04:15:58Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2024/mar/07/investigation-into-logging-on-kangaroo-island-under-way-after-release-of-horrific-images-of-dead-koalas | Investigation into logging on Kangaroo Island under way after release of ‘horrific images’ of dead koalas | Government and RSPCA inspectors are investigating the logging of blue gum plantations on Kangaroo Island after the release of what the South Australian deputy premier described as “horrific” images of koalas allegedly being killed and injured. Logging has been stopped while the investigation takes place. It follows Guardian Australia publishing photos of seriously injured and dead koalas, and the Seven Network airing footage of koalas clinging to and being thrown from falling blue gums. Ex-employees of the company managing the plantation estate, Australian Agribusiness Group, said they tried to save at least 40 injured koalas and saw about 20 that had been killed as the plantations were cleared for agricultural use. Speaking on condition of anonymity, they alleged that some of the company’s workers appeared to disregard instructions to leave standing trees that had been marked by trained spotters as containing koalas. The ex-employees and the president of the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Network, Katie Welz, described injuries including broken skulls, jaws, arms and hips. The South Australian deputy premier and environment minister, Susan Close, told SA parliament that “we have all been shocked by the horrific images of koalas in blue gum plantations on Kangaroo Island being injured as a result of timber harvesting operations”. On Thursday, she said she had introduced a regulation requiring companies that wanted to clear Kangaroo Island plantations to have a new koala management plan. She said that meant Australian Agribusiness Group had to stop “until they have satisfied me that they’ve got the appropriate approach”. “We expect them to be able to return to their clearances as long as they are doing it in a way that doesn’t put koalas at risk,” she said. Close said the department had re-opened an investigation into koala welfare that began in 2021, but was closed because it found no evidence of “non-compliant activities”. Investigators from the Department for Environment and Water and the RSPCA visited Kangaroo Island on Thursday. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Interviewed on ABC local radio, Close said seeing the “distress and pain” of the koalas had been “absolutely appalling”. “I think everyone is horrified by seeing animals suffering like that,” she said. In a statement, Australian Agribusiness Group earlier said it had paused logging so harvest and wildlife protection teams could discuss how it could further improve its practices. “Out of these discussions, our teams resolved to further increase their efforts with greater vigilance across all our workers, including additional koala spotting resources, to provide a greater focus on the protection of the local animal population,” a spokesperson for the company said. The company, which is contracted by land owners Kiland Ltd to manage the plantation estate, said it was working in accordance with agreed environmental land management practices, including an approved koala management plan. It said its spotters had identified and protected 4,000 koalas over the past 15 months, and left a cluster of nine trees when a koala was spotted as was protocol. “We are operating well beyond what is considered best practice for wildlife management,” the spokesperson said. “Unfortunately some of the facts associated with our practices have been lost in the recent criticism.” Australian Agribusiness Group is a separate and unrelated company to Australian Agribusiness (Holdings) Pty Ltd. The latter company is not the subject of any of the allegations raised. Asked on ABC radio to comment on Australian Agribusiness Group’s statement that it was operating well beyond best practice, Close said: “ We’ve all seen the video. I’m not sure if they think that is beyond best practice.” Also speaking on the ABC, the South Australian opposition leader, David Speirs, said the Liberal party supported the regulation change. He said the incident had created “not just a national scandal, but an international scandal”. “I had my cousin contact me about this from Scotland last night and say ‘what are you guys doing with your koalas’. It’s creating a lot of embarrassment … It’s just shocking,” he said. Spiers said the idea that koalas could be protected by leaving just a cluster of nine trees on an otherwise cleared landscape was “quite bizarre in my view”. Koala welfare is a contentious issue on Kangaroo Island. While the marsupial is listed as endangered by extinction in New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT, it was considered a pest on Kangaroo Island before the catastrophic impact of the black summer bushfires, which burned half the island. The species was introduced to the island a century ago and the population grew to more than 50,000 – a level scientists considered unsustainable – until the fires reduced it to about 15,000, including an estimated 3,000 in blue gum plantations. Kiland’s 18,000 hectares (44,500 acres) of plantations on Kangaroo Island were badly damaged during the fires, and the blue gums are being removed in part because they are considered a high fire risk. Welz said the wildlife network did not believe the plantations should be left standing, but they should not be logged until a koala management plan was introduced. She said she had written to Close and the department about the issue last year, but nothing had changed until the pictures became public. South Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said logging should be paused until there had been an independent investigation and the koalas were protected. “It’s disappointing to hear this issue was raised with state Labor last year, but that little has been done,” she said. | ['environment/wildlife', 'world/animal-welfare', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/environment', 'environment/endangeredspecies', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'environment/logging-and-land-clearing', 'australia-news/south-australia', 'campaign/email/afternoon-update', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/adam-morton', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/logging-and-land-clearing | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-03-07T06:54:08Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2018/dec/19/retail-gloom-is-good-news-for-the-environment | Retail gloom is good news for the environment | Letters | You warn of the fears of the wilting economy (More retail gloom as Asos warns on profits, 18 December), quite rightly the main concern at the moment being the loss of jobs. The loss of share value and company profits are also mentioned. But nowhere do you discuss this in the wider terms of climate change. If the downturn in the economy means that there is less consumerism, then that is a good thing for the planet. The only way we are going to tackle the rising temperature and the ensuing disastrous results is to live simpler lifestyles; this means consuming much less of everything and not being so dependent on a capitalist society where a drop in sales is seen as a disaster. It is sad that it has taken the mismanagement of this government to reduce consumerism; but more needs to be done with regard to education, enforcement and information about the effects of shipping produce all around the world. Until a drop in the retail market is seen as a benefit, there is no hope. Jackie Jones Brighton • Michael Gove’s proposals for waste (Packaging producers to pay full recycling costs under waste scheme, 18 December) could progress faster, but they are welcome. However, the processing of currently non-recyclable plastic is not properly addressed. This is “all the other plastic crap that we burn”, as a senior manager in the recycling industry once told me. Included in this are toothpaste tubes, used Biros, crisp and chocolate wrappers, bits of toys, disposable razors, “string” bags for satsumas and onions etc. Every kilo burned creates three kilos of CO2, but it’s technically recyclable using a process called pyrolysis, which takes any plastic waste and converts it into diesel fuel or new plastic. The items are small; scaled up, the volume is large. I have filled a two-litre drinks bottle every week. In developing countries, people cram it into plastic bottles with a stick to make ecobricks for construction. There’s limited potential for these as building material in the UK, but they could be brought into our recycling stream. I’m doubtful that current sorting processes can extract these bits and pieces, but if households were to change their habits and always have a plastic bottle on the go, they could be collected weekly as a clean source of renewable material that is easy to handle. Furthermore, children love doing it. Schools could make it part of every school day and receive incentives or rewards for the carbon captured and hydrocarbon reused. The environmental lesson would be of immense value. Patrick Cosgrove Chapel Lawn, Shropshire • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters • Do you have a photo you’d like to share with Guardian readers? Click here to upload it and we’ll publish the best submissions in the letters spread of our print edition | ['environment/environment', 'business/retail', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/waste', 'business/business', 'uk/uk', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'tone/letters', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-12-19T17:59:35Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
commentisfree/2015/aug/18/an-expanded-nuclear-industry-in-south-australia-makes-no-economic-sense | An expanded nuclear industry in South Australia makes no economic sense | Richard Denniss | The South Australian government is conducting a royal commission into expanding the nuclear industry in the state. If the pro-nuclear positions taken by the majority of the commission’s advisory committee are anything to go by, this would mean two things: expensive nuclear power, and expensive nuclear waste. The economic case for nuclear power is already shaky. Respected financial advisory firm Lazard recently gave their assessment of the unsubsidised cost of energy. They found that existing renewable and gas technologies are already cheaper than nuclear power. And while renewables are getting cheaper, new nuclear builds are getting more expensive. Flagship projects in the US and Europe are suffering from chronic cost overruns, while the UK’s Hinkley Point C project is in doubt, despite the UK government signing a 35-year deal to buy electricity at nearly twice the current market rate. Some, like Senator Sean Edwards, hope that other countries will pay Australia to take their waste. They then hope to build so-called “fourth generation” reactors which can burn other countries’ waste as fuel. In effect, Senator Edwards thinks we could get fuel for less than nothing. Fourth generation reactors look great on paper, but on paper is the only place you will see them. Despite industry hopes of greater safety and the ability to reduce waste to more manageable levels, none have been built. Should Australia be the first? For one of those lucky countries without high level nuclear waste, this seems like an extraordinary step to make. We would give ourselves a waste problem in the hope that we, unlike everyone else, could solve it – like a person who takes up smoking just to prove they can quit. While fourth generation reactors, if they work, could take existing stockpiles requiring 10,000 years of safe storage, and reduce it to waste requiring only 500 years, this does not eliminate the problem. A solution would still need to be found that lasted 500 years. Unlike existing nuclear nations, Australia would not be reducing an existing problem. We would be creating a new one. Can we safely secure waste for centuries? Unfortunately international experience suggests not. Multiple facilities designed to last thousands of years have already failed in mere decades. How certain are we that we can do it better than, for example, Germany and the US? The spruikers of the idea that the brightest future for South Australia is a nuclear waste dump have suggested it will provide “free electricity”. Like all magic pudding solutions to complicated problems, the idea simply doesn’t stack up. After 50 years of nuclear power there is no shortage of nuclear waste in the world. Countries with that waste currently spend a lot of money storing it and the magic pudding merchants argue that South Australia could get rich from it. But let’s think this through. If nuclear waste is actually a “resource” then why would the countries that have piles of the stuff pay us to take it away? If fourth generation reactors are really so cheap and easy to build then why don’t the people with established nuclear industries and “waste resources” build one themselves? And if South Australia could succeed from scratch where experienced hands have failed then why wouldn’t the countries with all of the waste build one after South Australia spent a fortune finding out how it is done? Surely even Senator Edwards can understand that if fourth generation reactors could be built then the obvious place to build them would be right next to existing waste stockpiles. Exporting nuclear waste from most counties is illegal, as well as extremely dangerous and expensive. The cost of renewable energy is falling as fast today as the cost of mobile phone fell a decade ago. As demand for renewables increases so too does the rate of innovation. But just as the world is reaching a tipping point in which the costs of renewables with storage is lower than the cost of coal some techno-optimists have managed to convince South Australians to instead bet on nuclear technology even as the rest of the world is walking away from its risk and cost. No one set out to cause climate change. But 100 years ago no one could have imagined that we would build enough coal fired power stations to heat the globe. Giving the fossil fuel industry free “waste disposal” services was the same as giving them a big subsidy. It wasn’t deliberate but it was a mistake. Today the South Australian government is seriously considering jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. While people a century ago didn’t know about the risks of polluting the atmosphere when burning coal, policy makers today know exactly the risks of storing nuclear waste. The idea that the South Australian taxpayer should underwrite the cost of a nuclear waste dump, underwrite the cost of a nuclear power station, and then provide both with “free” insurance is as bizarre as it is expensive. Unlike building coal fired power stations in the past, it would be a deliberate mistake. The Australia Institute’s full submission to the South Australian nuclear fuel cycle royal commission is available here. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'australia-news/south-australia', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/south-australian-politics', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/richard-denniss'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2015-08-17T22:00:17Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2021/sep/02/extinction-rebellion-protesters-break-bail-terms-for-city-protest | Extinction Rebellion protesters break bail terms for City protest | Dozens of Extinction Rebellion activists have carried out a mass act of non-violent civil disobedience by breaking bail conditions ordering them to stay away from the City of London financial district. The activists joined with hundreds of supporters in a low-key rally outside the Bank of England on Thursday afternoon, listening to speeches from a mobile sound system. XR said they had targeted the Bank because of its new remit to take environmental sustainability into account in its activities, and that protesters were willing to stay until its governor and the prime minister declared an end to all new fossil fuel funding. Those breaking bail advertised their civil disobedience with signs bearing messages such as “arrested for sitting in a road”, “arrested for conspiracy to commit climate justice” and “arrested for caring about my grandchildren”. Among them was Etienne Stott, who won gold in the canoe slalom for Britain in the 2012 London Olympics. He gave a speech publicly telling the crowd he was breaking the law by violating the conditions of his bail. He told the Guardian: “I’m fed up of being criminalised for acting for the future of all life on Earth in a peaceful, disobedient and responsible way, and it feels quite wrong that I’ve been criminalised for doing what’s so logically and obviously the right thing, given the emergency situation that we are in. “It seems to me completely sensible that our government stops its fossil fuel investments immediately, and yet I know they have got plans for a new oilfield in Shetland [and] a coalmine that’s in train. “It’s just so wrong. It’s the height of stupidity; it’s madness.” Angie Zelter, 70, the veteran peace campaigner, sat outside the entrance to the Bank, which was guarded by eight Metropolitan police officers. She said she had told them she was not going to move until Andrew Bailey, the governor, came out to meet her. Zelter, from Powys, Wales, said her bail conditions banning her from the City were unreasonable. “We are peacefully demonstrating for one of the most urgent issues that the globe has ever faced,” she said. “We are totally peaceful and non-violent and we need to be here, and the police should be on our side.” Asked whether she was worried she would be arrested, Zelter said: “I’ve been arrested over 200 times in many different countries, I don’t think one more time is going to make much of a difference.” Simon Milner-Edwards, 64, from Manchester, had already been arrested four times during XR protests in the past fortnight, and ordered to leave the M25 area. “I still find it stunning that they are still trying to stop us protesting about this catastrophic climate crisis that the planet and humanity are facing,” he said. “It seems extraordinarily petty to arrest us for obstructing when we’ve just had a summer of fires and floods and a heat dome, all over the world, because of the climate crisis.” Also at the protest was Gail Bradbrook, the XR co-founder. She said: “We have no other power than our own personal sacrifice – today people are breaking bail in desperation as nature’s life support systems are breaking down. This is a plea to those with power at the Bank of England to take the actions that are needed to sustain life.” The City of London police said they were working with colleagues from the Metropolitan police to “minimise disruption”, and that all approaches to Bank junction were closed. Elsewhere in the City, activists from the HS2 Rebellion group scaled the seven-storey Tower Place West building, which houses the offices of Marsh, the insurance company that covers subcontractors on the multibillion-pound rail project. The two men locked themselves on to the first and second storeys of the building, with a banner saying: “Marsh Insurance Ditch HS2.” Another two activists who had been hoping to join the protest were foiled by police who stopped and searched them and found superglue, an HS2 Rebellion supporter told the news agency PA Media. A spokesperson for the protest said: “Essentially, we’re targeting the profiteers, the moneymakers, the facilitators behind these ecocidal infrastructural projects because without insurers protecting subcontractors, they wouldn’t be able to work on this. It’s all of our money which is disappearing into the pockets of people in the City who we don’t usually see or hear from.” XR has reached the penultimate day of its latest campaign of protest in the capital. As of Wednesday evening, 479 people had been arrested in connection with the protests for a variety of offences, according to the Metropolitan police. | ['environment/extinction-rebellion', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'business/bankofenglandgovernor', 'business/business', 'uk/uk', 'world/protest', 'uk/london', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damien-gayle', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/extinction-rebellion | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2021-09-02T17:44:43Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
media/pda/2008/may/30/guardianviralvideochart68 | Guardian Viral Video Chart | Someone in the Weezer marketing department (that'll be Interscope Records, then) decided the band needed a viral video hit and lo! The Pork and Beans video was born. It's a diverting homage to all things viral and it's all in there: Miss South Carolina, the Numa-Numa kid, the dramatic chipmunk (let's not have the debate, again, about whether it's a chipmunk or a prairie dog - who ever let fact get in the way of a decent viral?) I warrant this boyfriend is in serious trouble after covertly filming his girlfriend playing a hula-hoop level on the Nintendo Wii Fit in her underwear. Well, we've all been there. Viral spoof of the week: US basketball star Kobe Bryant jumps a very large pool of snakes. Or does he? And filed under 'truly bizarre' is this cover of Rihanna's Umbrella, apparently adapted to honour well-known Brazilian spiritualist and healer Inri Cristo. What do mean you've never heard of him? His glance reflects flames which shine deep in our hearts, of course! Guardian Viral Video Chart compiled by viralvideochart.com 1 Weezer: Pork and Beans Everyone's secret favourite alt-rock band dip into viral video history. 2 Kanye West - Flashing Lights Unofficial version of the official video. 3 Why every guy should buy their girlfriend Wii Fit Doghouse is not the word. 4 Android video live demo Intro and more If you get excited about mobile development systems, this one's for you. 5 Cell phone in microwave Part 449 in Really Kids, Do Not Try This At Home Unless You Want To Die. 6 Alones Japanese teeny rock animation, with words so you can sing along. 7 Kobe and the Jackass Crew Messing with snakes is just not cool. 8 MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU Very impressive on-street animation. 9 Fox News jokes about killing Obama Fox reaches new lows. 10 Android full touchscreen demo Demo of the compass mode in Google's mobile development platform. 11 The story of a sign Charming short film on the power of a few good words. 12 LawyerShop TV Premier: Stupid crook of the month This just has to be wind-up. 13 Adam and Eve I'm sure they would be proud. 14 Google Earth API More from this week's Google developers' conference. 15 Biggest drawing in the world Artists Erik Nordenanker dispatches a GPS unit around the world and traces its journey. 16 RZA as Bobby Digital: You can't stop me now Unofficial version of the official video. 17 Jessica Simpson: Come on over Unofficial version of the official video. 18 Mariah Carey pitches at Japanese baseball game As June Whitfield once said on Absolutely Fabulous: "See dear - not completely useless." 19 Coldplay: Violet Hill Unofficial version of the official video. 20 Inri Christo: Versão Mística de Umbrella The strangest thing I've seen on the internet in a long time, and that's saying something. Source: viralvideochart.com. Compiled from data gathered at 21:00 on 29 May 2008. The Weekly Viral Video Chart is currently based on a count of the embedded videos and links on approximately two million blogs. | ['media/pda', 'technology/series/viralvideochart', 'media/digital-media', 'technology/digitalvideo', 'technology/internet', 'technology/technology', 'tone/blog', 'media/media', 'media/media-blog', 'type/article', 'profile/jemimakiss'] | technology/digitalvideo | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2008-05-30T06:00:09Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2022/may/16/australian-authorities-to-buy-out-fisheries-citing-climate-crisis | Australian authorities to buy out fisheries, citing climate crisis | The federal government will spend $20m to buy out fisheries in Australia’s south-east in part because the climate crisis is affecting population numbers of some species, making current fishing levels unsustainable. The Australian Fisheries Management Authority will buy back vessel permits in the south-east trawl fishery, which is the largest commonwealth-managed fin fish fishery in Australia. It is the first time the authority has said it will conduct a buyout because of climate change and environmental factors, which are preventing the recovery of some populations. The government announced $24m in the March budget for a structural adjustment package for the fishery, the bulk of which is for the buyouts to try to ensure its long-term sustainability. The authority told a Senate hearing in April that it was particularly concerned about population numbers of four species – jackass morwong, redfish, john dory and silver trevally – whose numbers did not appear to be recovering despite being subject to low catch limits designed to address historic overfishing. The authority’s chief executive, Wez Norris, told the hearing that the large-scale closure of some operators was necessary, describing the magnitude of this step as “quite shocking”. The Greens healthy oceans spokesperson, Peter Whish-Wilson, said it marked “the first time we’re having a discussion about the impacts of climate change on fisheries and ultimately on exports and fishing communities”. “I think it’s long overdue because the climate impacts have been there for some time and there’s been a failure to acknowledge that in any formal sense,” he said. “To see a fishery essentially shut down over climate change, it’s a worrying precedent.” In the previous parliament, a Senate inquiry had been examining the management of quotas in Australia’s fishing industry. Whish-Wilson said he hoped the inquiry would continue in the next parliament and that it would explore both the planned buyouts in the south-east as well as any climate impacts that had already been quantified in Australia’s fisheries more broadly. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning A spokesperson for the authority said the 57 permits in the south-east trawl fishery were all eligible for buyout and the process for that was being determined. The spokesperson said the eastern Australian current had been warming, extending further down the coast and persisting for longer, which had caused some subtropical species to extend their range farther south but also pushed the northern range of some cold-water species southwards. Very low catch limits for species such as redfish had been aimed at enabling stocks to rebuild but these “do not appear to be recovering as anticipated”. The population of jackass morwong had also shown accelerated declines even though catch limits had been lowered. “It is now clear that limiting the catch of some species has not enabled them to rebuild or is not slowing their rate of decline … and that other factors [such as climate change] are impacting fish stocks within the south-east trawl fishery,” the spokesperson said. The Australian Marine Conservation Society expressed concern that management practices within the fishery were also a factor, alongside climate change, in the decline of some fish species. The AMCS’s sustainable seafood program manager, Adrian Meder, said the south-east trawl fishery was one that had benefited from an earlier buyout in 2005-06 aimed at addressing declining populations. He said since that time measures that would have improved scrutiny and detected overfishing – such as cameras on boats – had still not been introduced in the fishery. “Taxpayers might feel better about another big payout for this fishery if that concrete action had been taken already,” Meder said. “Any payout now must come with immediate and effective reform of the fishery and how it operates in a rapidly changing climate.” The South East Trawl Fishing Association said the 2005 reforms had moved the fishery “into a situation where no fish stock has been experiencing overfishing since”. The association’s executive officer, Simon Boag, said despite this there had not been an average jackass morwong recruitment (the arrival of baby fish into the fishery) in more than a decade. He said the buyout was a “tough move” but rebuilding fish populations would require fewer vessels in the fishery. “The only thing we can control is how much fish we take, in this case the current adjustment does just that – it will significantly lower the catch of jackass morwong,” he said. The authority’s spokesperson said all commonwealth fisheries, including the south-east trawl fishery, were managed in accordance with the government’s harvest policy, which ensured catch limits were set in line with scientific advice. “Application of the harvest strategy policy has provided transparent, reliable and consistent decision making, providing high levels of confidence that fishing has been occurring at sustainable levels,” the spokesperson said. | ['environment/fishing', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/environment', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/food', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'australia-news/victoria', 'australia-news/new-south-wales', 'australia-news/south-australia', 'australia-news/tasmania', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/lisa-cox', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-05-16T01:00:45Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2017/sep/11/hurricane-irma-caribbean-islands-evacuation | 'Not fit to live on': Chaos grips Caribbean islands days after Irma's rampage | Small Caribbean islands smashed by Hurricane Irma are in a state of chaos and rising panic, with unknown numbers of dead and injured and many still missing or stranded almost a week after the storm ripped through the region. Wide areas of the British Virgin Islands have been reduced to rubble, with rats swarming through damaged houses and raw sewage creating a health hazard, as many await evacuation to the larger island of Puerto Rico, to the west, which was less badly hit. Thousands of islanders are sharing sparse resources and trying to help stranded neighbors, but there have also been reports of looting and armed hold-ups amid the destruction. “It’s absolutely horrific,” said Sarah Thompson, a 38-year-old lawyer and resident of Tortola, the largest of the British Virgin Islands (BVI). “The island is not fit to live on. Planes and boats are needed to get people off. There was some limited evacuation yesterday, prioritizing those who are injured and most vulnerable, but many are still trying to find a way off the island,” she added. Thompson was on a trip to California when the hurricane hit the BVI and neighboring groups of islands with 185mph winds in a record category 5 storm late last Tuesday and into Wednesday. “There are people who cannot be accounted for. Many roads are totally blocked and people cannot get out of their houses. There has been some unrest, but it’s not clear [how much],” she said. Thompson was on a trip to California when the hurricane hit the BVI and neighboring groups of islands with 185mph winds in a record category 5 storm late last Tuesday and into Wednesday. “There are people who cannot be accounted for. Many roads are totally blocked and people cannot get out of their houses. There has been some unrest, but it’s not clear [how much],” she said. The islands are British overseas territory and the UK government in London has sent a Royal Navy vessel, troops and experts to the region to assist people in the BVI and other territories such as Turks and Caicos and Anguilla. Dutch and French authorities are sending personnel and aid to their overseas territories, such as Saint Martin. Many other islands, such as Barbuda, have seen most of their settlements and infrastructure obliterated. Olga Osadchaya, 33, a liquidation lawyer and resident of Tortola – the largest island in the BVI – was evacuated by her employer to San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Saturday. But she said many thousands of islanders were stranded and suffering. “I was privileged to have the option to leave and there are many who are not able to get out. Time is of the essence because of lack of sanitation and more rain coming, which could cause mud slides,” she said. As Osadchaya was leaving the BVI she saw the Royal Navy arriving with personnel, vehicles and helicopters, she said, but with many of the islands badly damaged there is still a large task ahead to get the emergency under control, she said. “Most people are helping each other, sharing supplies where they have them, but I am hearing about people running out of water and there are lots of people missing. Some friends of mine were held up for money by someone with a machete in what is left of their house,” she said. The small number of banks and some shops on Tortola have reportedly been looted and there is some panic about a breakdown in law and order and the growing risk of the outbreak of diseases, both Thompson and Osadchaya told the Guardian, citing communications with friends and family still on the island. Osadchaya said she understood that many inmates who had escaped from prison after the storm passed through had been recaptured by Monday, but not all. The BVI authorities have declared a curfew from 6pm to 6am. In a video message posted to Facebook, the BVI premier, Orlando Smith, said the islanders “have been shaken to our core” by the record storm and he was “heartbroken over the loss of life”. Five people are understood to have died in the BVI so far, but the known death toll is expected to rise as personnel reach areas isolated by flooding and debris. Communications were down across much of the BVI from Wednesday and there is now some patchy phone and internet function. The only power is from generators, with people running low on fuel to run them, Thompson said. She did not hear from her husband, Christian, who tried to weather the storm at their home on Tortola, from Wednesday until Saturday, when she learned he was safe, although their home is wrecked. “There is debris all over the island. There seems to be no information and people are running around like headless chickens. It looks like the government building in Tortola has been totalled, but there has to be some more coordination. People on the ground are starting to panic, and I can hear it in my husband’s voice,” said Thompson. Video from the BVI has shown that many wooden structures have been reduced to kindling, while many concrete buildings have been badly damaged and some have been destroyed. “People are talking about supplies going in, but there is a need to get stuff out. It’s well over 30C and it’s humid and dirty. Houses are not secure and there is raw sewage, rubbish and rotting food and there are rats and birds going into the houses,” said Thompson. | ['world/hurricane-irma', 'world/british-virgin-islands', 'weather/caribbean', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/hurricanes', 'weather/index/northandcentralamerica', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/joannawalters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-foreign'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2017-09-11T21:11:56Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
