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commentisfree/2013/aug/15/tory-labour-energy-policy-winning-votes | Fracking v renewables? This is dumb electioneering dressed up as policy | Zoe Williams | Public opinion on fracking is divided 50:50, or rather, 40:40, with 20% reserving judgment. This week the Church of England has come out against it, saying that it presented a "choice between economic gain and a healthy environment", reminding its parishioners of their duties as the Earth's stewards. I don't agree with this; the implication seems to be that it's fine to use gas and wreck someone else's landscape so long as we're not making any money out of it ourselves. Nevertheless, I find my lack of faith ever more tested by a church that acts more like an opposition than the opposition. It seems very muscular, considering its whimsical foundations. So where is the Labour party? How have the Conservatives gone from attacking the Labour government for failing to decarbonise fast enough, in 2009, to being these gas-crazed frack-evangelists? The energy debate has been sacrificed to political expedience. It's time to work out how to wrest it back. A set of priorities here would be easy to establish: nobody wants to screw the environment for future generations; nobody wants the lights to go out; nobody wants to spend more and more on energy, in markets that are ever more unstable, and increasingly impossible for national governments to do anything about; nobody wants to destroy the countryside; nobody wants to cede the nation's mineral rights to large corporations that won't compensate the communities affected. Clearly, there's some dissent on the first matter, but if we waste the rest of this parliament – or indeed any more time at all – arguing about whether or not the climate is changing, the lights really will go out. Then we'd have to continue the argument in the dark, which would be metaphorically fitting but really annoying. The question about the Tories is relatively easily answered. George Osborne has oscillated wildly on climate change; at the moment, it is second (read "nowhere") to his core objective: replicating Thatcher's golden years by making shale gas his North Sea oil. She could govern as cruelly and incompetently as she pleased and the numbers would still come out in her favour, thanks to the discovery of this resource. The appeal is blinding. For one, this is raw money. For two, it plays into the classic Conservative narrative that, as long as we just stand back and let big business do its thing, while smart government smooths its way, we all get richer. There is one flaw in this thinking, which is that if we do exploit all the shale resources we have, we will sail past our decarbonisation targets; climate objectives that weren't ambitious enough to start with are being scotched to suit a party whose only, petty objective is its own re-election. This should be the only thing that matters to fracking opponents. The damage to the countryside is irrelevant; all energy production causes environmental damage. Even the people who love the look of windfarms have to admit to the scenic damage caused by the roads and surrounding infrastructure they need. Coal mines, nuclear facilities … which of these things could you say looked pretty? An opposition whose fundamental principle is, "energy from anywhere, unless it's near me" is just individualism dressed up as environmentalism. If this debate were to concentrate on carbon emissions, it would reach its critical questions pretty fast: the lowest carbon fuels are renewables; they're not yet ready to supply all the country's energy; those technologies need investment; the country needs a bridging fuel, which should be the cleanest we can find. And that would be gas. Questions remaining for the government would be: how best to assure and accelerate green investment (partly by not by putting all your faith, publicly, in fracking), and how to consolidate the move from coal to gas without over-committing to gas to the extent that people stop investing in wind and solar. That is the conversation we should be having. Given that the conservatives are mired in twin delusions – that we can return to the 80s, and that climate change isn't happening – Labour must set out and insist on these terms. In some cases, it is. Ed Balls gave a speech last month to the Green Alliance, in which he pledged that a Labour government would "end the current uncertainty" around renewables, put planning for a low-carbon future at the centre of policy, not at the periphery, and give the Green Investment Bank the powers it was originally intended to have. But more often Labour's points are, like Osborne's, rooted in political expedience. Caroline Flint, the shadow energy secretary, said last December: "Fracking should only go ahead if it is shown to be safe and environmentally sound." This is weak to the point of being meaningless. We already know how sound it is – less sound than a renewable, more sound than coal. This is as much a dog whistle to the mild environmentalist as appointing the conservative Owen "Hates Windfarms" Paterson to Defra was to climate sceptics. What we're looking at, from both sides, is electioneering dressed up as energy policy, with the inevitable result that an issue fraught with complexity and dilemma is presented as binary and obvious. On the left, you have renewables, sustainability, retrenchment; on the right, fracking, profit, growth. Fracking and windfarms are presented as polar opposites, when in fact any likely solution will involve both. The result is deadlock in public, and deals in private, inevitably reducing public trust in politics more than ever. I cannot think of an issue that shows Westminster in a less flattering light. Twitter: @zoesqwilliams | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/energy', 'politics/politics', 'environment/fracking', 'environment/environment', 'politics/labour', 'politics/conservatives', 'uk/uk', 'tone/comment', 'type/article', 'profile/zoewilliams', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/commentanddebate'] | environment/fracking | ENERGY | 2013-08-15T06:00:22Z | true | ENERGY |
news/2019/jan/11/weatherwatch-heat-waves-are-getting-bigger-as-well-as-hotter | Weatherwatch: heat waves are getting larger as well as hotter | Not only are heat waves becoming more frequent and intense, but they are getting larger too. Analysis of 38 years of NASA climate data has shown that the average size of northern hemisphere heat waves has grown by 50% since 1980. Presenting his findings at the American Geophysical Union’s Fall meeting in December, Chris Skinner from the University of Massachusetts explained how today’s “mega” heat waves are putting more people and ecosystems at risk. “If D.C is in a heat wave, then New York might be in one, and Phily might be in one too,” he said. Strangely the team found that winter heat waves had experienced the greatest growth in size, leaving northern hemisphere seasons less defined than they used to be. Although winter heat waves tend not to be as hot as summer ones they do still strain health services and confuse ecosystems. In particular false springs can trick plants into blooming prematurely and being in trouble when winter returns. For farmers this can be economically devastating. Having established that heat waves have grown, Skinner is now looking ahead, understanding what kind of heat waves we can expect twenty years hence, and pin-pointing which parts of the world are most vulnerable. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'science/meteorology', 'world/natural-disasters', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/kate-ravilious', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2019-01-11T21:30:21Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2020/aug/19/highest-recorded-temperature-ever-death-valley | We may have just seen the world's highest recorded temperature ever. Has that sunk in? | How hot was it at the Furnace Creek visitor center at Death Valley national park on 16 August 2020? It was so hot that the huge electronic temperature display (which serves as a ubiquitous selfie backdrop) went on the fritz. Parts of the blocky digital display malfunctioned, resulting in numbers even higher than the actual mind-melting high on what turned out to be a landmark day. An automated weather station at the visitor center recorded a preliminary high of 129.9F (54.4C) at 3.41pm PDT on Sunday. Even for heat-favored landscapes such as Death Valley, it is remarkable for temperatures to inch into such territory so late in the summer, when the sun is considerably lower in the sky than at the summer solstice in late June. According to weather records researcher Maximiliano Herrera, the previous global record high for August is 127.9F (53.3C), recorded in Mitribah, Kuwait, in 2011. If Sunday’s high at Death Valley is confirmed, it will be the planet’s highest temperature in almost a century and its third-highest on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Owing to the fact that the two higher readings are in question, it may, in fact, be the hottest air temperature ever recorded on Earth. The 130F afternoon in Death Valley fits snugly in the “what next?” narrative of life in 2020. But because human-caused climate change is such a ubiquitous yet gradual process, it’s rarely at the top of the news. A surging societal issue will typically bump climate from the headlines. There’s been no lack of such US events in 2020, from the coronavirus pandemic to police brutality and the state of the US Postal Service ahead of the November elections. Climate science, and common sense, warn that it would be unwise, however, to skip over what has just happened in the California desert. While competing events jostle for our attention, the machinery driving the climate crisis lumbers onward. Even in a year when global carbon emissions are on track to dip by a few percent, thanks largely to reduced travel and shuttered workplaces, the total amount of carbon dioxide concentrated in the atmosphere will once again reach its highest value in millions of years, about half a percent more than in 2019. The effects are perceptible. The Arctic experienced its first 100F day on record on 17 June when the Siberian town of Verkhoyansk hit 100.4F (38C). July 2020 was the hottest single month in more than a century of recordkeeping at such far-flung US locations as Phoenix; Miami; and Portland, Maine. How can we be sure that the 130F reading really is the record-setter it appears to be? Even higher temperatures often make the rounds in newspapers or social media. However, these are typically drawn from thermometers exposed to the sun, which leads to readings higher than the actual air temperature, as was the case with the 145F (63C) reported from Kuwait in 2019. Official temperatures are collected from shaded instrument shelters, designed and outfitted under strict protocols established by the WMO (part of the United Nations). The WMO, which also serves as the global arbiter of major weather records, plans to investigate the Death Valley report. Such post-mortems typically involve double-checking the temperature sensor’s performance, evaluating the station and its landscape, and assessing nearby observations to make sure they support the case. The only readings hotter than Sunday’s that are recognized by WMO are 134F (56.7C) at Death Valley on 10 July 1913, and 131F (55C) at Death Valley on 13 July 1913, and at Kebili, Tunisia, in July 1931. Questions swirl around those early 20th century values, though. For decades, the world’s all-time record high was believed to be the 136.4F (58C) reported from Al Azizia, Libya, on 13 September 1922. Weather historian Christopher Burt was skeptical: the value didn’t comport with nearby stations, and the thermometer design made it easy to misread the temperature. Burt’s work with colleagues led to an overturning of the Al Azizia record by WMO in 2012, a saga documented in the Weather Underground film Dead Heat. Burt and Herrera have called out similar issues with the Death Valley and Kebili readings from the 1910s and 1930s. Thus far the WMO has not re-evaluated those. Parsing the planet’s highest temperature by degrees, or tenths of degrees, may seem like a pedantic task in the face of a global climate crisis with vast consequences. Yet without careful, consistent measurement, it will be all the more difficult to keep track of a changing climate as it careens through our lives. Death Valley is already a forbidding landscape, one where heat and dryness rule and few people spend more than a day or two. A warming planet is unlikely to yield more Death Valleys in our lifetimes. However, it is pushing saline water into the delicate freshwater landscape of the Everglades, attacking the namesake ice of Glacier national park, and triggering an onslaught of changes both subtle and profound to ecosystems across the continent. With all this in mind, perhaps we should linger over a 130-degree afternoon a little longer. | ['environment/series/this-land-is-your-land', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'us-news/series/climate-countdown', 'type/article', 'tone/analysis', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | us-news/series/climate-countdown | GLOBAL_CRISIS | 2020-08-19T08:00:47Z | true | GLOBAL_CRISIS |
environment/blog/2011/dec/10/durban-climate-change-conference-2011-global-climate-talks | Durban climate change talks: a deal on hold | The momentum and urgency of last night's negotiations appears to have melted away this morning. A revamped negotiating text did not appear until around 10.30am local time and an informal ministerial meeting will not convene until 5pm. The danger is that the clock runs down and the talks run into the sand as ministers begin heading for the airport. I have just seen a senior EU official in the underground park. "Look", he says, "they are already taking away the coffee machines. Time is running out. What is maddening is that the LCA text [the negotiating strand that involves all countries] was so long in coming out. We were happy with the revised KP [Kyoto Protocol] text. We could live with it. Having the ministers meet at 5 o'clock leaves so much room for the spoilers. "Right now we have sent people to the the presidency to find out what their game plan is. How can you strike a deal when the three major elements - the roadmap, the KP and the implementation of the Cancún agreement are not sorted. These are big things … There is real negotiating work to be done. Now we hear that key players are leaving or have already left. Time is critical now. We don't have a problem with people leaving because some developing countries will be in a situation where they cannot rebook flights, or may not have the money." Here's the UK's energy and climate change minister, Chris Huhne: "These are very long and complex negotiations. The LCA text has 56 pages, and that's just the stuff outside the key agreements. Its tempting to see a Machiavellian process [at work]. It's more the case that people get tired, the result is that things go slowly and there are misunderstandings." On the second commitment period of the Kyoto protocol - the crucial issue of whether there will be legally binding carbon targets for some countries beyond 2012 - he was adamant. "If a date is reintroduced into the text with a date further out then it has to be balanced by what comes between now and then." People are now meeting in huddles. Here's what has just popped out of the WWF team: "Negotiations are now right up against the clock. As things stand now the text is very weak, and offers no credible process to crank up efforts to cut emissions. In these last few hours, progressive players must fight to raise ambition - but based on current texts, we would be heading for disastrous levels of warming of 4C," said one member of the delegation. And here is Tim Gore, Oxfam's policy adviser: "Whatever the outcome, it is clear that an agreement struck here will not, on its own, ensure the level of action necessary to stay below two degrees warming. Governments must come together around the most ambitious package possible today to keep the door open on efforts to really get to grips with the climate crisis." John Lanchberry of the RSPB tells us that the wording on Redd finance - the plan to reduce deforestation - is agreed. "It's weak on substance and kicks further discussion about where the money for Redd [Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation] will come from into next year. However, it links finance firmly to the biodiversity, social and governance safeguards agreed in Cancún last year, which is excellent" Mohamed Adow, working for Christian Aid, speaks for many in the NGO community here. His analysis is this: "The latest draft texts are so dangerously inadequate that we could be closing the door to a 2-degree limit on warming. On the Kyoto side, although there is one welcome paragraph saying there will be a second commitment period, it's cancelled out by the rest of the document. It's currently so weak that without amendments, it's Kyoto in name only." "On the LCA side, the United States is blocking agreement on two absolutely essential elements of a deal: the Green Climate Fund and the emissions cuts which it needs to undertake that are so urgently needed. Without these, the talks are likely to miscarry. At the moment, the United States and its umbrella allies are blocking the rest of the world from protecting people in poor countries from climate catastrophe … I am pleading with negotiators to use the few remaining hours of these talks to secure a better deal for people across the world." | ['environment/blog', 'tone/blog', 'environment/environment', 'environment/durban-climate-change-conference-2011', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'world/africa', 'world/unitednations', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'politics/chrishuhne', 'environment/green-politics', 'type/article', 'profile/johnvidal'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2011-12-10T11:24:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
us-news/2023/nov/28/cyber-attack-us-hospitals-texas-oklahoma-new-mexico | Cyber-attack closes hospital emergency rooms in three US states | A cyber-attack has shut down emergency rooms in at least three states, a hospital operator warned on Monday, forcing the organization to divert patients to other facilities. Ardent Health, which oversees 30 hospitals in states across the US, including New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma, said it had been targeted by a ransomware attack over the Thanksgiving holiday. The attack had shut down a significant number of its computerized services, the company said in a news release. “In an abundance of caution, our facilities are rescheduling some non-emergent, elective procedures and diverting some emergency room patients to other area hospitals until systems are back online,” Ardent Health’s release said. Each of the affected Ardent hospital chains – Hillcrest HealthCare in Oklahoma, Lovelace Health in New Mexico, and UT Health in Texas – said that some of their emergency rooms were transferring patients to other hospitals. The hospital operator said the cyber-attack has affected computer programs that track patients’ healthcare records, among others. In its statement, Ardent said the ransomware attack had taken its network offline. The company said it reported the issue to law enforcement as well as retained third-party forensic and threat intelligence advisers. “At this time, we cannot confirm the extent of any patient health or financial data that has been compromised,” Ardent said. Ransomware attacks that disrupt healthcare providers’ operations are becoming increasingly common. Brett Callow, an analyst at the cybersecurity company Emsisoft, told NBC News that there had been at least 35 in US this year. Attacks commonly occur over holiday periods when hackers believe there are fewer security staff on duty. Law-enforcement officials, including the FBI, advise victims of ransomware attacks to not agree to ransom demands. “We need victims not to pay the ransom because that’s the gasoline that’s pouring on the fire,” the FBI director, Christopher Wray, said in February this year. “The more people pay, the price goes up and the more victims there are. So we have a shared common interest in not having the ransoms get paid.” The targeting of hospitals – and demands for extortion payments – began in 2016, according to the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future. The ransomware analyst Allan Liska told NBC in June that there had been at least 300 documented attacks a year on healthcare facilities since 2020. In June, St Margaret’s Health in Spring Valley, Illinois, was forced to close, partly as a result of an attack. Ardent is believed to be the largest health operator to be hit so far. While there are no cases of patients dying as a result of an attack, studies had shown that there is a link between ransomware attacks on hospitals and increased mortality rates, according to NBC. Ardent, which started out running psychiatric hospitals, said that patient care continued to be delivered “safely and effectively in its hospitals, emergency rooms, and clinics”. But out of “an abundance of caution”, the company said, it was rescheduling some non-emergent, elective procedures and diverting some emergency room patients to other area hospitals until systems are back online. “Ardent is still determining the full impact of this event and it is too soon to know how long this will take or what data may be involved in this incident,” the company added. | ['us-news/healthcare', 'us-news/us-news', 'technology/cybercrime', 'technology/hacking', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/edwardhelmore', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | technology/hacking | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2023-11-28T13:31:34Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2011/apr/18/nuclear-review-fukushima-lessons | Letters: Nuclear review | Dr Paul Dorfman is not right to claim that "the HSE review is looking increasingly narrow, with fact-finding and weighing of evidence limited to the usual suspects, excluding involvement from energy experts who are not nuclear proponents" (Who to trust on nuclear?, 14 April). Her Majesty's chief inspector of nuclear installations, Dr Mike Weightman, made clear in his statement of 29 March that his report would be wide and comprehensive in scope, and that it would be produced in an open and transparent way. On 4 April, Dr Weightman published a letter inviting a wide range of stakeholders to submit to him any technical evidence or facts relating to the events at the Fukushima plant and their potential lessons for enhancing nuclear safety in the UK. The letter was sent to over 8,000 recipients and published on our website. Nominations have also been sought from academia, NGOs, the nuclear industry, environmental regulators and others for relevant experts to support Dr Weightman with independent technical opinion on his emerging findings. This is not a partial engagement but a wide-ranging one. Les Philpott Office for Nuclear Regulation | ['environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'world/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami', 'world/japan', 'world/world', 'uk/uk', 'tone/letters', 'world/asia-pacific', 'environment/fukushima', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2011-04-17T23:05:07Z | true | ENERGY |
commentisfree/2016/dec/07/austria-green-victory-president-elect-alexander-van-der-bellen | Austria’s quiet Green victory, trading in the politics of hope not fear | Molly Scott Cato | The election of Alexander Van der Bellen as president of Austria puts a spanner in the works of the myth machine suggesting that the majority of the electorate across Europe are embracing the far right. For once, it was the progressive, pro-EU, pro-internationalist vote that confounded the polls. The assertion that the anti-immigration, gun-toting candidate Norbert Hofer would win, proved wrong. Indeed, the re-run of May’s neck-and-neck presidential contest gave Van der Bellen a larger margin over his rival than seven months ago. Austria has seen off a man who would have become Europe’s most rightwing elected leader since the second world war. Van der Bellen is a former leader of the Green party in Austria who stood as an independent, believing the office of president is a service to the country rather than a service to a party. Despite not having his colours pinned to his chest, his political allegiance is clear. He ran on a ticket of unity above division; love not hate; and confidence rather than fear. He has pledged to work for a more equal society, where the divisions between rich and poor are narrowed. He also stood proudly and confidently as a global citizen within the family of Europe. He robustly rejects Öxit, the Austrian campaign to leave the EU, and celebrates the ability of Austria to mediate as a neutral country in international conflicts. Van der Bellen’s win makes it clear that Greens have learned to operate effectively within the mainstream political system. But we can do so untarnished by being associated with failed political elites who have ignored working people’s concerns. Neither are we afraid to name and fight fascism. We challenged unfair trade treaties before it was fashionable to do so and have always resisted privatisation and corporate power. Our ongoing successes rarely gain coverage but they make an important contribution for the common good. As Greens, we don’t have friends in high places or media moguls at our beck and call. We trade in the politics of hope not fear. We have the courage to face the future in all its complexity and with all its challenges and trust in the wisdom and compassion of human beings to make it work for us all. And with this outlook, Greens have won support for a wide range of measures in recent weeks. These include raising the VAT threshold for small and microbusinesses; eliminating the trade with the EU in conflict minerals that finance armed groups, and securing a human rights resolution on the persecuted Guarani-Kaiowá people of Brazil. Not that any of this is of course the stuff of populist posturing, which makes for headlines and fills column inches. Nonetheless these are small practical and incremental steps towards creating a fairer society. The fact that the far right has shouted loudest and provided a simplistic narrative for working people feeling challenged by globalisation makes Van der Bellen’s victory even more remarkable and significant. We must celebrate the fact that so many of our fellow citizens now see themselves as citizens of the world. This does not, in Theresa May’s desperately crass phrase, mean that they are “citizens of nowhere”. It means that they acknowledge the need for human solidarity and compassion if we are to continue to lead peaceful and happy lives on this one fragile planet we share. Just as in the Brexit vote, half of Austrians chose this openness to the world; an optimism about what humanity can achieve. That so many Europeans continue to welcome the cosmopolitan culture of our continent, against the background din of far-right rhetoric which feeds on people’s insecurity, is extraordinary. We should feel proud that the siren song of a narrow and self-serving nationalism has been rejected. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'world/eu', 'world/austria', 'tone/comment', 'environment/green-politics', 'environment/environment', 'politics/green-party', 'politics/politics', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'world/far-right', 'type/article', 'profile/molly-scott-cato', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/green-politics | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2016-12-07T07:00:24Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