commentisfree/2014/dec/18/climate-change-droughts-flash-floods-mudslides-normal-california | We can't let climate change turn droughts, flash floods and mudslides into the new normal | Rep Michael Honda and Michael Shank | Between power outages, deluging rains, flash floods, mudslides and record droughts, California is quickly becoming unrecognizable – all the bellwethers of an ecosystem out of whack. Thanks to a rapidly changing climate making wet regions wetter and dry regions drier, 2014 will be the hottest year on record – and, if we’re not careful, the Bay Area’s recent #HellaStorm will soon become the norm. Everyone in the state knows the severity of the problem: we’re in the midst of our worst drought in 1,200 years; our winter snow pack, which provides approximately one-third of the state’s water supply, was at record lows in 2014; last winter’s weather was the warmest in the last 119 years; and ocean surface temperatures off the coast of California are at record highs. The wrath of a warming planet is being felt more powerfully than ever before. Unfortunately, within the halls of Congress and across California, there remains a misguided belief that we can legislate our way out of this drought. But short-term fixes like piping enough water from one locale to another or conservation and efficiency measures, won’t be sufficient to address urban and rural water shortages – and no amount of Pineapple Express rapid rainfall will fix the over-tapped and exhausted water supply. Both will be a mere drop in California’s near empty bucket. Furthermore, short-term fixes for this water crisis don’t address the long-term problem of climate change, which is causing this crisis and will undoubtedly cause more. This is not simply a California problem. California supplies nearly half of all U.S. fruits, vegetables, and nuts, so any drought directly impacts the diets of all Americans. And the state is not solely culpable for its own climate disaster, nor can it fix them by itself: heavy carbon dioxide emissions, whether from the East Coast or East Asia, are contributing to the extreme weather that California is now experiencing. The good news is that 2014, while being the hottest year on record, also saw unprecedented public and political support for action on climate change. Most Americans now recognize that climate change is happening, are willing to pay more for cleaner and greener energy, and are keen to vote for candidates who will take action on our climate. The 400,000-person People’s Climate March in New York, timed with the UN Climate Summit in September, illustrates the public’s appetite for aggressive action. Meanwhile, the historic US-China climate deal and the commitment by the European Union to reduce their emissions 40% by 2030, are excellent examples of worldwide leadership. Even in the halls of Congress – traditionally not the friendliest space for environmental policy – climate change is now a bipartisan, and both Republicans and Democrats are speaking out and taking action. There’s even a conservation-minded group of members of the Tea Party movement called the Green Tea Coalition pushing for more investment in solar power. The critical next steps to save California – and every other state of the union that will witness extreme weather in the coming years – from the effects of climate change requires work by federal, state, and local governments – and close coordination with the private sector. Achieving the US government’s goal of reducing emissions 80 percent by 2050 – which is necessary for us to survive this century – requires: a steady transition to renewable energy; a phase-out of dirty fossil fuels and the subsidies that support them; the pursuit of low-hanging conservation and efficiency initiatives in transportation, infrastructure, and utility sectors; and a national campaign to get the public thoroughly on board. There is no more patriotic pursuit than reversing climate change and its effects. Our national security depends on it, since climate change is a threat multiplier, making unstable regions even more insecure and potentially violent. Our health depends on it, as extreme weather is already killing thousands of Americans each year. Our economy depends on it, as myriad billion-dollar natural disasters are destroying our economic infrastructure and devastating industries. The time to act on climate is now – before another #HellaStorm becomes #HellaCommon. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'us-news/california', 'environment/drought', 'environment/flooding', 'us-news/us-congress', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/michael-honda', 'profile/michael-shank'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2014-12-18T18:39:48Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
global-development/2012/jun/15/rio20-voice-njombe-tanzania-headteacher | Rio+20: A voice from Njombe, Tanzania | Sustainable development is all about a long development plan of the country. The education sector is better now compared with 20 years ago, though there are big challenges, particularly the increases in pupil numbers. The availability of teaching equipment has been increasing at a low rate because of the big number of pupils and high prices that make it difficult for the government to meet. I don't know much about Rio+20. The best thing to help poor countries is to cancel this kind of meeting and direct the money to poverty-stricken countries instead. Will Rio make any difference to my life? Not at all. | ['global-development/environmental-sustainability', 'global-development/global-development', 'environment/rio-20-earth-summit', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'environment/sustainable-development', 'environment/environment', 'tone/interview', 'global-development/series/global-development-voices', 'type/article'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2012-06-15T09:19:21Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
global-development/2013/dec/17/haiti-solar-power-sustainable-electricity-solution | Haiti switches on to solar power as sustainable electricity solution | Rashmee Roshan Lall | Mirebalais is just an hour's drive north-east of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, but in terms of technological distance travelled, the town might as well be on another planet. On moonless nights, much of the capital is dark; its shacks and makeshift roadside stalls are lit only by flickering candles or small kerosene lamps. It could hardly be otherwise in a country where only about 20% of the 10 million population are estimated to have access to electricity, the lowest percentage in the Caribbean. But Mirebalais is home to a new, well-lit public hospital that can hum with activity round the clock. Seven months after the world's largest solar hospital opened its doors, its 1,800 rooftop solar panels have generated enough energy to charge more than 19,000 electric cars, run six surgical suites, attend to 60,029 patients and safely deliver more than 800 babies. "The number of deliveries is a pretty substantial fact considering that approximately three-fourths of women in rural Haiti give birth at home. The hospital is helping to meet a substantial unmet need," said Jeff Marvin, of Partners in Health, which built the Mirebalais facility in partnership with Haiti's health ministry. For Haiti, the hospital is a shining symbol of what the future might look like, powered by the island's plentiful sunshine. More than 60% of electricity generation is unsustainably based on imported diesel, mainly from Venezuela. The overwhelming majority of Haitians rely on charcoal and wood for fuel, contributing to rampant tree-felling that has reduced forest cover to the perilous level of 2%. The search for cleaner, greener alternatives has become increasingly urgent. This is driving an initiative to literally light up Haitian lives, especially in poor off-grid areas such as the camps that sprang up around Port-au-Prince after the devastating 2010 earthquake, as well as deep in the rural hinterland. A consignment of 12,000 WakaWakas (Swahili for shine bright) solar lamps, made by a Dutch company, arrived in October after a 10-month "buy one, give one" campaign, mainly in the US. They are being distributed free or for symbolic recompense in the form of community service through a network of non-governmental organisations identified with help from the Clinton Global Initiative. "This is the biggest endeavour that has brought high-quality personal, portable and self-sufficient solar LED lighting to Haitian families," said Elanna Veldkamp, of Off-Grid Solutions, which manufactures the lamps in China. "The scale of this campaign provides for a real and lasting change." It is a bold claim, but even sceptics with experience of similar, if scattered, smaller-scale solar initiatives agree there is one crucial difference – the plan to make the WakaWaka lamps in Haiti. Veldkamp said the Haitian government's enthusiasm led to a memorandum of understanding in June for large-scale local assembly, and eventually local manufacture, of the products. If WakaWaka's plans for local manufacture work out, it could be a crucial turning point. "Solar lamps are old news and the majority sold around the world have been subsidised after manufacture in China," said Patrick Delaney, an American engineer who sold 10,000 solar lamps in Haiti, Nicaragua, Panama and a clutch of African countries through his largely self-financed non-profit company. But even he agrees that local manufacture might upscale the sustainable provision of lamps across Haiti's hinterland. "What's new in 2013 is that wages are rising in China, less stuff will be manufactured there, so helping the local economy in Haiti by manufacturing them here would be the way to go," he said. Already, the WakaWakas are making a huge difference, says John Winings of the Comprehensive Development Project (Codep), which plants 1m trees a year in Léogâne, west of Port-au-Prince. Codep has received about 1,200 WakaWaka lamps for its 1,400-strong community and as payment it will plant an extra 50,000 trees this year. Winings said it was a bargain. "A personal solar light suits Haitian cultural proclivities. Solar power-generating plates are very easily stolen. Instead, you want something that you can use and put inside at night." For Olkins Antoine, 19, a student from Cité Soleil, one of the capital's tougher neighbourhoods, the lamp means a lot. "Now I can see my way when I walk home at night … If someone tries to mug me, I can blind him with my light and run away. And, best of all, I can study for my exams – even after 5pm when it gets dark," he said. Solar energy is definitely the future for Haiti, says Daniel Schnitzer, whose non-profit EarthSpark International plans to expand the country's first prepay micro grid with a 100-kilowatt solar power system to cover all of Les Anglais town centre in southern Haiti by June. Though Schnitzer is talking about large solar installations – 25 micro grids nationwide, with the Haitian government's blessing– his Eneji Pwop brand (clean energy in Creole) plans to stock WakaWakas for sale as well. The outlook for solar-powered solutions may have just got brighter. | ['global-development/global-development', 'environment/solarpower', 'world/haiti', 'world/americas', 'world/world', 'environment/energy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/environment', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'profile/rashmee-roshan-lall', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2013-12-17T15:08:12Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2016/may/02/blocking-highs-and-jet-stream-kinks | Blocking highs and jet stream kinks | New studies suggest that the weather in far off Greenland, one of the fastest warming parts of the Earth, is affecting the rainfall patterns in Britain. This is linked to the extremely wet summers of 2007 and 2012. Sheffield University, checking data back to 1851, found that since the 1980s there has been an increase in the number of summer high pressure blocking systems that become anchored over this vast island ice sheet. The result has been to drag warm air over Greenland causing melting on a much-increased scale. This is bad news for sea level rise everywhere, but additionally for Britain, because it prevents storm systems from moving over Greenland and diverts them south across the Atlantic and across the UK. The warmer air carries more moisture, released when clouds rise over the land. Blocking highs also occur in December, which has a similarly destabilising effect on the climate. This happened this winter, moving warm air northwards over the Arctic, preventing sea ice forming as extensively as normal. Over time, this leads to less sea ice overall, speeding up Arctic warming. It is the temperature difference between the Arctic regions and the temperate Atlantic that drives the jet stream and brings constantly changing conditions to Britain. This wonderful variety of weather that has provided the nation with an ideal opening to any chitchat with strangers, and that does not appear likely to change any time soon. But just for now, it might be wise to leave blocking highs over Greenland and kinks in the jet stream out of the conversation until you know people better. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'news/series/weatherwatch', 'world/greenland', 'world/arctic', 'uk/weather', 'type/article', 'profile/paulbrown', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2016-05-02T20:30:34Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2015/apr/24/earthquakes-fracking-drilling-us-geological-survey | US government says drilling causes earthquakes – what took them so long? | As the US Geological Survey confirmed on Thursday, in the last seven years, geologically staid parts of the US have seen earthquakes like they haven’t seen for millions of years. And they were triggered by drilling for oil and gas. The drilling – or rather, the process of injecting water deep underground – has been triggering earthquakes in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas. The most obvious question is: what took you so long, USGS? Over those seven years, other scientists have speculated about whether this rise in earthquakes has anything to do with the injection wells used by the fracking industry to dispose of the water used in the process. For the most part, the report does not pin the blame on fracking itself – pumping large volumes of water, sand and chemicals into rock formations in order to free oil or gas – but rather on the associated process of injecting wastewater deep underground using injection wells. The rise of fracking after 2005’s Energy Policy Act slightly preceded and coincided with the rise in earthquakes. Oklahoma averaged a handful of earthquakes of magnitude 3 or greater from 1975 to 2008. Then, in 2009, it had 20. In 2011, the number of earthquakes in the state rose to over 60, and Oklahoma was hit by its largest earthquake in recorded history – magnitude 5.7. Immediately after the quake Katie Keranan, an assistant professor of geophysics at the University of Oklahoma, partnered with scientists from the USGS and Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory to install two dozen seismometers in Prague. Within a year, Keranan had data that indicated that the pressure from injecting water deep beneath the earth had snapped three fault planes, one after the other. Not long after, in 2012, an injection well was linked to quakes in Youngstown, Ohio. The state’s governor issued an executive order requiring operators to conduct seismic studies before the state would issue well permits. In that same year, David J Hayes, deputy secretary of the US Department of the Interior, wrote a public letter stating that USGS research showed that there were no conclusive examples that wastewater injection triggered major earthquakes, even when it happened near a known fault. The USGS report published on Thursday does provide such examples. Not every well triggers an earthquake. In fact, a relatively small number of wells seem to have caused the majority of earthquakes, according to a report led by Keranan, which found that out of the thousands of disposal wells in the central US, just four them induced 20% of the seismicity from 2008 to 2013 in the central US. In September of 2013, the Society of Petroleum Engineers held an unprecedented meeting on “injection-induced seismicity”, though they did not invite the press or the public. The number of earthquakes in Oklahoma reached 103 in 2013. In November of last year, the USGS and the Oklahoma Geological Survey co-hosted a workshop that included about 150 participants from academia, industry and government – the result of that meeting is the report that was released this week. That year, 2014, the number of earthquakes in Oklahoma reached 585 in one year. Compared to earlier statements, the USGS report is a sharp turnaround from its previous stance. But it’s still a relatively mild document – one that advises more research, rather than specific actions. The work of clarifying connections between injection wells and earthquakes has been left to people such as Keranan, who left Oklahoma shortly after the Oklahoma Geological Survey published a rejection of a study she had placed in geology, which linked the quakes to nearby disposal wells. | ['world/earthquakes', 'us-news/oklahoma', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/natural-disasters', 'environment/fracking', 'environment/gas', 'environment/environment', 'environment/oil', 'science/geology', 'type/article', 'tone/analysis'] | environment/fracking | ENERGY | 2015-04-24T16:32:38Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2010/apr/02/iran-sanctions-nuclear-us-china | Iran says sanctions will not stop nuclear programme | International sanctions will not stop Iran's nuclear programme, Tehran's most senior nuclear negotiator has said in the face of growing pressure from China and the US over Iran's nuclear ambitions. Following talks in Beijing with Yang Jiechi, China's foreign minister, Saeed Jalili said China agreed that sanctions were "not effective", Reuters reported. Earlier this week China had signalled that it would back US calls for a draft UN resolution to impose sanctions against Tehran. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said: "China expresses its serious concern about the Iran nuclear issue situation. China is in close contact with relevant parties and is striving for a proper settlement of the issue through diplomatic means." The defiant message from Iran's negotiator came as Barack Obama stepped up his efforts to secure Beijing's backing for sanctions with an hour-long phone call to the Chinese president, Hu Jintao. During the call Obama "underscored the importance of working together to ensure that Iran lives up to its international obligations", a White House statement said. China has a veto on the UN security council and its support would be vital to passing a resolution against Iran. Tehran insists its nuclear programme is only for peaceful power generation. China traditionally opposes sanctions as it depends on Iran for 11% of its energy needs. But there is speculation that Beijing is willing to drop its opposition in return for US officials not citing China for undervaluing its currency in an annual report due on 15 April, days after Hu's visit. US officials say a Chinese representative made a commitment in a phone call on Wednesday to discuss the specifics of a potential security council resolution. The Obama administration is hoping to get a UN resolution on Iran passed by the end of this month. | ['world/iran', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/china', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'world/nuclear-weapons', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'world/asia-pacific', 'type/article', 'profile/matthewweaver'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2010-04-02T10:09:30Z | true | ENERGY |
australia-news/2022/mar/14/sun-cables-giant-northern-territory-solar-project-gets-210m-funding-boost | Sun Cable’s giant Northern Territory solar project gets $210m funding boost | The $30bn plan to build a giant solar farm in northern Australia to power Darwin, Indonesia and Singapore has moved a step closer to reality with billionaires Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew Forrest contributing to a $210m capital raising. The investment brings to about $250m the money raised to build a 17-gigawatt solar plant on a cattle property at Newcastle Waters, midway between Alice Springs and the Northern Territory’s capital. The project would be a 12,000 hectare solar precinct with 17-20 GW solar generation and 36-42 GWh energy storage to enable 24/7 dispatchable electricity near Elliott, in the Northern Territory. The funding “will take us all the way through to the financial close of the Australia-Asia PowerLink”, David Griffin, Sun Cable’s chief executive, said. “It will also allow us to accelerate development of our broader portfolio,” he said. “Our mission is to supply renewable electricity from resource-abundant regions to growing load centres at scale.” The company plans to explore other “multi-gigawatt” solar plants both in Australia and elsewhere, including other intercontinental power links, based on the know-how developed over the past four years, Griffin said. More details were likely to be announced “some months from now”. “Some of our subsequent projects will also rely on [technology] very similar in concept to the first project,” he said. “There’s a lot of opportunities in this area … but certainly we have more projects emanating from Australia as well.” Griffin said there was no connection between Sun Cable’s plans, and the recent hostile takeover bid by Cannon-Brookes’ Grok Ventures and Canadian asset manager Brookfield of AGL Energy. The two suitors dropped their bid a week ago after AGL rejected a revised offer that valued AGL at just under $8.5bn, although AGL itself is not certain the two won’t be back for another tilt. Sun Cable, declined to provide a breakdown of the contributions from Grok and Forrest’s Squadron Energy to the $210m raising, adding only that the original investors took up their full entitlements. Staff, who now number 80, also joined the list of shareholders, Griffin said. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning “We’re just really stoked to close this round,” Griffin said. “It’s a really significant number and puts us in a really strong position.” Cannon-Brookes said the fundraising brought Australia “one step closer to realising our renewables exporting potential”, while developing a blueprint for other projects. “We can power the world with clean energy and Sun Cable is harnessing that at scale.” “Sun Cable’s vision will transform Australia’s capability to become a world-leading generator and exporter of renewable electricity and enable decarbonisation. I’m proud to be a cornerstone investor in Sun Cable, its team and its vision,” Forrest said. Squadron Energy and Forrest’s Fortescue Future Industries were approached for comment. The latter had a big week, landing Guy Debelle, the current deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia to be its chief financial officer. Debelle, who had been considered to be a frontrunner to replace current central bank governor Philip Lowe, will help steer the company’s plans to produce 15m tonnes of hydrogen produced by renewable energy a year by 2030 for global markets. “Climate change has a broad-ranging impact on Australia, both in terms of geography and in terms of Australian businesses and households,” Debelle said in a statement after his surprise exit from the RBA. “Australia has been an energy exporter for many decades,” he said. “Australia is also endowed with resources that have the potential for us to continue to be an exporter of energy – but renewable rather than emissions-intensive fossil fuels.” Debelle’s now former boss, RBA governor Lowe, told a banking conference on Friday investors wanted a plan on how Australia would transition to a less carbon-intensive economy. “They want to know what the opportunities Australia has and they want to talk about the risks that we have as well,” Lowe said, noting Debelle had resigned “to participate in those opportunities”. Institutions such as the RBA and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority were working on a framework to help markets measure, manage and price the risks as Australia shifted out of fossil fuels, he said. These included assessing climate vulnerability. “We need to provide the people who want to make capital decisions with information, and it needs to be quality information,” Lowe said. “Australia [can] seize the fantastic opportunities we have in this area. That’s a huge challenge for the future.” | ['australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/andrew-forrest', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/peter-hannam', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2022-03-13T16:30:34Z | true | ENERGY |
business/2020/feb/06/us-oil-refineries-exceeding-limits-for-cancer-causing-benzene-report-finds | 10 US oil refineries exceeding limits for cancer-causing benzene, report finds | At least 10 US oil refineries have been emitting cancer-causing benzene above the federal government’s limits, according to a new report from the Environmental Integrity Project. The group reviewed a year of air monitoring data recorded at the fence lines of 114 refineries, as reported to the Environmental Protection Agency. The facilities are not breaking the law, but they are required by EPA to analyze the causes of the emissions and try to reduce them. Eric Schaeffer, the executive director of the Environmental Integrity Project, said while some refineries have made improvements, others are still releasing benzene at harmful rates. “Benzene comes with elevated cancer risk but also lots of non-cancer issues that are harder to quantify,” Schaeffer said. People can get sick from low levels in the long term or high levels in the short term. Benzene is just one of multiple dangerous pollutants emitted by refineries – which turn oil into gasoline and other products. Studies have shown the populations living around refineries – often people of color and low-income families – to have worse asthma and other respiratory problems. Benzene harms cell processes. It can keep bone marrow from producing enough red blood cells and can damage the immune system and increase the risk of infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Over the long term, benzene exposure causes other problems, including cancer, according to the Department of Human Health and Services. The data is being collected and reported for the first time following a 2012 lawsuit by the Environmental Integrity Project and seven community and environment groups. The highest-emitting refinery, the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery in Pennsylvania, shut down in June after erupting in explosions and fires. It was polluting benzene at five times the government’s limit. Most of the other benzene polluters – six out of the top 10 – are in Texas. The second-worst refinery is the Holly Frontier Navajo refinery in Artesia, New Mexico, where levels were more than three times the EPA’s “action level” of 9 micrograms per cubic meter, which requires companies to address the pollution. The federal agency collects data from a number of air monitors around a plant. It takes the average for each station and then uses the highest of those numbers to determine a refinery’s benzene level. The researchers found concerning spikes outside of the time range they analyzed as well. One monitor in June and July of 2018 detected benzene in a concentration of 1,000 micrograms per cubic meter at the distance of about three football fields from an elementary school. The community within a mile of the Artesia refinery has 3,318 residents, 74% of whom are Hispanic and most of whom live below the poverty line. Schaeffer said the extremely high levels led to public pressure and action from the government. Corey Williams, the policy and research director at Air Alliance Houston, said in many cases people living near the refineries and other industrial facilities know they might be dangerous but haven’t always had proof. “I think it’s something that a lot of people have come to accept as part of living in the energy capital of the world,” Williams said. An EPA spokesperson said that “it is important to note that benzene concentration levels monitored at the perimeter of a refinery do not reflect benzene levels in the community”, and that “the federal action level is intended as a benchmark to flag when emissions are higher than expected, so that facilities can look for the cause and take early action.” “Should exceedances be ongoing, this may be a flag for EPA to do further analyses regarding potential community risk,” the spokesperson said. | ['business/oil', 'environment/oil', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/emily-holden', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/oil | ENERGY | 2020-02-06T05:01:29Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2010/dec/02/cancun-climate-change-conference-2010-hot | Cancún climate change conference: 2010 to rank in top three hottest years | 2010 will almost certainly rank as one of the three warmest years since temperature records began in 1850, according to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). The final ranking for 2010 will not become clear until November and December data are available in early 2011, but November global temperatures are similar to those observed in November 2005, suggesting that despite the freezing weather across the UK, 2010 is on track for near record levels. The past 10 years have also been the hottest decade on record, with temperatures for January to October averaging 0.46C above the 1961-90 average, 0.03C above the 2000-09 mean and the highest value yet recorded for a 10-year period. The data were released at the UN climate talks in Cancún. 2010 saw heat records tumble in 17 countries and an unprecedented month-long heatwave in Russia. It will be followed by cooler global temperatures in 2011 according to climate scientists from the UK government Met Office and the University of East Anglia. Michel Jarraud, director general of the WMO, said the global warming trend was now indisputable. When asked whether the findings were indicative of warming caused by human activities he said, "The short answer is yes. There is statistically significant warming above the normal variability." "These are the facts. If nothing is done the [warming] curve will go up and up and up. If we continue this trend the heatwave in Europe in 2003 will not be exceptional. It will be on the cool side. This is what will happen." The analysis follows temperature data released by Nasa and Noaa in the US, which also suggest that 2010 is on course to be the hottest year on record. Dr Adam Scaife, head of long range forecasting at the UK Met Office, said: "The three leading global temperature datasets show that, so far, 2010 is clearly warmer than 2009 despite El Niño declining and being replaced by a very strong La Niña, which has a cooling effect." The most extreme temperature anomalies occurred across most of Canada and Greenland, where annual temperatures were 3C or more above normal and across much of Africa and south Asia where annual temperatures were 1-3C above normal. Heat records were broken in 17 countries including Belarus, Ukraine, Finland, Russia, Sudan, Niger and Saudi Arabia. Pakistan had Asia's hottest ever recorded day when the temperature in the abandoned city of Mohenjo-daro reached 53.7C (129F). Guinea, in west Africa, was the only country in the world to have recorded a record low temperature in 2010, but said the WMO, below-normal temperatures were recorded in Siberia, parts of South America, interior Australia and the southeast United States Britain, Germany, France and Norway all had their coolest years since 1996 due mainly to below-normal temperatures during the winter. The Met office, which correctly predicted last year that 2010 would be one of the warmest on record, said next year would not be a record year but could still be in the top 10. The 10 warmest years on record have all occurred since 1996. Temperatures in 2009-10 have been affected by the phenomenon known as El Niño which follows the warming of the Pacific ocean near the equator. It is followed by a cooling period, known as La Niña. "Although La Niña has now stabilised, it is still expected to affect global temperature through the coming year," said the Met office study. Hot and cold in 2010 • Pakistan experienced the worst flooding in its history as a result of exceptionally heavy monsoon rains. • The northern hemisphere summer saw exceptional heatwaves in several parts of Eurasia. In Moscow, July mean temperatures were 7.6C above normal, making it the city's hottest month on record by more than 2C. • Ireland and Scotland both experienced their coldest winter since 1962-63. Many other parts of northern and central Europe had their coldest winter since 1978-79. • Canada had its warmest winter on record, with national temperatures 4C above the long-term average; winter temperatures were 6C or more above normal in parts of the country's north. • Most of the continental United States was colder than normal. For the US as a whole it was the coldest winter since 1984-85, and most southern areas from Texas eastwards had one of their 10 coldest winters on record. • Parts of the Amazon basin were badly affected by drought with the Rio Negro, a major Amazon tributary, falling to its lowest level on record. Earlier in the year, Guyana and the eastern Caribbean islands were badly affected by drought. • In Asia, parts of southwestern China experienced severe drought through late 2009 and early 2010. Yunnan and Guizhou provinces both had their lowest rainfalls on record. | ['environment/cancun-climate-change-conference-2010', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/mexico', 'world/unitednations', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'global-development/environmental-sustainability', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'profile/johnvidal', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2010-12-02T17:06:50Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2015/jun/09/wet-wipes-fatbergs-sewers-spreading-superbugs-hospitals | Wet wipes: the biggest villain of 2015 | Age: Have been around since the 1950s, but started to be mass produced in the 1990s. Appearance: Small, rectangular, white, innocuous-looking. Note on corporate history: From small beginnings – basically being used to clean babies’ bottoms in emergencies – wet wipes (aka baby wipes, anti-bacterial wipes and detergent wipes) are now a multimillion-pound sector worth £500m a year in the UK. Status: Scourge. Surely you mean extremely handy aid that comes in useful when you need to wipe your hands after using the loo of a cafe in Turkey that doesn’t have any soap in the dispenser. That is probably anti-Turkish, but we’ll let it pass because there are bigger issues here. Go on. A new report from Cardiff University says wet wipes show “huge variability” in their capacity to kill bacteria, and in hospitals can even spread superbugs from surface to surface. Only if you’re stupid enough to use the same wipe on different surfaces. Fair point, but it seems some staff in hospitals – and lots of people at home too – are that stupid. I swear by them. Well, you should start swearing at them, because this latest problem is just the tip of the fatberg. You mean iceberg? No, I mean fatberg. So-called fatbergs – estimates of size vary from a bus to a jumbo jet – made up of wet wipes flushed down loos and the fat and grease poured down sinks are forming in sewers and causing blockages, with decidedly unpleasant consequences. Overflowing toilets. Indeed. What’s more, increasing numbers of wipes, which because of the plastic fibres they contain are not generally biodegradable, are also washing up on beaches – 35 wipes per kilometre of beach, according to the Marine Conservation Society’s most recent count. Turtles mistake them for jellyfish and eat them. What happens to them? They meet a painful, if relatively hygienic, end. What can be done? Try a washable flannel and bar of soap instead. Do say: “They’re a tragic symptom of our disposable society.” Don’t say: “I suppose you think global warming is a problem too.” | ['lifeandstyle/health-and-wellbeing', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'tone/features', 'news/shortcuts', 'tone/blog', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/g2', 'theguardian/g2/features'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2015-06-09T16:56:06Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2013/aug/20/shale-gas-too-good-an-opportunity | Letters: Is shale gas too good an opportunity to miss? | I would like to take issue with the recent statement made on behalf of the mission and public affairs group in the Church of England which suggests that opinions on fracking should remain open as cheap gas obtained through fracking will provide jobs, could help those in fuel poverty and would have less impact than more polluting fuels (As new protest looms, Church argues against total opposition to fracking, 17 August). I find these comments baffling. Fuel bills have risen because of rising gas prices and inadequately insulated homes, not because of green energy measures, so it's unclear why more gas would address fuel poverty. The government's "dash for gas" strategy is a false solution to climate change. Evidence (such as that from the US Environmental Protection Agency) suggests that fracked gas may be just as bad for global warming as coal (largely because of methane escape), in addition to all the local environmental issues. Gas prices are only lower because of government subsidies in the form of tax breaks. If these subsidies were invested in renewables (as Germany is doing), it would guarantee future energy supplies at affordable prices as well as create jobs. I don't doubt that fracking might yield gas supplies in the short term, but with huge environmental consequences. Scientists tell us that to avoid devastating climate change we must not only stop exploring for new fossil fuels, but also leave the majority of current stocks in the ground. Those who support fracking as a means of meeting our energy needs are looking for short-term financial gain for the UK irrespective of the longer-term impact on and costs to our global community. We should rather be aware of the ethical issues around our energy usage and do all we can to encourage energy conservation and renewable energy sources. Isabel Carter Chair of Operation Noah • I have to agree with your editorial that we are nowhere near a practical energy policy fit for the future (How not to win an argument, 19 August). However, current debate focuses on the supply side without looking at how we could easily, significantly and permanently reduce our consumption of energy. If energy companies (whose business plan must to be increase supply of energy) were forced to introduce tariffs that increase as we use more energy, there would be a real incentive for us all to reduce consumption in the many ways possible, while simultaneously creating a less unjust society. Such tariffs could offer free energy for the most basic needs, and then progressively increase the more we use. It might mean that the cost of heating that swimming pool and other luxuries would increase massively, while hypothermia and death because of fuel poverty would disappear. Perhaps this is exactly what a sensible energy policy would ensure – reducing demand, reducing supply, generation by renewables, and social justice (which must include our near and distant descendants). The opposite to a sensible energy policy is George Osborne handing out tax breaks and public subsidies to extract shale gas to burn as if, beyond that next shareholders' meeting, there were no tomorrow. Dr Colin Bannon Crapstone, Devon • As a former chair of the Green party and a lifelong environmental campaigner, I can only applaud Caroline Lucas's brave stance against fracking at Balcombe (Green fingered: MP Lucas arrested at fracking protest, 20 August). But it's an inconvenient truth that shale gas is too good an opportunity to miss, as is the fact that there will be unpleasant consequences. The removal of the waste water will cause substantial local disruption and its disposal presents pollution and health hazards. In the future it will be for protesters and authorities alike to ensure that these are kept to a minimum and compensation for those affected at a maximum. Hugo Charlton London • All serious studies of fracking have shown the environmental damage it causes to be by no means nonexistent but less than any other major means of energy production. The well-meaning but misguided people of Balcombe should club together to hire a coach for the relatively short ride to Wytch Farm in Dorset to see what fracking is really like. David Harris London • There is an argument that, as we move to a low-carbon energy policy in the UK, we need to adopt a "least worst" approach. Conventional gas may not be as low-carbon as renewables, but it is better than coal. Unfortunately, when shale gas is extracted using fracking, the extra methane leaked at the well head makes it a greenhouse gas emitter that is at least 20% worse than coal and could be twice as bad over a 20-year timespan (See the 2011 article "Methane and the greenhouse-gas footprint of natural gas from shale formations" by Robert W Howarth and others in the journal Climatic Change). Nuclear recycling is one possible solution: we have an abundant supply of radioactive waste in the UK that needs to be dealt with, and it is a low-carbon energy source. Fracking for shale gas has no redeeming features. Andrew Gould Emsworth, Hampshire • Nice one, George Monbiot, for pointing out the testosterone-driven need for puny politicians to embrace the man's world of big energy projects (What is behind this fracking mania? Unbridled machismo, 20 August). But I missed any mention of nuclear power. This too drains money from energy efficiency and renewables, has as yet insoluble waste problems, and is also part of a potential race to "mutually assured destruction" globally – through the spread of nuclear weapons made possible by nuclear power programmes. Colin Hines Convenor, Green New Deal Group • This article was amended on 21 August 2013. In the earlier version, Wytch Farm was misspelled as Wych Farm. | ['environment/fracking', 'environment/energy', 'money/energy', 'environment/energyefficiency', 'technology/energy', 'tone/letters', 'money/money', 'technology/technology', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply'] | environment/fracking | ENERGY | 2013-08-20T19:59:00Z | true | ENERGY |
media/2008/feb/12/yahoo.digitalmedia | OneConnect is Yahoo's new weapon in mobile internet war | Yahoo is stepping up its battle to become the mobile internet technology of choice with the launch of OneConnect, a new tool that provides easier access to messaging, email and social network contacts. The service is designed to aggregate text messaging with email and instant messages from a range of different providers, but in a format that can also use geo-location to update the user when a contact is nearby. Contact cards will combine links for messages to different social networking profiles and mobile phone users can plug into multiple messaging platforms including Google Talk and MSN Messenger. Yahoo said it has 29 global partnerships with mobile operators and expects the service to become available via hundreds of different mobile handsets. The internet company also announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona today that its OneSearch service will be the exclusive search tool for T-Mobile's European customers from March this year. Yahoo hopes its mobile search service will become the default access point for internet services as consumers become increasingly comfortable with using web services on their phone handsets. The company's OneSearch product aggregates news, weather, financial data, photos and web links according to the search query, but shows more streamlined results than a PC-based search. Yahoo and T-Mobile also announced that they are working on additional services including mobile versions of messenger, email and the photo-sharing site Flickr. The Yahoo and T-Mobile deal follows an announcement yesterday by Nokia that it will include Google in its search application, introducing the site alongside Yahoo and Windows Live on four new handset models. · To contact the MediaGuardian newsdesk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 7239 9857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 7278 2332. · If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". | ['technology/yahoo-takeover', 'media/digital-media', 'media/media', 'technology/yahoo', 'technology/technology', 'type/article', 'profile/jemimakiss'] | technology/yahoo-takeover | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2008-02-12T14:28:05Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/blog/2009/jan/19/energy-climatechange | Terry Macalister takes the energy industry's temperature at the World Future Energy Summit | I'll get my excuses in first and then move on to Kaka later. I have increased my carbon footprint by flying to the low-carb World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi concluding it was not realistic to meet 10,000-plus delegates and visitors via video-link from Blighty. A conference exploring alternative power and clean technology developments like this one is usually most valuable for what people say privately rather the public spiel from the platform. And it is a great chance to take the temperature of solar, wind and other industries that offer the best chance of tackling climate change and dwindling oil reserves. This Gulf get-together could not come at a better time, since the renewables sector is desperately hoping that the Barack Obama inauguration on Tuesday will kickstart a global green revolution hampered by George Bush. But the summit also comes at a time when the credit crunch and looming world recession has been clobbering green energy company shares and distracting the political establishment. Here in the Gulf is an unusual array of environment ministers, financiers, and entrepreneurs – but also the big oil companies who are keeping a close eye on those who would like to give the last rights to carbon. BP, Shell and Exxon are also here to trumpet their solutions to global warming. I will be wanting to know from Vivienne Cox, head of renewables at BP, how she justifies putting all her (meagre in group terms) cash into US wind instead of British turbine projects, for instance. I will want to find out from Ditlev Engel, chief executive of Vestas, the biggest turbine-maker, how the economic downturn is hitting his business while getting Kieran Drain, the president of Nanogram, to explain what he means by his "new paradigm" in solar energy. There's a whole load of others that deserve a question or two, what with Lord Stern (now representing HSBC bank rather than team GB), Andris Piebalgs, the EU's commissioner for energy, and plenty of American academics and Silicon Valley businessmen. The closing address is being done by Tony Blair, who will be worth a few questions, only some of which will centre on climate change, I imagine. You may be wondering why all this is happening in Abu Dhabi, of course. I don't totally understand that myself but it seems part of the answer is that the oil-rich nation wants to cut a new image that separates it from the bling Gulf state next door, Dubai, by coming on all cultural and high-minded modern. That image is possibly being slightly undermined by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is said to be willing to spend £100m to lure Kaka from Milan to Manchester City which the Arab businessman owns. I will try to get to the bottom of that contradiction too if you are interested. | ['environment/blog', 'environment/environment', 'technology/energy', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/wave-tidal-hydropower', 'tone/blog', 'world/united-arab-emirates', 'type/article', 'profile/terrymacalister'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2009-01-19T11:56:03Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2010/nov/15/hacked-climate-science-emails-climate-change | Climate scientist at the heart of emails controversy says he did nothing wrong | A year after he was plunged into the centre of a political and scientific storm over hundreds of leaked climate science emails, the researcher at the centre of the controversy, Dr Phil Jones, has come out fighting and unrepentant. In an interview with the journal Nature to coincide with the anniversary of the emails' release, Jones says he did nothing wrong. He said he did not illegally delete emails that had been requested under freedom of information laws. He also retracted a pledge made this year to correct one of his papers. "I'm a little more guarded about what I say in emails now," he says. "One thing in particular I'm doing is not responding so quickly. I might have got an email in the past and responded with an instant thought in the next 10 to 15 minutes, whereas now I might leave it a day." But he argued that scientists should be able to express themselves in personal messages. "People would be saying much the same things at scientific meetings and discussed [them] over dinner. But in an email, it is recorded. People have probably forgotten what you said after a night out." The personal emails and documents had been stolen from the University of East Anglia's (UEA) servers in November last year and leaked on to the internet. Climate sceptics seized on the contents as evidence that apparently showed Jones and his colleagues colluding to keep errors in their research hidden and prevent rivals' research from being published at all. Jones temporarily stood down from his post as head of the UEA's Climatic Research Unit (CRU) while investigations were launched into his and his colleagues' conduct. Jones and his team at CRU were cleared of any misconduct in an independent inquiry headed by former civil servant Sir Muir Russell earlier this year, who looked at whether the researchers had committed fraud or some other type of scientific misbehaviour. Russell found that there had been a "consistent pattern of failing to display the proper degree of openness" but he highlighted no reason to doubt the CRU team's honesty or integrity. Three other inquiries - two in the UK and one in the US - found no evidence of research fraud. Another allegation levelled at Jones was over his use of data from weather stations in China. In a paper published in 1990 in Nature, Jones investigated the heat island effect, whereby cities tend to me warmer than the surrounding countryside. Critics pointed out that a lot of the data had come from measuring stations that had moved over time and, in an interview in February this year, had indicated that he might submit a correction to Nature. Jones now says that is unnecesary. He said that he had been under pressure to concede errors earlier this year and had been on medication when he had given the interview to Nature in February. The idea that measuring stations had moved in China had been misinterpreted, he said, because his paper had talked of 84 stations from a larger group of 265. For his paper, Jones said he had chosen those measuring stations that had moved the least. Jones also insists that he did not delete any emails that had been requested from him through the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act. Pre-emptive deleting of emails that might be requested in FoI requests in future is not against the law but the Muir Russell report pointed out that such actions went against the spirit and intent of the regulations. And that there was some evidence that this had happened at the CRU. "You can't second guess what's going to be requested," said Jones, "I deleted them based on their dates. It was to keep the e-mails under control," Most damagingly, in one email Jones urged colleagues to delete messages in which they discussed the preparation of a report for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. When asked why he did it, he told Nature: "That was probably just bravado at the time," he says. "We just thought if they're going to ask for more, we might as well not have them." Reflecting on a year of turmoil, in which he received hundreds of abusive emails and even contemplated suicide at one point, Jones said he had received many messages of support from his fellow scientists. "I did wonder why they didn't go to the media and say the same things they were saying to me." | ['environment/hacked-climate-science-emails', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'science/science', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-change-scepticism', 'type/article', 'profile/alokjha'] | environment/climate-change-scepticism | CLIMATE_DENIAL | 2010-11-15T20:09:34Z | true | CLIMATE_DENIAL |
environment/2018/mar/13/krill-fishing-poses-serious-threat-to-antarctic-ecosystem-report-warns | Krill fishing poses serious threat to Antarctic ecosystem, report warns | Industrial fishing for krill in the pristine waters around Antarctica is threatening the future of one of the world’s last great wildernesses, according to a new report. The study by Greenpeace analysed the movements of krill fishing vessels in the region and found they were increasingly operating “in the immediate vicinity of penguin colonies and whale feeding grounds”. It also highlights incidents of fishing boats being involved in groundings, oil spills and accidents, which it said posed a serious threat to the Antarctic ecosystem. The report, published on Tuesday, comes amid growing concern about the impact of fishing and climate change on the Antarctic. A global campaign has been launched to create a network of ocean sanctuaries to protect the seas in the region and Greenpeace is calling for an immediate halt to fishing in areas being considered for sanctuary status. Frida Bengtsson, from Greenpeace’s Protect the Antarctic campaign, said: “If the krill industry wants to show it’s a responsible player, then it should be voluntarily getting out of any area which is being proposed as an ocean sanctuary, and should instead be backing the protection of these huge swaths of the Antarctic.” Last month a study found a combination of climate change and industrial-scale fishing is hitting the krill population, with a potentially disastrous impact on larger predators. The study warned that the penguin population could drop by almost one-third by the end of the century due to changes in krill biomass. Krill are a key part of the delicate Antarctic food chain. They feed on marine algae and are a key source of food for whales, penguins and seals. They are also important in removing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by eating carbon-rich food near the surface and excreting it when they sink to lower, colder water. There is a growing global demand for krill-based health products which are claimed to help with a range of ailments from heart disease to high blood pressure, strokes and depression. A recent analysis of the global krill industry predicted it was on course to grow 12% a year over the next three years. Krill populations have declined by 80% since the 1970s. Global warming has been blamed partly because the ice that is home to the algae and plankton on which krill feed is retreating. However, campaigners say recent developments in fishing technology are exacerbating the problem. Tuesday’s report analysed the krill fleet’s “mandatory automatic identification systems” [AIS] which shows the trawlers’ routes and when they were at “fishing speed.” In doing so researchers say they were able to get a record of industrial fishing in the feeding grounds of whales and penguins. A global campaign has been launched to turn a huge tract of Antarctic seas into ocean sanctuaries, protecting wildlife and banning all fishing. One was created in the Ross Sea in 2016, another 1.8m sq km reserve is being proposed in a vast area of the Weddell Sea, and a third sanctuary is under consideration in the area west of the Antarctic peninsula – a key krill fishing area. The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), whose members include 24 national governments and the EU, manage the seas around Antarctica. It will decide on the Weddell Sea sanctuary proposal at a conference in Australia in October, although a decision on the peninsula sanctuary is not expected until later. Keith Reid, a science manager at CCAMLR said the organisation sought “a balance between protection, conservation and sustainable fishing in the Southern Ocean.” He said although more fishing was taking place nearer penguin colonies it was often happening later in the season when these colonies were empty. He added: “The creation of the a system of marine protected areas is a key part of ongoing scientific and policy discussions in CCAMLR.” Cilia Holmes, sustainability director at Aker BioMarines, one of the leading krill fishing companies based in Norway, said they were looking forward to working with Greenpeace and other environmental groups to ensure the region was protected. “Our long-term operation in the region depends on a healthy and thriving Antarctic marine ecosystem, which is why we have always had an open dialogue with the environmental NGOs, and especially WWF. “We strongly intend to continue this dialogue, including [with] Greenpeace, to discuss improvements based on the latest scientific data. We are not the ones to decide on establishment of marine protected areas, but we hope to contribute positively with our knowledge and experience.” | ['environment/fishing', 'world/antarctica', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/environment', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/matthewtaylor', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/endangered-habitats | BIODIVERSITY | 2018-03-13T08:01:34Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2009/aug/21/waste-trade-brazil-containers | Toxic waste shipment returns to UK from Brazil | Containers of toxic waste that the Brazilian government claims were illegally exported from the UK to the South American country arrived back in Britain today. The cargo ship MSC Serena brought 71 of the 89 containers into Felixstowe. The remainder will return at a later date. The Environment Agency investigation into the contents of the cargo and its source is continuing. The Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Resources has alleged that some of them contain clinical waste including syringes and condoms. The head of the Environment Agency's national environmental crime unit, Andrew Higham, was at the dock to meet the shipment. "According to our colleagues in Brazil the waste had been exported under the guise of recyclable plastic, and from what we are told, contained hazardous and toxic waste," he said. "We are taking a robust action to get them back over here. "Three people have already been arrested in connection with this, and it is an ongoing investigation. The agency obviously takes this very seriously. Unfortunately waste does get exported from this country but we are taking proactive steps to get ahead of the game." The Environment Agency said it would carry out fumigations of the containers, expected to last a week, before fully investigating their contents. Officers from the environmental crime team, with Wiltshire police, raided premises in Swindon this month, arresting three men aged 49, 28 and 24, in connection with an ongoing inquiry into the alleged illegal shipment of the waste. The agency said that once evidence had been gathered, the refuse would be dealt with by an appointed contractor. The shipping lines contracted to transport the containers from the UK to Brazil agreed to bring the containers back to the UK at their own expense, it added. Higham, said: "The United Kingdom has taken a strong global lead to stamp out the illegal waste trade, in order to protect people and the environment. We are not going to allow our waste to be dumped on developing countries." Waste can be sent abroad for recycling, but it is illegal to export it for disposal. The maximum penalty for breaking the rules is an unlimited fine or up to two years in prison. | ['environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'world/brazil', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'environment/pollution', 'world/americas', 'environment/environment-agency', 'type/article', 'profile/haroonsiddique', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2009-08-21T09:44:00Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2008/feb/19/carbon.web | The best carbon calculators online | In a matter of years, the term "carbon footprint" has gone from being an obscure phrase used only by academics to being an entry in the Oxford English dictionary. It is defined by the website Carbon Footprint as "a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide". There are two ways in which we consume greenhouse gases. First, we directly use up fossil fuels when we draw on electricity and gas to heat and power our homes; when we fill up our cars with petrol and diesel; and when we fly. Second, we indirectly contribute to greenhouse gas emissions through energy that is "embedded" in the items we buy and the leisure activities we participate in. The annual carbon footprint of the average Briton is around 10 tonnes, but the figure considered to be a sustainable yearly quota for the world's 6 billion inhabitants is just two tonnes apiece. This means we all need to give some serious thought to reducing our carbon footprint. The first step towards doing so is to calculate the size of your footprint. Fortunately, as climate change has entered the mainstream, calculators designed to do just this have sprung up on the web. The question is how to choose which one to use. Carbon calculators vary widely in the aspects of your carbon footprint they work out, and the level of accuracy they offer. For an all-round estimate of your direct greenhouse consumption, the government's Act on CO2 calculator is a good starting point. It uses data and factors verified by government departments to calculate the carbon footprint generated by your household's heating and lighting, use of appliances, plus travel. Carbon Footprint provides a similar calculator, but theirs also makes an estimate of your indirect footprint, taking into account basic information on food choices, recycling, leisure activities and shopping habits. A more in-depth general carbon calculator is that offered by Resurgence. This requires you to provide more detailed information, such as your electricity use for each quarter in kilowatts (provided on your bill), and the mileage of different journeys taken by road, rail and air. It also attempts to include some indirect greenhouse contributions in sections such as "fuel-intensive leisure activities". This calculator was developed by Mukti Mitchell, pioneer of low-carbon living who designed the zero-emission yacht Explorer. With aviation being the fastest-growing source of greenhouse gas emissions, many offsetting companies have set up dedicated flight emissions calculators. These estimate the footprint of your recent holiday flights, then show you how you how to offset them by contributing to carbon-reducing projects, such as schemes supplying fuel-efficient stoves in Uganda or installing wind turbines in China. Climate Care and the CarbonNeutral Company both offer this service. Be warned, though, that there is great variation in the figures provided by flight emissions calculators. One of the better ones is ChooseClimate's emissions calculator, which enables you to specify the type of ticket, model of plane and occupancy rate. It displays its findings as kilograms of fuel used, kilograms of CO2 generated, and the total warming effect. The latter takes into account other emissions from aviation, such as nitrogen oxides and water vapour, and the fact that CO2 emitted at high altitude has an enhanced warming effect. Calculators for other types of travel are beginning to become available. CO2balance.com enables you to calculate emissions from some rail and car journeys. Meanwhile, transportdirect.info provides a means to compare the emissions made by a small car, large car, train, coach and plane for a set distance. It is, however, likely to be some time before we can accurately compare travel to a wide range of destinations by train, plane, ferry, car and coach. All carbon calculators make assumptions. For example, most calculators of household energy consumption use a conversion factor of 0.43 when working out the number of kilograms of CO2 produced per kilowatt of electricity. This figure is provided by Defra and based on the projected fuel mix of the national grid for the years 1998-2000. However, the actual figure will be based on the mix of fuel used to generate the electricity provided by your specific supplier during a particular year. You can see how your supplier compares to the average at ElectricityInfo.org. For the results of a survey into the most accurate carbon calculators by the Climate Outreach and Information Network, see coinet.org.uk. Having derived an estimate for your carbon footprint, you'll need to think about how to trim it. The UK government has pledged to cut emissions by 20% before 2012, to around eight tonnes per capita. It further aims to reduce national emissions by 60% before 2050, to around four tonnes each. These are good targets to adopt as personal goals, although ultimately we should all be aiming for the global allocation of two tonnes each. This may seem like an impossible task. But if enough people begin cutting their carbon footprint now, the CO2 saving will soon stack up, whichever you calculate it. | ['environment/carbonfootprints', 'environment/environment', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/carbon-offset-projects', 'technology/internet', 'environment/ethical-living', 'type/article', 'profile/carolynfry'] | environment/carbonfootprints | EMISSIONS | 2008-02-19T00:04:00Z | true | EMISSIONS |