politics/2014/feb/23/hs2-may-increase-risk-of-homes-being-flooded-senior-conservatives-fear | HS2 may increase risk of homes being flooded, senior Conservatives fear | Senior Conservatives have raised concerns that HS2 will increase the risk of homes being flooded, as the high-speed train line passes through areas affected by the recent extreme weather, runs over miles of high-risk floodplains and will require the diversion of seven rivers. The Liberal Democrat flooding minister, Dan Rogerson, has admitted the scale of the flood risk associated with HS2 has not been fully assessed for the first phase of the route from London to Birmingham. The HS2 route crosses more than 100 watercourses, each of which will have a degree of flood risk associated with them, the minister said in answer to a parliamentary question last month. He said: "The scale of that risk will depend on the precise alignment of the route. At present this has not been fully assessed, nor has an assessment been made for the phase two routes." HS2 has said it is aiming to avoid an increase in flood risk by using water management techniques and viaducts. But its team has conducted new surveys of the line between London and Birmingham during the recent wet weather. After the floods, some MPs are demanding more reassurances about the potential affect of HS2 on river and groundwater flooding. The Conservative minister for Europe, David Lidington, the MP for Aylesbury, has written to cabinet colleague Patrick McLoughlin, the transport secretary, saying his constituents are sceptical about HS2's promise to create protection against floods. He wrote: "You will not be surprised to hear the residents are very fearful that the construction and operation of HS2 across the floodplain close to their homes will add significantly to the flood risk. It is indisputable that both construction and operation will require farmland to be taken which for now soaks up surface water and which ought to act as natural flood protection for my constituents. People in this part of Aylesbury are sceptical about the assurances from HS2 that they will design in effective flood protection measures." A former Welsh secretary under the coalition, Cheryl Gillan, has also written to the British Geological Survey to ask for greater reassurance about the potential impact in her Chesham and Amersham constituency, parts of which were recently flooded near the HS2 route. She said she was surprised at Rogerson's comments that the flood risk has not been fully assessed and wants more answers about how it could affect water resources. Several West Country MPs are now calling for some of the £42bn due to be spent on HS2 to go towards flood protection instead. An HS2 spokesman said: "During the recent wet weather we have been carrying out visual inspections where the planned line between London and Birmingham crosses watercourses. We will continue with these types of surveys where access has been made available as part of the route development. "HS2 will be designed to remain operational during a one in 1,000-year flood event. Put simply, that means the railway is being built so that it can withstand just the sort of extreme weather that we have seen up and down and the country recently." Labour yesterday dismissed "ridiculous" criticism of Barry Gardiner, the shadow floods minister, who was photographed on a beach in Cancun, Mexico, last week while homes were still under water. While Gardiner was abroad speaking at a conference organised by a pharmaceuticals company, Ed Miliband cancelled a trip to India to visit communities hit by the floods. | ['uk/hs2', 'environment/flooding', 'politics/conservatives', 'uk/rail-transport', 'world/natural-disasters', 'politics/liberaldemocrats', 'politics/politics', 'politics/cheryl-gillan', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'politics/transport', 'type/article', 'profile/rowena-mason', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2014-02-23T15:58:19Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
australia-news/2022/feb/26/queensland-floods-ses-worker-killed-as-death-toll-rises-to-four | Queensland floods: Brisbane man killed as death toll rises to six and thousands of residents on alert | More residents have been evacuated from their homes as the flood emergency continues to grow in south-east Queensland and the rain system tracks south towards northern New South Wales. The flooding has so far killed six people in Queensland and one person in NSW in the past few days. The deluge continued on Sunday with a severe thunderstorm warning issued for the northern regions of Brisbane, and major flood warnings in place for numerous rivers including the Upper Brisbane, Stanley, Mary, Logan, Bremer and Mooloolah rivers. The town of Gympie recorded its highest flood level in more than a century, with the Mary River still rising rapidly, while more than 1.4m of rain was recorded at Mount Glorious, north-west of Brisbane, in the 72 hours to Sunday morning. Early on Sunday, residents in low-lying areas of Ipswich were told to evacuate their homes, after authorities began releasing water from Wivenhoe Dam at 4am. In 2011, releases from Wivenhoe contributed to flooding in Brisbane and Ipswich, although according to Seqwater on Sunday the dam still had 2m megalitres of flood capacity. Queensland police said a 34-year-old Moorooka man died in flood waters at Indooroopilly in the early hours of Sunday, the sixth death in Queensland during the recent floods. “About 2.30am, the man managed to free himself from his car which had become submerged in flood waters on Witton Road,” police said in a statement. “The man attempted to swim to safety, however nearby residents raised the alarm when he failed to surface from the water.” His body was located by emergency services a short time later. It was the second death in Brisbane after a man was killed in Stones Corner on Friday night. There have been two deaths in Gympie, one in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, and a State Emergency Service worker who died while trying to rescue a family at Coolana west of Ipswich. Brad Commens, an assistant commissioner for the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services, warned residents across south-east Queensland to remain home where possible. “We’re still in the grips of a very significant severe weather event. We’ve had continual rain right from the north coast through to Brisbane, the south coast and out to Toowoomba overnight,” he told the Nine network. “This event is still continuing and we would just ask people to stay home. Stay safe. Today is not the time to be doing disaster tourism or storm tourism, just to see what’s out there.” Nearly 1,000 roads remained closed across south-east Queensland, including the Bruce Highway in both directions between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast, and the Warrego Highway between Brisbane and Toowoomba. Brisbane City Council said on Saturday night that its modelling suggested several thousand properties would be at risk on Sunday morning. Seven hundred residents were evacuated from Gympie on Saturday afternoon with the region receiving another 200mm of rain on Saturday. The state disaster coordinator, Steve Gollschewski, said the evacuation order was given in order to get people to safety during daylight hours. “We have got contingency planning in place on the ground up there so that we have pre-deployed there with water rescue and water police [and] we are able to operate in that area once the flooding comes through, but it is much safer for everybody if we move sooner,” he said. Flood warnings were also issued for northern NSW on Sunday, with six-hour rainfalls of 250mm possible. With the weather system tracking south, there were warnings in place for flooding at locations including Lismore, Grafton, Coffs Harbour, Tenterfield, Murwillumbah, Yamba, Maclean, Woolgoolga, Sawtell and Dorrigo. On Saturday afternoon, police recovered the body of a man who went missing in flood waters at Goomboorian, near Gympie, overnight. The 37-year-old was located by police divers after an extensive search, the ABC reported. The death of the SES volunteer was reported overnight on Friday. The Queensland Fire and Emergency Services commissioner, Greg Leach, said the volunteer had died after the SES vehicle they were travelling in, as part of a crew of four, was swept off the road into flood waters near Ipswich. “Three of our members were rescued, one of those members is deceased,” Leach said. “We pass on our condolences to family, friends and loved ones.” Leach said it was a “very sad day” for emergency services. The Queensland emergency services minister, Mark Ryan, said SES volunteers routinely put the lives of others before their own. “We remember that volunteer, we grieve that volunteer’s loss, but also we pay tribute to their service and their life,” Ryan said. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Additional reporting Ben Smee | ['australia-news/australia-weather', 'australia-news/queensland', 'australia-news/new-south-wales', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'weather/brisbane', 'australia-news/brisbane', 'environment/flooding', 'world/natural--disasters', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'australia-news/australia-east-coast-floods-2022', 'profile/calla-wahlquist', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | australia-news/australia-east-coast-floods-2022 | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2022-02-27T00:19:32Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
news/2011/apr/28/weatherwatch-lodestone-minerals-magnetism-magnetite-lightning | Weatherwatch: How does magnetite become magnetised? | Lodestones are composed of magnetite, a mineral form of iron oxide. Like other types of magnetite, they are hard, black and shiny, but lodestones are special because they are naturally magnetised, thanks to the effects of lightning. Lodestone was well known to the ancients because it attracted iron. The name lodestone comes from the old English meaning "way stone" because a sliver of iron rubbed with lodestone also becomes magnetised, and this is how the first compass needles were made. Lodestones were invaluable to early explorers, including Christopher Columbus. For centuries scientists have wondered how lodestone became magnetised. Dr Peter Wasilewski of Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center suggested that it happens as a result of lightning strikes. The brief but extremely powerful electromagnetic field associated with lightning causes all the magnetic domains in the mineral to line up. Normally these domains are jumbled up and cancel each other out, but when they are aligned the mineral is magnetised. This is similar to what happens in a tape recorder or computer hard disk, which relies on iron oxide particles having their magnetic field pattern altered by an external source. Wasilewski has proved that magnetite samples can be magnetised in the laboratory, though it's hard to show this occurs in nature until a magnetite outcrop can be checked before and after a lightning strike for the presence of lodestones. The fact that lodestones are found only at shallow depth seems to support the lightning theory. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'tone/features', 'uk/uk', 'uk/weather', 'type/article', 'profile/davidhambling', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-04-27T23:10:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
uk-news/2018/jun/11/gary-barlow-cancels-confetti-eden-project-litter-environment-plastic | Gary Barlow to stop using confetti after 'littering' Eden Project | Gary Barlow has promised not to use confetti cannons after being criticised by environmental campaigners for firing the tiny pieces of plastic during a concert at the Eden Project. The environmental attraction in Cornwall is running a campaign against single-use plastics and has banned the sale of plastic water bottles and similar items in its shops. But the singer-songwriter went off-message during his appearance on 6 June, when the crowd was showered with ticker tape. The apology followed criticism from Cornwall Against Single-Use Plastic, a campaign group, which told Barlow: “I was appalled to see plastic confetti littering the Eden Project after your last gig there. What on earth was a plastic confetti canon doing there? In a place such as the Eden, who are working so hard at getting rid of [single use] plastics.” The Eden Project has not commented. But in an announcement five days before the concert, a spokesperson for the venue said it was taking steps to “drastically reduce single-use plastic across all its operations”. The venue said it would be “withdrawing single-use plastic cups and introducing reusable cups” for the event last week. It has also halted the sale of water in plastic bottles in its cafes, restaurants and shop, increased the number of free water taps in public areas from 10 to 15, and ensured sandwiches and other food items are wrapped in paper. Gordon Seabright, the Eden Project chief executive, said: “Single-use plastic is a great scourge of the modern age, polluting our oceans and causing massive problems for life at sea and on land. We believe with all the steps we have been and are taking, we can help make a difference. “Since the Eden Project began, we have been working with our partners to look at smarter ways to reduce, reuse, recycle and reinvest. For example, 100% of leftover food is composted.” Barlow was the first artist to be announced for the Eden Project’s series of outdoor gigs this summer. | ['culture/gary-barlow', 'uk/eden-project', 'environment/environment', 'environment/waste', 'environment/plastic', 'culture/culture', 'music/music', 'uk/uk', 'uk-news/cornwall', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/kevin-rawlinson', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-06-11T18:39:45Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
global-development/2019/jul/09/world-leaders-damning-figures-education-helen-clark | World leaders have 'a lot to answer for' over damning figures on education | World leaders have “a lot to answer for” as new figures reveal that governments are failing to give all children an education, and that by 2030 one in six children won’t be in school. The former prime minister of New Zealand and advocate for education Helen Clark said the figures showed “worrisome complacency on the part of countries which, just a few years ago, were so keen to hammer out an ambitious global agenda and make it a success”. “Education is slipping down the aid agenda when it should be rising up,” Clark said. As part of the sustainable development goals, UN members states promised that all children would complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education. But Unesco predicts that by the 2030 deadline, one in six children aged six to 17 still won’t be in education, including one in 11 primary school-aged children. Taking stock of progress a third of the way towards the deadline for a high-level political forum on sustainable development in New York this week, Unesco analysed responses by 72 governments and key city or municipal authorities, concluding that without a significant acceleration, the world will miss its education commitments. Researchers found that as well as children continuing to miss out on the chance to go to school, many who do start education are still dropping out. By 2030, they predict that 40% of young people will still not complete secondary education. “Considering that ‘a good quality education’ was voted young people’s most important priority in 2015 when the SDGs were being decided, leaders today have a lot to answer for. Countries must commit to investing more in education now so that we do not break the global promise made to today’s children and youth,” said Clark, who is chair of the Global Education Monitoring Report advisory board. “Today’s warning [on the education goal] has worrying implications for the whole 2030 agenda on sustainable development. It’s never too late to act to correct course, but doing so is now urgent if the global agenda is to be achieved.” Gordon Brown, former prime minister and the UN’s special envoy on global education, said: “Once again new projections by Unesco show that we are failing our youth by not guaranteeing access to quality education … We need to do more to support and encourage countries to commit to education, which is key to healthy societies.” In 2018 Brown launched the $10bn (£8bn) International Finance Facility for Education, backed by the UN and the World Bank. He emphasised the need to continue to develop new streams of financing “to provide the means to invest and reform education systems. There is no time to waste.” Unesco’s snapshot of the global state of education also highlights ongoing inequalities. While literacy rates are improving globally, within low-income countries, projections show that about 20% of young people and 30% of adults will still not be able to read by 2030. An estimated 750 million adults cannot currently read. In low-income countries, only 4% of the poorest finish upper secondary school and only 2% among the poorest girls, compared with 36% of the richest. Many governments are adopting policies to try to meet their commitments, including in early and life-long learning, but funding remains an issue. A report on the second sustainable development goal, Zero Hunger, will be launched on 15 July, and the forum concludes with ministerial meetings from 16-18 July. | ['global-development/global-education', 'global-development/global-development', 'education/education', 'global-development/sustainable-development-goals', 'global-development/environmental-sustainability', 'environment/sustainable-development', 'environment/environment', 'society/society', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/lucy-lamble', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/sustainable-development | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2019-07-09T13:43:47Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
world/2011/jun/28/fire-los-alamos-nuclear-facility-new-mexico | Wildfire reaches Los Alamos nuclear facility | A raging forest fire threatened the Los Alamos nuclear laboratory in New Mexico on Monday and led to the evacuation of thousands of nearby residents. The fire started in Santa Fe national forest on Sunday and has so far burnt 200 sq km (78 sq miles). The Las Conchas blaze started a 4,000-sq-metre "spot fire" on the sprawling property where scientists worked on the first atomic bomb 50 years ago. So far several thousand people have fled the town of Los Alamos, which has a population of about 12,000. According to local authorities firefighters were able to douse the fire at the nuclear facility. Los Alamos National Laboratory officials said all radioactive materials stored at the lab were safe from flames. The lab has been closed while firefighters monitor the blaze. The wildfire is being driven by 60mph winds. The fire is believed to be several miles from the laboratory's essential structures. The 100-sq-km property's plutonium facility is on the north-east side of the complex, while the fire seems to be moving south and east, lab spokesman Kevin Roark told Reuters. The fire has so far destroyed properties outside Los Alamos but has not entered the city itself. The laboratory, which ensures the safety and reliability of the US nuclear stockpile, was set up in 1943 as part of the Manhattan project to create the first atomic bomb and still maintains the nation's largest nuclear weapons arsenal. In a 2009 report, the US department of energy said Los Alamos county firefighters were not sufficiently trained to handle the unique fires they could face with hazardous or radioactive materials at the site. | ['us-news/newmexico', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/dominic-rushe'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2011-06-28T02:10:30Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2023/aug/05/country-diary-simple-farming-measures-bring-in-the-voles-and-nesting-birds | Country diary: Simple farming measures bring in the voles and nesting birds | Andrea Meanwell | In this wet period, we are lucky to have a mostly dry evening for our farm walk at Low Beckside Farm, Mungrisdale. The walk is one of a series of events for people who want to be part of the next generation of farmers here. I have organised the event with the Farmer Network and the Lake District National Park Authority as part of my National Trust role as future farming partnership manager. As well as working on our family farm, both my son Hector and I have full-time jobs elsewhere, meaning our farm work must be done in the early mornings, evenings and weekends. There is a long tradition of farmers with a “side hustle”; looking back in census records I can see many of my ancestors also worked in mines as well as having a farm. Hector works for the Ernest Cook Trust, a charity that owns the farm and provides educational farming opportunities for people in Cumbria. He leads us out into a large parcel of land that he has subdivided by reinstating relic hedgerows that had been lost over time. The hedgerows were planted up over the last winter by Hector and a group of students, made from hawthorn, bird cherry, dog rose and hazel. It has made the space more productive agriculturally, as he can rotationally graze the farm’s flock of hefted Swaledale sheep when they’re not on the fell. The hedges also act as corridors for wildlife – many birds nested in them this spring, and very soon after their creation there was an explosion of vole activity. There are also hares in the field and curlews nesting in the higher ground. The walk turns north, and we look over a large area that, twice in the last 30 years, has failed to drain successfully to make it more productive. It is now going into a Countryside Stewardship agreement and will become a new fen, with a large bund protecting it from run-off containing nutrients. Crucially, this new fen will hold water in the landscape, making it more resilient to flooding. This area has been terribly hit by floods in recent years, most famously Storm Desmond in 2015. Flood walls have been built or started, but we also need to make interventions in the landscape. As we depart, a rainbow appears where the new fen will be. • Country diary is on Twitter at @gdncountrydiary | ['environment/series/country-diary', 'environment/farming', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/environment', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'uk/uk', 'environment/birds', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/andrea-meanwell', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-08-05T04:30:32Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
cities/2017/feb/16/premature-births-air-pollution-maternal-health-who-study | Millions of premature births could be linked to air pollution, study finds | Air pollution could be a contributing factor in millions of premature births around the world each year, a new report has found. Nearly 15 million babies are born annually before reaching 37 weeks gestation. Premature birth is the leading cause of death among children younger than five years old, and can cause lifelong learning disabilities, visual and hearing problems, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports. Researchers for the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the University of Colorado, have concluded that as many as 3.4 million premature births across 183 countries could be associated with fine particulate matter, a common air pollutant, with sub-Saharan Africa, north Africa and south and east Asia most impacted by the issue. “Preterm birth and associated conditions are one of the biggest killers of children in the US and worldwide,” said Dr Paul Jarris, chief medical officer at the March of Dimes, a US-based nonprofit focused on maternal and baby health. “Yet, there’s a lot of things we don’t know about what causes preterm birth, so every bit of information we can get is helpful.” “We have known for a long time that air pollution contributes to asthma and heart disease in adults,” said Jarris. “What I think people fail to recognise is that so many of these risk factors impact babies before they are even born.” Previous studies have looked at how effects of air pollution in utero might negatively impact babies’ birth weight, or the likelihood that they will be born early. SEI’s study, which examined data from 2010, attempted to calculate how those factors might influence the global rate of premature births. “By showing in our study that 18% of preterm births are associated with air pollution, we are quantifying the health impacts of fine particulate matter on babies before they are born,” said Chris Malley, a researcher in SEI’s York Centre, at the University of York and lead author on the study. Each year, around one in every 10 babies worldwide are born prematurely, according to the WHO. Africa and south Asia bear a disproportionate burden of premature births, accounting for 60% of all premature births globally. That region also dominated SEI’s report of premature birth associated with air pollution. SEI’s new report provides an estimate of potential birth impacts associated with air pollution, but the authors acknowledged that the study had considerable caveats because of a lack of research in some of the most affected areas. Still, two experts who reviewed the study called estimates “conservative”. A number of factors have been identified in playing a part on premature birth, including poverty, infection, smoking and substance use, physical activity and maternal education. However, even with the report’s limitations, it is still one of the first to argue that reducing air pollution could also be effective in reducing premature births across the world. Because of a lack of research in regions such as south and east Asia and Africa, researchers used studies conducted in the US and Europe to estimate global outdoor air pollution exposure. Indoor cooking fires could play a larger role than the study allows for. “The exposure in Asia, and in part in say, China and India, to outdoor air pollution is significantly higher than outdoor air pollution in the US,” said Malley. “So that’s the other part of the uncertainty, that at these higher levels of exposure we don’t know whether this same relationship holds.” The report focused on one kind of air pollution considered especially harmful to human health: fine particulate matter. This pollution is made up of tiny particles from a variety of emissions, such as diesel emissions and agricultural fires. The particles, smaller than 2.5 micrometres in diameter, are considered harmful because they can lodge deep in the lungs, affecting the pulmonary and cardiovascular systems. Past studies have looked at these factors as ways that air pollution may impact preterm birth and low birth weight in babies. South Asia had the most preterm births associated with particulate matter pollution – as many as 1.6 million associated births. Notably, even though China has a relatively low rate of preterm births, researchers found that as many as 521,000 preterm births could be associated with air pollution because of high concentrations of particulate matter. A similar study conducted in the US found that air pollution had a costly impact on unborn children, estimating that the economic impacts cost $4.33bn in 2010. Researchers said the estimates support their conclusion that “reduction of maternal [air pollution] exposure through emission reduction strategies should be considered alongside mitigation of other risk factors associated with preterm births.” “This is one more reason why we need to be good stewards of the environment,” said Jarris. “The most vulnerable among us – unborn children – are affected, and really in a way that impacts families’ lives for generations.” Guardian Cities is dedicating a week to exploring one of the worst preventable causes of death around the world: air pollution. Explore our coverage here and follow Guardian Cities on Twitter and Facebook to join the discussion | ['cities/cities', 'cities/series/the-air-we-breathe', 'society/health', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'global-development/maternal-health', 'lifeandstyle/women', 'global-development/global-development', 'society/society', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'environment/air-pollution', 'profile/jessica-glenza', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-foreign', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/cities'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-02-16T07:00:34Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2013/dec/23/conservationists-to-fight-on-against-china-first-mine-despite-legal-change | Conservationists to fight on against China First mine despite legal change | The landholders of a key nature reserve set to be decimated by the China First mine in the Galilee Basin have vowed to fight the development, despite admitting that the government has effectively removed their option of legal action. Around half of the Bimblebox nature refuge, an 8,000ha sanctuary in central Queensland, will be wiped out by the Waratah Coal mine, which was approved by the environment minister, Greg Hunt, late last Friday. Waratah Coal is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mineralogy, of which Clive Palmer is owner and chairman. He is also chairman of Waratah Coal. Bimblebox – a woodland area used for species conservation projects and controlled cattle grazing – will be razed despite landholders having a signed agreement with the Queensland government to preserve the area since 2002. Alexandra Mercer, assistant curator of the sanctuary, told Guardian Australia that landholders, as well as scientists and others who have studied the area, were “disappointed and upset” by Hunt’s decision. “In light of the understanding of the importance of Bimblebox in an area where land clearing is extensive, it’s very disappointing for the environment minister to approve this mine,” she said. “We thought there was some sort of mistake when we found out Clive Palmer had an exploration licence for the nature refuge but we communicated the importance to the minister. I wish he’d listened and engaged more with us.” Mercer said an open cut mine will swallow up half of the refuge with the rest of the area threatened by underground, or long wall, mining. “There will be significant subsidence. The level of the earth will drop by a couple of metres,” she said. “It’ll be devastating.” Recent Coalition amendments to the EPBC Act, supported by Labor, mean community groups cannot legally challenge a development if the environment minister failed to consult expert advice. Mercer said this move is likely to hinder any attempt to launch a court case to stop the destruction of Bimblebox. “A judicial review of the decision will be very difficult, but we will do what we can,” she said. “We can’t just protect something for 10 years and then just let it go. “This region is 95% pastoral lease and will soon have mines covering it. We need estates like Bimblebox if we are to rehabilitate the area after mining.” Work on the $6.4bn China First mine will start next year, with a 453km rail line connecting the mine to the coast, where coal will be shipped via the Abbot Point port. It’s estimated the 40m tonnes of coal mined a year will release 85.6m tonnes of CO2, with the mine requiring 10,000 megalitres of water a year from the local environment. Hunt’s approval included a total of 54 conditions, with Waratah required to pay $100,000 a year for 10 years into a conservation fund. “Maximum disturbance limits” for nationally threatened species have also been set, as well as offsets for the habitat lost. The endangered black throated finch, which has been spotted in Bimblebox but wasn’t found in a survey for the environmental assessment, will require 10,000ha found elsewhere, while the squatter pigeon will be required 6,000ha. The yakka skink, northern quoll and red goshawk will also be threatened by the project and have offset land attributed to them. Louise Matthieson, campaigner at Greenpeace, said the offsets will do little to help the biodiversity damaged by the China First mine. “Greg Hunt likes to brag about the number of conditions he imposes but most are just window dressing,” she told Guardian Australia. “Unless someone tells the finch where the offset land is, and helps it fly to the new patch of bush, the idea of it is nonsensical. “Offsetting doesn’t replace what is being lost, it’s about buying yourself out of protecting the environment. There will be a net loss of biodiversity as a result of this mine. “It’s a massive Christmas gift for Clive Palmer. Real questions have to be asked over what influence this will have with the Palmer United party in the Senate.” Despite Waratah Coal’s own analysis showing the mine will result in a net loss of jobs from Queensland, the company's managing director Nui Harris said the economy would benefit. "The reality is the project will create jobs to a total of about 6,000 jobs all up – being the mine, the rail and the port," Harris told the ABC. "It won't be taking jobs away from the rural community. It will be adding jobs to the rural community." | ['environment/coal', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/coalition', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/oliver-milman'] | environment/coal | ENERGY | 2013-12-23T06:23:39Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2017/sep/12/britains-responsibilities-after-hurricane-irma | Britain’s responsibilities after Hurricane Irma | Letters | We should all reflect with deep sympathy on the circumstances imposed on the people of the Caribbean in the wake of Hurricane Irma and seek ways to contribute to disaster relief (Report, 12 September). In the Caribbean deadly and destructive hurricanes are almost an annual phenomenon at this time of year. Yet despite major improvements in forecasting, disaster management and higher levels of construction standards, we are still witnessing tragic outcomes. The UK has substantial interests in the Caribbean, both current and historical. No doubt this Conservative government in particular will have taken notice of the massive damage to the British Virgin Islands where many billions of pounds in British offshore funds are harboured. The BVI’s business model of 0% tax on the thousands of offshore funds and companies registered in Tortola may need to be revised in order to find millions for recovery funding. But it is the human tragedy that should drive British government concerns. Caricom (the Caribbean single market) has established the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) with disaster resilience, training and shared resource management as goals. The UK government should have substantial stored emergency equipment and supplies in the region. The Department for International Development should have develop a strategic relationship with CDEMA offering regular funding, training and resources. Support for CDEMA has come from Canada, Japan and the EU; what is the UK contribution? But there is more. The images of massive infrastructure damage show that board and zinc sheet buildings have been destroyed, while concrete and steel buildings remain standing. The insecure wooden dwellings, shops and churches belong to poor black people, while the wealthy (and virtually all of the white population) dwell in more secure structures. This is a social disaster created not by hurricanes but by history, with Britain and its empire making that history in the Caribbean. Yes, there are others complicit in this history but Britain has direct responsibility for Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands – and it has historical responsibilities to Antigua, Barbuda and the Bahamas. Caricom has asked for talks with the UK government on slavery reparations. A well-funded Caribbean hurricane disaster management and relief organisation would be a good first step for the British government. Thom Cross Carluke, South Lanarkshire • Everybody surely has great sympathy and concern for the local people of the Caribbean islands devastated by the recent hurricanes. But it is beyond satire to hear the governor of the British Virgin Islands call for the UK taxpayer to provide massive funding for reconstruction. It is surely now appropriate to impose a windfall tax on companies and individuals who do not reside on the stricken islands but shelter their wealth there paying no income, corporation, capital gains, inheritance, wealth tax of any other form. Colin Burke Manchester • The hysterical media reaction to Irma is fake. Over 7,000 people died in the Flora hurricane in the Caribbean in 1963, and the great Barbados hurricane of 1780 killed 20,000-plus. In 1980 Allen tore through at 190mph, faster than Irma, killing 269, and Hurricane Mitch killed 11,000 in central America in 1998. Although Irma is dangerous there have been many others more deadly. Over the past decade, hurricane activity has been at its lowest for decades in the region. Terri Jackson Bangor, County Down • When the defence secretary welcomed the multi-billion pound aircraft carrier to Portsmouth his statement defending the massive investment against critics included that the vessel would be utilised for humanitarian aid. It can carry hundreds of tons of supplies, vehicles, helicopters and troops, and could act as a mobile hospital and communications centre. So what is it doing languishing in Portsmouth when it should be in the Caribbean? Richard Coates Hayling Island, Hampshire • Like Bill McGibben (Do you really need more warnings about climate change?, 11 September), I first wrote about the likely impact of global warming in 1989 (in an editorial for the Lancet). Like many others, I assumed that once matters were explained clearly, people would change their ways. This turned out to be a delusion: we have an almost unlimited capacity to deny the obvious if it requires a fundamental reappraisal of our world view. This is linked to the way we deal with our own mortality. Everyone knows that they are going to die, but very few contemplate the reality of death unless they are close to the end. Humans are treating global warming the same way. They know it’s coming, but not just yet. Dr Robin Russell-Jones Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters | ['world/hurricane-irma', 'tone/letters', 'world/world', 'world/hurricanes', 'world/natural-disasters', 'weather/caribbean', 'weather/index/northandcentralamerica', 'global-development/aid', 'society/society', 'global-development/global-development', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2017-09-12T17:51:42Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2024/dec/03/chargers-are-key-to-the-electric-vehicle-transition | Chargers are key to the electric vehicle transition | Letters | Gaby Hinsliff’s article (Starmer has discovered a tricky truth about the electric vehicles transition: there’s no gain without pain, 29 November) doesn’t address the key point in the analysis of car companies’ difficulties in selling enough electric vehicles (EVs). There is a lack of demand that is only partly due to the higher prices. More importantly, it is due to a failure to install the necessary infrastructure to enable mass charging. A minority of car owners live in houses where home charging is possible. For the rest, to make EVs a possibility, never mind attractive, there need to be a huge number of charging points to accommodate millions of people. I live in a city with a very high density of tenement and other flats; at the moment there are virtually no charging points easily accessible for flat owners. In such areas, where it is not possible to install a charger in your home, it is simply not possible to run an EV. There is no sign at all of the installation of the massive charging infrastructure required to meet the demand of mass ownership of EVs. People won’t buy these vehicles until they are confident that they will have the ability to easily access the energy necessary to drive them. Stephen Smith Glasgow • Gaby Hinsliff is correct to point out that the transition to net zero will be painful unless the government takes more action to alleviate the difficulties. Financial support to buy electric vehicles will be necessary until sales have reached volumes that will allow prices to come down. But other steps on the technical front are also necessary. It makes no sense for there to be a multiplicity of charging methods – the government must commission the creation of industry standards that will ensure all electric vehicles can be charged using the same mechanism. Ease of use will greatly increase the attraction of electric cars. Raj Parkash London • Do you have a photograph you’d like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers’ best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays. | ['environment/electric-cars', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/environment', 'environment/travel-and-transport', 'technology/motoring', 'business/automotive-industry', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/letters', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2024-12-03T17:56:56Z | true | EMISSIONS |
politics/2005/jan/13/debtrelief.development | Douglas Alexander: For richer, for poorer | The international community begins 2005 facing two immediate challenges: ensuring prompt delivery of aid for those affected by the tsunami; and tackling the underlying poverty that makes it so difficult for poorer countries to respond to such disasters. The recently launched Make Poverty History campaign is a coalition of aid agencies and celebrity activists set on mobilising awareness about global poverty. All governments, including our own, will be challenged by their efforts. As their campaign reflects, the argument about how we respond to global poverty is moving from charity to justice. Only by rebalancing our global resources and the rules of trade can poor countries hope to leave poverty behind permanently. Five years after world leaders agreed to halve the proportion of those living in poverty by 2015, the UN summit in September will surprise no one when it finds that the world, on current progress, has no chance of achieving these goals. Britain's initiative - an international finance facility to double aid from $50bn to $100bn - can provide more and better targeted aid. At the same time we have to extend the debt relief given to the poorest countries. A simple statistic helped mobilise the successful Jubilee 2000 campaign for the cancellation of global debts: it was the realisation that the $140m raised by Live Aid was roughly equivalent to what Africa was paying back to the rich world every week in debt repayments. Now there is another statistic which ought to similarly concentrate our minds: in the EU we subsidise our cows to the tune of $2 a day, while each day 2.7 billion people have to survive on the same amount. And for every $1 poor countries receive in aid, they lose another $2 through an unfair trade system. Take tsunami-hit Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Over the last year alone they have paid more than $900m in tariffs on goods sold to the EU and US. The solution is not to dump international institutions like the World Trade Organisation. The protesters who wrecked the Seattle trade talks in 1999 made compelling television, but their protest did not build a single school, inoculate a single child or change the world's system of trade. A multilateral system for conducting global trade is the only way we can create a level playing field. And trade is the best engine of development, as China's steady emergence from poverty shows. At present, Africa is at best becalmed. Campaigners estimate that if Africa could raise its share of world exports by just 1%, it would be worth five times as much as the continent receives in aid and debt relief. So this year we must open our markets, remove trade-distorting subsidies and do more to tackle the unacceptable waste of the Common Agricultural Policy. And we have to recognise that developing countries will need additional resources to build up their infrastructure. We can no longer enjoy the benefits of living in a globalised world and ignore the lives of those by whose labour we benefit. We can no longer pretend that commerce can be globalised but justice need not. · Douglas Alexander MP is minister for trade, investment and foreign affairs dalexandermp@talk21.com | ['politics/politics', 'world/debt-relief', 'world/tsunami2004', 'global-development/global-development', 'world/world', 'politics/economy', 'society/society', 'uk/uk', 'tone/comment', 'politics/douglasalexander', 'type/article', 'profile/douglasalexander'] | world/tsunami2004 | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2005-01-13T18:05:55Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2019/apr/05/historic-breakthrough-norways-giant-oil-fund-dives-into-renewables | ‘Historic breakthrough’: Norway’s giant oil fund dives into renewables | Norway’s $1tn oil fund, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, is to plunge billions of dollars into wind and solar power projects. The decision follows Saudi Arabia’s oil fund selling off its last oil and gas assets. Other national funds built up from oil profits are also thought to be ramping up their investments in renewables. The moves show that countries that got rich on fossil fuels are diversifying their investments and seeking future profits in the clean energy needed to combat climate change. Analysts say the investments are likely to power faster growth of green energy. Norway’s government gave the go-ahead on Friday for its fund to invest in renewable energy projects that are not listed on stock markets. Unlisted projects make up more than two-thirds of the whole renewable infrastructure market, which is worth trillions of dollars. Previously, it had warned that such investments could be at risk from political interference. But now the sum the fund can invest in green projects has been doubled to $14bn. “Even a fund built on oil is seeing that the future is green,” said Jan Erik Saugestad, CEO of Storebrand Asset Management. In March, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund said it would dispose of its investments in 134 companies that explore for oil and gas, worth almost $8bn. But it is retaining stakes in oil firms such as Shell and BP that have renewable energy divisions. Norway also announced on Friday that the fund would sell off its stakes in more coal companies, having set a new limit for them of 20m tonnes of reserves. This may see its investments in giants Glencore and RWE dumped. The fund divested $6.5bn of coal-related investments in 2015. Across the world, almost 1,000 institutional investors, managing more than more than $6tn, have now committed to fossil fuel divestment, driven by concerns about global warming and financial losses if climate action cuts the value of coal, oil and gas investments. “Unlisted renewable energy is a growth industry,” said Tom Sanzillo at IEEFA. “Investments by Norway’s fund now allow it to take advantage of this growth and to use its resources to develop the market for decades. This is a strong step for the health of the fund and the planet.” Sverre Thornes, CEO of Norwegian pension fund KLP, said: “This move will most likely expand the market further and faster. Our overall renewables infrastructure rate of return was around 11% last year. Clean energy is what will move us away from the dangerous and devastating pathway we are currently on.” Per Kristian Sbertoli, at the Norwegian climate thinktank Zero, said the decision on unlisted renewable infrastructure was a “historic breakthrough” and welcomed the further divestment from coal: “These actions by the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund are noticed and contribute to reducing the cost for renewables, whilst accelerating the global shift away from coal.” Charlie Kronick, at Greenpeace UK, said such moves were “genuinely good news” but that all investors would have to follow suit to beat climate change. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund sold its last investment linked to oil and gas last week, with the sale of its $69bn stake in Saudi Basic Industries Corp to the nation’s oil company, Aramco. Other Middle East oil funds are moving to diversify into renewable energy, according to Reuters, but are stopping short of following Norway in shedding oil and gas investments. Individual sovereign wealth funds make little information public about their investments, but data on total private equity investments involving such funds suggests a strong shift from fossil fuels to renewables. In 2018, $6.4bn went into hydrocarbons, compared with $5.8bn in renewable energy, according to the data firm PitchBook. In 2017, $18.8bn went into fossil fuel investments, compared with just $0.4bn into renewables. Mark Lewis, at BNP Paribas Asset Management, said: “Renewables are the new rust for the oil-and-gas industry, and if the industry does not adapt to this new reality they will corrode its future profits just like rust corrodes oil rigs.” | ['environment/renewableenergy', 'business/oil', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'business/sovereignwealthfunds', 'business/business', 'world/norway', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damiancarrington', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2019-04-05T13:06:35Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2015/feb/10/british-gold-mining-settlement-deaths-tanzanian-villagers | British gold mining firm agrees settlement over deaths of Tanzanian villagers | A British gold mining firm whose hired police officers were involved in an incident that saw Tanzanian villagers killed and injured has settled claims brought against it in the London high court. Twelve villagers, including relatives of people who died in incidents near the North Mara mine, sued African Barrick Gold, now renamed Acacia Mining, in Britain’s High Court in 2013. They had claimed the company’s subsidiary, North Mara Gold Mine Ltd (Nmgml) had failed to prevent the use of excessive force by police and security which had led to six deaths and other injuries in 2008. Acacia Mining denied all the claims but under the terms of the out of court settlement, it is not known how many people were compensated or how much they were awarded. A spokesman for Acacia said in a statement: “The claims were denied by Acacia Mining and Nmgml and litigation and further claims have been settled out of court.” However, it is believed that six of the claims relate to deaths at the mine and three to people shot and injured, including one man who was paralysed following a gunshot to his spine. Acacia mining, whose parent company Barrick Gold Corp is the world’s largest gold mining company, had claimed that the villagers died when hired police officers and their own security guards came under attack from people trying to invade their large open-pit mine which is close to several villages in the far north of Tanzania. In 2011 the company told the Guardian in a statement: “the majority of the claims ... originate from an incident which involved violent intruders who invaded the mine. After receiving repeated warnings of the risks associated with such activities, some of these intruders were injured by members of the Tanzanian police acting in self defence or in defence of the safety of mine employees.” The mine, which employs several thousand people, has had a troubled history with allegations of pollution, human rights abuses and calls for it to be closed. In one incident, in 2008, local people broke into the site and allegedly destroyed $15m (£10m) worth of Barrick property. In 2009, Barrick said that it had launched an investigation into allegations of sexual assault at the mine but the results were not disclosed. British law firm Leigh Day, acting for some of the injured and relatives of the dead, had claimed in the London high court that the police hired by Acacia were an integral part of the mine’s security and that the company had used tear gas and live bullets against villagers. The company rejected all accusations that it was complicit in the deaths and injuries and and said it would not compensate illegitimate claims. Tanzanian and international human rights groups welcomed the financial settlements but said multinational companies working in African countries were often able to silence local dissent and mostly only acted on human rights abuses when cases against them were taken to rich countries like Britain. “We are aware that other people in the [North mara] community who had also suffered injuries accepted the limited compensation which the company [first] offered. They later found that this was insufficient to cover their needs since they have injuries which will hamper them for their rest of their lives. We understand that they were required to waive their legal rights as [a] condition of getting compensation,” said Fiona Gooch, policy officer with Traidcraft. The case follows 15,000 villagers in the Niger delta settling with Shell for £55m of compensation in London last month for damage done to livelihoods by oil pollution in 2011. The original offer for compensation is understood to have been £4,000. | ['environment/mining', 'environment/environment', 'business/mining', 'business/business', 'world/tanzania', 'world/africa', 'business/gold', 'global-development/global-development', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/johnvidal'] | environment/mining | ENERGY | 2015-02-10T15:47:10Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2018/sep/18/epa-methane-pollution-rule-rolled-back-health-warning | Trump administration rolls back methane pollution rule despite harmful health impacts | The Trump administration is rolling back Obama-era standards to limit planet-warming methane pollution from oil and gas operations on federal lands. Environmental advocates said retracting the regulation would contribute to global warming and cause more smog-forming pollution that can cause heart and lung illnesses. But the interior department deputy secretary, David Bernhardt, called the 2016 Obama-era rule “flawed” and “a radical assertion of legal authority” in a news release. The rule regulated flaring, leaking and venting natural gas on US federal and Native American tribal lands. The interior department’s Bureau of Land Management argued the standards overlapped with state, tribal and federal rules and that the Obama administration underestimated its costs. Lena Moffitt, senior director of the Sierra Club’s Our Wild America campaign, called the announcement “a continuation of this administration’s ongoing assault on clean air, public lands, our health and our climate”, and said: “We’ve already successfully defended these protections in court and in Congress, and the fight won’t stop here.” Another public interest group, the Clean Air Task Force, said the rollback would cost taxpayers millions in wasted natural gas and damage from air pollution. Conrad Schneider, advocacy director for that organization, said the Obama era rule also would have saved companies money once they made the initial investments to comply with it. “This is the public’s gas,” Schneider said. “Any sort of waste here is basically burning up the public’s resource.” In a separate action, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week finalized a plan to eliminate the Obama administration’s requirement that oil and gas companies monitor and fix methane leaks for new operations. | ['environment/epa', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/trump-administration', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/emily-holden', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-09-18T21:39:15Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