uk-news/2020/jan/16/food-security-brexit-biggest-shake-uk-farming-40-years-agriculture-bill | Food security plan after Brexit: biggest shake-up to farming in 40 years | The UK’s food security is to be regularly assessed by parliament to ensure minimal disruption to supplies after the country leaves the EU and while new trade deals are sought. The commitment will be part of the biggest shakeup of British agriculture in 40 years and requires a regular report to MPs outlining supply sources and household expenditure on food, as well as consumer confidence in food safety. The move reflects concerns over potential disruptions post-Brexit, as more than a quarter of Britain’s food comes from the EU and nearly a fifth from other countries. The revision is one of a handful to the agriculture bill, introduced to parliament on Thursday more than a year after the previous government was forced to abandon the legislation amid Brexit turmoil. Other changes include a stronger emphasis on the soil, at risk from overuse, erosion and nutrient loss; farmers are to receive help maintaining healthy soils, as well as with improvements to the tracing of livestock movements between farms. There will be powers to regulate fertiliser use and organic farming after Brexit. Missing from the bill is a binding commitment to prevent trade deals allowing the import of food produced to lower standards than those to which British farmers must adhere. This has been a key demand of farmers concerned that after Brexit they will be undercut by cheap imports from the US and Asia, with lower food safety and animal welfare regulations. Theresa Villiers, secretary of state for the environment, food and rural affairs, called the revised bill “one of the most important environmental reforms for many years” and said it would protect nature and biodiversity and help meet goals on the climate crisis. “[This] will transform British farming, enabling a balance between food production and the environment which will safeguard our countryside and farming communities for the future,” she said. “We will move away from the EU’s bureaucratic common agricultural policy and towards a fairer system which rewards our hard-working farmers for delivering public goods, celebrating their world-leading environmental work and innovative, modern, approach to food production.” At the heart of the bill is a shift away from the EU system, where farmers receive subsidies based on the amount of land they farm, to a process whereby farmers are paid for the public goods provided, including clean water, clean air, healthy soils and habitats for wildlife. There will be a seven-year transition period for farmers to move from the current regulations under CAP, the EU’s common agricultural policy, to a system of environmental land management contracts. Under these contracts, individual farmers will agree with the government a tailor-made set of goals with details on the measures they will take to manage their land and protect the environment. For the duration of the current parliament, subsidies at the same rate as the EU – about £3bn a year – will be paid to farmers from taxpayer funds, but some of the richest farmers who benefit most from the system can expect to lose out when the new contracts are phased in. Farming leaders were disappointed at the lack of a legal commitment to ensure trade deals did not allow entry to cheap, low quality, imports. Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers’ Union, said: “Farmers across the country still want to see legislation underpinning the government’s assurances that they will not allow the imports of food produced to standards that would be illegal here through future trade deals. We will continue to press the government to introduce a standards commission as a matter of priority to oversee and advise on future food trade policy and negotiations.” Organic farmers were also concerned, saying the bill did not go far enough in supporting farmers to tackle climate and ecological emergencies. Gareth Morgan, of the Soil Association, said: “Much more is necessary to bring the radical changes our farming sector needs. Small tweaks to the status quo will not suffice. It is disappointing that the bill still does not commit to support farmers to adopt nature friendly agro-ecological farming, like organic, or environmental action across the whole farm, rather than in small areas. Nor does it signal support to enable the radical shift away from artificial fertiliser and pesticides needed to restore nature and soils capable of storing carbon.” The specific attention paid to soils was welcome, but more detail would be needed on how to implement measures to protect soil health, said Matthew Orman, director of the Sustainable Soils Alliance. “The commitment for all soils to be sustainably managed by 2030 is now 10 years old. For this to be achieved, an ambitious strategy linking all the policy mechanisms – education, regulation, assessment and incentivisation – with clear milestones for delivery, is urgently needed.” Vicki Hird, farm campaign coordinator at Sustain, an NGO coalition, highlighted new provisions in the bill to improve oversight of the supply chain. Under these changes all sellers of agricultural produce will qualify for protection from abuse by business purchasers, which she said would help drive out unfair practices and protect farmers and could also aid reduction of food waste. | ['uk/uk', 'environment/farming', 'politics/eu-referendum', 'environment/food', 'science/agriculture', 'environment/soil', 'world/eu', 'global-development/food-security', 'food/food', 'environment/environment', 'world/europe-news', 'politics/politics', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-01-16T06:00:25Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2022/mar/03/tell-us-your-experiences-with-refillable-groceries | Tell us your experiences with refillable groceries | In an initiative to reduce plastic waste, grocers including Waitrose, Morrisons and M&S are rolling out unpackaged essentials at their stores and for their home deliveries. Do you use grocery refills? Share your experiences using the form below. Share your experiences You can get in touch by filling in the form below. Your responses are secure as the form is encrypted and only the Guardian has access to your contributions. One of our journalists will be in contact before we publish, so please do leave contact details. If you’re having trouble using the form, click here. Read terms of service here and privacy policy here. | ['environment/plastic-bags', 'environment/environment', 'environment/plastic', 'type/article', 'tone/callout', 'profile/guardian-community-team', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-communities-and-social'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2022-03-03T13:11:13Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2023/nov/08/litter-blighting-uk-footpaths-lucozade-bottles-most-often-found-study | Litter blighting UK footpaths with Lucozade bottles most often found, says study | Litter is blighting the UK’s footpaths, with an average 41 pieces found a kilometre, according to a major study. Particularly frequently found brands included Lucozade, Coca-Cola, Red Bull, Monster and Walkers. The State of Our Trails report, conducted by Trash Free Trails, is the first UK study that aims to establish a scientific understanding of the environmental consequences of the tonnes of litter in our landscapes. It drew together more than 1,600 submissions by 4,500 volunteers and with the data the authors have estimated as many as 9.1m individual pieces of litter could be found across the UK’s 220,000km of public rights of way. The surveys took place between July 2020 and August 2023. Lucozade was the most frequently found brand of litter, according to the report. The authors said they thought this might be “because of its identity as a ‘sports energy drink’. Many recreational trail users will view their activity as a ‘sport’, requiring challenge and exertion, and therefore additional energy. This may be particularly prevalent among those who are relatively new and/or novice trail users, and/or beginners in the activities that they are participating in.” After Lucozade, the most commonly found brands were Coca-Cola, Red Bull, Monster, Cadbury and Walkers. A total of 26,106 of the 216,466 items of single-use plastics found in the report were drinks containers that would be eligible for inclusion in a deposit returns scheme, in which people are given a small sum for placing recyclable drinks containers in a special bin. Campaigners say there is no excuse for the government not to put in place a deposit returns scheme across the UK. There is one planned for England and Scotland by 2025, but there have been years of delays for both. The English scheme was first announced by Michael Gove in 2018. The scheme currently will not include glass containers. The report authors say the word “pollution” should be used rather than “litter” because “there is clear and growing evidence that this human-made detritus is harmful to the health of the ecosystems that it escapes into. This is the definition of pollution, and we should not avoid it any longer.” They add that people litter partly because they feel disconnected from the landscape, so “we believe that outdoor education can no longer be an optional frill alongside the mainstream curriculum. The time has come for students, pupils and educators to be in, with, and for nature as part of their journey through the system.” Trash Free Trails’ communications manager, Rachel Coleman, said: “We believe the negative impact litter is having on our ecosystems is one thing to get motivated by, but knowing the impact it has on ourselves and our enjoyment of the outdoors –that’s something policymakers and single-use product manufacturers can’t ignore. “This isn’t just about reducing litter any more. This is about a complete transformation of our relationships to these environments which are central to our sense of identity and community. If we don’t work to better protect them, who will?” A spokesperson for Suntory, which makes Lucozade, said the company wanted an end to littering and supported the introduction of a “well-designed deposit return scheme” across the UK. “We agree that we have a responsibility to help manage where our packaging ends up, which is something we already do through the Packaging Recycling Notes system and report on with Extended Producer Responsibility.” • This article was amended on 10 November 2023 to add a response from a spokesperson for Suntory. | ['environment/access-to-green-space', 'environment/waste', 'environment/plastic', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/helena-horton', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2023-11-08T08:00:05Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
sustainable-business/investors-demand-greenhouse-gas-reductions | Investors put pressure on companies to reduce carbon | Carbon management is moving to the forefront of business. With rising energy prices and increasing resource scarcity, the efficient management of energy is now critical. Cost and risk factors are not alone in pushing this issue up the boardroom agenda. Companies must also consider other issues such as brand reputation, employee expectations and competitive positioning. Another strategic driver for the efficient management of carbon in the corporate world is when a company's shareholders request it. Improved management of energy and lower carbon emissions help investors to mitigate financial risk in their portfolios. It also has the potential to reduce costs for business, so companies do not need to choose between reducing emissions or higher financial returns. This is the purpose of a new investor-led initiative that the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) launched today. A vanguard group of 34 institutional investors with US$7.6 trillion in assets including Aviva Investors, CCLA Investment Management and Scottish Widows Investment Partnership are this week calling on the world's largest companies to implement cost effective greenhouse gas emissions reduction initiatives. Investors request action from companies in the reduction of their greenhouse gas emissions in order to protect their investments. According to Steve Waygood, head of sustainability, research and engagement at Aviva Investors, a founding signatory investor to Carbon Action, "We believe that the external costs of greenhouse gas emissions will become internalised into company cash flows and profitability. We encourage companies to consider what action that they can take now to reduce emissions." But there are benefits to companies in taking action, beyond complying with their shareholders request. Some companies must protect themselves from material financial risk from carbon prices or from issues in their supply chains; but all companies gain by managing their operations more efficiently and reducing energy costs. There is a growing recognition of a large range of carbon reducing activities that companies can undertake with a very clear business case. Research by McKinsey & Co finds that most companies have options to reduce carbon emissions at negative cost – across the overall economy there is the potential to save as much as 12Gt C02e, 25% of the global total annual emissions in this way by 2030. Some companies are already seeing tangible commercial benefits from implementing quantifiable, sustainable processes and practices to manage carbon. A crucial part of this new Carbon Action initiative will involve highlighting effective approaches to emissions reducing activities that have been successfully implemented. In that way we will help to advance peer to peer learning. An economic revolution is needed to decouple financial growth from growth in emissions. By taking action, businesses are making a large contribution in reducing the long-term threat to the global economy which climate change represents. This is surely the greatest strategic driver of all. Paul Dickinson is executive chairman at the Carbon Disclosure Project This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. Become a GSB member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox | ['sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'sustainable-business/low-carbon', 'tone/blog', 'type/article', 'sustainable-business/series/finance'] | sustainable-business/low-carbon | EMISSIONS | 2011-04-04T14:43:00Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/ethicallivingblog/2008/jan/15/whatsthepointofrecyclingi | What's the point of recycling if it just goes to waste? | Photograph: Lonnie Duka/Getty Images It always annoys me when the recycling van comes and goes and leaves stuff behind. Once, they didn't take my cans and bottles because they "overlapped". My Christmas tree, inexplicably overlooked last time around, is still skulking around the front drive (any longer and I may try to revive it for Christmas 2008, thereby saving £25 and a small corner of a Norwegian forest). But these grievances are nothing compared to the non-collection a few weeks ago of my entire plastics offering, packed with all those pointless polymers used to showcase our food these days. In my slippers I chased down the offending van and demanded answers. "You call council," came the response. "You put out plastic bottles only. Rest goes in trash." Rest goes in trash? What kind of answer is that in the current, er, climate? What of the recycling imperative and the need to improve substantially on our feeble rate (by European standards) of recycling only a quarter of domestic waste? At least, that is the gist of what I retorted. I take it further, and call Kingston council. "It's a problem we have with our contractors," I'm told. "Their handlers can't deal with the various shapes of the plastic containers." This may or may not be resolved later this year, he says by way of reassurance. I'm not reassured. There is no doubt that much of my assiduous waste separation of recent years has been pointless. All those yoghurt cartons and margarine tubs and bottle tops and salad boxes and cream tubs and more yoghurt cartons and all that shite that they pack toys and gifts and stuff in these days. None of it recycled. I may have been doing my bit, but some clown further down the chain has been tossing the stuff in the ground. So when I see pictures from Naples of rubbish piled up on rotting rubbish in the streets, I can't help but wonder. Could it happen here? Yes, Naples is different - investigators suspect some local politicians are in the pocket of Camorra organised crime clans which own fleets of bin lorries and make a fortune from fly-tipping. But unless recycling finds its own tipping point, with a robust infrastructure throughout the life cycle of the discarded margarine tub, then we might as well fill the trash and wait for the black bags to start mounting. So what's your experience with your local council and its recycling record? Do you think we could do better at recycling? Tell us your thoughts | ['environment/waste', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/environment', 'tone/blog', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/green-living-blog', 'type/article', 'profile/environmenteditor'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2008-01-15T10:46:28Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
world/2007/sep/05/weather.matthewweaver | Felix death toll rises to nine | Hurricane Felix, which has left a trail of flooding, landslides and at least nine deaths in Central America, has been downgraded to a tropical storm. But there are still fears it could trigger more mudslides in shantytown areas of Honduras. Eleven people remain missing and some 5,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed since Felix struck Nicaragua's remote Miskito coast as a category five hurricane. The deaths include a man who drowned when his boat capsized, a woman killed when a tree fell on her house, and a baby girl who was born in a location cut off from medical attention and died shortly afterwards. Five countries in Central America were on alert for floods. As much as 64cm (25in) of rain was predicted in some remote areas. In Honduras 27,000 people have been evacuated. Honduran emergency official Marcos Burgos said today that the worst seemed to have passed. "We may still have flooding, but we don't think it will be severe," he said. Nicaragua's government declared its northern Caribbean region a disaster area and was airlifting sheets, mattresses, food, first aid and other help to Puerto Cabezas, a fishing town near where Felix made landfall yesterday with winds reaching 160mph. Some 15,800 of the area's 60,000 residents remained in 76 makeshift shelters. Hurricane Henriette to the north has killed at least seven people along Mexico's coast. There were no further deaths, though, as it struck the Los Cabos resorts at the tip of the Baja California peninsula in Mexico. It remained dangerous with winds reaching 75mph as it moved over open water on track to hit the Mexican mainland later today with winds near Huatabampo, 500 miles south of the Arizona border. Hurricane warnings were posted from Topolobampo in Sinaloa state north to Bahia Kino. From there Henriette was expected to weaken over Mexico's deserts and dump an inch or two of rain on south-west New Mexico tomorrow. | ['world/world', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/hurricanes', 'type/article', 'profile/matthewweaver'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2007-09-05T14:34:15Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
us-news/2017/aug/29/want-to-help-those-impacted-by-tropical-storm-harvey-heres-how | How to help people affected by storm Harvey | A number of Americans both close to Texas and far away from it would like to help those suffering in the wake of catastrophic tropical storm Harvey. Many agencies and charities are involved in relief efforts and a limited number of the main participants are mentioned below. The US government has warned people to be careful when choosing recipients for donations and to be cautious of potential charity scams or email hacks and “malicious cyber activity”. The Federal Trade Commission has issued advice for the public under the topic “wise giving in the wake of Hurricane Harvey”. Their tips include: “Don’t assume that charity messages posted on social media are legitimate.” At least one online scam has already been exposed when a false phone number was published purporting to connect people to the National Guard, and was shared widely on social media. The National Guard itself issued a warning on Twitter. Central channel in Houston One of the main channels for donations has been set up by the mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner, in response to questions about where people could send help. He has established the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund to accept donations for victims of the storm and subsequent flooding. The fund has been created under the umbrella of the Greater Houston Community Foundation. Special relief funds One of the largest nonprofits in the Houston area, the United Way Relief Fund, has launched a special relief fund to help those hit by the storm. It works with partner organizations such as the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army in times of catastrophe. United Way works with people experiencing life crises with causes ranging from job loss to domestic violence to natural disasters. The American Red Cross is one of the main charities on the frontline. It is trying to supply enough cots and basic facilities to help victims of Harvey at emergency accommodation shelters and out in the field, as well as coordinating with other relief providers and city and state agencies. The organization is appealing for people to donate cash but also advises on giving blood. Crowdfunding The charity crowdfunding site Global Giving has set the goal of raising $2m to be dedicated to disaster relief and recovery efforts in the aftermath of Harvey. Food banks Food banks in the region are operating at full tilt, delivering food and drinking water to shelters accommodating flood refugees. Robin Cadle, chief executive of the Food Bank of the Golden Crescent, in Victoria, said that those wishing to help locally often choose to bring in food, and this is welcome. But she said that monetary donations were easier for the organization to deal with and could be stretched further than edible gifts. Victoria has escaped flooding so far, but is likely to be inundated tomorrow and there are power supply problems. “If we didn’t have our huge generator, we would not be functioning,” said Cadle. She expects to continue operating through any local flooding and is coordinating with other food banks, state agencies and rescue services in the region. Feeding Texas, a nonprofit network working with food banks in the state, has issued a list of food banks likely affected by Harvey and its aftermath. Homelessness The Houston Coalition for Homeless is taking donations and giving advice about emergency shelters. Animals The SPCA of Texas is involved in evacuating stranded or abandoned pets affected by Harvey and is also giving advice on pet-friendly accommodation in the Dallas-Forth Worth area for people fleeing north from the storm. | ['us-news/hurricane-harvey', 'us-news/texas', 'us-news/houston', 'society/charities', 'society/society', 'us-news/us-news', 'society/voluntarysector', 'voluntary-sector-network/voluntary-sector-network', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/joannawalters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | us-news/hurricane-harvey | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2017-08-30T12:25:02Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2018/nov/24/brazil-records-worst-annual-deforestation-for-a-decade | Brazil records worst annual deforestation for a decade | Brazil has released its worst annual deforestation figures in a decade amid fears that the situation might worsen when the avowedly anti-environmentalist president-elect Jair Bolsonaro takes power. Between August 2017 and July 2018, 7,900sq kms were deforested, according to preliminary figures from the environment ministry based on satellite monitoring – a 13.7% rise on the previous year and the biggest area of forest cleared since 2008. The area is equivalent to 987,000 football pitches. The news was met by dismay from environmentalists who warned deforestation was likely to become more acute when Bolsonaro becomes president on 1 January. “It is a lot of destroyed forest,” said Marcio Astrini, Greenpeace Brasil’s public policy coordinator. “The situation is very worrying… what is bad will get worse.” The environment ministry said the increase came despite an increase in its budget and in operations carried out by its environment agency Ibama. “We need to increase the mobilisation at all levels of government, of society, and of the productive sector to combat illicit environmental activities,” environment minister Edson Duarte said in a statement. But the government appears to be heading in the other direction. After falling for several years, deforestation began rising again in 2013, the year after leftist president Dilma Rousseff approved a new forest code which gave an amnesty to those deforesting on small properties. Deforestation has risen in four of the six years since then, including in 2016, the year Rousseff was impeached and replaced by her former vice-president Michel Temer. Temer has made further concessions to powerful agribusiness interests in return for support from its congressional representatives – including approving a measure that legalised land that had been squatted in the Amazon, a common deforestation driver. Last year Temer backed down on measures to reduce protection to a national forest called Jamanxim and a protected area called Renca after protests from environmentalists, supermodel Gisele Bündchen and even singer Alicia Keys at the Rock in Rio music festival. Moves like these signalled the Brazilian congress was no longer concerned about deforestation, said Astrini, encouraging deforestation. “We feel in our field work that these deforestation gangs are very confident they will get amnesty or that they are covered,” he said. As more and more of the Amazon is cut down, the world’s greatest forest is now getting close to the “tipping point” – after which experts fear it could disappear. “A moment will arrive in which the accumulation of this deforestation will cause an effect in which the forest will stop being a forest,” Astrini said. “The scientists calculate this is between 20-30%. We are very close to the 20%.” The Climate Observatory (Observatório do Clima) – a non-profit, climate change network – calculated that in 2017, 46% of Brazil’s greenhouse gas emissions were due to deforestation. It also expects deforestation to worsen once Jair Bolsonaro’s new government begins. He has frequently attacked what he calls the “fines industry” of agencies such as Ibama, and wants to allow mining in protected indigenous reserves – some of the Amazon’s least-destroyed forests – and even considered making the environment ministry part of the agriculture ministry. Bolsonaro has enjoyed support from agribusiness and his minister of agriculture will be headed up by Tereza Cristina, head of its Congress lobby. His foreign minister, Ernesto Araújo, has argued that global warming is a Marxist plot. On Friday, his vice-president elect, General Hamilton Mourão, while admitting global warming did exist, told the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper: “Environmentalism is used as an instrument of domination by big economies.” Bolsonaro only backed down on plans to withdraw Brazil from the Paris climate deal because agricultural producers argued the move risked boycotts from European consumers, local media reported. “If the problem is in politics and politicians and their power of decision, they need to be pressured,” Astrini said. | ['environment/amazon-rainforest', 'environment/deforestation', 'environment/environment', 'environment/forests', 'world/brazil', 'world/americas', 'environment/conservation', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/dom-phillips', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-foreign'] | environment/deforestation | BIODIVERSITY | 2018-11-24T04:38:52Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
sustainable-business/australian-social-investors-indigenous-australians-unemployment | Social investors aim to tackle unemployment among indigenous Australians | Expanding local businesses to serve the growing procurement demands of Australia's booming extractive industries presents some tough challenges for regional indigenous corporations. Often a sector poorly served by financial institutions with a purely commercial focus, investment in indigenous communities is arguably better suited to investors embracing social and economic returns. Social Ventures Australia (SVA) agreed to make such an investment in April, putting up A$800,000 (£440,400) for indigenous cleaning company Iman Operations to deliver on a cleaning contract with Thiess, a mining services company serving Queensland Gas Company's liquid natural gas project in the Surat Basin. "The nature of the mining industry is you have to wait 90 days before you get your first invoice paid," Iman Operations CEO Martin Doyle told Guardian Sustainable Business. "Meanwhile I have to carry a workforce of 80-odd people, which adds up to a million bucks over three months." The A$5m (£2.75m) contract is expected to create 80 permanent jobs and improve living standards in a region in dire need of economic development. The contract comes against widespread unemployment in remote areas of Australia, predominately among indigenous people. Data for March revealed that only 30% of working-age people in remote communities had a job, while only 18% of 17- to 24-year-olds were fully engaged in work or study. Compared to the commercial banking sector, SVA's investment presents a much better alignment of social and economic objectives, Alex Oppes, impact investing manager at SVA, told Guardian Sustainable Business. "We really look for two things: the social impact of the project, such as the employment opportunities, and the financial sustainability of the project. Banks really will focus on the latter. When there are tough calls down the track I think [SVA] will aim to come up with a solution that maintains social impact." Doyle said: "I've always believed you can have sound economic and social policy. One doesn't have to come at the expense of the other. Just by giving us a contract, we have solved many social issues… more so than any government welfare programme." SVA will also bring to the table training and mentoring support for the Iman Operations management team, sourcing local accounting firm BDO to work on a pro bono basis, an advisory group to support the Iman's management team, and media attention to spread the word across the industry. "Each impact investing deal is quite unique, one of the things we have certainly learnt is that we need to be flexible around structuring our investment so that the organisations can achieve their social outcomes, and those needs do often look different to a social business," Oppes said. Still, work needs to be done on due diligence and providing the right level of support and loan structure so the organisation can achieve its goals. From a bank's perspective this often looks very different from the typical deal, he added. For Doyle, the long-term benefits for the traditional owners of the Iman lands are extensive. "The social impact is generational. The contract does not just affect the workers but their children and households in general. The kids have a much more stable home, the bills are paid, and there's not as much drinking and domestic violence," the former lawyer said. Doyle criticised commercial banks for their short-sightedness, saying: "Banks hide behind the veil of shareholder value, but they should be investing in social enterprises that do give a return. I think if they asked their shareholders if they do want them to invest in a social enterprise, the vast number would say 'yes'." Oppes sees local indigenous procurement as a growth area, with Indigenous Corporations in remote and regional areas engaging a lot more with large employers. SVA is currently in discussions with a number of other organisations that are looking for similar deals to the Iman Operations deal. The social investment manager is also seeing growth in impact technology, in the areas of education and health, and also social and affordable housing, he said. SVA's A$8.8m (£4.8m) Social Impact Fund was established with A$4m (£2.2m) federal government seeding as well as private funding from about 35 sophisticated investors and philanthropists. It provides loan or equity investments of between A$150,000 (£82,500) and A$1m (£0.55m) to social enterprises. "Some see it an alternative to philanthropy and others see it as a solid return. We aim for a return of 9% to 15% for investors," Oppes said. "At the moment there is tremendous interest from investors. We are seeing some of the larger superannuation funds allocate some of their funds to impact investing, and that is unlocking some significant capital. On the ground we are at early stages and we are spending a lot of time around capacity building, working with some of the newer social enterprises helping them establish a track record and scale up to become investment ready." The social impact hub is funded by Anglo American. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled advertisement feature. Find out more here. Join the community of sustainability professionals and experts. Become a GSB member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox | ['sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'guardian-professional/sustainability', 'environment/mining', 'business/mining', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'society/unemployment', 'australia-news/indigenous-australians', 'world/indigenous-peoples', 'business/ethicalbusiness', 'sustainable-business/series/social-impact', 'type/article', 'profile/oliver-wagg'] | environment/mining | ENERGY | 2014-05-08T06:00:00Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2017/jun/29/stop-exporting-plastic-waste-to-china-to-boost-recycling-at-home-say-experts | Stop exporting plastic waste to China to boost recycling at home, say experts | Governments must stop exporting so much plastic waste to countries such as China and keep more in-country to be recycled into bottles to tackle the waste crisis, industry insiders say. A day after the Guardian revealed that a million plastic bottles are bought every minute across the world, experts aiming to provide a closed loop in which each bottle is used to make a new one, say their industry faces multiple hurdles. Chris Brown of Clean Tech, based in Lincolnshire – the only site in the UK which produces food grade recycled polyethylene terephthalate (Pet) from plastic bottles to turn them into new bottles – said: “It has been a very challenging environment.” “The recycling of Pet back into rPet (recycled plastic) is a relatively new industry and it has proven very difficult for any businesses to survive in recycled plastics. The margins are such that they struggle to be successful, particularly when the processes require large capital investment and present a significant technological challenge.” He called for the UK government to end the incentives for export of post consumer plastic to China and other countries – more than two-thirds of plastic collected for recycling in the UK was sold abroad in 2016, where it may be incinerated or buried rather than recycled according to industry experts quoted by Greenpeace. “Being able to keep more of that material in this country would be better for the bottle manufacturers and their customers,” he said. “It is important that the feedstock is available for rPet producers, so what we would like to see is an end to the incentivising of its export. Having an incentive to export the bales instead of keeping them in the country to be used to make more plastic bottles does not seem like what we should be doing at the moment.” Clean Tech buys bales of post consumer plastic (Pet) bottles that have been collected in kerbside recycling. At its site in Lincolnshire, Clean Tech granulises the bales, sorts out the Pet from other plastic which might have contaminated the bale, turns it into new plastic pellets of recycled Pet and puts it through a process to make it safe to be used for drinks. Bales are then sold to companies – including Coca-Cola – who use it to make new bottles. Its parent company, Plastipak is the biggest producer of recycled plastic for bottles in Europe. A spokesperson for Plastipak said its three plants in Europe – in the UK, in Bearne in France and in Luxemburg – faced challenges. Urgent reform was needed to keep the recycled plastic bales in-country, the spokesperson said. “This should be a growth industry. Everyone wants to recycle and everyone, in theory, wants to include recycled material in products. But this is a process that costs money, it is a commercial venture and one of the big hindrances is the cost of virgin material has been lower than the cost of recycled plastic partly because of the low oil price,” they said. In the UK particularly there is a shortage of post consumer plastic to turn into recycled plastic for bottles because the collection systems are so poor. But the lack of stocks for creating recycled plastic is a global problem. “There is also competition for this stock – it is used for other things like the plastic tape around packages,” said the spokesperson. Industry experts say the UK should follow the example of countries that impose a deposit return scheme on plastic bottles, which encourages higher recycling rates. Caroline Lucas, the UK Green MP said Guardian figures which show by 2021 more than half a trillion plastic bottles will be bought across the globe, were shocking. “Global plastic bottle use is spiralling out of control. The environmental consequences of a million plastic bottles being used every minute are absolutely devastating,” said Lucas. “As consumers we can all make choices which limit our plastic bottle use, but the key to solving this crisis is action from governments. That’s why I’m calling for a bottle deposit scheme to be implemented urgently. Currently Britain uses 38.5m plastic bottles every day – and we should be leading the world in reusing bottles and rapidly reducing our plastic waste.” Greenpeace is pressing for the major brands to do more to increase the recycled content of their bottles. The top six drinks companies in the world use a combined average of just 6.6% of recycled Pet in their products, according to Greenpeace. Many believe Coca-Cola and other brands are not ready to increase the amount of recycled plastic because it would compromise the appearance of their bottles. Across the UK Coca-Cola says it uses 25% of recycled plastic in its bottles. It aims to increase this to 40% by 2020. But Coca-Cola said the 40% target would stretch with the current volumes of recycled plastic of the right quality available. “Coca-Cola buys approximately 20% of the global food grade rPet supply available in the marketplace,” the company said. “We continue to increase the use of recycled plastic in countries where it is feasible and permitted.” • This article was amended on 30 June to add a link to a Greenpeace article in which industry experts said waste may be incinerated or buried rather than recycled. The subheading has also been amended. | ['environment/series/bottling-it', 'environment/plastic', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/environment', 'environment/waste', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/sandralaville', 'profile/matthewtaylor', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-06-29T17:00:16Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