business/2007/apr/15/hurricanekatrina.usnews | Katrina evacuees 'remain poor' | Hopes that evacuees who fled New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina would find a better life elsewhere have been dashed and many remain jobless and poor, new research shows. When thousands were driven out of the flooded city in the summer of 2005, many went to more affluent surrounding areas and there was speculation that they could eventually benefit from living in areas with lower unemployment. But a paper by economist Jacob Vigdor, of the US National Bureau of Economic Research, finds that the evacuees are much more likely to be unemployed and have maintained their income only through government handouts. 'Overall, these results do not paint a very promising picture,' Vigdor says. 'While it is easy to find examples of success stories among the Katrina evacuees, the more general portrait is of a societal problem that is not solving itself.' He tracked the income and working status of New Orleans residents from 2004, before the hurricane, to 2006, and found that long-term evacuees were almost 20 per cent less likely to be in work today. | ['business/business', 'us-news/hurricane-katrina', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'world/hurricanes', 'type/article', 'profile/heatherstewart', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/businessandmedia', 'theobserver/businessandmedia/news'] | us-news/hurricane-katrina | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2007-04-14T23:02:12Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2018/nov/27/great-pacific-garbage-patch-swimmer-forced-to-stop-after-nearly-3000km | Great Pacific garbage patch swimmer forced to stop after nearly 3,000km | A French-American plastic pollution campaigner has given up his attempt to swim across the Pacific ocean after a storm broke the mainsail of his support ship, organisers have said. Ben Lecomte had completed about 2,780km (1,500 nautical miles) of the 9,260km (5,000-nautical mile) journey. The trip was to take him through 1,600km of the “Great Pacific garbage patch”, in an attempt to raise awareness of plastic pollution. Lecomte and his support team intended to sample the water they swam through every day, and gauge the level of plastic and microplastic pollution. The 51-year-old called the premature end to the swim a deep disappointment. “We’ve faced treacherous winds, rain and ocean swells that have forced us to alter our course, and the irreparable damage to the sail is an insurmountable blow,” he said in a news release. Monday’s announcement was made by Seeker, a San Francisco-based online science publisher that partnered with Lecomte and has been documenting his attempt. Lecomte has previously swum across the Atlantic Ocean in 1998, left the shores of Choshi in Japan on Tuesday morning, heading east. Lecomte, of Austin, Texas, set out on 5 June from Japan’s Pacific coast and was swimming an average of eight hours a day. Violent storms had already forced him to interrupt the swim after 500 nautical miles and return to Japan in late July. The mainsail broke on 10 November. The damaged ship and Lecomte are slowly making their way to Hawaii. They are collecting data on plastic pollution in the ocean, one of the scientific aims of the swim. Associated Press contributed to this report • This article was amended on 28 November 2018. An earlier version gave Lecomte’s age as 50. He is 51. | ['environment/oceans', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'environment/plastic', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-foreign'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-11-27T01:03:48Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2008/nov/19/low-carbon-living-karuna | Council obstructs family's ethical land project | It was four years ago that Janta and Merav Wheelhouse and their two children pulled in to a Shropshire field on the northern edge of the Long Mynd hills to camp for the night. They fell in love with the spot, discovered that the field was for sale, and bought it at auction. It was the perfect place to realise their ambition of living a low-carbon, low-impact, sustainable lifestyle through permaculture and forest gardening, and of sharing their skills with the local community and schools. The Wheelhouses called the place Karuna, a Sanskrit word meaning compassion. In Aldous Huxley's novel Island, mynah birds were trained to yell "karuna, karuna" at the island's utopian inhabitants. But there's not much compassion about in this part of Shropshire, near the village of Picklescott. Following local residents' complaints about the Karuna project, Shrewsbury and Atcham borough council has now placed enforcement orders on the site. A local authority planning inquiry in September was deferred until November 25, when it will determine whether the Wheelhouse family will be allowed to continue to live in their caravan on their own land. "In four years, we've planted 6,000 trees on our 18 acres, creating woodland and orchards," says Janta Wheelhouse. "We were commuting to Karuna from Bayston Hill [10 miles away], but trees started getting damaged and we needed to be there to look after them. The next phase of the project was to establish our permaculture system for growing food, and driving backwards and forwards didn't fit with our need to reduce our carbon footprint, so we moved into a caravan surrounded by trees. The local authority refused permission for a polytunnel , they objected to our toolshed being sighted next to where we grow food, and they don't want us to live on site, but the whole project won't work unless we do." Local supporters By producing its own energy from a few solar panels and a tiny wind turbine, a carbon statement for Karuna has estimated that it produces 1,863kg of carbon dioxide per annum, compared with the average of 13,500kg for households in the area. The Wheelhouses run permaculture and forest gardening training courses, and facilitate other events at Karuna. The planning inquiry heard in September from a large number of the Wheelhouses' supporters, including local schools, ecologists, organic gardeners, environmentalists and countryside enthusiasts. Objectors to the project have their say next week. The issues surrounding the case highlight tensions between the planning system and the low-carbon, sustainable lifestyles touted as the virtuous response to climate change. It could actually prove easier to build a nuclear power station and an eco-town in the British countryside than it is to generate your own energy and live on your vegetable plot in a caravan. Given the drive to influence behaviour, reduce carbon emissions, increase food security and protect biodiversity in the light of climate change, why do sustainable living projects such as Karuna face opposition from the planning system? Simon Fairlie, editor of The Land magazine and coordinator of Chapter 7, an organisation that advises low-impact settlers and lobbies for planning policies to support them, says local authority officers are more sceptical than their committees and often refuse planning permission on principle, letting the inquiry inspector decide. "The reason for the scepticism in the planning system is that there are so many scams," he says. "Farmers have applied for planning permission for dwellings on their land that they claim are necessary for agricultural purposes, and it later turns out to be a way of increasing land prices and building expensive houses. The Country Land and Business Association and the National Farmers' Union oppose anything that will tighten that up. "It's the smallholders and hippies living on a few acres that are paying the price for this. We want the agricultural condition tightened up so a house based on an enterprise can't be flogged off." Paul Miner, senior planning campaigner for the Campaign to Protect Rural England, says: "We recognise that some low-impact development can be virtuous, but it's important that the integrity of the planning system is upheld. Planning applications may have become more onerous for the individual, but the scrutiny of environmental impacts, appropriate design and access that does not increase car use, should not be rolled back. Where there is a genuine contribution to a land-based economy, local authorities should think more about low-impact and sustainable living development than they do at present." Hugh Ellis, planning adviser to Friends of the Earth, says: "Planning has become influenced by big corporate interests, which operate at the local level too. I am an enthusiast of planning, but it has not grown up to deal with the challenges of climate change. It is still concerned with old politics, building suburbia in the countryside, and not with pioneering new ways to live. We need a more intelligent approach from government to sustainable living." However, the number of those interested in sustainable living is increasing. Fairlie says: "We get 500-600 inquiries a year from a wide spectrum of individuals, families and communities involved in conventional smallholding, permaculture, eco-home building, and part-time subsistence agriculture. People want to downsize, live close to the land, keep a few animals and grow things. If government did provide support, there would be a huge uptake - which is why it shies away from it." Tim Shaw, campaigns coordinator for the Dinefwr Green Group, based in Carmarthenshire, argues: "The way forward is about supporting diversity, reducing carbon dependency, growing food, recycling waste, generating our own energy, and reconnecting with the land to survive. And yet the system comes down on the people doing this. It attacks the lamb and allows the lion to roam free." It remains to be seen next week if there is any "karuna" in the planning system. • More information on Karuna at karuna.org.uk | ['environment/ethical-living', 'environment/carbonfootprints', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'society/society', 'tone/features', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'type/article', 'profile/paulevans', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/societyguardian', 'theguardian/societyguardian/societyguardian'] | environment/carbonfootprints | EMISSIONS | 2008-11-19T00:01:00Z | true | EMISSIONS |
sustainable-business/2015/oct/15/pharma-industry-neglecting-tropical-diseases-snake-bite | Is it fair to accuse the pharma industry of neglecting tropical diseases? | When pharma company Sanofi Pasteur was criticised last month for ceasing its production of Africa’s only snakebite anti-venom, the spotlight fell once again on the industry’s apparent lack of interest in the developing world. “It didn’t fit with their business model,” explains Katy Athersuch, medical and innovation policy advisor at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which she says favours higher margin drugs. An alternative supplier has been found but won’t be ready until at least 2017. That could mean two years of unnecessary deaths (which some estimate run to 125,000 a year). An underfunded problem Snakebites are classed as a neglected tropical disease (NTD), alongside dengue, chagas and African sleeping sickness. Nearly 1 in 6 people worldwide will require treatment for at least one NTD. According to the Lancet Commission on Investing in Health, much of the burden posed by NTDs could be prevented for an annual cost of between $300m and $400m. It’s not a huge sum in global terms – the global pharma industry is worth $300bn – yet current efforts fall well short. In fact pharma research and development investment in NTDs actually fell by $193m (£127m) in 2013. And pharma companies have been accused of “not pulling their weight”, contributing just 12% of global funding, a decrease of $74m since 2010. “We have a problem across the board of R&D,” says Athersuch. She refers to Pfizer’s withdrawal from all anti-infective R&D in 2012 and the 2014 closure of Astrazeneca’s Bangalore plant which had focused on tuberculosis (TB). Athersuch blames the consolidation of the pharma industry through mergers and acquisitions, pushing companies to compete “for the mega-bucks of blockbuster drugs sold in the US, Europe and Japan”. As a result, “NTDs look less commercially attractive”. According to Bernard Pécoul, executive director of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), the statistics back this up.“There is a 10:90 gap – only 10% of R&D investment goes in to 90% of global health needs”, he says, with rest going to developed world drugs. Whose responsibility? According to Dr Mary Moran, executive director of Policy Cures, the failure of investment in developing world diseases “lies solidly at the door of governments”. It’s not the role of companies to make non-profit medicines, she argues. Pécoul agrees. “[Governments] need to create the environment and incentives, funds and mechanisms, to stimulate R&D. Intellectual property may have stimulated innovative products in profitable markets, but when you are in a non-profitable market this is no incentive.” Currently the biggest impetus for dealing with NTDs seems to come from partnerships. In 2012 a coalition of cross-sector partners, including pharma companies, government agencies, NGOs and academics, came together to form Uniting to Combat NTDs for the London Declaration on NTDs, stating that 17 priority NTDs would be controlled or eradicated by 2020. Progress has been made, but the most recent status report reflects the difficulties of meeting ambitious timelines. Then there are product development partnerships – such as the TB Alliance or the International Aids Vaccine Initiative – which aim to correct the market failure around NTDs, bringing organisations together to pool resources for R&D. DNDi, a partnership which focusses on 10 NTDs, has delivered six new treatments with 15 new drugs currently in development, working with an annual income of around €30m. All of this is done without a laboratory, but rather through collaboration across over 40 countries, 20 pharma and biotechnology companies, and 50 universities and institutes. These partnerships now account for more than 70% of the new neglected disease products registered since 2000, and over half of the 500 product candidates now in the pipeline, says Moran. Yet even Pécoul admits that partnerships alone are not the solution. “The magnitude of the problem is much bigger,” he says. There is some evidence to suggest the pharma industry uses partnerships to absolve itself of responsibility. Major companies are closing down their NTD R&D operations while opening up their compound libraries to partnerships, such as Novartis to the TB Alliance. “We should be careful what we ask for,” says Moran. “Advocates have long asked for industry IP to be handed over to the public [made open-source] but, to be honest, we were probably better off when Novartis had the IP and provided millions of dollars and a team of scientists to work with the TB Alliance to develop it.” The solution for NTD drug R&D may not be partnerships alone, but must include cross-sector collaboration. Dr Julie Jacobson, chair of the stakeholders working group of Uniting to Combat NTDs, says “One approach is sharing research findings – on successes and failures – which can accelerate the drug development … which product development partnerships then carry through clinical trials, often in collaboration with their industrial partners.” The Sanofi snakebite anti-venom failure is a warning of what can happen if each sector waits on the other to act. | ['sustainable-business/series/role-business-development', 'sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'society/health', 'environment/snakes', 'world/world-health-organization', 'environment/corporatesocialresponsibility', 'business/business', 'business/pharmaceuticals-industry', 'environment/environment', 'science/drugs', 'science/science', 'type/article', 'tone/sponsoredfeatures', 'tone/features', 'profile/tim-smedley'] | environment/corporatesocialresponsibility | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2015-10-15T11:47:05Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
world/2017/sep/28/brazil-forest-fires-deforestation-september-record-amazon | Brazil's worst month ever for forest fires blamed on human activity | Brazil has seen more forest fires in September than in any single month since records began, and authorities have warned that 2017 could surpass the worst year on record if action is not taken soon. Experts say that the blazes are almost exclusively due to human activity, and they attribute the uptick to the expansion of agriculture and a reduction of oversight and surveillance. Lower than average rainfall in this year’s dry season is also an exacerbating factor. The National Institute of Space Research (INPE) has detected 106,000 fires destroying natural vegetation so far this month – the highest number in a single month since records began in 1998, said Alberto Setzer, coordinator of INPE’s fire monitoring satellite program. “It is fundamental to understand that these are not natural fires. They are manmade,” Setzer said. Fires are commonly used during Brazil’s dry period to deforest land and clear it for raising cattle or other agricultural or extraction purposes. The total number of blazes since 1 January was 196,000, and Seltzer expressed concern that – with the dry season continuing in Brazil’s Amazon – 2017 could surpass the worst year on record, 2004, when there were 270,000 fires. According to INPE, deforestation has risen continuously since 2012, when a new forest code that gave amnesty to deforesters was introduced. The last available data for 2016 showed a 29% rise since the previous year. Burning is illegal and carries heavy fines, but fire is often used to clear land for pasture or crops and hunting or results from land conflicts. The problem was compounded, Setzer said, by a lack of oversight and manpower to contain the blazes. “When there is a reduction in checks and surveillance, we see an increase in the number of fires,” he said. The government of president Michel Temer has been heavily criticised by environmentalists for making deep cuts to the country’s environmental budget, which have affected the ability of Brazil’s environmental police to perform inspections and raids. In September, after a month-long battle, firefighters gave up on a fire in Tocantins state park, believed to have been lit by local fishermen and carried by strong winds during an intense dry period. An area three times the size of São Paulo was destroyed, according to local media. “The Temer government’s policies signal for those in the countryside that the doors are open for more deforestation and more fires,” said Cristiane Mazzetti, a Greenpeace Brazil campaigner, listing a series of measures by the Temer government including reducing protected Amazon forest areas and giving amnesty to land grabbers. Critics say Temer is acting at the behest of powerful ranching and mining interests inside congress. Recently, the government was highly criticized for opening up a vast Amazon reserve for international mining, a decree that was later revoked. The states most affected by fires this year have been in the Amazon, increasingly targeted by ranchers and miners, with the Amazon biome accounting for 49% of the burnings. The Amazonian state of Pará was the worst affected, with a 229% increase in fires from last year. It is home to the two hardest hit municipalities, São Félix de Xingu and Altamira, home of Brazil’s controversial Belo Monte dam project. | ['world/brazil', 'environment/deforestation', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'environment/environment', 'world/americas', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/forests', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/sam-cowie', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-foreign'] | environment/deforestation | BIODIVERSITY | 2017-09-29T06:00:18Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
commentisfree/2021/aug/06/johnson-muddle-covid-climate-change-no-plan-b | Johnson’s muddle over Covid is a foretaste of his thinking on climate change. Be afraid | Gaby Hinsliff | First came the plague, then the flood, and now the fire. This has been a biblical summer, one where the doomsday warnings of climate scientists have felt increasingly close to the bone. Horror stories of Chinese commuters drowning as underground train tunnels suddenly filled with water have merged uncomfortably in our imaginations with images of flash floods in east London, wildfires burning up the Turkish coast and a Canadian heatwave so fierce it cooked mussels in their shells on the beach. So, with the crucial Cop26 climate change summit due to be held in Glasgow this autumn, why not seize the moment? Climate deniers, including those on the Tory backbenches, are on the back foot. New electric car registrations are up, as wealthier households emerge from the pandemic with savings to spend: that pent-up consumer boom that the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is counting on could easily be steered in a green direction as millions begin to recognise that we should do something to change our lifestyles but aren’t quite sure what. Are cars the priority, or getting rid of your gas boiler, or flying less, or something to do with diet? These are big decisions, the kind many people can’t afford to make without help from the state. Even the comfortably off won’t be confident enough to make them without reassurance from government that change really is now unavoidable, and clear guidance on how exactly to go about it. But, puzzlingly, in an interview last week, all the prime minister’s new climate spokesperson, Allegra Stratton, had to offer was tips on freezing bread rather than letting it go stale and not rinsing plates before putting them in the dishwasher – plus the eyebrow-raising confession that she personally “doesn’t fancy” an electric car because stopping to charge it on long journeys might be a pain. (Never mind that, as numerous experts promptly pointed out, most new models have a range of 200 miles.) Just when we most need clarity, what we get is two contradictory messages fighting for a confused public’s attention: one that this is a global emergency demanding we move further and faster to net zero, and the other that we’ve got all the time in the world to play around with baby steps like freezing your leftovers. Blaming the messenger, who only took the Cop26 brief when the job she was actually hired to do for Downing Street was axed at the last minute, is easy. But the bigger problem is the gaping holes in the message. To change behaviour, first be clear and consistent about what you want people to do, especially if it’s not something that comes naturally. That’s a lesson ministers should have learned from a year of publicly contradicting each other over Covid – to the point where even the most well-intentioned now struggle to understand whether the government wants them to go back to the office, fly to Spain, wear a mask, or none of the above. Climate-change messaging is descending into much the same muddle, and that suggests a more structural weakness at the heart of government. This week a report from the Institute for Government, a thinktank with deep connections in Whitehall, ripped into the government’s strategy for handling Covid in schools, suggesting education ministers were caught short – with no backup plan for cancelling exams, in part because of pressure from the top not to prepare for the worst. A No 10 source told the report’s authors that there was a “clear steer” from the prime minister against making contingency plans because “if you prepare for these things not happening then the outcome is that they are far more likely to not happen … people will look for the easy way out”. The idea seems to have been that if there was no safety net, everyone would jolly well have to make a go of the tightrope. Yet the tightrope still snapped, which is why it’s worrying that the clearest signal now emerging from No 10 on a range of climate-related policies is that industry will work something out; that once their backs are sufficiently against the wall, businesses will simply innovate their way out of the fact that heat pumps are prohibitively expensive replacements for gas boilers, or that millions can’t actually afford new electric cars. It’s true that the cost of green technologies is likely to come down once they’re produced at greater scale. But the idea that tech alone can be compelled to save us is not a cast-iron strategy so much as an attempt to shape the world by positive thinking. Meanwhile, a detailed strategy for Britons to wean themselves off gas central heating – which was supposed to have been published already and would have given Stratton something concrete to talk about – has been reportedly held up by tensions between No 10 and No 11 over how to pay for it all. What we’re seeing on the climate crisis looks, in other words, wearily familiar: a combination of Boris Johnson’s allergy to taking unpopular decisions, plus a preference for working in what his old consigliere Dominic Cummings calls an atmosphere of chaos, where nobody is entirely sure what their mercurial boss wants or stands for, and thus finds it harder to oppose him. Global emergency, meet political mindset spectacularly ill-equipped to deal with one. Haven’t we learned by now how this movie ends? Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'politics/boris-johnson', 'politics/conservatives', 'environment/green-politics', 'environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021', 'environment/environment', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/gabyhinsliff', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/opinion', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021 | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2021-08-06T09:00:19Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2017/jul/04/tackle-uk-plastic-bottle-problem-with-money-back-scheme-ministers-told | Tackle UK's plastic bottle problem with money-back scheme, ministers told | The UK government is under growing pressure to introduce a money-back return scheme for plastic bottles, in order to tackle huge volumes of waste in a country where 400 bottles are sold every second. Opposition parties have called on ministers to introduce a deposit return scheme that experts say would drastically reduce the number of plastic bottles littering streets and seas around the UK. Similar schemes have been successfully introduced in at least a dozen countries. The idea has the backing of global drinks company Coca-Cola and comes amid warnings that the worldwide plastics binge poses as serious a threat as climate change. Sue Hayman, Labour’s shadow environment secretary, urged the government to take swift action. “A deposit return scheme would have widespread public support and would go a long way to ensuring that we recycle as much of our waste as possible,” she said. Kate Parminter, environment spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, said momentum was growing behind calls for a deposit return scheme. “Earlier this year, Coca-Cola said to the Scottish parliament they would back a well-designed deposit return scheme,” she said. “Now that industry are backing this scheme, it is high time the UK government began to throw their weight behind it.” Last week, new figures obtained by the Guardian established that a million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute and the number will jump another 20% by 2021. According to an unpublished parliamentary report, more than 4m plastic bottles a week could be prevented from littering streets and marine environments in Britain if authorities adopted the kind of deposit return schemes that operate in countries like Germany and Australia. The Conservative party’s manifesto did not mention such a scheme in the run-up to last month’s general election, but a spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the idea was being considered as part of a wider litter strategy launched in April. “We have made great progress in boosting recycling rates for plastic bottles, with their collection for recycling rising from less than 13,000 tonnes in 2000 to over 330,000 tonnes in 2015,” the spokesman said. “We are considering further the practical ways in which we can deal with the worst kinds of litter, including plastic bottles.” However, Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion and co-leader of the Green party, said ministers must do more. “The government is under growing pressure to take action on the plastic bottle crisis,” she said. “With such a slender majority in the House of Commons, and with the public swinging behind the campaign against plastic waste, there is a real chance that ministers will consider introducing a bottle deposit scheme. “For a government desperate to salvage its reputation, taking such a simple step forward isn’t just the right thing to do – it serves their self-interest too.” In Scotland, support is growing for a deposit return scheme. Last week, the Scottish National party launched a detailed study into how such a scheme for bottles and cans would work. Roseanna Cunningham, the Scottish environment secretary, said: “Clearly there are a number of issues for the Scottish government to consider when it comes to deposit return schemes, which can only be addressed by carrying out work to understand the design of a potential system.” Recycling rates for plastic bottles in Britain stand at 59%, compared with more than 90% in countries that operate deposit return schemes, such as Germany, Norway and Sweden. Coca-Cola in Britain and Europe has made a U-turn on deposit schemes and now supports their adoption in the UK, after pressure from environment and anti-waste campaigners. “We believe a new approach is needed,” the company said in a report to the environmental audit committee before its inquiry into plastic bottles was dropped after the dissolution of parliament. “From our experiences in other countries, we believe a well-designed, industry-run drinks container deposit return scheme could help increase recycling and reduce littering,” Coca-Cola added. Between 5m and 13m tonnes of plastic end up in the world’s oceans each year, to be ingested by sea birds, fish and other organisms, and by 2050 the oceans will contain more plastic by weight than fish, according to research by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Campaigners say plastic is polluting every natural system and an increasing number of organisms on the planet, with some of it already finding its way into the human food chain. | ['environment/waste', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/plastic', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/series/bottling-it', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/sandralaville', 'profile/matthewtaylor', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-07-04T05:00:32Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2024/feb/15/british-farmers-plan-more-french-style-tractor-protests-this-weekend | British farmers plan more French-style tractor protests this weekend | Farmers unhappy at low supermarket prices and cheap food imports from post-Brexit trade deals have vowed to renew their French-style protests with tractors this weekend. Demonstrations modelled on those across the Channel in recent months have sprung up in the UK, most notably in Wales and southern England. On Thursday, Andrew Gibson, a farmer in Kent who has been centrally involved in organising previous actions, said more were to come. “We are definitely taking some action this weekend and we are calling on others to try to join us and to do their own thing as well. It needs to be a national effort because it’s not all about us; it’s about the industry as a whole,” said Gibson. Last Friday night, he and his brother organised farmers for a go-slow protest that caused traffic jams around the Port of Dover. Activists in several parts of Wales have held a series of protests, including parking tractors outside the constituency office of the rural affairs minister, Lesley Griffiths, and blaring their horns, according to a Farmers Weekly report. Gibson said the next protest in Kent would “hopefully be bigger numbers and it will be tractors, and we will be trying to get better messaging out about what we are trying to achieve”. “The whole industry is on its knees, to be honest,” he said. “The dairy boys, the arable boys, the whole industry. We are just getting clobbered by the supermarkets, by the government, by post-Brexit trade deals, by imports of cheap rubbish. We are getting it from everywhere.” He and other activists have addressed the British public at large, saying: “We, as farmers, take great pride in growing your food. We are so proud to produce the safest and best quality food in the world. “We understand that many of you already actively choose to buy British, and we thank you for that. We also understand that, for many feeling the cost of living crisis, buying British is not always easy. Cheaper imported food gives you the chance to feed your family for less. “What we ask is that you consider why it is cheaper. How can food from the other side of the world be cheaper? What chemicals are being used that are banned in the UK?” Their protests are inspired by those in France. Last month, farmers used tractors to stop traffic on eight main motorways into Paris in a row over regulations, pay and taxes. The protests have been taking place for months, starting with some young farmers turning town and village road signs upside down, and escalating in recent weeks into large-scale action. Minette Batters, the president of the National Farmers’ Union of England and Wales, said: “We share European farmers’ concerns and frustration. Years of unsustainably high production costs and crop losses because of extreme weather are putting farming families under mounting pressure. “But the British public have demonstrated invaluable support. In 2020, more than a million people signed the NFU’s petition to safeguard British food and farming standards which led to greater government scrutiny over trade deals. And, in 2023, nearly 50,000 signatures led to the prime minister hosting a food security summit. We do not take this support or its influence for granted, and it’s why protests or blockading public roads should always be a last resort.” | ['environment/farming', 'environment/environment', 'politics/eu-referendum', 'uk/uk', 'world/france', 'uk-news/kent', 'uk/wales', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'campaign/callout/callout-farmer-protests', 'profile/kevin-rawlinson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-02-15T17:54:29Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2023/dec/22/how-recycled-oyster-shells-are-helping-restore-hong-kong-reefs | From sea to plate … to sea? Hong Kong puts oyster shells to a new use | Every Thursday around noon, a brown minivan pulls up in the alley behind the glitzy Peninsula hotel at Victoria Harbour in Kowloon, Hong Kong. A porter rushes out to meet it from the back door of the hotel kitchen, lugging a large white rice sack. The driver weighs the bag on a handheld scale – it’s 40kg (88lb) – then chucks it into the back of the vehicle with a surprising clank. The van takes the sack to a recycling facility just outside the city, and tips out the contents: not rice, but hundreds of oyster shells. They will lie in the sun for a year to ensure any rotting flesh and bacteria are destroyed, before being reintroduced into Hong Kong’s bays as part of a series of restored oyster reefs. Nestled in between the South China Sea and the Pearl River Delta, Hong Kong has been seen historically as an oyster hotspot. “They have been supporting our livelihood since ancient times,” says Anniqa Law Chung-kiu, a project manager at the Nature Conservancy (TNC) in Hong Kong. “Both oysters and their shells are treasures to humans.” Over the past five decades, however, the city’s sprawling urban development, water pollution, as well as the over-harvesting and frequent seafloor dredging by the lime industry – which uses the crushed shells to make construction material – have destroyed Hong Kong’s oyster habitats and made the waters less hospitable for biodiversity. The more oyster colonies falter, the worse the problem gets: oysters are filter feeders and purify water by gobbling up impurities. Just one Hong Kong oyster can filter up to 200 litres of water a day, more than any other known oyster species. But decades of rapid industrialisation have largely halted their water-purifying services. The depletion of Hong Kong’s natural oyster reefs also affects the ability of local farmers to sustainably cultivate their oysters in a healthy environment, denting the reputation of the city’s 700-year oyster farming tradition, designated by Unesco as an “intangible cultural heritage”. Inhabitants of the coast feel abandoned, says Ken Cheng Wai-kwan, the community leader of Ha Pak Nai on Hong Kong’s Deep Bay, facing the commercial city of Shenzhen in China. “This place is forgotten,” Cheng says. “Oysters have been rooted here for over 400 years. I ask the question: do we want to lose it, or not?” A group of activists and scientists are taking up the challenge by collecting discarded oyster shells and recycling them to rebuild some of the reefs that have been destroyed and forgotten in the hope the oysters may make a comeback. They’ve selected locations around the island where data they’ve collected suggests ecosystems still have the potential to be rebooted, and there are still enough oyster larvae to recolonise and repopulate reefs. Ideally, this will have a positive effect on local biodiversity as a whole, and farming communities. Farmers from Ha Pak Nai were among the first to hand over their discarded shells to the TNC team for recycling. Law’s team works with eight oyster farmers from Deep Bay to recycle up to 10 tonnes of shells every year. They collect an average of 870kg every week from 12 hotels, supermarkets, clubhouses and seafood restaurants in the city, including some of its most fashionable establishments. About 80 tonnes of shells have been recycled since the project began in 2020. Restaurants will soon be further incentivised to recycle the shells when Hong Kong introduces a new fee for waste removal – something that is routine in many countries, but only became law in Hong Kong in July and remains controversial. “In many respects, [the recycling scheme] offers a deeper understanding of the significance of sustainability to our team members,” says Leung Shun Wai, chief steward at the five-star Peninsula. But persuading smaller enterprises to join the project is complex; separating oyster shells takes extra time and requires storage facilities. So far, shells have been used in four projects, including a restored reef in the east and one near the city’s airport island. The team recreates the reefs by placing heaps of recycled oyster shells in selected areas of the bay to create a substrate for oyster larvae – and other marine organisms such as sea sponges – to settle in, make a home in the nooks and crannies, and grow into well-structured reefs. Preliminary data shows some of the restored reefs have started to increase the levels of biodiversity, but more research is needed to determine to what extent they are contributing to the filtering of the water, says Law. Scientists from the City University of Hong Kong are also looking to use oyster shells to increase biodiversity on the city’s concrete seawalls. They hope to provide tiny, wet shelter spots around the seawall in which organisms can find refuge during low tide. “It’s a form of soft engineering, like a nature-based solution,” says Charlene Lai, a research assistant on the team. Key questions remain unanswered about the extent to which oysters can help restore ecosystems along Hong Kong’s heavily developed coast. A review of oyster reef restoration projects around the world suggests that while biodiversity can be improved, “the time to full recovery is yet to be quantified”. There’s reason for hope though, if the project succeeds. “Oyster reefs are kind of the ugly ducklings of the coastline,” says Bayden Russell, associate director of the University of Hong Kong’s Swire Institute of Marine Science, who is running a project surveying the city’s bays to fully grasp, record and analyse the state of its oysters, and their future potential for restoration. “But you’ll see more fish, you’ll see more crabs, more birds,” he adds. “That diversity of other organisms will be obvious.” | ['environment/series/seascape-the-state-of-our-oceans', 'environment/marine-life', 'world/hong-kong', 'food/oysters', 'environment/environment', 'world/asia-pacific', 'environment/oceans', 'food/food', 'environment/wildlife', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/sofia-quaglia', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-12-22T08:00:51Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
weather/2009/jun/13/weatherwatch-climate-naples | Weatherwatch | It may be winter, but the climate of Naples is delicious. "We sit without a fire, with the windows open, and have almost all the productions of an English summer. The weather is usually like what Wordsworth calls 'the first fine day in March'; sometimes very much warmer," the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley writes, to Thomas Love Peacock on 22 December, 1818. He concedes, in Shelley: Selected Poetry, Prose and Letters (Nonesuch) that it might lack that extra something "which gives an intoxicating sweetness to the awakening of the earth from its winter's sleep in England," but he enjoys an excursion all the same. "We set off an hour after sunrise one radiant morning in a little boat; there was not a cloud in the sky, nor a wave upon the sea, which was so translucent that you could see the hollow caverns clothed with the glaucous sea-moss, and the leaves and branches of those delicate weeds that pave the unequal bottom of the water. As noon approached, the heat, and especially the light, became intense." When he leaves the boat to look at some ruins in the bay of Baiae, he is disappointed "while from the boat the effect of the scenery was inexpressibly delightful. The colours of the water and the air breathe over all things here the radiance of their own beauty." He returns by moonlight. "What colours there were in the sky, what radiance in the evening star, and how the moon was encompassed by a light unknown to our regions!" | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'profile/timradford', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2009-06-12T23:01:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2019/aug/24/bolsonaro-enjoys-comedy-club-outing-as-brazils-wildfire-crisis-rages-on | Bolsonaro enjoys comedy club outing as Amazon fires rage on | While the Amazon burned and Brazilians demonstrated their outrage, Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro went to a comedy club. As the president’s pre-recorded speech to the nation explaining how he planned to use the army to fight the fires – while simultaneously insisting that the rate of burning of the forest was nothing out of the ordinary – was broadcast on television on Friday night, he was at a standup show in Brasília by right-wing Christian comic Jonathan Nemer. The Amazon fires crisis has taken on international dimensions. It could jeopardise a trade deal between the European Union and South American trade bloc, Mercosur, that took 20 years to complete, and it will be discussed at this weekend’s G7 summit. Yet on Friday, as the O Estado de S Paulo newspaper revealed, Bolsonaro took a break from the rising pressure by listening to Nemer’s jokes. The UOL site calculated that Bolsonaro was at the show at the same time as his broadcast aired. And Nemer himself posted a photo with a beaming Bolsonaro and first lady Michelle before the show on his Instagram. “Standup in Brasília is always a success, always full, but today we have the presence of someone very special … Bolsonaro!” he said in a video that he posted, before leading the chant of “Legend, legend” that is popular among Bolsonaro supporters. Nemer demonstrated his pro-Bolsonaro stance in one standup show before the second round of voting in last year’s presidential election, playing losing leftist candidate Fernando Haddad as possessed by the devil of imprisoned former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who had come to “finish Brazil off”. Nemer also appears to share Bolsonaro’s scatological obsession. One video on Nemer’s YouTube channel is called Fart in Public and features him walking around in public pretending to break wind before revealing that it is a prank. “Did it seem real?” he asked one giggling woman in a clothes shop, showing off an electronic fart gadget. “No smell at all.” Bolsonaro exposed himself to worldwide ridicule in March when he tweeted a video of a performer urinating on another on top of a bus shelter during Carnival to expose “what many street carnival groups have become” at Brazil’s biggest street party. In another tweet, he then asked: “What is a golden shower?” On 16 August the Poder 360 (Power 360) political news site published five videos from this month alone in which the president used the word “cocô” – “poo” in Portuguese – five times in interviews. In one, he told a reporter to defecate every other day to help the environment. In a speech, he said: “We are going to end the poo in Brazil. The poo is this race of corrupt and communists.” And in a freewheeling Facebook Live broadcast, he provided an impression of boiling faeces in a chemical toilet in 45C heat as he criticised a fine handed to a businessman for not providing a chemical toilet to employees. At a press conference on Saturday, Bolsonaro’s defence minister, Fernando Azevedo e Silva, and environment minister, Ricardo Salles, explained how the army would fight the fires, stressing how important it was for Amazon states to cooperate. At the same time, at the G7 summit in Biarritz, the French president Emmanuel Macron called for the international community to help Brazil and its neighbours fight the fires. Bolsonaro tweeted a link to an old television interview with Gen Eduardo Villas Bôas, in which the former commander of the army described his surprise when one of his officers found the king of Norway in a village in the Yanomami indigenous reserve during a past operation. “In the words of General Villas Bôas, the real international interest is the Amazon. It hurts the soul to see Brazilians not seeing the fabricated campaign against our sovereignty in the region,” he tweeted. | ['world/jair-bolsonaro', 'world/brazil', 'world/world', 'world/americas', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'environment/deforestation', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'profile/dom-phillips', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/deforestation | BIODIVERSITY | 2019-08-24T18:26:44Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2022/jun/20/peecycling-could-donating-your-urine-to-farmers-help-feed-the-world | Peecycling: could donating your urine to farmers help feed the world? | Name: Peecycling. Age: As a term, dates to about 2006; as a practice, centuries old. Appearance: All yellow. If this is about peeing while riding a bicycle, I’ve tried it and it doesn’t work. This is about saving and storing your urine. Why would I want to do that? So the CIA can’t get it? So that it can be recycled. Recycled as what? Fertiliser. Human urine is a rich source of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. According to the Rich Earth Institute of Vermont, the urine one adult produces in a year – 125 US gallons (473 litres) – is sufficient to grow 320lbs (145kg) of wheat. That’s a lot of wheat. And pee. Making it an especially welcome idea at a time when industrially produced fertiliser is expensive and in short supply, thanks to sanctions against Russia, where a lot of it comes from. If I can use my pee to humiliate Putin, then that weird dream I had last week will sort of come true. What’s more, those same nutrients, when flushed into wastewater systems, become contaminants responsible for creating environmentally damaging algal blooms. So by saving my pee I could help the environment, thwart Russian aggression and produce urine-rich bread? You’d also save about 4,000 US gallons (15,000 litres) of potable water annually, according to the Rich Earth Institute. Let’s say I wanted to give my urine to a farmer. How would I go about that? If you live in Vermont, you can donate it by the jug. The foundation supplies free funnels and has a collection depot in Brattleboro. It can be “a little sloshy” at first, peecycler Kate Lucy told the New York Times, but you get used to it. And if I’m outside the Brattleboro area? It’s largely an idea in search of the necessary infrastructural adjustments. But there are some initiatives in place: Paris plans to install urine-diverting toilets in 600 new apartments, using the collected pee to fertilise the city’s green spaces. If fertiliser is so expensive, why I can’t I sell my pee for profit? The price of urine has risen recently – from $1 for 25 litres to about $6, but you’d be hard-pressed to make a living as a sole provider. In that case, I’ll just go in my own garden. Maybe not your front garden. Do say: “If ever oh ever a wiz there was, this whizz of ours is one because, because, because, because, because, because of the wonderful things it does.” Don’t say: “I’ve seen them manage it in the Tour de France – how hard can it be?” | ['environment/recycling', 'science/agriculture', 'science/science', 'news/series/pass-notes', 'environment/waste', 'environment/food', 'environment/pollution', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/g2', 'theguardian/g2/features', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-g2-features', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-g2-production'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2022-06-20T13:59:18Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
world/2023/jul/18/tell-us-have-you-been-affected-by-wildfires-in-greece | Tell us: have you been affected by wildfires in Greece? | The EU has announced that it is planning to send planes to help combat wildfires in Greece after the country’s government requested help from other member states. Hundreds of firefighters have been deployed to try and contain wildfires on several fronts around Athens as people are being forced to leave their homes. Other parts of Europe are also experiencing wildfires with Spain and Italy among the worst affected countries. If you’ve been affected by wildfires in Greece or other parts of Europe, or are working to combat them, we would like to hear from you. | ['world/wildfires', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/greece', 'type/article', 'world/europe-news', 'environment/environment', 'tone/callout', 'campaign/callout/callout-greece-wildfires', 'profile/guardian-community-team', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-communities-and-social'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2023-07-18T13:58:59Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
news/2011/jun/18/weatherwatch-midsummer-francis-kilvert | Weatherwatch: Midsummer in Wiltshire in 1875 | It is Midsummer Day in 1875, in Wiltshire. "And a lovely day it has been, soft, warm and sunny," records the clergyman Francis Kilvert in Kilvert's Diary 1870-79, selected by William Plomer (Jonathan Cape). He has caged a baby cuckoo where its hedge sparrow foster parents can feed it, helped with the hay harvest and gathered strawberries. "As the day wore the weather became more and more beautiful till at last the evening grew the loveliest I think I ever saw. The rich golden light flooded the lawn and clean, freshly-cleared meadows, slanting through the western trees which fringe the Common's edge. Even the roan cows, and the Alderney especially, glowed with a golden tinge in the glorious evening sunlight. From the wide common over the thick waving fragrant grass came the sweet country music of the white sleeved mowers whetting their scythes and the voices of the children at play among the fresh-cut flowery swaths. "The sun went down red under a delicate fringe of gold laced cloud, the beautiful Midsummer evening passed through the twilight and gloaming into the exquisite warm soft Midsummer night, with its long light in the north slowly, softly lingering as Jupiter came out glorious in the south and flashed glittering through the tresses of the silver birches softly waving, and the high poplars rustled whispering and the Church clock at Draycot struck ten and I longed to sleep out of doors and dream my 'Midsummer night's dream.'" | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'tone/features', 'books/books', 'type/article', 'profile/timradford', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-06-17T23:06:24Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2018/nov/26/cruise-ship-captain-fined-100000-for-using-dirty-fuel | Cruise ship captain fined €100,000 for using dirty fuel | The captain of a cruise ship found to be burning fuel with excessive sulphur levels has been fined €100,000 (£88,500) in a Marseille court, the first such ruling in France. The prosecution was intended to signal a new seriousness in tackling pollution from cruise ships after a spot-check in March on the Azura, operated by P&O Cruises, found it contained unauthorised bunker fuel. The American captain, Evans Hoyt, knew the fuel was illegal – it contained 1.68% sulphur, 0.18% above the European limit – and the company was using it to save money, prosecutors said during the trial. The judge handed Hoyt a fine of €100,000, but specified that the parent company of P&O, the US-based Carnival, should pay €80,000 of the sum. The company had “wanted to save money at the expense of everyone’s lungs”, the prosecutor Franck Lagier told the court in October. A recent report in the journal Nature attributed 400,000 premature deaths and 14m cases of childhood asthma a year to emissions from dirty shipping fuel. A spokesman for Carnival said: “The Carnival group carries over 12 million guests on its vessels each year and takes its legal and moral obligations towards the protection of the environment very seriously indeed. We were therefore very disappointed to be prosecuted for this offence, which was based on a European law the French environment ministry had explicitly informed the cruise industry would not be applied to cruise ships and which, in any event, has still not been properly implemented. The captain was using the fuel in good faith, as directed by us, based on our understanding of the law. We have lodged an appeal and will consider the full decision of the court once it is available.” Marseille is a popular stop for giant cruise ships that ply routes in the Mediterranean between Spain and Italy and port services are an important part of the local economy. However, smog has increased in the city in recent years and shipping is thought to be responsible for a large part of the pollution, which causes respiratory problems and lung disease. High-sulphur fuel, which is cheaper than cleaner versions, produces sulphur oxides that contribute to acid rain and the acidification of oceans. | ['world/france', 'environment/pollution', 'travel/cruises', 'environment/environment', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'environment/water', 'world/water-transport', 'environment/oceans', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-11-26T15:56:15Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
media/2011/dec/14/uk-europe-top-digital-nation | UK is Europe's most digitally aware nation, Ofcom study finds | The UK is officially Europe's most screen-addicted nation: Britons spend more time online, own more smartphones and digital video recorders and watch more television over the internet than any country on the Continent. The British spend an average of 746 minutes (more than 12 hours) a week online, longer than any of the world's major economies except the USA, according to media and telecoms watchdog Ofcom's sixth International Communications Market Report. Revealing the full extent of the UK's obsession with screen-based shopping and entertainment, Ofcom says UK digital TV penetration is the highest in Europe, with 97% of households receiving more than the five basic channels. France is the second highest, with 93%, and America some way behind at 87%. Some 36% of Britons own a digital video recorder – less than in the US, but considerably higher than in France (21%) or Germany and Italy (22%). The BBC's iPlayer and Channel 4's 4OD have persuaded 27% of Britons to watch TV online every week, higher even than the US, where the total is 23%. Smaller screens are also inviting eyeballs. Smartphone penetration in the UK reached 46% of all mobile subscribers in August this year, more than in Europe an the US and up from 24% the year before, according to figures by analyst Comscore quoted in Ofcom report. The next highest was Spain, with 45% penetration. With iPhones, BlackBerrys and Android handsests by the likes of Samsung and HTC available in the UK at heavily subsidised prices in exchange for a two year contract, some 61% of young subscribers have been able to acquire smartphones. Interest is not confined to the young: in Britain, one quarter of 55 to 64 year olds questioned in an online survey claimed to access the internet from their phones. James Thickett, Ofcom research director, said competition for attention from a panoply of smartphones, laptops and tablets had not led to a decrease in television viewing. Shows such as The X Factor and The Only Way Is Essex have encouraged viewers to react online while watching. "Instead of one technology replacing another we are seeing people learning to simultaneously use different devices. You might be watching TV while texting or checking Facebook messages. Far from getting lost in this digital revolution, the opposite is happening, TV has managed to reinvent itself as a medium that complements other media." UK consumers also shop more online, spending an average of 84 minutes a month on retail websites, with French consumers the next most devoted web bargain hunters, spending an average 83 minutes. Time spent browsing virtual shelves is more likely to translate into a purchase in the UK, where 79% ordered goods and services in 2010. The Dutch are the next most likely to make it to the checkout, with 74% spending online. The British are among the first to buy from their phones, with more than 10% having visited an auction site such as Ebay by May this year, compared to between 3.4% and 6.7% on the continent. "We've always been a mobile nation," said Thickett, "and we have been very quick to take up smartphones." Screen grabs At 74% of households, the UK has more broadband connections than most major economies except France (77%), Canada (83%) and the Netherlands (89%) Some 27% of Britons watch TV online every week, higher even than the US, where the total is 23% Digital video recorders are used by 36% of Britons, compared to 22% in Germany and Italy Of all phones sold in the UK in the 12 weeks to July 2011, 67% were smartphones, the highest of 12 nations surveyed In the UK, the number of mobile subscribers owning a smartphone increased from 24% in February 2010 to 46% in August 2011. In Europe, only Spain has kept pace, with 45% penetration | ['media/digital-media', 'technology/digital-britain', 'technology/technology', 'technology/digitalvideo', 'technology/internet', 'technology/mobilephones', 'business/telecoms', 'business/business', 'technology/telecoms', 'culture/television', 'media/ofcom', 'media/television', 'tone/news', 'technology/broadband', 'type/article', 'profile/juliette-garside', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3'] | technology/digitalvideo | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2011-12-14T00:00:02Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2014/oct/30/wind-farms-minister-accountability | Planning to make the most of renewables | @guardianletters | Polly Toynbee’s suggestion that the government is “overriding local planning” on onshore wind farms is misleading (Opinion, 28 October). Her attack on ministerial decisions failed to mention that these were on recovered planning appeals: cases where the elected local council had refused or not approved the original application. The “assault on localism” she infers has been coming from the wind-farm developers seeking to overturn that local refusal by the council. All planning appeals are considered with due process and a fair hearing in light of planning policy and the local circumstances. However, there has been real public concern that inappropriately sited onshore wind turbines have been a blot on the landscape, harming the local environment and damaging heritage for miles around. Hence, in July 2013, the coalition government, with collective agreement from both Conservative and Liberal Democrat ministers, openly changed national planning guidance to ensure that proper weight should be given to the protection of England’s valuable landscape and heritage, and we have sought to ensure planning appeals decisions properly reflect that guidance. For that, we make no apology and Ministers are happy to be held to account to parliament and the public. Promoting renewable energy and protecting the global environment is a worthy cause, but we shouldn’t needlessly trash the local environment in the process. Kris Hopkins MP Communities minister, Department for Communities and Local Government • In the current talk of power shortages and lack of generating capacity, domestic solar photovoltaic, which could be readily implemented and is now cost-effective, has been overlooked. Prices are now close to the projected viable level of £1 per watt. A 4Kw solar PV domestic system can be bought for under £5,000 installed and can produce 4,000kWh a year with a 20-year guaranteed life. This gives a capital cost of £1,138 per kW, with an amortised annual cost of 5.7p per kWh, with no maintenance or distribution costs. Domestic Solar PV is therefore a competitive green renewable energy, which could be installed economically and run at zero cost. If 10% of existing houses (2.8m) converted at 4kW, it would give 11.1TWh, with 11GW capacity, 12% of current UK capacity, equivalent to 3% of UK production, at an installed cost of some £12bn. The annual value at the current domestic price of £0.15 a unit is £600pa. FIT tariff subsidies give a five-year pay-off., but realistic export prices or greater in-house utilisation would still make domestic solar PV viable and attract individual investment. I write as a pensioner user with installed PV, which even at the old prices gives an 8% return guaranteed for 25 years, better than annuities or savings – and I am looking at how to fit in more capacity. John Read Clitheroe, Lancashire | ['environment/renewableenergy', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'tone/letters', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/solarpower', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2014-10-30T19:25:18Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2022/may/24/limits-on-renewables-will-keep-uk-energy-bills-higher-this-winter | Limits on renewables ‘will keep UK energy bills higher this winter’ | Consumers will face higher energy bills than necessary next winter because of a decision by the government to limit new renewable energy generation, described as a “missed opportunity” by the renewables industry, and “outdated thinking” by a green campaign group. Ministers have decided to authorise contracts for about 12GW of new renewable energy generation, to start construction this year, with much of it likely to come on stream before next autumn. However, the renewable energy industry estimates that about 17.4GW of projects have cleared planning permission and are “shovel-ready”. The shortfall in what the government is prepared to allow, through an auctioning system, means many of these potential projects are likely not to be built this year, and consumers will be deprived of the energy savings on bills that come from renewable energy. Renewable energy is now cheaper than fossil fuels, which have soared in price during the Ukraine war. Onshore and offshore wind and solar power all command about £40 per megawatt hour on the market today, but gas-fired power generation costs about £140 per megawatt hour. Under the system of “contracts for difference”, renewable energy generators bid for contracts to produce power, but the government can set an overall limit on how much capacity it wants in the auctions, and can set limits on how much cash it is prepared to provide as incentives. On Friday, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy laid out plans for an auction, to take place on 5-6 July, allowing for 5GW of capacity to be competed for by onshore wind and solar, neither of which can take more than 3.5GW in total. The government was also expected to set a cap on offshore wind, of about 7GW of new capacity. Instead it set no cap but limited the incentive “pot” to £200m. Industry sources said that pot would amount to a de facto cap of about 7GW on new offshore wind capacity. At about 12GW, this is the biggest auction so far, but still falls far below what the industry says is possible: according to industry estimates, there are about 8.5GW of offshore windfarms that could come on stream, along with about 3.9GW of onshore wind and about 5GW of solar farms. Many groups, including unions, the CBI employers’ organisation, the National Farmers’ Union, and green and consumer groups, had called for the government to increase the amount of renewable energy generation. Research shows that renewable energy brings down energy bills for consumers: if the 12GW the government is planning had been available last winter, energy bills would have been about £100 lower for the average household. Labour said energy billpayers would suffer. Ed Miliband, the shadow climate change and net zero secretary, said: “Once again, families are paying higher energy bills as a direct result of Conservative failure. The government is intentionally blocking access to the quickest, cheapest, cleanest forms of new power, stopping enough onshore wind and solar energy to power 3m homes. These are shovel-ready projects, with planning permission, that could be generating energy for our country at a quarter of the price of gas by the end of next year.” He added: “This terrible decision, bowing to the concerns of a few Tory backbenchers, damages investment, forfeits good jobs across the country, keeps bills high, and continues our exposure to Putin’s gas.” Doug Parr, a policy director for Greenpeace UK, said: “We have a global climate emergency which requires low carbon power, we have a cost of living crisis which requires cheap power, and we have a war in Ukraine that requires domestic power. By an amazing stroke of luck, renewables are low-carbon, cheap, domestic and can be deployed faster than the alternatives. Capacity limits on cheap renewables are outdated thinking.” The new contracts for difference auction follows a pattern of slowing growth in renewable energy in the UK, according to analysis conducted by the Liberal Democrats on government data. Total renewable capacity grew by 3.4% to 49.44GW in the year to December 2021, compared with an average annual rise of about 18% over the previous 11 years. Wera Hobhouse, the climate and energy spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, said: “Under the Conservatives, the UK renewables industry has been neglected again and again. The country has been left overly reliant on gas, worsening the cost of living crisis which is hitting households hard. These projects would reduce energy bills but it needs the right political leadership from the Conservatives.” She added: “There is no question that the Conservative government must drastically increase renewable energy capacity and this starts with a much more ambitious round of auctions for clean energy projects. Recently [in the local elections], British people sent a message that the Conservatives have let them down. The lack of ambition in renewables is just another example that will leave millions vulnerable to ever-soaring energy bills.” A government spokesperson said: “The Covid pandemic and its aftermath understandably slowed infrastructure deployment across the country. That said, nearly 40% of our electricity now comes from renewable sources, and since 2010 we have delivered a 500% increase in the amount of renewable energy capacity connected to the grid. The contracts for difference scheme has been hugely successful in boosting UK energy supply and reducing our dependence on volatile fossil fuels, with competitive auctions reducing the price of offshore wind by around 65% since 2015.” | ['environment/renewableenergy', 'business/energy-industry', 'money/energy', 'business/cost-of-living-crisis', 'uk/uk', 'money/household-bills', 'environment/energy', 'environment/green-economy', 'environment/environment', 'business/business', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2022-05-24T15:54:06Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2024/mar/18/weather-tracker-cyclone-warning-in-australia-while-finland-freezes-in--16c-lows | Weather tracker: cyclone warning in Australia while Finland freezes in -16C lows | A cyclone warning has been issued in northern Australia for coastal communities from the island of Groote Eylandt to the Northern Territory/Queensland border. Tropical Cyclone Megan, which developed in the Gulf of Carpentaria on Saturday, has been declared a category 3 cyclone by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. Megan is forecast to make landfall on Monday, but has already brought gale-force winds and heavy rainfall to some areas over the weekend. Groote Eylandt was cut off after more than 400mm of rain in just 24 hours on Sunday. There is a chance that Megan could strengthen further into a category 4 storm before making landfall, with the potential for damaging wind gusts of up to 125km/h. Megan is the fifth named cyclone in Australian waters so far this season, which is below the average of about 10 by this stage of the year. Finland has had a relatively mild start to March, but it turned colder over the weekend, with a snowstorm bringing up to 10-15cm of snow and freezing temperatures to parts of the country on Sunday. The low temperatures look set to continue over the next few days, with minimum temperatures as low as -16C expected in Tampere, around 10C below the seasonal average for this time of year. Temperatures are expected to return to around or just above average again by the end of the week. Meanwhile South Sudan is closing all schools indefinitely from Monday in response to an extreme heatwave, which is likely to persist for at least the next two weeks, with temperatures expected to widely reach 41-45C, with highs closer to 50C in the hottest spots. Overnight temperatures will also remain stubbornly high, not falling much below 27-28C. Temperatures in the capital, Juba, are likely to hit 40-42C every day this week. | ['environment/series/weather-tracker', 'environment/extreme-heat', 'world/south-sudan', 'world/extreme-weather', 'world/africa', 'environment/environment', 'weather/finland', 'australia-news/australia-weather', 'type/article', 'tone/analysis', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | environment/extreme-heat | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2024-03-18T09:44:12Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/cif-green/2010/dec/01/cancun-climate-change-summit-trust | Cancún climate change summit: a question of trust | Farrukh Iqbal Khan | The world has come together this week in Cancún, Mexico, to forge a collective response to climate change. One year on from the belly-flop in Copenhagen, some voices are questioning the viability of the UN process. While those questioning the process are ill-informed and playing into the hands of climate sceptics, it is also true that we are still far from reaching an actual consensus on the way ahead. This is a prospect that makes millions of poor people on the frontlines of climate change nervous. This year's deadly torrential rains in Pakistan have caused devastation for millions, ravaging crops and water supplies across the country. The intense heatwave in Russia hit harvests hard. Both of these events – besides the damage they caused, have also contributed to rocketing wheat and other agricultural prices around the world. Scientists predict such extreme weather events signal to the shape of things to evolve. Imagine if such devastations were to start occurring simultaneously in many parts of the world. No international funding mechanism could bear the cost of rehabilitation from such damages. This fortnight's conference will be critically important for restoring trust between developed and developing nations in the fight against climate change. While a legally binding international treaty is not expected in Cancún, we can hope for – and expect – decisions in critical areas, such as the technology mechanism, adaptation framework, transparency in efforts to reduce emissions, accounting for emissions from forestry and, most crucially, the establishment of new funds and proper governance of climate finance. Such key decisions would pave the way for a more comprehensive deal next year. The Copenhagen accord, despite its weakness, controversy, and inadequacy, did manage to stitch together a bare-bones agreement on climate finance, both in the short- and long-term. In the short term, developed countries committed to provide "new and additional" resources to developing countries approaching US $30bn from 2010-2012, balanced for helping them to adapt to climate change and to manage the growth in their emissions. There's no mystery to what developing countries expect in Cancún: evidence that promises have been kept, and new finance being delivered. It is ironic that those very countries that support the formalisation of the Copenhagen accord are not following the principles they themselves laid down in that document. The evidence so far suggests that only a small portion of what is pledged is really new, the major portion consists of recycled commitments, such as those that were made to meet the millennium development goals. This will only widen the chasm in trust deficit that has crippled the negotiations. What's more, a worryingly high proportion is being channeled in the form of loans, not grants. Grants are essential to support the adaptation needs of the poorest and most vulnerable, in particular. The last thing poor countries need is to be saddled with new debt obligations. Several developed countries, including the USA and EU nations, plan to release reports in Cancún outlining their allocation of "fast-start finance". The developing world sincerely hopes their reports show whether the money pledged is being delivered as it should and whether or not we are following the principles we agreed to in the Copenhagen accord. The fast-start finance'experience has already taught us one lesson. In the long run, relying on voluntary reports from developed countries is a recipe for disaster and growing mistrust. To really show they are serious, developed countries should join with developing countries in Cancún to establish a framework to oversee long-term global climate finance flows, according to fair, common standards. We should focus on strengthening the role of multilateral institutions, such as the adaptation fund in channeling the adaptation resources.Estimates suggest less than 10% of current climate finance flows are going to support adaptation. That can't continue. It's imperative that developed countries use the opportunity of fast start finance to bridge the trust deficit and move the world towards the ultimate goal: halting the most dangerous effects of climate change. For those picking up the pieces in Pakistan and Russia, nothing less is acceptable. • Farrukh Iqbal Khan is lead negotiator on climate change for Pakistan | ['environment/cancun-climate-change-conference-2010', 'world/world', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/mexico', 'world/unitednations', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'global-development/environmental-sustainability', 'environment/environment', 'world/pakistan', 'world/russia', 'commentisfree/cif-green', 'tone/comment', 'world/europe-news', 'commentisfree/commentisfree', 'type/article'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2010-12-01T17:19:23Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2018/oct/25/pollutionwatch-generating-a-problem-across-africa | Pollutionwatch: generating a problem across Africa | Across African cities home diesel generators are becoming more common. Generating their own electricity is the only option for many homes and businesses, and unreliable grid supplies mean backup generators are used widely. Inefficient diesel generators may produce far more carbon dioxide than large power plants and the exhaust is released right into densely populated neighbourhoods. There is little hard data to assess the impact of backup generators – in 2015 the city of Paris had three times more air pollution measurement sites than the whole of Africa – but the poor air is obvious. Public campaigns such as those in the Nigerian city of Port Harcourt, are now calling for government action. In the UK, more than 1,500 combined heat and power systems (CHP) now generate electricity and use the waste heat to warm buildings and heat water. They are mainly powered by natural gas, which is cleaner than the diesel generators used across Africa, but most CHP exhausts are not required to have clean-up systems. Two new reports have pointed to serious impacts on urban air pollution in the UK, too. | ['environment/series/pollutionwatch', 'world/africa', 'environment/air-pollution', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'world/france', 'world/nigeria', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/gary-fuller', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-10-25T20:30:29Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
commentisfree/2024/feb/06/australians-keep-buying-huge-cars-in-huge-numbers-if-we-want-to-cut-emissions-this-cant-go-on | Australians keep buying huge cars in huge numbers. If we want to cut emissions, this can’t go on | Richard Denniss | Parisians just voted to charge large vehicles three times more to park in the city than small vehicles. In Australia we offer the most convenient parking for free to people driving enormous twin-cab utes (we call them loading zones, even though you don’t have to load up anything more than your groceries). Policy choices matter. Last year all of Australia’s top 10 selling cars were twin-cab utes or large SUVs. And just as most utes aren’t really shifting cargo around our cities, “sports utility vehicles” are not engaged in sport – and they clearly aren’t utilities. But the names used to describe these expensive, inefficient and dangerous forms of transport are by no means the most absurd thing about Australian car culture. Economics 101 says we should tax things we want fewer of and subsidise things we want more of, but in Australia we subsidise the purchase of twin-cab utes and charge goods and services tax on bikes and public transport. It’s as though economics plays absolutely no role in the design of our tax or transport systems. According to the Australian Taxation Office, if a vehicle can carry more than one tonne of cargo it must be a “commercial vehicle”, even if the vehicle never carries anything heavier than a laptop. And if you or your employer buys you a “commercial vehicle” for work purposes, you don’t have to worry about that pesky fringe benefits tax or even keep track of the percentage of your car use for work or personal matters. How can this be? It’s because, as the ATO sees it, what are the odds people would choose to drive a huge twin-cab ute around the city if they weren’t carrying lots of cargo? If Australia were serious about the climate crisis – admittedly that’s a big if in a country that is still subsidising new gas and coalmines – one of the easiest ways to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while saving people a lot of money, would be to encourage a rapid shift from big cars to small cars and public transport. But while Australian governments love population growth, they hate planning for car-free cities – almost as much as they love catering for the biggest cars on our roads. Standards Australia has floated the idea of enlarging the size of a standard car parking space to accommodate the steadily expanding size of passenger vehicles. While this was applauded by some drivers, the fact that enlarging parking spaces would inevitably mean an overall reduction in the number of parking spaces (that haven’t already been turned into loading zones) seems to have been lost on most. If we were serious about reducing Australia’s transport emissions we would be removing the GST from bikes and public transport and providing dedicated car parking spaces for small cars in our cities. Because small cars take up much less room than giant twin-cab utes, offering dedicated spaces for them would lead to an overall increase in the number of spaces available, an outcome that would ultimately benefit drivers of big cars as well. The opposite is of course true; if we paint the lines further apart to accommodate all the subsidised utes, there will be fewer spaces for everyone, including the ute drivers. Of course parking rules aren’t the only way to influence vehicle choices. The Albanese government has just announced yet another consultation paper on the shape of fuel efficiency standards for Australian vehicles. Significantly, Australia and Russia are the only developed countries who are yet to introduce such standards. While there is no doubt that the government’s preferred model is a big step in the right direction, it looks quite likely that the scheme will succeed in simultaneously encouraging the sale of electric vehicles while failing to rein in the number of large SUVs and twin-cab utes on our roads. Indeed, the government’s own modelling suggests that the number of such vehicles, and the total amount of fuel used, will continue to grow. While the easiest way to increase the fuel efficiency of the Australian vehicle fleet would be to reduce the number of big vehicles on the road, the easiest solution is rarely the most politically palatable. And so it is that the Albanese government has designed a complicated proposal that will encourage a lot more people to buy electric vehicles while doing little, if anything, to rein in demand for the utes taking up so much space in our cities. The government will no doubt get a big tick from the electric vehicle industry for its new fuel efficiency standards but a clear goal of the policy was to simultaneously avoid getting a big kick from the companies that sell the utes. While the outcome might be good politics, as long as Australians are buying enormous cars in enormous numbers, we clearly aren’t trying hard to reduce emissions. Richard Denniss is the executive director of the Australia Institute | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/automotive-emissions', 'environment/environment', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'australia-news/business-australia', 'business/automotive-industry', 'world/road-transport', 'australia-news/tax-australia', 'business/economics', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/richard-denniss', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-opinion'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2024-02-06T03:08:45Z | true | EMISSIONS |