business/nils-pratley-on-finance/article/2024/aug/01/rolls-royce-turnaround-aircraft-engines-smr | How Rolls-Royce’s winning run could go on and on | The main news in Rolls-Royce’s half-year numbers was obviously further proof that the engine-maker and defence group, which was virtually bust during the Covid pandemic, is now in soaraway financial form. Dividends are coming back; the chief executive, Tufan Erginbilgiç, increased forecasts for profits and cash generation; and the shares went on another tear. Congratulations if you caught the bottom at 40p, around the time of the 2020 rescue rights issue – the price is now 481p, up 7% on Thursday. It is the most astonishing turnaround at a major FTSE 100 company in decades. What does Rolls-Royce do for its next trick? Well, the next big thing would be re-entry into engines for narrow-body civil aeroplanes. At the moment, the Derby factory produces 200-odd engines a year for wide-body aircraft, but the narrow-body market is much larger and Rolls-Royce hasn’t been in it since its cash-strapped days of 2011. Work is currently concentrated on proving its next-generation UltraFan engine can be scaled down to power smaller aircraft. If it can be – and if the orders flow – there is an enormous new market into the 2030s. Then there’s small modular reactors (SMRs), the cut-down versions of a nuclear power plant that advocates argue offer better economies than behemoths such as Hinkley Point C in Somerset. SMRs have been talked about as the coming nuclear technology for years without anybody being wholly convinced they will actually happen. But we may soon be at a point where Rolls-Royce receives an actual order from the UK government. Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, has pledged “absolute support” for SMRs and, since Rolls-Royce’s version is the most advanced through the multi-year safety and technical assessments, it would be amazing if its design was not chosen as one to take forward. There should be an order by the end of the year, although the earliest a site could be up and running would be 2031. But an order would be a critical moment, if Erginbilgiç is correct in saying that other European countries are watching the actions of UK authorities for reassurance. Sweden has already shortlisted Rolls-Royce to potentially deploy a fleet of SMRs, and the hope is that there might be a flood of interest if and when the UK commits. Erginbilgiç has an interest, of course, in arguing that the UK should not squander its “first mover advantage” in SMRs, but his argument sounds broadly correct. There is a chance for the UK to build the supply chain and manufacturing base in a way that never happened with the development of offshore wind. Each SMR, with a generating capacity of 470MW, might cost £2.5bn, which adds up to a large sum if it is conceivable that hundreds of the plants may eventually be dotted around the world in pursuit of decarbonisation. Little of the long-term stuff is captured in City analysts’ projections for Rolls-Royce’s future, for understandable reasons. Both narrow-body engines and SMRs are purely entries in the cost line at the moment; it is also too soon to expect detail on funding and the necessary outside partnerships. Thus the stock market continues to hang on every word of Erginbilgiç ’s lengthy analyses of the productivity efficiencies for the business as it is today. But one can also catch a glimpse of how, if the stars align (a critical qualification), Rolls-Royce’s astonishing recovery can become a long-haul affair. | ['business/nils-pratley-on-finance', 'business/rollsroycegroup', 'technology/engineering', 'business/business', 'uk/uk', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'business/theairlineindustry', 'business/energy-industry', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/nilspratley', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2024-08-01T17:00:34Z | true | ENERGY |
lifeandstyle/2020/nov/30/tree-of-the-week-this-black-pine-represents-how-nature-forces-change-on-to-living-things | Tree of the week: ‘This black pine represents how nature forces change on to living things’ | Rod Hardingham’s favourite tree, a black pine in Tatsuno, embodies not only his love of gardens and nature, but also a decades-long affinity with Japan and Japanese culture. “My wife, Etsuko, is Japanese,” says Hardingham, 69. “She was working for an American company in Tokyo, but her English was awful, so they sent her to the UK to improve.” Hardingham’s brother Stephen was her English teacher. He made the introduction and, before long, Rod and Etsuko were married. It was on Hardingham’s first trip to meet Etsuko’s parents that he visited Tatsuno, in Hyōgo Prefecture, and saw the sloping black pine. “My wife’s family live in a town called Himeji in the west of Japan. Her sister suggested we drive about 20 minutes over to Tatsuno because it still has a large number of samurai houses and other architectural remnants.” The tree stands outside the most prominent of these, Tatsuno Castle, which dates to the 16th century. “The castle itself is small, but it has these beautiful, old weathered trees, which are cultivated according to the traditional practice of niwaki,” says Hardingham. “This pine has always stood out for me on account of its dramatic appearance. It has been deliberately slanted to give the impression that it is struggling to grow against the wind and it is perched beside this huge rock. I think the tree represents how nature forces changes on to living things while the rock is permanent, solid and unchanging.” Hardingham estimates the tree to be between 80 and 100 years old and, considering that it is on the other side of the world from his Kent home, he has done well to visit it frequently over the past three decades. “I’ve never lived there, but we go back and forth to Japan quite often and I try and take a day trip to Tatsuno every time. We’re supposed to be there now, but obviously there’s a pandemic on.” Given the current restrictions on international travel, Hardingham will have to make do with his backup: a 20-year-old black pine he has been cultivating in the garden of the B&B he runs. “I’ve given it a similar slant and even made an effort to cloud-prune it, so it looks as similar as possible.” Tell us about your favourite tree by filling in this form. | ['lifeandstyle/series/tree-of-the-week', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'environment/forests', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/alex-mistlin', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-g2-features'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-11-30T07:00:51Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2017/jun/29/if-you-drop-plastic-in-the-ocean-where-does-it-end-up | If you drop plastic in the ocean, where does it end up? | It is estimated that between four and 12m metric tonnes of plastic makes its way into the ocean each year. This figure is only likely to rise, and a 2016 report predicted that by 2050 the amount of plastic in the sea will outweigh the amount of fish. A normal plastic bottle takes about 450 years to break down completely, so the components of a bottle dropped in the ocean today could still be polluting the waters for our great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren. A lot of plastic debris in the ocean breaks down into smaller pieces and is ingested by marine life, and it is thought that a significant amount sinks to the sea bed. But a lot of it just floats around, and thanks to sophisticated modelling of ocean currents using drifting buoys, we can see where much of it ends up. Oceanographer Erik van Sebille, who works at Imperial College London and Utrecht University in the Netherlands, has shown that thanks to strong ocean currents known as gyres, huge amounts of plastic end up in six “garbage patches” around the world, the largest one being in the north Pacific. As can be seen in the image above, a bottle dropped in the water off the coast of China, near Shanghai, is likely be carried eastward by the north Pacific gyre and end up circulating a few hundred miles off the coast of the US. A bottle dropped off the Mexican coast, near Acapulco, is likely to be caught in the same gyre. Some of the plastic waste drifts south, but a huge amount is swept west towards Asia before floating north and ending up in the same area – the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The North Atlantic is home to another powerful current. The image below shows what happens to plastic debris that enters the ocean around New York. Initially a lot of it heads over to Europe, with concentration in the Bay of Biscay and, to a lesser extent, the North Sea, but the majority is trapped by the current and ends up floating in the middle of the ocean. It’s a similar story in the UK. A bottle dropped in the sea off Cornwall may well be dragged through the channel towards Scandinavia, but the greatest concentrations are again in the Bay of Biscay and the western North Atlantic. India is one of the world’s biggest plastic polluters, creating more than 15,000 tonnes of plastic waste a day. The plastic waste that enters the water around Mumbai is likely to end up either being caught in the Indian Ocean gyre and floating close to Madagascar, or being swept east and into the Bay of Bengal, one of the worst places in the world for plastic pollution You can explore further modelling on Van Sebille’s website, Plastic Adrift. | ['environment/series/bottling-it', 'environment/plastic', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'environment/oceans', 'type/article', 'tone/analysis', 'profile/alan-evans', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-06-29T13:21:17Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
world/ng-interactive/2018/oct/01/indonesia-sulawesi-palu-earthquake-tsunami-map-visual | Indonesia's twin disasters: a visual guide to the devastation | A 7.5-magnitude earthquake A major earthquake and tsunami hit the island of Sulawesi on Friday evening, devastating the regional capital Palu and surrounding areas. The 7.5-magnitude earthquake hit around 6pm, and was followed by tsunami waves of up to 6m high. Thousands of homes and buildings have been destroyed, including an entire housing estate home to 900 people. Officials have warned that the final death toll could rise into the thousands, with some of the worst hit areas still yet to be accessed by rescuers. The worst-affected areas As the tsunami approached land, it was travelling at up to 250mph (400km/h), with a reported wave height of up to 6 metres. The earthquake was not expected to result in a tsunami of this scale, with the huge waves taking scientists by surprise. The full picture of what caused the size of the waves is not yet known, but there is speculation that landslides under the sea and the geography of the bay may have been contributing factors. Before and after disaster struck Palu, home to 350,000, was flattened by the tsunami, with thousands of homes, hotels and shopping malls collapsing. As the death toll continues to mount, residents also face food and fuel shortages, alongside widespread power outages. Search efforts are largely being done by hand, as the heavy equipment required to move the rubble has not yet reached affected areas. | ['world/indonesia', 'world/asia-pacific', 'world/earthquakes', 'world/tsunamis', 'type/interactive', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/world', 'world/indonesia-tsunami', 'profile/cath-levett', 'profile/paulscruton', 'profile/lydiasmears', 'profile/glenn-swann', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-visuals'] | world/tsunamis | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2018-10-01T13:00:53Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2022/dec/15/uks-29m-pledge-for-land-and-ocean-conservation-faces-scepticism-at-cop15-aoe | UK’s ‘peanuts’ pledge for land and ocean conservation faces criticism at Cop15 | The UK has announced it will give nearly £30m to support developing countries in delivering the target to protect 30% of land and ocean by 2030, an amount conservationists criticised as being “nothing like what’s needed”. The announcement was made on Thursday as the environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, started international negotiations at Cop15 in Montreal. The £29m pledge – £24m of which is new money – is being allocated to support developing countries in delivering the 30x30 target, which is a negotiating priority for the UK at the UN summit. However, it was met with scepticism by some. “It’s obviously welcome that the UK starts to think about putting money on the table, but we all know this is nothing like what’s needed – either to address the nature crisis or to unlock the diplomatic process,” said Craig Bennett, CEO of Wildlife Trusts, who is at Cop15. “We need real political leadership, and that means Thérèse Coffey making deals out here, getting Rishi Sunak on the phone to other world leaders and doing deals to start trying to save these talks, and making a completely different league of financial contributions on the table to unlock this deadlock. That is the minimum that is needed to turn the nature crisis around.” In 2021, the UK government said that £3bn of its £11.6bn climate finance commitment would go to nature. But at Cop15, many developing countries say that they are being asked to agree expensive new conservation targets which will need new money. Ian Dunn, CEO of Plantlife, who has also been at COP15, said: “Sometimes a door opening is only visible with a tiny chink of light. This is perhaps the only positive interpretation. The World Economic Forum suggests that over half the world’s GDP is moderately or highly dependent on nature. That’s $44tn [£36tn], which perhaps provides some perspective to the £30m.” A negotiator from one of the developing countries that walked out of talks on Wednesday in a row over money said: “It’s obviously peanuts. Laughable.” Alongside the £29m, the government has also pledged £5.8m – which is part of funding that has already been announced – for projects to restore nature in overseas territories. The money is for the Darwin Plus scheme, which will support more than 20 conservation projects abroad. This includes funding satellite technology to monitor seabirds and humpback whales in South Georgia; reintroducing threatened plants to the Falkland Islands and helping endangered sea turtles in the Cayman Islands. More than 160 scientists sent an open letter to the Sunak in the runup to Cop15 saying his decision not to attend sent a strong signal to the government that getting a good international agreement for nature did not matter. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has also weighed in, saying Sunak should create a legally binding domestic target to halt and reverse wildlife loss by 2030 in the UK, in line with international (but not legally binding) ambitions outlined in the current draft of the UN biodiversity framework. Coffey is under pressure for having delayed the publication of the government’s Environment Act targets on clean water and biodiversity. There are concerns among conversation groups that the water pollution goals are likely to be weakened amid an ongoing “attack on nature” by the government. Targets are expected to be announced in the coming days, more than six weeks after they were promised. The UK’s International Environment and Climate minister, Zac Goldsmith, is working with more than 30 countries on a new 10-point plan for increasing finance for biodiversity in partnership with the EU, Gabon, Ecuador and private donors. Barry Gardiner, Labour MP for Brent North, described 30x30 as a “glorious soundbite”. In England, for example, the government says it is protecting about 28% of land for nature, but in reality it is closer to 3%, conservationists say. Gardiner said: “Saying something is a protected area on a map creates a paper park. It does nothing to save the environment or any species in it … this is a distraction from the urgent and unprecedented action that is really required.” | ['environment/series/the-age-of-extinction', 'environment/cop15', 'environment/environment', 'politics/politics', 'campaign/email/today-uk', 'uk/uk', 'politics/therese-coffey', 'environment/conservation', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/patrick-greenfield', 'profile/phoebe-weston', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-age-of-extinction'] | environment/series/the-age-of-extinction | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-12-15T22:48:52Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
food/2021/jul/23/mangoes-in-july-how-growers-coax-a-summer-crop-to-fruit-in-winter | Mangoes in July: how growers coax a summer crop to fruit in winter | Leo Skliros is happiest when he’s among his trees picking mangoes with a pole – especially in July. He also loves fishing. For many, the fruits of these activities could be quite a gamble. But for Skliros, not only is the fishing good in his area; he has his mangoes worked out as well. Skliros, who is president of the Northern Territory Mango Industry Association, is one of the state’s mango farmers who can get their trees to flower and produce mangoes early, when the luscious tropical fruit is a winter luxury and attracts higher prices, making them competitive with the established Queensland market. Added to that, he grows Kensington Pride mangoes – highly coveted in Australia for their sweet, juicy flesh, but temperamental to grow. How does he do it, when mangoes normally produce fruit in late September – in a good year? “It’s a bit like KFC, they say,” explains Skliros. “Eleven herbs and spices are the secret recipe and there’s a lot involved in it.” Digging a bit deeper, it’s not a complete mystery. “Many of the growers have what they believe is their own secret recipe but it’s just the variants of what they do around the world. “It’s all about timing. You’ve got to be in the right place at the right time.” Just about everything you do can affect the outcome, but timing of fertilisers and pruning are critical, he adds. It’s complex, but Skliros does reveal that certain fertilisers are used to lower nitrogen and lift calcium levels, and when cooler nights slip in, potassium nitrate can be sprayed to encourage flowering. Tim Elliott from Red Rich Fruits says timing of fertilisers is also influenced by moon cycles, atmospheric pressure and temperature fluxes, which can make a difference between flowering or flushing into leaf. Other variables include location – particularly within regions with variable microclimates – along with water, biosecurity and the tree’s health. A tree must have enough energy to flower, hold the flowers and carry them through to full, quality fruit. Surprisingly, Elliott says, some trees produce prolifically in rocky regions. Unable to send their roots out, growers have more control over timing of nutrient delivery with fertilisers, and thus flowering. “Now all these things can play a part in creating an early season or later season fruit,” he says. Some farmers use cincturing (cutting a ring around the tree’s trunk) to promote flowering, although that can affect the tree’s health, according to Elliott. Another tactic Skliros mentions is bonsaiing the trees. In addition to mechanical pruning this involves chemicals that target the roots and keep the size of the trees more manageable so they don’t grow too fast, too high or too vigorously. Insects are another critical variable – non-beneficial and beneficial. Sometimes insecticides are used if there’s an outbreak of pests, especially when buds start opening. Then there are the all-important pollinators that come and do their job once the trees have flowered. Researchers have discovered that flies tended to be the most prolific pollinators of mango trees, followed by various bee species, beetles, ants, butterflies and moths. Armed with this information, Elliott says growers experiment to find what works best for them, with some rather creative outcomes. “I visited one of a grower at one stage who worked on a fishing trawler,” he says. “He had carcasses of barramundi hanging on every second tree, and it looked like Deliverance but the pollination was great.” It boils down to lots of trial and error and learning to read the trees. “If you think the tree’s about to push a flower there are ways people have worked out how to do that,” says Elliott. “So instead of one flower, you’ve created a hundred flowers early.” While this has created a niche market for growers, will these tricks and techniques make winter mangoes, which attract up to $70 a tray in high-end fruit shops, more accessible in the future? Elliott hopes not. “Early mangoes should always be a luxury item.” | ['food/fruit', 'lifeandstyle/australian-lifestyle', 'food/series/australian-food-in-season', 'food/food', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'environment/farming', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/natalie-parletta', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-lifestyle'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2021-07-22T17:30:32Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2002/oct/16/weather.climatechange | Tornado hits Torbay | Britain's Indian summer was officially declared dead yesterday as strong winds drove heavy rain from the south-west of England across the south, the Midlands and East Anglia. A fleet of round-the-world yachts took refuge in Falmouth, Cornwall, after gales battered the south-west approaches and a water spout spun ashore at Torbay, Devon, damaging boats and buildings. Forecasters warned that the rain and wind would make driving hazardous. By late afternoon the environment agency had issued seven flood warnings, covering a section of the Dorset coast around Christchurch harbour, the rivers Axe, Coly, Isle and Yarty, plus the Umborne Brook near Colyton, Devon. The agency also issued 17 less urgent warnings, covering other coastal stretches and rivers. "We are keeping a close eye on the situation," said a spokeswoman. "There is an awful lot of rain about." A met office spokesman said: "About 2in [5cm] of rain fell in Devon and Cornwall. The heavy rain and winds were caused by a deep depression over Dorset which... had moved off towards the north-east. The worst of the rain will ease today and clear away over the North sea early tomorrow. This is a clear indication that the Indian summer is over - if there Ever was one." In Dumfries and Galloway, twice as much rain, about 10cm (4in), fell in the run-up to the weekend. The water spout came ashore at Torbay at breakfast time yesterday and the resulting tornado was witnessed crossing the town by Alan Wood, a businessman living near the harbour. "Around a quarter of a mile from the harbour the sky was black, and a funnel came down to the sea, which was white and boiling," he said. "It came towards the harbour, and looked as if it was coming towards the house. It came across the corner of the marina, and yachts were flung on their sides and dinghies were flung into the air. You could hear it whistling before it disappeared behind a hill." The tornado continued through the residential St Marychurch Road area of Torquay, tearing half the roof off a Methodist church and damaging an adjacent pub. Slates and bits of the church roof struck a butcher's delivery van driven by Kevin Bailey, 20. "I pulled over because I was shaken up for a bit," he said. "It was a bit scary." In Falmouth, eight yachts taking part in the final training race for the Clipper 2002 round the world contest waited for calmer conditions before setting out for Liverpool. They left Brixham on Monday, but ran for shelter as conditions worsened. The yachts were safe and would be setting off as soon as sensible, said Colin de Mowbray, the race director: "We might miss a couple of days in Liverpool's Albert Dock, which is a shame." | ['environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'uk/uk', 'world/natural-disasters', 'uk/weather', 'world/tornadoes', 'type/article', 'profile/davidward'] | world/tornadoes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2002-10-16T00:53:30Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2014/dec/11/eu-plans-to-scrap-clean-air-and-waste-recycling-laws | EU plans to scrap laws on clean air and waste recycling | EU plans to tackle air pollution that causes tens of thousands of premature deaths and make countries recycle more of their rubbish are to be scrapped, according to leaked documents. At risk are a clean air directive designed to reduce the health impacts from air pollution caused by vehicles, industry and power plants, and a waste directive that would set states the target of recycling 70% of waste by 2030. In a bid to prevent leaks, the EU’s powerful vice-president Frans Timmermans presented paper versions of the work plan proposals to the bloc’s commissioners on Wednesday, which were then collected afterwards, but copies have been seen by the Guardian. No final decision will be taken until another commissioners’ meeting before the plan’s launch next Tuesday. The EU president, Jean-Claude Juncker, will be keenly gauging reactions to today’s leak in the European parliament, where cross-party support for the proposals is strong. “If these packages really have been withdrawn, we would object in the strongest possible terms,” the British Conservative MEP Julie Girling told the Guardian. “Mr Juncker has chosen the wrong targets. The air quality directive really is a good package of legislation intended to improve the air that we all breathe.” “It is clear that Timmermans wants to kill the packages but we still have a week left to organise maximum pressure and ensure that stupid decisions are not taken,” the Green MEP Claude Turmes said. “Worse health through air pollution and more resource-dependency would be economic suicide.” The draft communication divides legislative proposals into three groups – new initiatives, plans needing adjustment, and proposals to be withdrawn. One of those to be withdrawn is an ambitious circular economy directive which would phase out landfill dumping by 2025 and, by 2030, oblige EU states to recycle or reuse 70% of their waste, 80% of their product packaging, 90% of their paper (by 2025), with similar goals for plastics, wood, glass and metals. The package would be withdrawn because the commission sees “no foreseeable agreement” with EU states that have poor recycling records and would need financial assistance to meet targets. Another victim of the legislative cull is a flagship clean air directive intended to prevent 58,000 premature deaths – and many more respiratory illnesses – as well as saving hundreds of thousands of kilometres of forests, wildlife reserves and ecosystems from nitrogen pollution and acidification. But this proposal would be withdrawn and modified as part of a follow-up to the 2030 Climate and Energy package. “The EU should be cutting red tape, not cutting life expectancy,” said the Liberal Democrat MEP Catherine Bearder. “Thousands of people in die prematurely each year from diseases caused by air pollution. To withdraw this proposal would send a message that the new commission puts the interests of big business ahead of the health of European citizens.” Ministers from 11 EU states including Germany and France urged the commission to keep the two packages which, they said, had a “fundamental importance” that “far outreached the environmental sphere”. A British submission to the waste review in 2013 cited “insufficient evidence” to support a new waste package, calling for “reducing regulatory burdens for business” instead. “The European commission should find ways to help member states implement existing targets before setting new targets,” the paper said. In private, the UK’s position has been less strident, according to Girling, and sources say that the UK supported some package objectives, despite reservations about their binding elements. Asked about a European court of justice case against the UK for breaching air pollution limits earlier this year, energy secretary Ed Davey said: “I welcome the EU’s air quality standards. Britain should meet them and our policies on air pollution should be ambitious.” He said modern day air pollution is very damaging to the health of children and the elderly. “It is invisible but just as damaging as the smogs in 1950’s London. It is one of our biggest health challenges – second only to smoking – and bigger than road traffic accidents and obesity and alcohol. It is a real issue that we need to take seriously, and because there is a lot of overlap with the measures you need to to tackle climate change you can do it a lot more cost effectively than people think.” But the UK’s deregulation and subsidiarity agenda seems to have been an inspiration for parts of the work plan. European citizens “want less EU interference in areas where member states are better equipped to give the right response,” the draft says. “That is why we will focus on the ‘big things’ like jobs and growth,” it continues. “We will not present proposals that do not contribute to these priorities. And we will apply political discontinuity and take off the table proposals that do not match our objectives.” The new environment commissioner, Karmenu Vella has previously said that he will not allow the packages to be curtailed, and his intervention is thought to have scuppered attempts by Timmermans to bin aproposal to cut plastic bag use last month. The commission’s own estimates say that the air quality package would save €40bn (£31bn) to €140bn (£110bn) across the continent annually, while the circular economy law would generate net savings of €600bn. Between them, the two packages are predicted to create 280,000 new jobs. “This communication is sending a signal that they don’t believe the commission’s own impact assessment, as that was clear that benefits of the circular economy package are 12 times the costs,” one EU official said. “They talk about growth and jobs but the only sector growing and creating jobs in the last few years has been the green sector.” | ['environment/pollution', 'world/european-commission', 'world/europe-news', 'world/eu', 'environment/environment', 'world/jean-claude-juncker', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'environment/ethical-living', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'profile/arthurneslen', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2014-12-11T18:17:46Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
business/nils-pratley-on-finance/2023/jan/11/northvolt-v-britishvolt-clarity-v-confusion-in-the-great-electric-car-battery-race | Northvolt v Britishvolt: clarity v confusion in the great electric car battery race | Nils Pratley | In a fantasy world, the would-be rescuer of Britishvolt would be a consortium that included a car manufacturer or two. The ailing startup would instantly get what it needs most after six months of crisis: endorsement for a battery product that is still in development, plus some , future customers. At that point, the big political claims made about Britishvolt, its planned gigafactory in Northumberland and “the UK’s place at the helm of the global green industrial revolution”, as the former prime minister Boris Johnson put it a year ago, would start to sound more credible. Sadly, the deal on the table does not resemble a dream version. The prospective buyer is a consortium led by DeaLab Group, a little-known UK-based private equity investor with backing from interests in Indonesia. Details are sketchy until Britishvolt’s board votes on the proposal on Friday but, as far as one can tell, the Indonesian angle seems to be access to metals needed to produce batteries – lithium, nickel, cobalt and so on. All useful, but, if the consortium has expertise in battery chemistry or in supplying the automotive industry with vital kit, it has so far kept quiet. Therein lies one reason to be underwhelmed. Another is the fact that Britishvolt is being valued at only £32m, or 90%-plus less than a year ago. Good luck to DealLab but the outline proposal reinforces the fact that the fast action in the global gigafactory race is happening outside the UK. The one shining exception is Chinese-backed Envision’s plant in Sunderland, which supplies Nissan’s factory next door. Nissan was early into electric batteries and Envision is now planning a big expansion nearby. Even with the extra capacity, though, Sunderland will only reach annual capacity of 38 gigawatt hours (GWh) – enough to power up to 600,000 cars at its peak. The UK car industry is projected to need 96 GWh by 2030 if the many net zero targets are to be met, and Britishvolt had been provisionally marked down for 30GWh of that tally. Not for the first time, one wishes Britishvolt was more like Northvolt. Founded in 2016, the Swedish pacesetter has raised $8bn (£6.6bn) in equity and debt over several funding rounds, including a thumping $350m loan from the European Investment Bank in 2020. It delivered its first batteries last year, has one gigafactory in operation and three in the planning stage, and boasts $55bn of orders from big car manufacturers. Those customers include BMW, Scania and Volkswagen, who are also shareholders; and there is a joint venture with Volvo. The chief executive and co-founder, Peter Carlsson, was a former operational chief at Tesla, working on the rollout of the S and X models, and thus “an incredibly credible” figure to back, says Stewart Heggie of the Edinburgh-based fund manager Baillie Gifford, which first invested in Northvolt in 2020. “You immediately have a founder who is thinking about scale and scaling up.” In the last funding round, Northvolt is thought to have been valued at $12bn. Don’t write off Britishvolt just yet, says Ian Constance, the chief executive of the Advanced Propulsion Centre, one of the bodies involved in awarding government funding to projects. “They are still in the race and the reason they are still in the race is that they have some excellent technology that has been developed by UK expertise.” In any case, he argues: “We should look at this in the context of growing our battery industry at the rate that demand from the automotive sector takes off. Northvolt is further down the road but all is not lost.” One hopes that optimistic assessment proves correct but the next 12 months will be crucial for Britishvolt. The site near Blyth, everybody agrees, is perfectly located with the necessary green energy sources. But to get the project firing, customers must commit. Northvolt got them on board early. For the UK government, the saga should serve as a wake-up call. The Faraday Challenge, launched in 2017 and with a budget expanded to £541m to invest in research and development “to drive the growth of a strong battery business in the UK”, has undoubtedly produced excellent science and facilities. But commercialisation is the tricky part, a perennial UK story. Ministers surely cannot be blamed for failing to advance the £100m for Britishvolt from the Automotive Transformation Fund. The company simply didn’t get far enough in developing Blyth. New owners, armed with a reported £130m to invest, can take a second run at unlocking the cash. But if 100 GWh of UK capacity – an Envision estimate – is needed to sustain a full UK supply chain, the government would be well advised to find more horses to back. Northvolt is a classic study in first-mover advantage and clinical execution. The UK’s battery strategy needs a boost. | ['business/nils-pratley-on-finance', 'business/technology', 'business/automotive-industry', 'business/business', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'environment/electric-cars', 'uk/uk', 'world/sweden', 'uk-news/northumberland', 'environment/energy-storage', 'business/energy-industry', 'technology/energy', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/ethical-living', 'world/europe-news', 'technology/motoring', 'business/manufacturing-sector', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/nilspratley', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2023-01-11T13:05:23Z | true | ENERGY |
global-development-professionals-network/2014/apr/25/waste-management-climate-change-live-chat | Live Q&A: innovative solutions to waste management | What will waste look like in the future and how well equipped are we to minimise its environmental impact? According to the World Bank report What a waste, cities across the world currently generate roughly 1.3 billion tonnes of solid waste per year. By 2025 we can expect this to have increased to 2.2 billion tonnes. Population growth, urbanisation and changing consumption patterns have all contributed to the increasing challenge of waste management in cities around the world. New markets are being created, products are becoming more diverse, and they are being consumed – and disposed of – in greater volumes. So in the future we can predict waste to be more complex, and there to be a lot more of it. This has important environmental implications. If present waste management trends are maintained, the food waste we place in landfills is likely to increase methane output from 34 million to 48 million tonnes. And the issue is not restricted purely to the problem of organic matter. Dealing with electronic, chemical and industrial waste will increasingly need to be integrated into management systems. For low income countries, this holds particular challanges. With higher rates of urbanisation putting pressure on existing infrastructure, they will be faced not only with a larger volume of waste production but managing it will be up to five times more expensive. Could a potential waste management crisis actually be an opportunity to innovate in disguise? How can different actors work in partnership to find low-cost, environmentally friendly solutions? And in what type of waste management technologies and programmes is funding most effectively placed? Join us on Thursday 1 May from 1-3pm BST to discuss these issues with our expert panel. The live chat is not video or audio-enabled but will take place in the comments section (below). Get in touch via globaldevpros@theguardian.com or @GdnGlobalDevPro on Twitter to recommend someone for our expert panel. Follow the discussion using the hashtag #globaldevlive. This live chat will feed into the Cittadinanza in Festa 2014 discussions on sustainability and waste, 2-4 May 2014. The event is supported by Connect4Climate and Earthday Italia and will also celebrate Rokia Traoré as a Connect4Climate Global Leader for her commitment and dedication to supporting climate change initiatives around the world. Panel Simon Peter Penney, chief executive officer, Wasteaid, Vancouver, Canada. @wasteaid Simon recently set up WasteAid, to bring the resources of the international waste industry to the development arena. He has worked in post tsunami Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Uganda, and the Caribbean. Adewole Taiwo Adegboyega, chief executive officer, Taiwo Adewole and Associates, Lagos, Nigeria. @taiwoadewole Taiwo's background is in environmental issues but he is also a consultant on waste management, and health and safety. Ranjith Annepu, co-founder, Be Waste Wise, New York, US. @bewastewise Ranjith is co-founder of Be Waste Wise and also the India coordinator for Columbia University's global waste-to-energy research and technology council. John Morton, senior urban environment specialist, World Bank, Washington D.C, US. @WorldBank John focuses on the urban environment and has experience in project management and technical support in East Asia and Latin America. Kevin Adair, founder and president, Fuego del Sol Haiti (FdS) , Port-au-Prince, Haiti. @kevadair At FdS Haiti, Kevin is implementing a systemic, low tech solution to waste collection, separation, recycling and disposal in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. David Jones, executive for sustainability issues, Plastic Oceans Foundation, @PlasticOceans. For the last four years he has been giving talks and working on behalf of the Plastic Oceans Foundation and is currently studying for a PhD on the subject. Mike Webster, Operations Manager, London Community Resource Network, London, UK. Mike focuses on the waste and resources sector, working in the UK and across the world, currently focusing on small scale community level projects dealing with composting, recycling, up-cycling and reuse. Sarahjane Widdowson, resource efficiency and waste management, Ricardo-AEA, London, UK. @SJWaste Sarahjane specialises in waste and recycling technical advisory with a focus on behaviour change, and supports public, private and third sector organisations. Delphine Arri, environmental specialist, International Finance Corporation, Washington D.C., US. Prior to her current role, Delphine worked with the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank teams in municipal, industrial and biomedical waste management activities. Simon Gusah, solid waste management adviser, Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility, Melbourne, Australia. Simon is currently advising Nigerian state governments on improving municipal services in northern Nigerian cities. | ['working-in-development/working-in-development', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'tone/sponsoredfeatures', 'global-development-professionals-network/live-chats', 'environment/waste', 'global-development-professionals-network/policy-advocacy', 'environment/pollution', 'business/worldbank', 'type/article', 'global-development-professionals-network/series/climate-change', 'profile/holly-young'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2014-04-25T17:47:00Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
news/2018/jul/02/weatherwatch-wildfires-uk-peatland-carbon-moors-moorland | Weatherwatch: wildfires highlight importance of UK's peatlands | The wildfires in Lancashire and Greater Manchester are a disaster, not least because of the blot on the landscape they will leave behind once the flames are out. Although the hot dry weather is clearly to blame, so too is damage over the years from drainage that dried out the peat and turned it into a powder keg. Peatlands may not look glamorous but they are a hugely important national treasure. They help prevent floods by soaking up rain like a sponge, and can hold about 20 times their own weight in water. And more than 70% of Britain’s drinking water comes from peatlands, feeding into supplies for 28 million people. The plants in peatlands absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, locking away staggering amounts of carbon – about 5.5bn tonnes, more than half the country’s entire carbon storage – and that helps curb climate change. In comparison, British forests store only 150m tonnes of carbon. However, damaged moorlands do the opposite, releasing vast amounts of greenhouse gases, made even worse when smoke particulates enter the atmosphere. Britain has some of the finest peatlands in the world, but they need protection. They need to be kept wet and prevented from being drained for farming or development, or dug up for garden compost. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'uk/weather', 'science/meteorology', 'uk/uk', 'world/wildfires', 'world/natural-disasters', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'uk/greater-manchester', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/jeremy-plester', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2018-07-02T20:30:18Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
commentisfree/2014/mar/20/endangered-species-ecological-triange | Don't give up on Australia's endangered species | David Lindenmayer | Recently, there has been a lot of discussion in the scientific community about whether we should allow some species to go extinct. The argument put forward is that the number of endangered species is so great, it isn’t worth the resources to attempt to save them all. But in a wealthy country like Australia – which has some of the best ecologists, conservation biologists and conservation scientists in the world – it is critical that we do far better in managing the nation’s natural resources. A loss of biodiversity is an indicator of poor environmental management. Suggesting that we should let yet more species go extinct on this continent is too defeatist and does not inform the public about what is needed to solve the country’s biodiversity issues. The approach to allowing species extinction has been around for some time. It’s called “ecological triage”, whereby limited resources for conservation funding are targeted at the subset of species for which management success is most likely. The approach stems from the same process used in medicine to set priorities for allocating efforts to treat patients. The ecological triage approach is thought by some to be essential because it is believed that many resources are directed to species on the brink of extinction that are doomed in the long run, and too few are targeted at declining flora and fauna that are still recoverable. As a counter to these ideas of ecological triage, some conservation biologists believe that parallels between emergency medicine and conservation biology are inappropriate. For example, they consider that it makes extinction acceptable and allow decision-makers to get away with allocating insufficient resources to address environmental problems. More than a decade ago, scientists Cameron and Soderquist argued in Nature that nations such as Australia should reject the concept of ecological triage because it is has the knowledge, time and ability to save threatened and endangered species. My own opinion is that rather than arguing about which species to save and which ones to let go extinct, five key things need to be done. 1. We need to make some general calculations about how much money is needed to adequately conserve Australia’s biodiversity. 2. We must develop the funding framework to support effective conservation and land management efforts. Piecemeal, short-term and underfunded attempts characterise the environmental management arena in Australia – usually with limited success. Large-scale and long-term initiatives like an environmental levy (like the Medicare levy) or a GST on food with the funds directed in land management are possible options. Levies can work and if managed appropriately (and transparently) can raise sufficient funds to solve major problems and spread the burden across all of society to generate a public good outcome. 3. We must identify the management actions and expenditure of resources that will provide the maximum benefit. 4. We need to do the proper management interventions to tackle the processes threatening biodiversity in particular ecosystems – be it limiting industrial clearfelling in the wet forests of Victoria to conserving populations of the endangered leadbeater’s possum, continuing strategic fox-baiting to reduce feral predators and maintaining populations of animals like the eastern bristlebird, or protecting woodland remnants and re-vegetating patches of woodland on farmland to help recover temperate woodland birds. 5. We must do the monitoring so that we can tell what management is working (and then keep it going), and what is not, so that it can be changed. This last step is critical as it essential to show investors – the Australian public – what was the environmental return on the investment. Debates about letting species go extinct are important to stimulate discussion among the public, policymakers and politicians about the long-term trajectory of conservation. This nation must properly identify the expenditure of resources, management actions and monitoring that will conserve its natural heritage. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/biodiversity', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/david-lindenmayer'] | environment/biodiversity | BIODIVERSITY | 2014-03-20T04:52:26Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
commentisfree/2023/feb/25/you-can-blame-the-weather-and-brexit-but-theres-more-to-the-uks-food-supply-crisis | Blame the weather and Brexit. But there’s more to this food crisis | Jay Rayner | In October 2014 I told the Defra select committee that we needed to start paying more for our food. If we did not do so, we risked paying vastly more later and experiencing shortages in supply, resulting in empty shelves. For decades the supermarket sector had been given a free run at our food supply chain by governments of both stripes. Just a dozen companies then controlled 95% of UK food retail and used that economic might to force such drastically tight deals on producers that many had gone out of business. Our self-sufficiency had withered. We were now, I said, at serious risk from external shocks disrupting our food supply because we were so dependent on imports. I didn’t expect one of those external shocks to be self-inflicted, but then the Brexit vote came along. Anyone with even a passing knowledge of how deformed our food system had become knew it would have a drastic impact. And now here we are in 2023, with shelves emptied of salad vegetables and rationing in supermarkets. Is it solely a product of our leaving the EU? No, of course not – a fact that bug-eyed Brexiters cling to. Yes, there have been weather issues. But isn’t it curious that the supply problems we have here are not being replicated in France, Spain or even Ukraine; that social media is plump with pictures of their stores groaning with fresh produce? We are capable of growing salad vegetables under glass in the UK all year around – not enough to meet supply, but certainly enough to deal with shortfalls. There are those who claim grandly that there’s something intrinsically distasteful and wrong about eating such foods out of season; that, as environment secretary Thérèse Coffey said last week, we should make do with turnips. That’s to misunderstand the history of agriculture. Humanity has been interfering with how and when crops grow since wild grasses were first domesticated on the banks of the Nile thousands of years ago. It’s called progress. The problem is that growing salad vegetables in the UK has been made economically unviable, both by those shortsighted supermarkets and in large part by Brexit. Growers in the Lea Valley around London, regarded as Britain’s salad bowl, have started applying to knock down dozens of acres of greenhouses so the land can be used more profitably for houses. As the Lea Valley Growers Association has explained, the post-Brexit seasonal workers’ scheme only granted six-month visas when they were needed for nine months. It meant bringing in two cohorts and double the training. That means extra costs which are not being met by supermarkets. Then came the energy crisis. The government chose not to subsidise the energy costs of growers. Last week APS Group, one of the largest tomato growers in the country, admitted it had left some of its glasshouses unplanted for the first time in almost 75 years. Some will argue that the supermarkets are refusing to pay more because they can’t pass on the costs to already hard-pressed consumers battling a cost of living crisis; that to suggest we should pay more for our food when so many are reduced to using food banks is a grossly insensitive argument made from a place of affluence. But if we structure our food system so that those in poverty can access it, we will only further damage our agricultural base. We need on the one hand to deal with the functioning of our food system and on the other with poverty, with a chronically unequal distribution of wealth. We need to stop talking about food poverty and just call it poverty. Turning to overseas markets for our supply when there has been disruption does not, of course, make things cheaper. It makes them vastly more expensive. The supermarkets have been able to get some stock, but wholesalers supplying other parts of the economy, like the hospitality sector and independent shops, have been left very short. Supermarket rationing has been introduced in part to stop those smaller businesses buying what they need from supermarkets. And why is the UK not being supplied as once it was? Could it have something to do with getting trucks through borders mired in post-Brexit paperwork? Dutch lorry drivers complained last week on social media about border checks adding hours to their shifts. Far easier, then, to get stock to supermarkets across a borderless Schengen zone. This is the problem with running down British agriculture and depending on imports. In 2006, Labour published a paper on food security nicknamed in food circles the “leave it to Tesco” report because it argued that in a globalised world a rich UK could buy its way out of any supply issues. It failed to recognise the growing dominance of emerging economies like India and China, which were buying the crops we wanted. But at least we had the EU and the ease of supply. And then we left it. In a few weeks, perhaps a few months, the current problems will ease. The shelves will fill again. Those with an interest in doing so will insist it was just a blip. It isn’t just a blip. It’s a symptom of a dysfunctional food system. It’s a symptom of an overly mighty supermarket sector failing to behave like the custodian of the food supply chain it has become. And yes, it’s also a symptom of Brexit. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'business/fooddrinks', 'business/supermarkets', 'food/food', 'environment/farming', 'business/cost-of-living-crisis', 'politics/eu-referendum', 'business/business', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/jayrayner', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/focus', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-main'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-02-25T14:19:07Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2021/mar/17/lights-off-france-parkour-collectives-fight-pollution-one-store-sign-at-a-time | Lights off: France parkour collectives fight pollution one store sign at a time | The Champs-Élysées may be empty, with a strict pandemic curfew in place across France, but the shops have been leaving their signs on all the same. And so a few months ago a parkour collective decided to take matters into its own hands. With members using their gymnastic abilities to climb walls and scaffolding to turn off the illuminated signs, the Paris-based On The Spot collective is just one of a number of parkour collectives around France trying to raise awareness about light pollution and energy consumption as part of the Lights Off movement. “Turning off the lights is a symbolic message about the basic efforts that businesses should be making,” said Kevin Ha, a 28-year-old completing his PhD in oceanography and the leader of On the Spot. “It’s not the efficiency of the operation that matters. Obviously we cannot turn off all the lights in Paris, but we hope to show how even small actions can make a difference.” Leaving commercial lights on at night wastes energy and the accompanying light pollution harms local ecosystems and our own circadian rhythms as well. This was why French legislators introduced a law in 2013 requiring stores and office buildings to turn off their signs an hour after their last employee leaves. Violation of the law is punishable with a €750 (£645) fine. But enforcement is sporadic, says Ha, which is why he and others in the collective can be found hanging from ledges and perched atop doorways on the Champs-Élysées most Friday nights. While turning off the signs simply requires the flip of a small interrupter switch – meant for emergency services – outside each storefront, finding a way to actually get to those switches is the difficult part. But the challenge of getting from point A to point B in creative ways is exactly what parkour is about. Ha emphasises, however, that people should not attempt to climb buildings or walls unless properly trained, saying: “Don’t try this at home, kids.” Despite the fact that they are often out after curfew, police officers patrolling the avenue rarely bother them, the parkour runners say, and instead more often than not act as an audience. Not wanting anyone to feel unsafe, they make sure to avoid turning off signs in areas of the avenue not lit by public street lights, and take care to steer clear of damaging any storefronts. None of the half dozen companies, including Sephora and Dyson, whose signs have been turned by On the Spot replied to a request for comment. Anecdotally, however, Ha reported that several businesses along the street had begun turning off their signs over the past few months. On the Spot was inspired by the Wizzy Gang parkour collective based in Rennes, north-west of France. Wizzy Gang came up with the idea after watching a video in which the popular YouTuber Partager C’est Sympa flips the interrupter switches using a long stick. “We started doing it [turning off the signs] in our own way by doing parkour and climbing the facades,” said Félix Orain, a member of Wizzy Gang. “During the first few months we were only doing it for fun at the end of our sessions. Only later did we shoot a video to alert people about their energy consumption.” Ha, whose childhood obsession with Batman brought him to parkour at 15 years old, says the campaign is part of doing “parkour in context” – over time the sport is increasingly being used as a political form of artistic expression. “This Lights Off movement is an example of this parkour in context,” Ha said. “It is not performance just for the sake of the performance, but rather performance and action for the sake of the planet.” | ['world/paris', 'environment/environment', 'world/france', 'environment/pollution', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'sport/sport', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-03-17T14:26:44Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2024/feb/22/bleaching-fears-along-1000km-stretch-of-the-great-barrier-reef | Bleaching fears along 1,000km stretch of the Great Barrier Reef | Scientists are reporting corals are bleaching white and dying from rising ocean temperatures across a more than 1,000km stretch of the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Australian Institute of Marine Science were preparing on Thursday to carry out surveys from a helicopter across the southern section of the reef. Guardian Australia heard reports of bleaching at Lizard Island in the north and at Heron Island in the south – a distance of more than 1,100km (740 miles) along the Queensland coast. The reef has been through six previous mass bleaching events caused by global heating where rising ocean heat has turned corals white across large sections of the reef. The latest event, in 2022, was the first to occur in a usually cooler La Niña year. The authority has not declared a mass bleaching event for 2024 and said it would wait for further monitoring and the helicopter survey before deciding if reef-wide surveys were needed. Global heating is the biggest threat to the world’s coral reefs, including the health of the world’s biggest coral reef system. Corals lose the algae that give them their colour and much of their nutrients if water temperatures climb too high. In extreme cases, bleaching can kill corals. Scientists say corals that survive bleaching and regain their colour tend to be more susceptible to disease and do not reproduce as well. Dr Maya Srinivasan, a scientist at James Cook University’s centre for tropical water and aquatic ecosystem research, surveyed 27 sites with colleagues at the Keppel islands off Rockhampton in the past two weeks. Most sites had bleached corals. “I saw some dead and some dying corals that were starting to become overgrown by algae,” she said. “But the majority are still alive so there’s still a chance they will recover.” Dr Anne Hoggett is director of the Australian Museum’s Lizard Island research station off far north Queensland – an area badly hit by bleaching in 2016. She said over the last four years corals had regularly bleached but cooler weather conditions had come along “in the nick of time”. “It’s happening again, but now it has progressed further than it has in the last few years,” she said. “We have a lot of corals that are flourescing [another sign of heat stress in some corals] and some are pure white. Today we noticed some coral death. They’re now beginning to die. “We are desperately hoping for a change [in the weather] but the forecast is not looking good.” Hillary Smith, a senior research scientist at James Cook University, is monitoring areas of Magnetic Island, off Townsville, where researchers are seeing if the removal of seaweed can help reefs rebound. At one site at Arthur Bay, she said Cyclone Kirrily that struck this year had destroyed most of the corals “and close to 90% of the survivors are bleached or diseased”, she said. Another nearby site at Florence Bay had fared much better. The Guardian also heard reports of bleaching at the University of Queensland’s Heron Island research station near Gladstone. Corals across the reef flat and to a depth of five metres on the reef slope were bleaching. A spokesperson for Aims said scientists from the institute and the park authority would carry out helicopter surveys across the southern region in the next two days. “This information will help inform our decision on whether to conduct large scale aerial surveys across the reef.” Aims was monitoring temperatures from satellites, underwater gliders, marine weather stations and sensors on research vessels. The spokesperson added: “Aims teams have spent substantial time in the water since the beginning of the year conducting routine and additional field surveys. We have reports of bleaching, ranging in severity, across a range of reefs. “These observations align with patterns we’d expect to see from the accumulation of heat stress over the past couple of months.” The marine park authority said it would take time to assess how reefs and corals were responding to heat stress and how prevalent bleaching was. Its statement said: “While we have preliminary reports of coral bleaching from all regions of the marine park of varying severity, a more comprehensive assessment needs to take place before we categorise what is occurring.” | ['environment/great-barrier-reef', 'environment/coral', 'environment/environment', 'environment/marine-life', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/queensland', 'environment/oceans', 'australia-news/australia-weather', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/graham-readfearn', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/great-barrier-reef | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-02-22T14:00:23Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/economics-blog/2014/mar/20/george-osborne-budget-kill-renewable-energy-revolution-tax-break | George Osborne is preparing to kill off Britain's renewable energy revolution | George Osborne quietly moved to kill off Britain's renewable revolution in Wednesday's budget as he stealthily enacted David Cameron's rumoured call to his cabinet to kill off the "green crap". With such stealth that it went almost entirely unspotted by environmentalists and journalists, who were busy focusing on his move to reduce fossil-fuel energy costs for big business, Osborne at a stroke abolished a key tax break that has attracted hundreds of millions of pounds of private money to help build Britain's green energy future. Tucked away in the budget's red book is an innocuous-looking line that Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) tax breaks will no longer be available for companies benefiting from the renewables obligation certificate (ROC) scheme or the renewable heat incentive (RHI). Of these, the ROC scheme is the big one. It underlies all the big wind, solar and other renewable technologies in the UK. The EIS tax breaks are available to investors who put money into all sorts of start-up companies. Until now that has also included firms building wind and solar farms. Now, after royal assent to the legislation in July, it will not be. One City fund manager on Wednesday predicted that many funds would simply have to hand back money to investors that they could not deploy into solar or wind projects by then. This will mean a big slowdown in the deployment of renewables in Britain, a crying shame because renewable investment and deployment have picked up sharply in recent years, after a decade of delay, as Britain finally seemed to be taking European renewable energy targets seriously. The point about the chopping and changing of support for renewables is that it creates uncertainty among investors, as countries such as Spain and Italy have found to their cost. They made retroactive changes to laws that left many investors high and dry, so they will not consider other investments there. Energy expert Dan Lewis of thinktank Future Energy Strategies puts it thus: "No wonder some utility analysts are starting to call the UK energy sector "uninvestable".The paradox is that any simplification or benefit cut to Britain's deep, multi-layered and overly complex energy policy framework means that even a small adjustment has major yes or no investment implications right across the board." Before you decry "subsidies" to renewables, remember that much bigger subsidies have gone to North Sea oil and gas, coal and every other dirty fuel for decades, to say nothing of the ruinously expensive decision to build the new £16bn Hinkley Point nuclear reactor which, if built, will burden future generations with expensive electricity until nearly 2060. Renewable energy, with the exception of offshore wind power, is now cheap, getting cheaper all the time and is well below what consumers pay for their electricity. It is also much cheaper than nuclear, and safer. It soon will require no support – in many countries it has already reached "grid parity". This is what the economist Bjørn Lomborg, has completely failed to grasp. The systems of "feed-in tariffs" used by many countries, especially Germany, have built in big annual cuts, thus rapidly forcing down costs, something subsidies in the usual sense do not do. The company I run, for example, built its first solar project only four years ago, at a cost of close to €4,000 (£3,300) per kilowatt installed. We now build at about €1,000 per kW. We can produce solar power in the UK at about 8p per kW hour – not far above the wholesale price of 5p and about half the level consumers pay for their power. In sunnier countries, that 8p price can be halved. You would think, especially given how the Russian crisis has exposed the danger of being reliant on unstable regions for our energy supplies, that politicians would have woken up to the fact that producing our own energy cuts our import bill, improves our trade balance and improves our energy independence. And yet the communities secretary, Eric Pickles, is running round tearing up planning approvals for wind and solar farms. No wonder he could afford to doze off during the budget speech – he knows how effective the government's job in killing off renewables has been. These guys are being heavily lobbied by the traditional dirty and dangerous energy companies, who know full well the existential threat that renewables represent to them. They fail to realise that decentralised energy, where individuals or communities can produce their own energy, should be a natural Tory theme, not something to be feared. • Ashley Seager is a former Guardian economics correspondent and now director of solar energy firm Sun4net Ltd | ['business/economics-blog', 'uk/budget', 'business/energy-industry', 'uk/uk', 'uk-news/budget-2014', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'business/business', 'environment/solarpower', 'business/investing', 'environment/feed-in-tariffs', 'type/article', 'profile/ashleyseager'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2014-03-20T14:17:00Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2023/jun/05/airborne-dna-accidentally-collected-by-air-quality-filters-reveals-state-of-species | Airborne DNA accidentally collected by air-quality filters reveals state of species | From owls to hedgehogs to fungi, genetic material from plants and animals is being inadvertently hoovered up by air-quality monitoring stations around the world, creating an untapped “vault of biodiversity data”, according to a new scientific paper. Globally, thousands of air filters are continually testing for heavy metals and other pollutants in the atmosphere. Scientists are now realising that this monitoring network is also picking up invisible traces of genetic material known as airborne environmental DNA (eDNA) from bits of hair, feathers, saliva and pollen. Testing eDNA from two UK air-quality stations – one in a London park and another in a rural location outside Edinburgh – revealed the presence of more than 180 fungi, insects, mammals, birds and amphibians, including badgers, dormice, little owls, hedgehogs and smooth newts. Plant eDNA was also collected, including yarrow, daisies, nettles, wheat, soya beans and cabbages. The data can tell scientists which animals live nearby, and could become an important tool in monitoring declines in biodiversity by amassing large amounts of local data over long periods of time. “This infrastructure may represent a tremendous opportunity to collect high-resolution biodiversity data on national scales,” researchers wrote in the paper published in Current Biology. “This is gamechanging for our approach to biodiversity monitoring on land.” The increasing rate of species extinctions globally is a huge concern to scientists. “The potential of this cannot be overstated,” said first author Joanne Littlefair from Queen Mary University of London. “Almost every country has some kind of air pollution-monitoring system or network, either government-owned or private, and in many cases both. This could solve a global problem of how to measure biodiversity at a massive scale.” Air monitoring networks, some of which have been running for decades, are concentrated in Europe, Asia, and central and north America, but some are also found across the global south. Collecting eDNA data does not interfere with their ability to monitor air quality. Researchers found they could still collect eDNA from an eight-month-old filter stored at ambient temperatures, and it could last for decades if frozen. They are now encouraging monitoring stations to keep the filters to preserve the eDNA information they contain. Andrew Brown from the UK’s National Physical Laboratory and one of the paper’s authors said: “For the past two decades of my career, I’ve been working on air-quality pollution to assess exposure of the population to potentially harmful pollutants. “To find out this extremely well-established network can be used by an entirely different field of science – and that it has all this hidden potential that we never thought about – is extremely exciting.” The research was carried out in collaboration with a team from York University in Canada. Sampling of eDNA is more developed in aquatic ecosystems, where ecological consultants often use it to survey for the presence of great crested newts. Using airborne systems, scientists from Lund University have been able to gather DNA from 85 insect species, and zoo species have also been identified by sampling the surrounding air. All this opens up a non-invasive way of tracking wildlife, with no need for the animal to be nearby, unlike camera traps or acoustic monitoring. Dr Fabian Roger at Lund University, who was not involved in this latest study, said: “What is exciting is that these filters are collected from an existing monitoring network, which presents an up-and-running network that could be co-opted for biodiversity monitoring. Still at question, he said, was the usefulness of the data in biodiversity monitoring: “Detecting some species some times is not the same as detecting a signal of biodiversity change, which is representative for a larger area.” Researchers still have to analyse data from multiple stations over an extended period. “I fully agree that the potential could be great,” said Roger. Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on Twitter for all the latest news and features | ['environment/series/the-age-of-extinction', 'global-development/global-development', 'environment/biodiversity', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/conservation', 'science/genetics', 'science/science', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/phoebe-weston', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-age-of-extinction'] | environment/biodiversity | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-06-05T15:00:14Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/article/2024/jun/14/country-diary-a-gleaming-catch-causes-much-excitement | Country diary: A gleaming catch causes much excitement | Mary Montague | I’m birdwatching at the edge of a reedbed, under a heavy sky that’s silvered by the falling sun, when a sudden outburst distracts me from my binoculars. I turn around to see a man gesticulating on top of the sea wall behind me. His fishing rod dangles a gleaming catch. I’m mildly surprised at his excitement. Most of the anglers I’ve encountered have been the silent type. Then there’s movement below him, and a child’s head bobs above the wall, her long hair whipping in the wind. The man shouts: “It’s a gar!” – not a name I’m familiar with. I call up to him: “Can I get a look?” “Of course.” I climb the grassy ramp of the wall’s landward side. The young man grabs the line to hoist the slender fish, revealing its full length to be close to half that of the rod. Its head extends into a narrow beak full of teeth. “Wow,” I say, “that’s like something out of the Jurassic.” The little girl – she’s no more than five or six – glowers at me. I try to win her over. “Your daddy has caught a really special fish.” Her father jumps in. Apparently – Maisie? Daisy? the wind tears her name from his mouth – was the one who landed it. The child flashes him her grave stare. He buckles. “Well, no, actually, it was me.” Then he mutters that the gar has been too long out of the water. He bends down to unhook it from the line. Afterwards, an online search tells me that “gar” refers to a largely freshwater group of North American fish. I read on, puzzled. Ah. That was European settlers reaching for an old name and giving it to a different species, as happened with “robin” (the American robin is a thrush). What I saw is now more generally known as a needlefish, likely Belone belone, a marine predator that preys on other fish. I think of that muscular shaft of a body: “needle” is too delicate a term. “Gar” means spear in Old English – a much better name. I’m glad it’s still used in these parts. • Country diary is on Twitter at @gdncountrydiary | ['environment/series/country-diary', 'environment/fish', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/birds', 'environment/environment', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/mary-montague', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-06-14T04:30:40Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