australia-news/2022/mar/04/are-eastern-australias-catastrophic-floods-really-a-one-in-1000-year-event | Are eastern Australia’s catastrophic floods really a one-in-1,000 year event? | The New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, made headlines earlier this week when he described the record-breaking rain that swamped the north of the state before moving south to Sydney as a “one-in-1,000-year event”. The mayor of Ballina shire council, Sharon Cadwallader, told the ABC that town was expecting a one-in-500-year flood before it was inundated on Wednesday. To the layperson, these descriptions might be interpreted as suggesting floods would only occur once in a millennium, or half a millennium. But this isn’t the case, and scientists say such phrases risk misleading the public about the likelihood of disasters of this magnitude being repeated. Where does the one-in-1,000 event description come from? According to the premier’s office, it was drawn from a 2014 Lismore Floodplain Risk Management Plan that included data on the expected “average recurrence interval” for floods of different degrees of severity. There is no direct mention of a one-in-1,000-year flood level in the report, but it does set out the expected frequency of various flood peaks, as measured against a gauge at the city’s rowing club. The highest is 16 metres above sea level, which is the “probable maximum flood” level for a notional one-in-100,000-year flood. A one-in-500-year flood is set at 13.4 metres; a one-in-100 year flood at 12.4 metres; a one-in-10 year flood at 10.9 metres. What is known as “danger height” – the level at which local landholders are alerted – was set at less than half that – just 5.2 metres above sea level. This week’s flood in Lismore reached 14.4 metres, placing it somewhere in the vast gulf between the once-in-500-year and once-in-100,000 year markers – hence, the back-of-the-envelope description of it as a one-in-1,000-year event. Does any of this mean anything? Yes, but not what you might think. Describing a flood as a once-in-a-millennium event actually has a specific meaning. But it’s not, as many people might assume, that the planet won’t see another one until some time around the year 3000. When employed in a technical report, it means there is a 0.1% chance of a flood of that severity happening in a given location in any given year. (For a one-in-100-year flood it’s a 1% chance, for a 1-in-10 year flood it’s a 10% chance, and so on.) Dr Tom Mortlock, an adjunct fellow at Macquarie University and senior catastrophe analyst with reinsurance broker Aon, says when translated to lay use, describing the current flood as a one-in-1,000-year event is misleading. “It implies we would be waiting another 1,000 years before we see another flood of this magnitude again,” he said. “The fact we’ve had a one-in-1,000-year flood a year after we’re supposed to have had a one-in-100-year flood [in Sydney last March] basically refutes that straight away.” Mortlock says the chance of a catastrophic flood occurring somewhere in NSW, across all the areas at risk of flood in any given year, is much greater than 0.1%. It is higher still when there is a La Niña weather pattern. A La Niña pushes warm surface water towards Asia and the seas north of Australia, which in turn leads to increased rainfall across northern and eastern Australia. Mortlock says La Niña has “loaded the dice in favour of flooding over the past two years”. He says one issue with saying a flood on this scale only occurs once in a millennium is the suggestion that it was not foreseeable, and that there is no need to plan for the next catastrophic storm when in reality it could come much, much sooner. As we have seen this week, failing to properly plan can have terrible consequences for people’s lives and livelihoods. Some people had rebuilt homes and businesses after previous floods, believing it was unlikely that a similar catastrophe would strike them in the near future. They were hit again, to devastating effect. A key question is: would a more realistic expression of the probability of a flood reoccurring have helped limit the impact? Does global heating change the equation? Yes. No flood can be blamed directly on the climate crisis, but it also loads the dice. The scientific rule of thumb is that 1C of heating allows the atmosphere to hold about 7% more moisture. The planet has already warmed more than 1C since pre-industrial times due to increased atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases. It increases the risk. Dr Andrew King, a climate scientist at the University of Melbourne, agrees with Mortlock: saying a flood is a one-in-1,000-year event is “definitely a misleading statistic”, he says, particularly when applied to several different places at once. “People don’t understand that it doesn’t mean an event happens every 1,000 years, and in a changing climate the probability of these events will change as well.” Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning A key issue here is that the likelihood of an event recurring changes retrospectively as more data is collected. Put another way, it can be seen in hindsight that the chance of an extreme event like a flood happening was greater than previously understood. An example of this is the flood in Queensland’s Lockyer Valley in 2011. A flood of that scale was initially deemed to have a one-in-2,000 chance of happening in any given year. After another flood came along two years later, and with five more years of data, that was recalculated to a one-in-90 chance – a substantial upgrade in likelihood. King also gives the example of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has been described as a 1-in-100 year event based purely on there having been only one other global pandemic in recent history – the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. He says this misunderstands an important thing about recurrence statistics – that as you add more data, “you change them a lot”. | ['australia-news/australia-east-coast-floods-2022', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/environment', 'environment/flooding', 'australia-news/new-south-wales', 'australia-news/queensland', 'australia-news/brisbane', 'type/article', 'tone/explainers', 'profile/adam-morton', 'profile/graham-readfearn', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | australia-news/australia-east-coast-floods-2022 | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2022-03-03T16:30:13Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2019/feb/22/teachers-and-students-stage-mock-climate-classes-national-curriculum | Teachers and students stage mock climate classes in Whitehall | More than 100 teachers, academics and students have blocked traffic and staged mock climate classes outside the Department for Education in a protest against the underplaying of environmental problems in the national curriculum. The demonstrators – who carried Teach the Truth, Rebel for Life and Climate: More Important Than Brexit banners – urged the government to make the climate and ecological crisis an educational priority. The protest organised by the Extinction Rebellion group, which has been taking place during the half-term holiday, was also a show of solidarity for 10,000 pupils who missed classes last Friday to express their frustration at the world’s failure to reduce emissions, inspired by 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who staged the first school strike. The organiser, Tim Jones, a secondary school teacher from Lewisham in south-east London, told the gathering that the education system was failing to address the complex reality of climate change and biodiversity loss. He said: “The current system teaches children to conform, not to question things. This conformity breeds the denial that is exacerbating the problems. What we need now is action. That’s what we have seen from children and students and that is now what we need from adults.” The protesters met at Old Palace Yard in Westminster and marched to the DfE offices on Great Smith Street. They blocked the road and heard speeches from Prof David Humphreys of the Open University, Dr Anne Andrews of the University of Cambridge and Dr Alison Green, a former pro vice-chancellor of Arden University who recently organised a letter signed by more than 200 academics in support of the Youth 4 Climate Strike. The teachers and students performed a pantomime lesson, with mock chairs and desk, and heaps of chalk, to highlight the curriculum’s light coverage of a topic that will shape the lives of young people. The protesters claimed the UK government had failed to live up to the Paris agreement in which it pledged to enhance education on climate change. They said climate change was treated, at best, as a peripheral subject and that the weak emphasis on the topic meant some state students could go through all 11 years of compulsory education with just 10 classes on climate change out of a total of more than 10,000. “Sometimes I wonder, what’s the point of teaching when no one is teaching the truth about the future?” said Andrew Thompson, a 33-year-old teacher. Green said she was speaking on behalf of fellow academics in expressing solidarity with the student strikers. “Like them, I fear for the future of the planet,” she said. “Young people are striving at school to gain qualifications to fulfil personal goals and aspirations. They trust the government but the government is letting them down and squandering their future.” The DfE said climate change was included in the curriculum. The education secretary, Damian Hinds, has criticised the young strikers. He said: “Missing class won’t do a thing to help the environment; all they will do is create extra work for teachers.” Many were inspired by students. Edmund Stubbs, a secondary school science teacher based in east London, wrote in the Guardian: “Seeing young people abandon their studies for a day and claim to be taking their future into their own hands should make any teacher uneasy and it has led me to question my role as a secondary school science teacher.” The demonstration is the latest in a wave of climate protests that are disrupting an increasingly wide range of locations and institutions. On Monday, dozens of Extinction Rebellion activists held up traffic outside a London fashion event. In December, the BBC’s central London headquarters was put on lockdown after campaigners rallied outside to demand the national broadcaster declare a “climate and ecological emergency”. More than 100 Extinction Rebellion activists were arrested in November when protesters blocked five London bridges and glued themselves to the doors of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. There have also been demonstrations outside the Scottish parliament and in the centre of Manchester. Extinction Rebellion, which started in the UK less than a year ago, now has groups in dozens of countries and plans to stage a week of disruption from 15 April. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'education/education', 'world/protest', 'politics/education', 'education/schools', 'environment/environment', 'environment/greta-thunberg', 'uk/uk', 'politics/politics', 'environment/activism', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'environment/extinction-rebellion', 'profile/jonathanwatts', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2019-02-22T16:50:57Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
world/2018/apr/27/is-the-worlds-toughest-plastic-bag-ban-working | Can we stop the Arctic meltdown? | This week, The Upside has been focused on hopeful news about the environment, which will be a welcome reprieve for anyone who read Mayer Hillman’s interview in the Guardian in which he concluded that climate change meant “we’re doomed”. As part of the Arctic Dispatches series, reporting from Alaska, Oliver Milman asked whether the catastrophic melting of Arctic ice could be reversed using an unlikely substance – sand. It’s a compelling read that explores unusual ways technology and creative thinking could be employed to slow the effects of climate change. Our only strategy at present seems to be to tell people to stop burning fossil fuels. It’s a good idea, but it is going to need a lot more than that to stop the Arctic’s sea ice from disappearing. Steven Desch, lead physicist Last week it was announced that the British government would consider a ban on cotton buds, plastic drinking straws and other single-use plastics, following the success of the 5p plastic bag charge. But compared to the plastic bag ban introduced in Kenya last year – which threatens up to four years’ imprisonment and fines of up to $40,000 (£31,000) for anyone producing, selling or even carrying a plastic bag – Britain’s actions look like child’s play. Jonathan Watts has been in Nairobi and writes about the impact of the Kenyan ban eight months after it was introduced. Winners of the Goldman environmental prize were announced this week, celebrating six remarkable success stories – five of them driven by women – of individuals or groups who have taken on powerful vested interests. Among the winners were Makoma Lekalakala and Liz McDaid, who took on Jacob Zuma and Vladmir Putin in a legal challenge over nuclear power and won, and Claire Nouvian, a journalist turned activist who, inspired by the vampire squid, is fighting for less destructive fishing practices. What we liked This article in the Christian Science Monitor about teenage girls in rural India who got sick of waiting for the adults to fix things and took over their town. Among their successes so far: getting a library and bus stop in their community. What we heard One of the side effects of the introduction of the plastic bag is that it killed off centuries-old crafts all over the world. When I was growing up in Somaliland, every mother (or servant, for the rich) took these beautiful baskets made of wicker-like material to markets every morning. The baskets were reusable and handwoven exclusively by women who made a decent living from their craft. And then one-time-use plastic came. The art of basket-weaving died off. I don’t think there is a single skilled basket-weaver left in Somaliland today. SomlanderBrit, commenting below the line on our Kenyan plastic bag story Where was the upside? In the world of mental health, where scientists have raised hopes for more effective treatments of depression after mapping out the genetic foundations of the mental disorder in unprecedented detail. | ['world/world', 'world/series/the-upside-weekly-report', 'world/series/the-upside', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'environment/plastic-bags', 'environment/plastic', 'type/article', 'profile/kate-lyons'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-04-27T12:11:04Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
australia-news/2023/oct/23/worst-case-scenario-isnt-jail-but-climate-breakdown-queensland-activists-say-as-day-in-court-arrives | Worst-case scenario isn’t jail but climate breakdown, Queensland activists say as day in court arrives | Rob Keller, a 73-year-old retired teacher and small business operator, will arrive at Brisbane magistrates court on Monday facing the prospect of three years in prison. But that is not what worries him most. “The worst-case scenario isn’t jail,” he says. “The worst-case scenario is climate breakdown.” Keller is one of 14 climate activists who have been grappling with the prospect of imprisonment as they head to court charged with disrupting Queensland’s parliament in a brief but raucous protest last November. The group unfurled banners with anti-fossil fuel banners from the public gallery and interrupted question time by chanting for about three minutes. Among their number are retired professors, medical specialists, working teachers and small business owners. Though hardly hardened criminals, jail for them is not an abstract concept. For more than 10 months, each has had to grapple with the consequences of being on bail – some were threatened with losing their jobs, others could not reinsure their homes. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup David Rasborsek, 59, and his 88-year-old mother, Judith, are among those charged with disturbing the legislature – a charge not laid since the reign of the notoriously repressive premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen. Rasborsek spent a week in the watch house in June for blocking traffic in a separate climate protest and says the prospect of imprisonment is not something he takes lightly. “Prison is a dangerous place, watch houses are dangerous places,” he says. “People die in there quite regularly. I definitely do not want to go back there.” His mother, the oldest of the 14 accused, is prepared to take whatever comes. “Of course I don’t want to go to jail,” she says. “But if they do sentence me to jail, so be it. What else can you do?” Each of the 14 knows other climate protesters who have been put behind bars for their activism and all talk of an increasingly repressive climate for activists around the country. Rasborsek says a friend of his in Sydney was imprisoned for several months for his role in a Blockade Australia protest – and beaten while in jail. Of their fellow activists with experience behind bars, none is more prominent than Violet Coco. Coco, who will attend the Brisbane magistrates court on Monday in a show of solidarity, was sentenced to 15 months in jail for blocking one lane of traffic in Sydney last April. Her sentence was quashed on appeal. “It was very traumatic for her,” Lee Coaldrake – one of the Queensland 14 – says. A retired anaesthetist, Coaldrake is the wife of the former Queensland University of Technology vice-chancellor, Peter, who last year led a review into the integrity of the public service and the Queensland government. Of course, she says, an amount of time in jail is a life-altering experience – “but you have to be resolute about that”. Because prison is “absolutely nothing” compared with the looming global catastrophe of climate breakdown. “Me going to jail is of no consequence,” Coaldrake says. “If that makes a difference, then I would happily go to jail.” Keller says that regardless of the verdict, each of the 14 are likely to remain not only unremorseful, but unrepentant. “I see the government as criminals here, not me,” he says. “And if I got jailed, I still wouldn’t see me as the criminal. They are the criminals.” The 14 will be represented by the Environmental Defenders Office and will plead not guilty. As well as disturbing the legislature, several of the accused face charges associated with using recording devices and carrying props for the protest into parliament. | ['australia-news/queensland', 'world/protest', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'australia-news/queensland-politics', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/activism', 'environment/environment', 'environment/extinction-rebellion', 'world/activism', 'campaign/email/afternoon-update', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/joe-hinchliffe', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-state-news'] | environment/extinction-rebellion | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2023-10-22T14:00:19Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
science/2020/dec/16/plantwatch-holly-ivy-and-how-warmer-weather-boosts-christmas-plants | Plantwatch: holly, ivy and how warmer weather boosts Christmas plants | The holly and ivy decorations should be looking lush this Christmas thanks to climate change boosting the growth of these plants. In a study 15 years ago, holly was found spreading further north in Europe than ever before. The plant had pushed northwards by 80 miles (130km) in more than 60 years and was seen in Norway and Sweden where it was being used for Christmas decorations for the first time. Ivy is also becoming more widespread across forests in Europe. In just over 80 years it has spread across more areas of forests, with rising temperatures the key factor. But there is a problem with the rampant growth of both holly and ivy in woodlands, because these evergreens can easily smother and outcompete other plants in the habitat, such as primroses and violets. Mistletoe, though, is struggling with the changing climate, as milder winters rob it of the cold weather in winter it needs to help sprout its seeds the following spring. A study in 2005 found that the pine mistletoe in the Swiss Alps had been forced to climb about 200 metres up mountainsides in 100 years to find cooler conditions, and was expected to climb a further 350 metres up the slopes by 2030. | ['science/series/plantwatch', 'science/science', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'environment/forests', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tone/features', 'profile/paulsimons', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-12-16T06:00:27Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
news/2011/apr/09/weatherwatch-chesterton-twilight | Weatherwatch: City streets paved with gold | Twilight has a way of anointing city streets, especially in a GK Chesterton novel. "The evening sky, a dome of solid gold, unflaked even by a single sunset cloud, steeped the meanest sights of London in a strange and mellow light. It made a little greasy street off St Martin's Lane look as if it were paved with gold. It made the pawnbroker's halfway down it shine as if it were really that Mountain of Piety that the French poetic instinct has named it; it made the mean pseudo-French bookshop, next but one to it, a shop packed with dreary indecency, show for a moment a kind of Parisian colour," wrote Chesterton in his entertainment The Ball and the Cross (1909). A municipal pawnshop in France was a mont de pit, a corruption of mont de piété. "And the shop that stood between the pawnshop and the shop of dreary indecency showed with quite a blaze of old world beauty, for it was, by accident, a shop not unbeautiful in itself. The front window had a glimmer of bronze and blue steel, lit, as by a few stars, by the sparks of what were alleged to be jewels; for it was, in brief, a shop of bric-a-brac and old curiosities." A front door opened on to the street, a back door on to an odd square of garden that the sun had turned to a square of gold. "There is nothing more beautiful than thus to look as it were through the archway of a house; as if the open sky were an interior chamber, and the sun a secret lamp of the place." | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'tone/features', 'books/gk-chesterton', 'books/books', 'culture/culture', 'uk/weather', 'type/article', 'profile/timradford', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-04-08T23:10:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2010/dec/10/cancun-climate-change-conference-kyoto | Cancún climate change conference: Russia will not renew Kyoto protocol | The UN climate change conference in Cancún – and the future of the Kyoto protocol – was cast into doubt today after Russia said it would not renew its commitment to the treaty that has governed climate negotiations for more than a decade. In a late-night plenary session, Russia's climate change envoy, Alexander Berditsky, said his country opposed a renewal of Kyoto beyond its 2012 end date. "Russia will not participate in the second commitment period of the Kyoto protocol," he said in a prepared statement. The announcement, delivered in what were supposed to be the final 24 hours of the summit, makes it even more unlikely negotiators will be able to produce a strong outcome at Cancún, environmental groups said. After last year's failure at Copenhagen, a weak result – or outright collapse – of talks at Cancún would damage the credibility of the entire UN negotiating process, the energy secretary Chris Huhne warned. "Next year people will say, well, we're not going to make any progress and we end up with a zombie conference where there won't be anybody at a senior enough level to take any serious decisions at all." Negotiators were planning to meet through the night to try to resolve the difference. But Russia's announcement further cements the divide between rich and poor countries over the future of the agreement following a statement from Japan at the start of the talks that it too would not sign an extension of Kyoto. Japan reiterated its opposition on Thursday night, with negotiator Akira Yamada saying a renewal of Kyoto was "not an appropriate way or an effective way or a fair way to tackle climate change". Canada is also believed to oppose extending the Kyoto agreement. Russia's statement had been much anticipated. As Berditsky noted: "Russia has repeatedly stated, including at the highest political level, that the adoption of commitments for the second commitment period under the Kyoto protocol as it stands now would be neither scientifically, economically or politically effective." But the announcement so late in the talks risks overwhelming progress made elsewhere at Cancún on agreements to preserve tropical rainforests and on climate finance. Instead, ministers spent much of Thursday trying to devise a strategy for overcoming the divide over the future of Kyoto. Developing countries say Kyoto is essential as the only international agreement requiring industrialised countries to reduce their emissions. "A second commitment period is a must in the outcome," said Brazil's climate change negotiator, Luiz Figueiredo. But some developing countries have also admitted they were open to a fudge – deferring the question of Kyoto's future to next year's climate summit in South Africa. In addition, the EU climate commissioner, Connie Hedegaard, has also been circulating a proposal – backed by small island states – that would circumvent the issue of Kyoto. Even without the fight over Kyoto, the UN summit is facing all-night negotiating tonight to try to produce even modest areas of agreement. There were divisions over the ambition and governance of a green fund to help developing countries buy the technology they need to reduce their emissions and protect their people from rising seas and drought. There was also a stand-off between China and America on the sensitive issue of monitoring and verifying emissions reductions. | ['environment/cancun-climate-change-conference-2010', 'environment/kyoto-protocol', 'world/russia', 'world/world', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/mexico', 'world/unitednations', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'global-development/environmental-sustainability', 'environment/environment', 'global-development/global-development', 'tone/news', 'world/europe-news', 'type/article', 'profile/suzannegoldenberg'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2010-12-10T10:55:53Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