politics/article/2024/jun/11/top-civil-servant-edf-department-nuclear-deal-alex-chisholm | Top civil servant joins EDF after running department that struck nuclear deal | One of the UK’s most senior civil servants, Alex Chisholm, has been revealed as the new UK chair of the energy company EDF, after having previously run the department that struck a deal for it to build a new nuclear power station. Chisholm was permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office, and before that led the business department, which worked on the government deal for EDF to go ahead with the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant in Somerset. The agreement was struck in 2016 with UK bill payers bearing the cost of the construction over a 35-year period. The long-delayed project’s costs have soared from an estimated £18bn to at least £31bn and it is due to be completed in 2031 – about 14 years after EDF thought it would be up and running. The French state-owned company is a specialist in nuclear power, and one of the “big six” energy providers that have been criticised for huge profits during the energy crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine. Chisholm’s departure is one of a number of high-profile exits from the civil service before a likely change of governing party. Alex Aiken, a former longstanding head of government communications, recently left Whitehall for a job as an adviser on communications to the government of the United Arab Emirates. There is also speculation about the future of Simon Case, the cabinet secretary and former royal aide installed by Boris Johnson, given incoming prime ministers often want their own preferred candidate in the job. Chisholm’s EDF role was approved by the watchdog on post-government jobs, known as the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments. But the watchdog said he must wait three months after departing government to take up the job and observe a ban on lobbying the government or involvement in negotiating government contracts for two years after leaving office. The watchdog said: “In 2016, his department was responsible for the decision on finalising the first contract for difference [a pricing mechanism], with respect to EDF and the construction of Hinkley Point C. However, this was ultimately a decision for the secretary of state and followed the 2014 approval from the European Commission and was based on terms agreed then, 10 years ago. “Significantly, due to the period of time that has elapsed, the committee did not consider Sir Alex could reasonably be seen to have influenced this decision in anticipation of an offer of work a decade later.” Chisholm said his appointment came “at a time of great change and opportunity in the energy sector”. “EDF continues to invest in nuclear, wind, solar and battery infrastructure to offer customers secure, clean and affordable electricity,” he said. “I look forward to getting to know all parts of the company, and to helping EDF serve the needs and priorities of the UK.” Simone Rossi, EDF’s UK boss, said: “Sir Alex brings great private and public sector leadership, governance and regulatory experience that can help steer the company’s efforts to help Britain achieve net zero.” | ['politics/civil-service', 'politics/politics', 'business/edf', 'uk-news/hinkley-point-c', 'business/business', 'uk/uk', 'campaign/email/uk-election', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/energy', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/rowena-mason', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2024-06-11T16:55:20Z | true | ENERGY |
australia-news/2024/apr/02/labor-water-trigger-laws-environment-impact-coal-seam-gas | Labor’s proposed changes to water trigger laws could have ‘centuries-long consequences’, environment groups say | Environment groups have criticised a proposed change by the Albanese government to national environmental laws, saying it puts “precious water resources at risk” and could have “centuries-long consequences”. The proposal would allow states and territories to make decisions about coal mining and unconventional gas where water resources are affected. Currently the federal government has the final say on such projects under the so-called “water trigger”. The move has angered conservation groups involved in the government’s consultation about its environmental reforms four months after the water trigger was expanded to include all forms of unconventional gas. The Albanese government has been consulting select environment and business groups about its planned overhaul of national environmental laws, with the expectation it will introduce legislation to parliament later this year. The water trigger requires the environment minister to consider the impact of large coal mining and coal seam gas projects on water resources. The trigger was expanded late last year to include all types of unconventional gas, such as the shale gas found in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo basin. The current laws include an explicit protection that prevents the commonwealth from delegating its decision-making powers under the water trigger to state and territory governments. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup But the draft new laws presented to environment and business groups remove this guarantee and would allow states and territories to be accredited to take on this responsibility. Under the proposed laws, the government could also divest its decision-making powers over matters of national environmental significance such as world heritage, threatened species and Ramsar wetlands. “Four months after expanding the water trigger, proposed environmental laws will allow it to be devolved,” said Georgina Woods, head of research and investigations at Lock the Gate. “It is not in the national interest to allow state and territory governments free rein to put precious water resources at risk from coal mining and unconventional gas. We’re talking about the lifeblood of the continent and decisions with centuries-long consequences.” Removing the restriction that prevents states and territories from being accredited to make decisions under the water trigger was a recommendation of the 2020 Samuel review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. While the draft reforms adopt this recommendation, the environment and water minister, Tanya Plibersek, said the government would still have “oversight” of any states it accredited. “I was proud to legislate a water trigger last year so all unconventional gas projects are considered under national environment law for their impacts on water – this was the first phase of our plan to make sensible improvements to Australia’s environment laws,” she said. “The commonwealth will retain oversight of this under our draft laws.” But Woods said Labor had specifically told Northern Territory communities during the 2022 federal election campaign that an expanded water trigger would not be delegated to state and territory governments. “The reality is that state and territory governments tend to become blindly enthusiastic about resource extraction. That is why Bob Hawke initiated the commonwealth’s role in environmental protection in the first place,” she said. “To protect water resources in the national interest, the commonwealth has to be there with the power to say ‘no’.” The Australian Conservation Foundation’s biodiversity policy adviser, Brendan Sydes, said the organisation had campaigned for years against proposals to hand federal environmental approval powers to state and territory governments, including the former Abbott government’s proposed “one-stop shop” process. “We think the commonwealth needs to retain direct responsibility for protecting threatened species and other matters of national environmental significance like Ramsar wetlands, rather than entrusting that to the states and territories,” he said. Sydes said the water trigger was introduced under the Gillard government with provisions that prevented it from being transferred because it was seen as “critically important” for the commonwealth to be able to step in and protect water resources and the communities and natural values that relied on them. “In expanding the water trigger, as the government did late last year, they recognised the importance of that trigger,” he said. “To now be proposing to create a mechanism to hand it over to the states and territories runs counter to that recognition.” Plibersek said the government would “keep working closely with environment groups and business as we get our laws ready for introduction”. | ['australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/tanya-plibersek', 'environment/fossil-fuels', 'environment/water', 'environment/coal-seam-gas', 'campaign/email/afternoon-update', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/lisa-cox', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/fossil-fuels | EMISSIONS | 2024-04-01T14:00:09Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/2017/dec/11/wales-household-waste-recycling-england | Wales is second best household waste recycler in the world | Wales ranks second in the world for recycling household waste but England lags far behind other European countries, according to new research. Policies brought in by the Welsh government and a target to be zero waste by 2050 have driven the country up the league table to come in just under Germany. With recycling rates of 63.8% for municipal solid waste, which includes household plastic and other packaging, Wales is set to become the world leader for recycling by next year, according to a report from the environmental analysts Eunomia. But in England, where recycling rates have been flatlining, Michael Gove, the environment secretary, will be under pressure over rates of just 42.8%. England ranks 18th in the world, behind South Korea, Taiwan, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy, among others. The report examined reported recycling rates of municipal solid waste, which is made up of everyday items that are disposed of by the public at home or on the go. Dominic Hogg, chairman of Eunomia, said: “It’s great to see the ambition of the Welsh bearing fruit, with their recycling rates close to the top of the table. It’s embarrassing for England, which ... is standing still in terms of performance and dropping in the rankings as others continue to progress. We know that the public is concerned about the growing problem of waste, especially the way plastics are dealt with.” Countries that made it into the top 10 had recycling rates of more than 50%. There were key themes and policies shared by those countries doing well on recycling. These include: Mandatory separate collection of key dry recyclable materials.Mandatory separate collection of bio waste. Statutory targets for rates of recycling or the reduction of unrecycled waste.Pay-as-you-throw charges.Producer responsibility schemes, where producers fund the collection of key recyclables.Taxes on landfill.Deposit refund systems. England only has two of these in place: a tax on landfill and separate collection of dry recyclable materials. A Welsh government spokesperson said: “In the 20 years since devolution, Wales’s recycling rate has increased from just under 5% to 64%. We are well on track to meet our 70% target by 2025. “Our success has been achieved through a comprehensive package of measures. These include statutory targets, funding, principled, progressive leadership and a firm commitment from local authorities and the Welsh public to reducing, reusing and recycling. “We are always looking at how we can continue to improve. Earlier this year, Cabinet secretary Lesley Griffiths announced her plans to halve food waste by 2025. We are confident this is achievable thanks to the enthusiasm that exists in Wales to recycling.” Gove has said a bottle deposit scheme is a great idea and called for views on setting one up. But experts are concerned that with local council budgets facing further cuts and no sign of central government investment in improving recycling rates, England will continue to fail to raise levels of recycling. The Recycling Association last week called for more responsibility throughout the supply chain to make recycling easier for the public. Simon Ellin of the Recycling Association said: “Central government needs to put money into the system to make it work. Local authorities have been cut, they can’t afford to do a lot of the work around recycling, they aren’t doing the communicating with the public or the advertising. All that impacts on recycling rates. “If the government is serious about waste recycling they need a coherent plan and they need to put the investment in.” The report comes as local authorities face more challenges from an imminent ban by the Chinese government on importing household waste. Experts say the higher cost of recycling could see some local authorities reducing collections and not collecting some plastics. | ['environment/recycling', 'environment/environment', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/waste', 'uk/uk', 'uk/wales', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/sandralaville', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-12-11T00:01:06Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
artanddesign/2018/mar/22/langlands-bell-zuckerberg-facebook-tech-ceos-are-like-cult-leaders-internet-giants-big-data | 'Tech CEOs are like cult leaders' – the artists taking on Facebook and big data | By a remarkable coincidence, on Wednesday, right as Mark Zuckerberg finally addressed the unfolding Facebook data-breach scandal, British artists Ben Langlands and Nikki Bell opened their new exhibition about the unchecked power Facebook and the other big tech companies wield. Internet Giants: Masters of the Universe, at Birmingham’s Ikon Gallery until 10 June, marks the 40th year of collaboration between Langlands and Bell. It is an arresting ensemble of installations and animations, prints and architectural models. The show’s centrepiece is a series of highly pixelated portraits of big tech’s main players, paired with the catchphrases they’re best known for. From Sergey Brin’s “We want Google to be the third half of your brain” to Jeff Bezos’s “It’s not an experiment if you know it’s going to work”, they are presented as hagiographic icons for the digital age. The one bound to steal the show is Zuckerberg’s: “I’m trying to make the world a more open place.” In the light of recent events, it’s a phrase to stop you in your tracks. Langlands points out, though, that he and Bell felt it was sinister when they read it the first time, on Zuckerberg’s Facebook profile a few years back. Langlands mentions The Circle, Dave Eggers’ satire of the tech industry, and the Orwellian idea therein that privacy is theft – that people who are unwilling to share their most intimate details are somehow depriving other people. “They’re made to feel guilty about not giving people access into their innermost thoughts or desires,” says Langlands. “When Zuckerberg said this, he must have known exactly what he was talking about. He’s saying, ‘You can’t withhold information from me, I want to have access to all information about you.’ He’s not being transparent about his motives.” If Zuckerberg’s response to what he called the Cambridge Analytica “situation” was characteristically zealous (he concluded his Facebook post by thanking “believers” in his mission, and pledging to work harder and be better), its tone was not surprising to Langlands and Bell – they have been making work about the tech industry’s quasi-religious shtick for years. The “situation” hasn’t surprised them. “It was entirely predictable,” says Langlands, “and I don’t mean that in a blase kind of way. We’ve felt the increasing disquiet that everybody else feels about the power these companies have. Five years ago, unless you were reading specialist tech journals or websites, you very rarely saw articles about these issues. Then gradually you saw one every three months, then one a month, then one a week and now there are dozens every day. It’s now a really big issue for public discussion.” Langlands and Bell’s inquiry into big data behemoths began in 2011. Defining architecture as “the most tangible and enduring record of the way we live”, they embarked on a series of perspectival architectural models of the most emblematic buildings of our time. The Pakistani compound where Bin Laden lived was the first, followed by the Doughnut – the clunky Gensler-designed headquarters for GCHQ in Cheltenham. That set them on a path of discovery of those other, altogether more private enterprises and their so-called campuses: Norman Foster’s glass-ring spaceship for Apple, the Thomas Heatherwick pile for Google, Frank Gehry’s oversized cube for Facebook. Questioning whether these buildings might define our era in the way that cathedrals defined the middle ages, and factories and stations the industrial revolution, Langlands and Bell’s white bas-relief models are mounted in brightly coloured circles, like specimens. Made from a floating point of view, and with a confusingly compressed perspective – they hover between 2D and 3D – the sculptures are designed to feel unreal. They are intended to make you wonder what you’re looking at, but also just what these companies are up to. “What they do is intangible and opaque,” says Langlands, “so these huge buildings represent a very big step – they’re making a solid commitment to some kind of programme or agenda which is readable by the public, or at least, which should be. These buildings will become symbolic entities, the focus for attention, for discontent even.” Of course big data already has perfectly good focal points for that, in the form of the sector’s ever-visible CEOs. When researching the buildings, Langlands says, they noticed how photographs of the company heads would often depict them in poses reminiscent of Byzantine saints: hands clasped or pointing skywards, eyes raised to the heavens, the figures back-lit with a blue or orange glow, “like a halo of some kind”. “We realised,” Langlands says, “that these people – billionaires in T-shirts and trainers – were employing timeless tropes to present themselves as individuals who could deliver new knowledge and innovation. Like leaders of a cult, I suppose.” Internet Giants: Masters of the Universe is at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, until 10 June. | ['artanddesign/art', 'technology/big-data', 'artanddesign/exhibition', 'culture/culture', 'technology/technology', 'artanddesign/artanddesign', 'technology/mark-zuckerberg', 'technology/facebook', 'technology/google', 'technology/apple', 'technology/amazon', 'world/surveillance', 'technology/silicon-valley', 'business/technology', 'technology/data-protection', 'technology/internet', 'artanddesign/sculpture', 'artanddesign/architecture', 'type/article', 'tone/interview', 'tone/features', 'profile/dale-berning-sawa', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-culture'] | technology/big-data | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2018-03-22T15:49:09Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2021/dec/16/beware-plastic-eating-bugs-visiting-you-at-home | Beware plastic-eating bugs visiting you at home | Brief letters | Wonderful to know that microbes are evolving to eat plastics (Report, 14 December). I just hope they don’t get too good at it. Looking round this room, I would lose the keyboard I am typing this on, the phone, the file boxes, half the vacuum, plugs, the front-doorbell receptor, probably one handbag and all the CDs and DVDs. It would be terrifying to come in one morning and find that they had all jellified. Margaret Squires St Andrews, Fife • My first tattoo, at 71 (Meet the people who had their first tattoo after 60, 14 December), is a celebration of my suffragette great-granny’s Holloway brooch, awarded to her by Emmeline Pankhurst. It was given to her after her stay in Holloway prison, where she, along with many others, was force-fed. The tattoo, on my wrist, is of the purple, white and green flashes from the middle of the brooch. Sally Smith Redruth, Cornwall • The mayor of London aims to “rewiggle” its streams to alleviate flooding (Sadiq Khan leads ambitious plans to rewild Hyde Park, 14 December). If this proves impractical, then Northamptonshire can supply him with any number of “pre-wiggled” streams if the price is right. Alan Woodley Northampton • Ms Percy might find that the guests leave even more quickly if her husband appears in the doorway without his pyjamas, not in them (Letters, 14 December). Michael Cunningham Wolverhampton • My aunt Marjorie used to announce: “I’m in my home and I wish everyone else was in theirs.” She wasn’t famous for hospitality. Liz Fuller London • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication. | ['environment/plastic', 'environment/environment', 'environment/pollution', 'fashion/tattoos', 'society/older-people', 'environment/rewilding', 'uk/london', 'commentisfree/series/brief-letters', 'type/article', 'tone/letters', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-12-16T18:30:05Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
world/2020/oct/19/vietnam-floods-and-landslides-displace-90000-people-as-new-cyclone-nears | Vietnam floods and landslides displace 90,000 people as new cyclone nears | Floods and landslides in Vietnam are reported to have left at least 102 people dead or missing, while tens of thousands of people have lost their homes to rising water. Two storms that hit central Vietnam in the first two weeks of October, Storm Linfa and Storm Nangka, brought six times higher than average rainfall, flooding 136,000 houses and forcing 90,000 people to evacuate their homes. A third cyclone is expected to hit the coast in the coming days. Worst hit is Hue province, some 700km (434 miles) away from the capital, Hanoi. Police and soldiers have been using canoes and boats in Ha Tinh city to reach the most flooded areas to evacuate people and move property to safety. In this city alone, more than 20,700 people were reported to have been evacuated. In Quang Binh province, 130km away, flood water continues to rise, swallowing up entire houses or burying them beneath landslides. On Sunday 13 households , about 60 people in total, were relocated, as an estimated 3,000 tonnes of rock and soil came crashing down on homes and roads. Landslides buried a military barracks at Quang Trị in the early hours of Sunday, killing 22 soldiers and officers. Blue Dragon, a non-governmental organisation that helps at-risk families around Vietnam, is one of a handful of non-profits working in Hue, with help and donations slowly trickling in. Founder Michael Brosowski said: “Hue experiences floods each year, but the scale and the speed this year is shocking. Local residents now live in a way that is prepared for a natural disaster, but this is on a much larger scale. They’ll have to start all over again.” | ['world/vietnam', 'world/asia-pacific', 'environment/flooding', 'world/world', 'world/natural--disasters', 'world/extreme-weather', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2020-10-19T17:02:54Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
technology/2014/oct/10/googles-next-smartphone-will-be-59in-phablet-made-by-motorola | Google’s next smartphone will be 5.9in phablet made by Motorola | Google is expected to release its new flagship Nexus Android smartphone later this month, which the Guardian understands will be a super-sized “phablet” device with a 5.9in screen. The new smartphone will be made by Motorola under the Nexus brand according to people familiar with the matter, confirmed by separate people talking to the Wall Street Journal. The phone will be sold by Google direct to customers through the Google Play Store as well as via mobile phone stores and other retailers. The phone follows the popular 5in Nexus 5 smartphone, which was released at the end of October 2013. The Nexus 6, as it has been called in previous leaks, is designed to push Google into the rising “phablet” trend with smartphones that are a cross between a phone and a tablet with screens bigger than 5.5in. First Motorola Nexus The new Nexus will be the first made by Motorola, which Google is selling to China’s Lenovo. Previous Nexus devices, which also include tablets, have been made by HTC, Asus and Samsung, as well as LG, which made the previous two generations of Google’s popular smartphone, the Nexus 4 and 5. Phablets are increasingly popular, becoming the mainstay of phones bought in Asia and steadily gaining ground in Europe and the US. One third of the 279.4m smartphones that shipped in the first quarter of 2014 had screens larger than 5in, according to data from research firm Canalys. The data shows that 32% of phones in the US had screens larger than 5in while they made up 27% of shipments in Europe. By comparison, the larger-screened smartphones made up 43% of all shipments in Asia-Pacific and 39% in China. Samsung established the phablet category of devices in 2011 with the 5.3in Galaxy Note, which also had a stylus. Subsequent Galaxy Note models have increased in screen size, while other manufacturers have launched phablets, including LG and most recently Apple, which launched the iPhone 6 Plus with a 5.5in screen in September. Google will hope that the Nexus 6, nicknamed Shamu after the SeaWorld killer whale, will compete with rivals from Apple and Microsoft’s Nokia, while pushing its Android software in the larger format phones. • Samsung unveils Galaxy Note Edge phablet with a screen that bends around the side • Nokia Lumia 1520 review: bigger is better for Windows Phone • Apple iPhone 6 Plus: it’s a very big phone and it feels great - reviews • Samsung Galaxy Note 3 review - is it a tablet, or a phone? | ['technology/google', 'technology/technology', 'technology/smartphones', 'technology/gadgets', 'technology/android', 'technology/mobilephones', 'technology/phablets', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/samuel-gibbs'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2014-10-10T13:56:52Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
science/2019/aug/14/human-sized-penguin-fossil-discovered-in-new-zealand | Human-sized penguin fossil discovered in New Zealand | A giant penguin that stood as tall as a person has been identified from fossil leg bones discovered by an amateur palaeontologist on New Zealand’s South Island. At 1.6 metres and 80kg (12st), the new species, Crossvallia waiparensis, was four times as heavy and 40cm taller than the emperor penguin, the largest living penguin. The penguin joins other oversized but extinct New Zealand birds including the world’s largest parrot, an eagle with a three-metre wingspan, 3.6 metre-tall moa birds and other giant penguins. Enormous penguins are believed to have rapidly evolved in the Palaeocene epoch – between 66 and 56m years ago – after the dinosaurs disappeared and large marine reptiles also vanished from southern hemisphere waters that were much warmer than today. The giant penguin was identified as new to science by a team from Canterbury Museum in Christchurch and Senckenberg natural history museum in Frankfurt after bones were found by Leigh Love, an amateur palaeontologist, at Waipara. It is the fifth ancient penguin species described from fossils uncovered at Waipara, where a river cuts into a cliff of greensand. According to researchers, the penguin’s leg bones suggest its feet played a greater role in swimming than those of modern penguins. It is not clear why the giant penguins disappeared from the oceans millions of years ago but it may be linked to the arrival of large marine competitors such as seals and toothed whales. The new species is similar to another prehistoric giant penguin, Crossvallia unienwillia, which was identified from a fossilised partial skeleton found in the Cross Valley in Antarctica in 2000. Dr Vanesa De Pietri, a natural history curator at Canterbury Museum, said the discovery of a second giant penguin from the Palaeocene was further evidence of the large size of ancient penguins. “It further reinforces our theory that penguins attained a giant size very early in their evolution,” she said. Dr Paul Scofield, the senior curator of natural history at Canterbury Museum, said finding closely related species in New Zealand and Antarctica showed the connections between the now-separated land masses. He added: “When the Crossvallia species were alive, New Zealand and Antarctica were very different from today – Antarctica was covered in forest and both had much warmer climates.” | ['science/extinct-wildlife', 'science/archaeology', 'world/newzealand', 'culture/museums', 'science/science', 'science/zoology', 'world/asia-pacific', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/patrickbarkham', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | science/extinct-wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2019-08-14T12:53:07Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
australia-news/2015/jan/07/bushfires-victorian-towns-put-on-high-alert-for-two-out-of-control-blazes | Bushfires: Victorian towns put on high alert for two out-of-control blazes | Towns in central and western Victoria have been put on high alert for two out-of-control bushfires that were threatening to approach homes on Wednesday night. Out-of-control fires were burning near Bendigo in central Victoria, and near Nhill in the state’s west. The Country Fire Authority has issued emergency alerts for residents in Kyneton, about 80km north of Melbourne, warning it is too late for them to leave to avoid a fast-moving grassfire travelling south from Black Hill Road. Another emergency alert has been issued for residents in the suburbs of Edgecombe, Langley, Greenhill, Woodleigh Heights and Bald Hill. In western Victoria, where two other significant fires have been burning, a fire in the Little Desert national park near Nhill is out of control and threatening homes in Mitre, Nurcoung and Gymbowen. The fire was expected to reach those communities by 8.30pm AEST. The CFA has advised people to leave and go to nearby Goroke or Natimuk. Tony Abbott is expected to visit South Australia tomorrow to tour the Adelaide Hills, where a bushfire has destroyed up to 38 homes. The prime minister, who returned from a three-day trip to the Middle East on Wednesday, has been criticised on social media for failing to release a formal statement on the devastating fires. The Australian reports that Abbott hasn’t yet called South Australian premier Jay Weatherill about the fires, which have been described as the state’s worst natural disaster since Ash Wednesday. The Queen, however, has issued a statement via the South Australian governor, Hieu Van Le. “Prince Philip and I send our sincere thanks and appreciation to the hundreds of firefighters and community volunteers who have risked their lives to contain the bushfires in South Australia and Victoria,” the statement says. “Our thoughts are with the families who have lost their homes and personal possessions in the fires. I commend the courage and fortitude of the men and women who continue to assist with the emergency operations and those who are providing support to the people who are directly affected.” About 600 firefighters worked on the 12,500ha Sampson Flat fire on Wednesday, establishing containment lines around 95% of the 238km perimeter. Rainfall on Wednesday helped firefighters contain the blaze, but lightning strikes started several new grassfires. The South Australian Country Fire Service said the fire no longer posed a threat to lives and homes but urged those living in and returning to the area to remain vigilant. “Although rain has fallen on the parts of the fireground there is still the potential for hotpots to reignite,” it said. “Fire resources and support agencies continue to work in these areas.” The South Australian police commissioner, Gary Burns, formally downgraded the level of alert on Wednesday, rescinding the major emergency declaration. At least 167 buildings, including 38 homes, have been destroyed or sustained major damage in the fire. Insurance claims have already topped $13m. A spokesman for the South Australian CFS told Guardian Australia that the injury toll had been revised up to include 40 firefighters. Weatherill said on Tuesday that the South Australian ambulance service had treated 134 people for fire-related injuries. One person who was hit by a falling tree while trying to repair a fence is in the Royal Adelaide hospital in a serious condition. The CFA says one of the firefighters injured in the South Australian fires was a Victorian volunteer. In a statement released on Wednesday, it said the firefighter had been taken to Royal Adelaide hospital after becoming “unwell” on the firefront. His illness was not caused by the fire. In Victoria, another CFA volunteer received “superficial” burns to his face while fighting a grassfire at Chintin, near the Macedon Ranges. Another bushfire that killed more than a thousand sheep, destroyed fences and threatened homes near Moyston, in western Victoria, is under control. An update from the CFA on Wednesday said the fire’s edge had been “completely secured” and the fire had remained within containment lines. The Victorian fire services commissioner, Craig Lapsley, said on Tuesday that the Moyston fire had been “devastating” for the farming community; two farmers lost everything. “That is every fence post is gone, every blade of grass has gone off the farm, and that’s devastating,” Lapsley said. And in Western Australia, a bushfire on a Department of Defence training ground that was threatening homes earlier on Wednesday has been contained. About 100 firefighters and aerial support remain at the fire to strengthen containment lines. | ['australia-news/bushfires', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'world/natural-disasters', 'australia-news/tony-abbott', 'uk/queen', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'australia-news/jay-weatherill', 'australia-news/south-australia', 'weather/victoria', 'australia-news/victoria', 'australia-news/australia-weather', 'australia-news/adelaide', 'world/wildfires', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/calla-wahlquist'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2015-01-07T08:59:24Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
sport/2023/sep/04/world-rugby-sport-rugby-world-cup-drug-testing | World Rugby defends sport’s drug-test programmes amid World Cup concern | Senior officials at World Rugby have stated they are confident their sport is mostly drug-free despite two recent positive tests recorded by international players in the run-up to the Rugby World Cup in France. Wales’s Rhys Webb and South Africa’s Elton Jantjies are the subject of disciplinary scrutiny following recent initial adverse tests, raising fears that doping might be on the rise across rugby. But the World Rugby chief executive, Alan Gilpin, insists the sport’s Keep Rugby Clean programme is working and he does not believe the integrity of the 2023 tournament, which gets under way on Friday, is under threat. Updated technology which permits testing of old blood samples is also now available to the authorities, for example, permitting the retesting of samples collected at the 2019 competition in Japan. None have thrown up any retrospective positives, raising hopes that doping is not rife in the modern game. “Does rugby have a doping problem? I think the evidence suggests ‘no’,” Gilpin said. “We’re already confident in the programmes we have in place. We’ve taken really significant steps to make sure every team during this tournament are tested in and out of competition. Our regime and our programmes are really extensive. There are occasionally positives – we have seen a couple recently – but I think the evidence would suggest we don’t have a problem in this sport.” Gilpin is equally upbeat about this World Cup – “We’ve got great guests coming to our great party” – with the World Rugby chairman, Bill Beaumont, adding that 600,000 overseas fans are expected to travel to France in the coming weeks. More than 1.8 million tickets have been sold so far, 55% of them to French supporters. To enhance the event still further, the governing body also says it wants its male players to learn from the women’s World Cup last year and make a concerted effort to showcase the game’s best aspects. Organisers are keen to encourage the players to exhibit more of their character and personality to the wider world, as players such as the Black Ferns’ Ruby Tui did so effectively. “What we saw in New Zealand, which is so important for rugby in the future, is players’ personalities,” Gilpin said. “I think there’s a lot the men can learn from that.” Discipline-wise, meanwhile, World Rugby believes the “bunker review” system for incidents of potential foul play should run more smoothly at the tournament, despite the protracted debate last month following Owen Farrell’s upgraded red card. “We’re confident but I guess we’re not complacent,” Gilpin said. “Any time you’re introducing new processes and procedures there’s always going to be some learnings, and I think there have been. The key difference for us when we come into the tournament is that we get to control the process much more.” The top three sides in each pool will automatically qualify for the 2027 tournament, with expansion to 24 teams also likely from 2031. Not everything, however, is wholly within the control of the RWC authorities before the opening-night blockbuster between France and New Zealand in Paris on Friday. Roasting hot weather is forecast across France all this week, with England’s game against Argentina in Marseille on Saturday among those set to go ahead in temperatures of around 30C (86F). Organisers are already discussing whether to introduce an official in-game drinks break every 20 minutes to help players to rehydrate properly. Attempts to portray the tournament as the most enlightened and diverse in history, similarly, have been complicated by a row over the 11th-hour selection of the France lock Bastien Chalureau, who is appealing a conviction for a racially motivated attack on two former players in 2020. “As far as Bastien Chalureau is concerned he has admitted to acts of violence but has always denied making racist remarks,” the French Rugby Federation president, Florian Grill, said. “He is appealing so we have to let the law take its course and see this judicial process through to the end.” Chalureau was handed a six-month suspended prison sentence in 2020 after being found guilty of “acts of violence committed because of the victim’s race or ethnicity”. The Montpellier player, who admitted to acts of violence but denied making racist comments, has appealed against that conviction. “This story has been around for years and I totally deny the allegations of racism,” Chalureau told reporters on Monday, four days ahead of Les Bleus’ opening game against three-time champions New Zealand in Pool A. Chalureau was called up last Friday to replace the injured lock Paul Willemse, having already won six caps since his conviction. “Since the first day I’ve admitted my mistakes but denied racism allegations. I am not a racist. I wanted to come and say it out loud here today, because it is something that affects also my team and my family,” Chalureau added with tears in his eyes. French President Emmanuel Macron supported national team coach Fabien Galthie over his decision to pick Chalureau. “I’m not going to comment on [Galthie’s] choices. He makes them conscientiously and responsibly. They are, by definition, the right ones,” said Macron, who paid a visit to the squad on the outskirts of Paris. | ['sport/world-rugby', 'sport/rugby-world-cup-2023', 'sport/wales-rugby-union-team', 'sport/south-africa-rugby-team', 'sport/rugby-world-cup', 'sport/rugby-union', 'campaign/email/the-breakdown', 'sport/sport', 'sport/drugs-in-sport', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/robertkitson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/sport', 'theguardian/sport/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-sport'] | sport/wales-rugby-union-team | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2023-09-04T16:28:31Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
sustainable-business/2016/may/27/startup-smart-tech-cut-food-waste-winnow-awards-winner | The smart tech startup helping restaurants cut food waste by 50% | Closing time approaches, waiting staff collect plates littered with leftovers and chefs sweep up spoiled ingredients. This routine, repeated in restaurants across the developed world, means $80bn (£56bn) of food is wasted annually. London-based startup Winnow is tackling the problem with its smart meter for food waste. Since opening in 2013, the business has saved its customers £2m and reduced carbon emissions from the hospitality sector by 3,400 tonnes. Co-founder Marc Zornes, who researched food waste while working at business consultants McKinsey, says research into energy efficiency in buildings and cars attracts lots of money but there’s “hardly any investment into dealing with the issue of food waste”. The Winnow system has a simple touch screen connected to waste bins that weigh each item. Staff log everything they throw away – where it comes from (eg peelings or leftovers), the food type (eg vegetable), and the specific product (eg onion). Thus kitchens can track where most waste is produced and make changes to reduce this. A restaurant might reduce portions of frequently leftover dishes, or a staff canteen might make smaller batches of often unfinished meals. For the first 12 months, Winnow was self-funded, with its co-founders (Zornes and Kevin Duffy) sacrificing their salaries from their day jobs. In that time, Winnow proved its tech could facilitate substantial savings. Recently collected anonymised data shows that waste can easily occur in food production and that Winnow users can record a 25% reduction in waste in the first month of use and 50%. The company says restaurants can ultimately cut waste by 50% using its tech. The business’s profile has grown in the past 12 months and a seed funding round closed with £600,000 last May. Swiftly following this was a series A round, which closed in January and, in all, will have raised £2.5m. Winnow is the 2016 winner of the startup of the year category of the Guardian Sustainable Business Awards. This piece was amended on 27 May 2016 to clarify that carbon emissions were reduced by 3,400 tonnes (not 34,000 tonnes) and that users can cut food waste by 50% overall. | ['sustainable-business/series/gsb-awards-2016', 'sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'sustainable-business/gsb-awards', 'sustainable-business/series/sustainability-case-studies', 'business/fooddrinks', 'business/business', 'food/food', 'environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'food/restaurants', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'type/article', 'sustainable-business/series/guardian-sustainable-business-awards-winners-2016', 'sustainable-business/series/startup-of-the-year-case-studies', 'profile/emma-featherstone', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-professional-networks'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2016-05-27T04:00:22Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2018/apr/12/wild-caught-queensland-prawns-off-the-sustainable-seafood-menu | Wild-caught Queensland prawns off the sustainable seafood menu | Wild-caught Queensland prawns, bugs and scallops will be off the menu if consumers heed warnings about unsustainable fishing practices from conservationists. The shellfish varieties have all been downgraded to a red rating in the latest sustainable seafood guide published by the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS). The AMCS now ranks the trio alongside other east coast seafood options long-considered unsustainable given the high-value and high-risk marine environment. While concerns grow about the sustainability of ocean fishing, farmed seafood and fisheries in Queensland were given a relatively strong bill of health. Farmed Queensland prawns are listed as a green “better choice” by the guide. Tooni Mahto, the AMCS fisheries and threatened species campaign manager, said the AMCS was aware the decision to downgrade optionssuch as wild-caught prawns and scallops was significant. “It’s not a decision we’ve taken lightly and it went through a rigorous assessment process to get to that point,” Mahto said. “We don’t just take a red pen and score what we feel on that particular day.” Scallop stocks were down to about 5% of previous levels. “Scallops are … an iconic Queensland seafood but the stocks have crashed in recent years. There’s a very clear reason why scallops are in the red list and why we recommend people source alternative options. “The Australian public increasingly expects their seafood to be caught without a high cost to our marine wildlife. Unfortunately, this simply isn’t the case with some Queensland fisheries at the moment. “Queensland fisheries catch seafood in and around the Great Barrier Reef marine park, which is home to some of Australia’s most fragile and endangered marine wildlife. Most Australians would be horrified to know that their seafood has been caught in fisheries that drown snubfin and humpback dolphins, dugongs, seahorses or turtles.” The chief executive of Seafood Industry Australia, Jane Lovell, denied that Queensland prawn, scallop and bug varieties were fished in an unsustainable manner. Such claims were “completely untrue” and would only push healthy and sustainable seafood off the menu for consumers, Lovell said in a statement. “AMCS is a non-government organisation which is in no way responsible for the collection, collation or management of data, or the reporting of fish-stock levels for any of Australia’s fisheries,” Lovell said. “Responsible for this is the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, who, for the fourth consecutive year, have labelled all of Australia’s Commonwealth-managed fisheries as sustainable. “Australia’s Northern Prawn Fishery, operating out of northern Queensland, was awarded the internationally recognised Sustainable Seafood Certification from the Marine Stewardship Council in 2012. Only a handful of fisheries in the world carry the iconic blue tick MSC logo, a certification which ensures strict science-based environmental standards for sustainable fishing are upheld at all times.” The AMCS said prawns were now red-listed mainly because of a lack of oversight. The Newman government scrapped an independent observer program, which Mahto said left “a gaping black hole of information” on the sustainability of fishing practices. She said the Palaszczuk government had made commitments to improve Queensland fisheries, but those commitments had not yet been backed by action. Better regulation and practices would ultimately lift wild-caught seafood back into more sustainable categories. “What’s needed are really bold and visionary steps forward in terms of improving Queensland fisheries management. They’re the highest risk fisheries in Australia –fisheries operating in and around the Great Barrier Reef.” Mahto said the “good news story” was progress made by farmed seafood producers. Farmed prawns and barramundi were considered a great sustainable option. John Molony from Pacific Reef Fisheries operates sustainable prawn and seafood farms in northern Queensland. The farms have invested in technology to improve the water quality from run-off, and reduced their reliance on wild-caught fish to feed fish and prawns. “We know we farm in a pretty special place, and have responsibilities to the Great Barrier Reef,” he said. Molony also farms cobia, a sought after tropical fish, which also gets a top rating in the guide. | ['environment/conservation', 'environment/great-barrier-reef', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/queensland', 'food/food', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'food/seafood', 'environment/fishing', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/ben-smee', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/great-barrier-reef | BIODIVERSITY | 2018-04-13T04:17:29Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
theguardian/2009/jan/05/eco-lightbulbs-end | Why the end of the lightbulb is a dark day for us all | Let its cool glass bottom caress your palm. Feels good, doesn't it? Now wrap your fingers around its hips and push the head firmly into the fixture. Then turn it anti-clockwise (gently, mind) until you can turn no more (or was it clockwise?). If you've got a bayonet cap, ignore the last sentence and consult a qualified electrician. Now, because you didn't turn off the power (you really should have), feel cool glass turn warm, become hot, and then really hurt. Even now the argon in the bulb is minimising energy evaporation from the gorgeous glow of tungsten filament. And - look! - the light approximates a continuous spectrum. Now remove your burning hand. Finally, you feel my pain. This month, 75W and 100W bulbs begin to disappear from sale as we switch to environmentally friendly, but dimmer, colder, uglier, often more expensive, eco-bulbs. From Bantry Bay to Bucharest, European ceilings today bear witness to a mass hanging signifying the end of the incandescent bulb. One by one those doomed lights will, as Edward Grey foresaw (he was actually on about something else), go off all over Europe. Meanwhile, eco-triumphalists will witter smugly about how the ban will save - what was it again? - 30m tonnes of CO2 yearly, which is nearly half the 2006 greenhouse emissions of Sweden. How dreary. Personally, I don't care about either half of Sweden's 2006 greenhouse emissions. I've gone too far, haven't I? But then, as Ingo Maurer, the German designer of light installations once said, the lightbulb is "the perfect union of technology and poetry". Like steam trains and space hoppers (which were, unreliable researchers tell me, modelled on lightbulbs), these pendulous pear-like fruits of the Industrial Revolution must die as ugly design extends its endless remit. Two questions remain. How many scientists did it take to invent a lightbulb? Only one, you reply, namely Thomas Edison. Yeah? What about the 19th-century Britons, such as Joseph Wilson Swan who devised the carbon fibre filament or Sir Humphry Davy who experimented with platinum filaments and carbon arc lamps? Researchers estimate that 22 scientists were involved in the lightbulb's evolution. What will future cartoonists draw above thinkers' heads to show they've had a eureka moment? No idea. I wonder what cartoonists used before lightbulbs were invented. Did they show Archimedes running naked from his bath above a thinker's hyperactive cranium? It seems unlikely. We'll have to invent something new. • This article was amended on Tuesday 6 January 2009. It was Edward Grey, foreign secretary at the outbreak of the first world war, who spoke of the lamps going out all over Europe, not Winston Churchill. This has been corrected. | ['environment/ethical-living', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/carbonfootprints', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'news/shortcuts', 'profile/stuartjeffries', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/g2', 'theguardian/g2/features'] | environment/carbonfootprints | EMISSIONS | 2009-01-05T00:01:00Z | true | EMISSIONS |
music/2016/dec/05/best-albums-of-2016-no-10-a-moon-shaped-pool-by-radiohead | Best albums of 2016: No 10 A Moon Shaped Pool by Radiohead | Radiohead’s ninth album was viewed in some quarters as the group backing away from their usual existential angst and instead looking internally and opening up. Maybe it was a breakup album, after Thom Yorke’s 23-year relationship with the mother of his two children ended, or a mid-life appraisal as the band approached their 50s? Or perhaps it was simply them lodging their tongues in their cheeks and having fun with their image as the stern stalwarts of British rock? Whatever their intentions, it’s possibly the best album they’ve produced and showed once again that they’re a band who can evolve while retaining the core tenets of what defines them. On the face of it, A Moon Shaped Pool was a finishing school for many of the band’s song ideas. Burn the Witch had existed in some form since the Kid A days, True Love Waits was a curio that’s more than a decade old and featured on the live album I Might Be Wrong, while Present Tense was performed by Yorke as part of his solo shows at the turn of the last decade. That track’s evolution from sketchy guitar number into a beautifully wrought, bossa nova-tinged ballad was typical of an album where the band married sensitive subjects with a lightness of touch. This was a Radiohead record where things rarely kicked off, where restraint ruled and where everything was pared back, be it the guitar-playing of Jonny Greenwood or the band’s love of electronica. Lyrically, Yorke stuck to his tried and tested method of using mundane idiom as the bricks and mortar for the hooks, choruses and verses that tie an album together. “Don’t get heavy,” he sang on Present Tense, perhaps in reference to the band’s austere image, while on Decks Dark there was room for a reference to the grammatical faux pas of splitting infinitives. Contained within A Moon Shaped Pool was also a Hail to the Thief-like warning about the state of the world, which felt more appropriate than ever. Burn the Witch’s McCarthyist overtones and Orwellian lyrics came at a time when one of Yorke’s biggest fears, the rise of far-right ideology, is becoming a reality in major western democracies. While Hail to the Thief skewered the Bush-Blair era, it’s possible A Moon Shaped Pool will provide the accidental soundtrack to the time of Trump. • More on the best culture of 2016 | ['music/series/best-music-of-2016', 'music/radiohead', 'music/music', 'culture/culture', 'music/thom-yorke', 'music/popandrock', 'culture/series/best-culture-2016', 'music/musicblog', 'type/article', 'tone/blog', 'tone/features', 'profile/lanre-bakare', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/g2', 'theguardian/g2/film-and-music', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-culture'] | music/series/best-music-of-2016 | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2016-12-05T07:30:17Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2015/jan/12/country-diary-winter-sun-wind-aberystwyth | Low winter sun and a bitter ‘lazy wind’ on the first bright day | The sun broke from behind the heavy wall of cloud just as I reached the top of the lane. Shafts of light roamed like theatre spotlights across the hills beyond the river, the clouds driven by the strong south-westerly breeze. Despite this being the first bright day for a while, it was bitterly cold – the raw, desolate cold that comes with what an old friend used to call a “lazy wind”: a wind that goes straight through you rather than bothering to go around. The steep, sheltered beech woods of Coed y Cwm were almost silent apart from the sound of falling water. The overnight rain, squally and intense, was draining rapidly through the woodland from the fields above – swelling the usually unimpressive stream into a torrent with organic debris, and an occasional bottle, entrained within it. A group of wood pigeons took panicked flight as I approached, the beating of their wings seeming disproportionately loud in an acoustic softened by years of accumulated leaf-fall. Beyond the old quarry, overgrown and with sweeping curtains of ivy hanging across the rock face, the path drops down towards Clarach. In a few months, the now almost bare soil at the margins of the track will be once again filled with the succulent, if pungent, foliage of the wild garlic and its delicate, almost sculptural, flowers. As I approached the western edge of the wood the insistent roar of the surf from Clarach Bay began to build. I discovered that I had the entire beach to myself, a rare and unexpected treat. The low, winter sun backlit the waves as they pounded in from the Atlantic, illuminating the confused peaks of water and foam that reared violently as broken water was deflected by the rocks. To the west, new banks of dark cloud hung ominously on the horizon. As I headed south along the cliff path towards Aberystwyth the day faded, shadows softening and losing their definition until, standing above the town, only the bright yellow of the gorse flowers remained as a token of the earlier brilliance. Follow Country Diary @gdncountrydiary | ['environment/series/country-diary', 'environment/environment', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'uk/uk', 'tone/features', 'environment/forests', 'uk/wales', 'type/article', 'profile/john-gilbey', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2015-01-12T05:30:10Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
technology/2014/may/27/lg-beats-samsung-to-highest-resolution-smartphone-screen-with-leaked-g3 | LG beats Samsung to highest resolution smartphone screen with leaked G3 | LG is set to launch the new LG G3 smartphone with a 5.5in “2K” screen, beating its Korean rival Samsung to the highest resolution screen. The device is due to be unveiled at 6pm BST on Tuesday, but LG’s Dutch website prematurely published and then pulled full details of the new flagship phone, revealing that it would support a 2560×1440 2K high definition screen – something Samsung has long been expected to unveil. But there was no sign of the much-rumoured LG smartwatch, expected to be powered by Google's Android Wear software, in the detail on the site. Most smartphones, including the latest flagship smartphones from Samsung, Sony and HTC, have screens with a full HD 1920x1200 resolution or lower. Critics are sceptical about the potential benefits of 2K screens, however. "The 2K screen is just part of the arms race that's taking place in smartphones, as manufacturers desperately try to differentiate from each other in what has essentially become a ubiquitous form factor of a black rectangle with a screen," Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight, told the Guardian. "Is it something you need on a small screen? It's a point of differentiation, and I'm sure it looks stunning if you have the appropriate content to display on it, but I don't think it'll make as much difference as a the rapid rise of megapixels did for cameras, back in the day," explained Wood. Big, bigger, biggest The LG G3 will be the biggest in a gaggle of new flagship Android smartphones released in the past three months, including the 5.1in Samsung Galaxy S5 and 5.2in Sony Xperia Z2. The new releases question the definition of what is a “phablet” previously said to be any smartphone with a screen over 5in measured diagonally. Smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy Note and the Sony Xperia Z Ultra have been marketed as an alternative to owning both a smartphone and tablet, and instead as a large-screened hybrid device that may (or may not) fit into a trouser pocket. A third of the 279.4m smartphone shipped in the first quarter of 2014 had screens larger than 5in on the diagonal, according to data from research firm Canalys. Phablets are particularly popular in the Asia-Pacific region, where they made up 43% of all shipments and China where the figure was 39%. Phablets made up 32% of phones shipped in the US, while they claimed 27% of shipments in the UK. Samsung is expected to release an update to its Galaxy Note line of phablets this year, with a screen at least 5.7in on the diagonal, while Apple is also rumoured to be considering a smartphone over 5in. Lasers and trailblazers The smartphone also sports a 13-megapixel camera with a new “laser” autofocus system that is expected to function in a similar manner to HTC One M8’s DuoCamera, capturing depth information and quickening focus time. The G3 will also have metal body and use Qualcomm’s quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor, which other flagship phones from Samsung, Sony and HTC have used to produce fast smartphones with at least one full day's battery life. LG is one of the world's biggest suppliers of LCD and OLED screens, and has been pioneering so-called "edge-to-edge" smartphone screens that have very little in the way of bezel or body either side or surrounding the screen. "We're seeing all this cutting-edge screen and camera technology appearing in mobile phones when it isn't making it into televisions and cameras that the man on the street can afford," said Wood. "The mobile phone is now the technology trailblazer, over everything else." Samsung and LG vied to be first in January to release a curved TV screen - in the end both released theirs on the same day - and last autumn to release a curved phone screen, a race that Samsung won by a matter of days. There were also rumours that LG is set to release its Android Wear-powered smartwatch, but the Dutch site contained no mention of the “G Watch”. • Which is the must-have smartphone of 2014 so far? | ['technology/smartphones', 'technology/gadgets', 'technology/mobilephones', 'technology/android', 'technology/lg', 'technology/samsung', 'technology/phablets', 'technology/technology', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/samuel-gibbs'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2014-05-27T15:02:17Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2021/jun/01/stonefish-venom-research-may-hold-key-to-treating-stings-described-as-worse-than-childbirth | Stonefish venom research may hold key to treating stings described as ‘worse than childbirth’ | New research into the venom in stonefish – the world’s most venomous fish – may lead to better treatments for beachgoers who are stung when they unwittingly step on them. Though reef stonefish don’t look like heartstoppers, their venom is potent enough to cause cardiac arrest and paralyse other muscles, scientists at the University of Queensland and Ghent University in Belgium have found. Resembling encrusted rocks in appearance, stonefish are commonly found in shallow coastal waters of the Indo-Pacific. Bryan Fry, an associate professor at UQ, said stonefish were unique among the venomous fish in having well-defined venom glands that sit at the base of their thirteen dorsal spines. “When you step on it, that presses on the gland, the gland ruptures and the venom squirts up along the spine,” he said. The result is an excruciatingly painful sting that has been described as “worse than childbirth”. Previously, scientists had not been able to determine definitively whether stonefish venom has a paralytic effect in people, despite anecdotal reports after stings. The study, published in the journal Toxicology Letters, confirmed that this was the case. It found the paralytic effects of stonefish venom are inadvertently neutralised when the venom is freeze-dried into a powder form, which occurs regularly for ease of handling and transportation. “It’s an incredibly unstable venom,” said Fry. As a result, he said, antivenom currently developed against stonefish venom may not be entirely effective. “If you’re using a partially degraded venom [to make antivenom], then any antibodies formed won’t be against that intact toxin,” he said. Testing both freeze-dried and freshly milked stonefish venom on artificial neurons, the researchers found that the freeze-drying process only seemed to affect the paralytic properties of the venom, but had no impact on its toxicity to cardiac cells – meaning that existing antivenom works sufficiently to protect against stonefish venom’s potentially lethal effects. Because stonefish venom is heat-sensitive, it breaks down at higher temperatures and pouring warm water on a sting can provide relief. “Hot water will only work against the venom that is still reachable,” Fry said. Antivenom is still required when the venom has already entered into wider circulation in the body. The researchers found the stonefish venom’s paralytic effect resembled a milder version of the venom of death adders. The effect likely evolved as a defence mechanism against predation, Fry said. “When we tested against artificial versions of the nerves from sharks, it’s much more potent against them than it is on humans,” he said. “The paralytic aspect isn’t a major part of the clinical features for humans, which is good.” The venom also hinders the ability of the blood to clot. The findings of the study may also have implications for antivenom against box jellyfish and other venomous marine animals, Fry said. | ['environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/fish', 'environment/oceans', 'science/science', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/donna-lu', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2021-06-01T08:34:57Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2005/jun/04/brazil.conservationandendangeredspecies | Dozens held over Amazon destruction | Brazil mounted its biggest swoop against environmental criminals this week as 85 people, including 48 officials, were arrested and accused of allowing the illegal extraction of enough Amazon timber to fill 66,000 giant logging trucks. Those arrested included a forestry director with the national environmental agency and the environment secretary of the Mato Grosso, a state whose government has been accused of turning a blind eye to environmental devastation to feed a boom in soya farming and cattle ranching. Federal police agents unearthed evidence of an extensive logging racket whereby officials issued permits classifying swaths of forest as savanna, permitting loggers and farmers to destroy it as though it had never existed. The investigation also uncovered the industrial-scale falsification of documents to disguise the origin of timber, some of which was exported. Police said the gang had logged and shipped 1.9m cubic metres of timber, worth an estimated $370m (£200m). In May, Brazil recorded its second highest annual rate of deforestation, confounding government predictions. The forest retreated by 10,000 square miles, with almost half of that in Mato Grosso state. Most of the arrests made this week were in Mato Grosso, whose soya-farming governor, Blairo Maggi, has emerged as the emblem of Brazil's breakneck deforestation. Among those apprehended was Mr Maggi's environment secretary, Hugo Jose Scheuer Werle. Conservationists welcomed the arrests, but called for the operation to be extended to other Amazon states. They pointed out that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had only spurred his government into action in the wake of a string of critical press reports. Some analysts believe that Brazil's environmental record has also begun to threaten the president's efforts to win concessions against US and EU farm subsidies. Robert Smeraldi, the director of Friends of the Earth in Brazil, said: "The motives may not be simple, but there is suddenly a political will to put people in prison for illegal logging, and that is new." | ['environment/environment', 'world/brazil', 'environment/conservation', 'world/world', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'world/americas', 'type/article', 'profile/garethchetwynd'] | environment/endangered-habitats | BIODIVERSITY | 2005-06-03T23:11:31Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
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