world/2005/sep/10/usa.hurricanekatrina | Hurricane Ophelia could hit Atlantic coast | Tropical Storm Ophelia strengthened into a hurricane again today as forecasters said that a landfall somewhere along the south-east Atlantic coast appeared more likely. Forecasters have urged residents from the Georgia-Florida border to the Carolinas to a keep close watch on Ophelia's path. A hurricane watch was issued from north of the Savannah River in South Carolina to Cape Lookout in North Carolina, meaning hurricane-force winds of at least 74 mph (119 kph) were possible by tomorrow evening. Louisiana and Mississippi, which are still recovering from Hurricane Katrina, are not in the storm's path. A hurricane hunter flying through Ophelia measured top sustained winds of 80 mph (129 kph). It could strengthen a bit before an expected Monday landfall, said Eric Blake, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center. "Almost every [computer] model indicates a United States landfall," he said. "It's time to make those preparations." At 11 am EDT (1500 GMT), Ophelia was centred about 220 miles (355 kilometres) east-south-east of Charleston, South Carolina, and about 255 miles (410 kilometres) south-south-west of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. It was moving north-east near 3 mph (5 kph), but was expected to head back toward the coast tomorrow. Ophelia seemed to be on a path that would spare Florida, which has been hit by two hurricanes this year and six in the past 13 months. Many residents have already stocked up on batteries, water and non-perishable food. George Curovic, the general manager of Manny's, said his restaurant drew big crowds through last year's season because it was one of few in the Flagler Beach area with power. This time it's different, he said. "Now they're getting away. I think they've seen too much damage, too much death," Curovic said. "All it takes is one tidal wave to wipe this place out." Even as it lingered offshore, Ophelia sent waves crashing onto beaches and stirred up strong wind gusts. Two other tropical storms, Nate and Maria, posed no threat to land as they weakened moving into cooler waters of the north Atlantic. The Atlantic hurricane season began on June 1 and ends on November 30. Peak storm activity typically occurs from the end of August through mid-September. | ['world/world', 'us-news/us-news', 'us-news/hurricane-katrina', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/hurricanes', 'type/article'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2005-09-10T16:03:17Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2023/nov/30/labour-vows-to-rewire-britain-as-pylon-plans-spark-row-in-tory-party | Labour vows to ‘rewire Britain’ as pylon plans spark row in Tory party | Labour is promising to “rewire Britain”, making its case to the UK’s rural communities that it will connect farmers and businesses to the National Grid at record-breaking speed. The pledge comes as Rishi Sunak faces a battle over electricity pylons with the trade secretary, Kemi Badenoch, and former ministers urging him to pull the plug on crucial grid infrastructure. At the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) conference on Thursday, Labour’s Steve Reed, the shadow environment secretary, will promise to get infrastructure – that is, pylons – built quickly to connect rural people to the grid. He will pledge to reduce the wait for farmers and landowners to plug their renewable energy into the grid “from years to months”. Labour sources said they were happy to fight on the issue after speaking to “so many farmers and landowners who are stuck in the grid queue for years”. Renewable energy companies have to wait up to a decade to connect to the electricity grid. Local farms and businesses are also stymied by the slow connection times, which are the lengthiest in Europe. But there are fears that a new Conservative party internal row about pylon plans will cause Sunak to go slow on his aim to speed up grid connectivity. A growing number of Tories have been raising concerns about pylons, among them the former home secretary Priti Patel, who asked in parliament this week why the National Grid could not be built in the sea. She demanded ministers “build an offshore grid” and “pull the plug on these awful pylons”. The energy minister, Andrew Bowie, responded that an offshore grid would be more expensive and result in higher bills for customers, but said he understood the frustration of her constituents. Patel is part of the Offshore Electricity Grid Task Force, a group of 14 MPs who are campaigning against pylons. Its members include Badenoch and the former environment secretary Thérèse Coffey. Badenoch called for ministers to explore an offshore grid instead of onshore pylons, and Coffey said: “While I understand, for energy security, the government commitment to provide 40 gigawatts of offshore wind electricity by 2030, I’ve consistently made it clear that it’s essential our precious landscapes and communities are protected by placing the infrastructure in the appropriate location.” She also asked for an offshore grid to be contemplated. National Grid said building the grid onshore was four times cheaper, and the Norwich to Tilbury pylon project, which will improve connections for many rural areas, would be more than £3bn more expensive if built offshore. Simon Cran-McGreehin, the head of analysis at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said an offshore grid without onshore pylons made no sense. He said: “The proposed grid investments already include coordinated undersea cables to connect up the UK’s vast offshore wind potential – but at some point those lines have to come onshore to reach customers, otherwise it’s like a ring-road without any routes into town.” Groups of angry constituents are also rallying against pylons. In September, hundreds of people protested in Suffolk over plans to speed up grid connections by building pylons. They complained that their area would be “destroyed” by the pylons and said renewable energy needed to be transported in a “green way”. Chris Venables, the deputy director of politics at the campaign group Green Alliance, said: “It should be a shared, cross-party national mission to secure our energy independence, and the route to this is through clean, cheap renewable power. Expensive fossil fuels have wreaked havoc on the economy and pushed up bills for millions, so rapidly building out the power grid to accommodate new clean energy is a top priority. “People have genuine concerns about democracy in the planning process, and communities must feel the benefit from the energy transition, but we cannot afford to slow down. It’s politicians’ job to broker the deals needed to move us forward, not grandstand with unworkable propositions. Until we move beyond the current impasse, millions of people will continue to face sky-high energy bills.” A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson said:“We’re driving forward the biggest reforms to our electricity grid since the 1950s – halving the time it takes to build networks, speeding up grid connections, supporting thousands of jobs and reducing bills in the long-term for families. “Households helping host crucial infrastructure could receive £1,000 off their electricity bills alongside benefits for their local community in recognition of their role in delivering cleaner and cheaper energy to homes and businesses.” | ['environment/renewableenergy', 'business/energy-industry', 'environment/environment', 'business/nationalgrid', 'business/utilities', 'business/business', 'environment/energy', 'politics/conservatives', 'politics/labour', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/helena-horton', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2023-11-30T05:00:39Z | true | ENERGY |
business/2010/jul/08/bp-fix-gulf-mexico-oil-leak | BP aims to fix leaking Gulf of Mexico oil well by 27 July | BP is working to fix the leaking oil well in the Gulf of Mexico by 27 July, weeks before its publicly stated deadline. The company is due to report second-quarter results that day. It hopes to provide more information on its liabilities from the oil spill to shareholders, as well as its initial findings on the causes of the disaster. BP had previously stated that it hopes to have a fix in place by mid-August. It wants to make progress by 20 July, the day David Cameron is visiting the White House, the Wall Street Journal reported. "In a perfect world with no interruptions, it's possible to be ready to stop the well between 20 July and 27 July," the head of BP's Gulf Coast restoration unit, managing director Bob Dudley, told the Journal. He added that this "perfect case" is threatened by the hurricane season and is "unlikely". BP is drilling two relief wells through which it will pump material designed to seal the blown-out well. Under intense pressure from the US government, the oil giant is preparing a number of backup plans in case its current efforts to contain the massive spill fail. These include connecting the well to pipelines in two nearby underwater gas and oil fields. Later today the oil drilling industry is set to go head-to-head with the Obama administration in court over a moratorium on deep-ocean well drilling in the wake of the worst environmental disaster in US history. The government wants to reinstate the ban after it was overturned by federal judge Martin Feldman in Louisiana on 22 June. Feldman ruled that the federal government's six-month blanket moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico was unjustified because it assumed that all deepwater drilling was as dangerous as BP's. | ['business/bp', 'environment/bp-oil-spill', 'business/oil', 'environment/oil', 'business/oilandgascompanies', 'environment/oil-spills', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/us-news', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/juliakollewe'] | environment/oil | ENERGY | 2010-07-08T07:25:43Z | true | ENERGY |
us-news/2019/may/30/topsoil-farming-agriculture-food-toxic-america | The world needs topsoil to grow 95% of its food – but it's rapidly disappearing | The world grows 95% of its food in the uppermost layer of soil, making topsoil one of the most important components of our food system. But thanks to conventional farming practices, nearly half of the most productive soil has disappeared in the world in the last 150 years, threatening crop yields and contributing to nutrient pollution, dead zones and erosion. In the US alone, soil on cropland is eroding 10 times faster than it can be replenished. If we continue to degrade the soil at the rate we are now, the world could run out of topsoil in about 60 years, according to Maria-Helena Semedo of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. Without topsoil, the earth’s ability to filter water, absorb carbon, and feed people plunges. Not only that, but the food we do grow will probably be lower in vital nutrients. The modern combination of intensive tilling, lack of cover crops, synthetic fertilizers and pesticide use has left farmland stripped of the nutrients, minerals and microbes that support healthy plant life. But some farmers are attempting to buck the trend and save their lands along with their livelihoods. “We never want to see our soil unless we go looking for it,” says Keith Berns, a Nebraska farmer whose land hasn’t seen a plow in three decades. He and his brother, Brian, began the practice of no-till on their 2,100-acre corn and soybean farm when they learned it could increase the carbon, nutrients and water available in the soil. Their farm is in a particularly dry area of the country, and keeping moisture on their land is a top priority. For every 1% increase of carbon, an acre of land can hold an additional 40,000 gallons of water. Once they stopped tilling, the Berns family saw organic matter in the soil increase, which can have the added benefit of making foods grown in the soil more nutritious. Organic matter, a section of soil that contains decomposing plant or animal tissue, serves as a reservoir of nutrients that microbes can feast upon while they provide nitrogen to growing plants and sequester carbon. The more organic matter, the more organisms the soil can support. “If you had a handful of soil, you’d have more organisms than people on earth,” says Rob Myers, a soil scientist at the University of Missouri. With increased organic matter, the Bernses grew more food using less water and fertilizer. In the 1990s, they began planting cover crops between harvests. The rye and buckwheat, among other cover crops, provided more organic matter to the soil, further feeding microorganisms like bacteria and fungi. The crops also kept nitrogen in the soil and reduced erosion. Amid growing concerns about topsoil loss, no-till and cover crops are becoming more popular, according to the 2017 US Census of Agriculture. Forty per cent of US cropland is grown on no-till farms, up from 32% in 2012. Though still not widely adopted, cover crops are becoming more popular with farmers, too, particularly in the country’s corn belt. Nationwide, farmers planted cover crops on 15m acres, a 50% increase from five years earlier. The Berns brothers saw this change first-hand. When they first decided to plant cover crops, they had trouble finding seeds. Seeing a hole in the market, they began their own cover crop seed company in 2009, putting together what farmers now call a cover crop cocktail to sow in the fall. In their first year, they sold enough seed to cover 2,000 acres. Last year, they sold enough to cover 850,000. The sense of urgency over topsoil is growing as the planet is projected to reach 9 billion people by 2050. Without a healthy farm system, farmers won’t be able to feed the world’s growing population, says Dave Montgomery, a geologist at the University of Washington and author of the book Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life. To see what can happen to civilizations that lost the topsoil they needed to grow food, look no further than Syria or Libya. Roman tax records show that those areas grew ample amounts of wheat, but as farmers continued to plow their fields, they exposed valuable microbes and topsoil eroded. Today those areas barely have any soil to grow crops. “Societies that lose their topsoil, their descendants pay the price,” Montgomery says. “Nature takes a long time to build soil.” By some estimates, it can take 500 years for healthy topsoil to develop and less than a century to degrade. The world is also facing a crisis in nutrition. A 2004 study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition compared nutrients in crops grown in 1950 to those grown in 1999 and found declines in protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamin B2 and vitamin C. The practice of farming one or two crops, like corn and soybeans, hastened soil degradation, according to Montgomery. Government policy encouraged US farmers to specialize, resulting in monocultures that require an increasing amount of water and fertilizer and pesticides. Practices, however, are changing, say Montgomery and Myers. “I think you are seeing a big movement, but it’s just getting rolling,” Montgomery says. Improving soil health pays dividends, but investment in topsoil may take years to show results. This is a challenge for farmers operating on tight margins, according to Montgomery, who says that the government could do more to help incentivize best practices. Berns suggests that farmers make these changes slowly, employing them on one patch of the farm at a time. In mid-Atlantic states like Maryland and Virginia, local governments have incentivized farmers with grants to plant cover crops, resulting in high adoption rates over the last 20 years. The stakes are high. If farmers in the US and around the world don’t continue to put a higher value on what nurtures their crops, we could be facing an unimaginable catastrophe, according to Myers: “We have to have that topsoil; it’s paramount to our survival.” | ['us-news/series/toxic-america', 'environment/farming', 'environment/soil', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'environment/environment', 'science/agriculture', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2019-05-30T05:51:45Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
news/2015/mar/30/weatherwatch-winter-express-headlines | David Hambling says take sensational weather headlines with a pinch of salt | “Winter 2014 is on track to be the coldest for more than a CENTURY,” shrieked the Daily Express last October. It quoted forecasters warning of snow and an Arctic freeze. The Guardian’s Peter Preston suggested checking back on 31 March, perhaps suspicious of how the Express repeats the same chilling headlines each year. Such headlines can cause real alarm. In 2013 the Met Office was moved to issue a denial that it was expecting a “three-month killer freeze” after newspapers reported its contingency plans. The Express’s predictions, like the wildly inaccurate one in 2011 suggesting that “Big Freeze will kill thousands”, come not from the Met Office but from independent forecasters. Such companies are unregulated and occasionally unscientific. In extreme cases, companies like Positive Weather Solutions have been caught citing forecasters who do not exist. The winter confounded their predictions. Bad weather was confined to fog and icy roads in December, storms and strong winds in January, and some snow in early February. The Met Office’s statistical summary shows that, across the UK, the average winter temperature was 0.2 degrees higher than usual for 1981-2010. There were 25% more hours of sunshine than usual, and slightly less than the usual 33.1 days of air frost. Rather than being the coldest for a century, it was the coldest winter since 2012-13. Sensational Express weather headlines sell newspapers. If you see them again next autumn, remember that they are merely a harmless seasonal phenomenon. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'tone/features', 'science/meteorology', 'environment/winter', 'world/snow', 'uk/met-office', 'media/express-newspapers', 'environment/autumn', 'type/article', 'profile/davidhambling', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2015-03-30T20:30:07Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
lifeandstyle/2020/oct/26/tree-of-the-week-they-say-this-oak-was-used-for-hangings | Tree of the week: ‘They say this oak was used for hangings’ | Since Ian Jenkins started as a support worker at the Martin Jackaman Centre, a social care centre for adults with disabilities in Aspley, Nottingham, he has been enraptured by the 30-metre (100ft)-high oak tree that overlooks it. “It definitely stands out,” he says. “It’s so tall and striking that it literally overshadows the centre.” However, not everyone who works at the Martin Jackaman feels quite so positive. “A branch fell off and hit a member of staff last year,” Jenkins says. “She wasn’t badly hurt, but she wanted to have the tree cut down. We said: ‘It’s over 200 years old – there’s no way you can do that!’” For Jenkins, 51, the tree is a source of enormous pride. “It helps you feel part of something bigger than yourself and serves as a reminder that the community will remain long after we’re gone.” It is also a link to the past. “In winter, when all the leaves have fallen off, it can look sinister, which has contributed to the spread of a dark rumour,” says Jenkins. It is said that public hangings used to take place on the site in the first half of the 19th century. At the time, a litany of crimes such as forgery, arson and highway robbery were punishable by death. “When we moved here we heard that the oak had been used as a ‘hanging tree’. The centre has only been here since 2013, so no one really knows how the rumour started.” True or not, Jenkins prefers to reflect on the oak’s joyous recent history. “When I think of the tree, I’m taken back to the day in 2012 when we held our own ‘Olympics’ in conjunction with three other day centres to coincide with the London Games. There were about 200 participants in events including foam javelin, boccia, running, wheelchair racing, archery, shot put and hoopla – and all of it took place in the shade of that wonderful oak tree.” • Tell us about your favourite tree by filling in this form. | ['lifeandstyle/series/tree-of-the-week', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'environment/forests', 'environment/environment', 'uk/nottingham', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/alex-mistlin', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-g2-features'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-10-26T07:00:16Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
politics/2022/apr/22/will-local-elections-put-the-brakes-on-low-traffic-neighbourhood-schemes | Will local elections put the brakes on low-traffic neighbourhood schemes? | Sadiea Mustafa-Awan, an Oxford solicitor, spent years as a Labour member, including a decade working for one of the party’s MPs. But on 5 May she will stand for election with the express intention of removing a Labour councillor. Why? It’s all about traffic. “I just felt that Labour are not listening to residents,” Mustafa-Awan says. “Someone needs to tell them to think again. That’s what I’m trying to do.” There will be many subplots in next month’s local elections, held in various forms across the UK, not least whether a bad Conservative result could spell trouble for Boris Johnson. But few will be as bitterly argued over as low-traffic neighbourhoods, or LTNs. Mustafa-Awan is standing as an independent in her home ward of Littlemore, a couple of miles south-east of Oxford’s centre, hoping to persuade the ruling Labour group to remove an LTN put in place a year ago. LTNs, which use either fixed obstacles such as planters and bollards, or cameras to limit through-traffic along smaller residential streets, with cyclists and pedestrians passing as normal, have been used intermittently in the UK for decades, and are widely seen in some other countries. But a more widespread rollout amid efforts to boost bike and pedestrian travel during Covid has prompted an anguished and sometimes bitter debate about their fairness and effectiveness, or otherwise, coupled with some complaints about a perceived lack of consultation. It will particularly be a local election issue in London, where a series of LTNs have sprung up, and in some cases been removed. But as well as Oxford, LTNs and associated rows over bike lanes are factors in places including Edinburgh, Birmingham and Bath. Mustafa-Awan argues that her LTN was installed with minimal consultation, is unpopular locally, and funnels vehicle traffic towards busy main roads while bus services remain poor and local cycle routes unsafe, making alternative transport choices tricky. The Liberal Democrat-Labour-Green Oxfordshire county council says it has made some changes after consultation, and a final decision on the scheme will come next year. Mustafa-Awan is standing for the city council, which is not responsible for the LTN. But she says if she succeeds in ousting a Labour city councillor it will put wider pressure on the party. “I’m not against all LTNs as a matter of principle,” she says. “I’m against the ones in Littlemore because I don’t believe they work for the residents.” The rise of such single-issue politics is notable for a series of reasons. The first is how it reflects wider dissatisfaction about dominant ruling groups, especially in inner London, where many councils are de facto one-party Labour states. Another is how, in the heat of a local election battle, national policy platforms can be jettisoned. All three main English parties notionally support efforts to boost cycling, while the LTN policy is led by Downing Street. But a significant number of Conservative candidates, plus quite a few Liberal Democrats and even some Labour groups are standing on anti-LTN platforms. Jordan Redshaw, a Tory activist and a member of the Conservative Friends of Cycling, has produced a guide for the party’s candidates explaining why they should support LTNs and cycle lanes, but concedes it is an uphill battle. “We have no complaints about the central policy, but at a local level there is a pretty big disconnect,” he says. “I’m not even sure that some Conservative councillors are aware of the government’s pro-cycling stance.” Finally, the debate demonstrates a long-known fact about local politics: whether LTNs, or earlier rows about bike lanes and parking zones, some voters take policies that affect their driving very, very personally. Tony Travers, professor of politics at LSE, recounts how a London council held an ambitious, months-long consultation on the future of the borough and was delighted to get 2,200 responses. He adds: “Just afterwards there was a minor change to the parking rules in one area. It produced 3,500 public contacts, unsolicited.” Travers explains: “There’s this embedded issue, connected to traffic engineers and many councillors, who believe in getting away from cars and congestion and pollution. “They want cycling and pedestrians given priority. And people say, yes, of course we do want all this, but we don’t want it to affect our capacity to get about. It’s a perfectly respectable position to hold in a democracy. Politicians volunteer to square off these conflicts. That’s what they are there for.” It can, nonetheless, be an uncomfortable experience for some councillors, not least in gauging how unpopular, or not, an LTN scheme might be. “A lot of the debate about LTNs gets amplified by social media, meaning the siren voices go a long way,” said one north London councillor whose borough has introduced such schemes. “All this means it can be hard to know what people believe, unless you actually ask them. I was canvassing the other day inside an LTN, and a woman told me: ‘I assume I’m in a minority, but I actually like it.’ The people in the next five houses then said the same thing.” Some proof will come on 5 May, albeit with caveats. An independent like Mustafa-Awan has an inbuilt campaigning disadvantage battling an incumbent councillor from a big party. She is nonetheless bullish about her chances of removing the sitting Labour councillor: “This is a car-dependent area, and effectively we are cut off from the rest of the city. We need to send a message.” | ['politics/local-elections', 'world/road-safety', 'society/localgovernment', 'politics/localgovernment', 'politics/politics', 'society/society', 'uk/uk', 'politics/labour', 'politics/conservatives', 'uk/transport', 'lifeandstyle/cycling', 'politics/transport', 'environment/air-pollution', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'politics/local-elections-2022', 'uk-news/low-traffic-neighbourhoods', 'profile/peterwalker', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2022-04-22T06:00:17Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
world/2022/oct/14/east-antarctic-glacier-melting-at-708bn-tonnes-a-year-due-to-warm-sea-water | East Antarctic glacier melting at 70.8bn tonnes a year due to warm sea water | The Denman ice shelf in east Antarctica is melting at a rate of 70.8bn tonnes a year, according to researchers from Australia’s national science agency, thanks to the ingress of warm sea water. The CSIRO researchers, led by senior scientist Esmee van Wijk, said their observations suggested the Denman glacier was potentially at risk of unstable retreat. The glacier, in remote east Antarctica, sits atop the deepest land canyon on Earth. It holds a volume of ice equivalent to 1.5m of sea level rise. Until relatively recently, it was thought east Antarctica would not experience the same rapid ice loss that is occurring in the west. But some recent studies have shown warm water is reaching that part of the continent too. The Australian scientists used profiling float measurements to show how much warm water was reaching the deep trough that extends beneath the glacier. They had been intending to study another glacier – the Totten – but when the float drifted away it approached the Denman. The float collected observations every five days over four months from December 2020. From that data, the scientists made the estimate of how quickly warm water was causing the ice shelf – the front part of the glacier that floats in the ocean – to melt. Melting of the floating part of the glacier does not add to sea level rise. But Stephen Rintoul, a CSIRO fellow and one of the paper’s authors, said as the ice shelf became thinner or weaker it provided less resistance to the flow of ice from Antarctica into the ocean. “It’s the ice that flows from Antarctica to the ocean that raises sea level,” he said. Rintoul said the retrograde slope beneath the Denman made it potentially unstable and at risk of irreversible retreat. He said the data – the first using measurements taken from the ocean – contributed to a growing body of scientific work suggesting east Antarctica “is likely to contribute more to sea level rise than we thought”. “One of the take-home messages is when we’re looking at how much sea level is going to rise into the future, we do need to take east Antarctica into account, as well as west Antarctica,” he said. The scientists calculated only the amount of mass the ice shelf was losing each year. It did not include any mass added to the glacier by snowfall. Other recent research found that with snowfall factored in, the Denman had still lost about 268bn tonnes of ice – about 7bn tonnes a year – between 1979 and 2017. Rintoul said the researchers hoped to collect further data using Australia’s new icebreaker, RSV Nuyina, on a trip planned for early 2025. Sue Cook, an ice shelf glaciologist at the University of Tasmania, said until relatively recently east Antarctica was not considered likely to experience rapid ice loss because the water in that region was mainly cold. “But recently we’ve realised that in some locations relatively warm water can reach the east Antarctic ice sheet and this paper confirms that one of those locations is the Denman glacier,” Cook said. She said the Denman glacier would be a research focus for the Australian Antarctic program in coming years, which would increase scientific knowledge about the region. “The Denman glacier is in a very remote region of east Antarctica, which has historically been hard to access, so it’s fantastic to see direct observations coming out of this region,” Cook said. “They can tell us a huge amount about the current state of the ice sheet and how it might be changing.” | ['world/antarctica', 'environment/sea-level', 'environment/poles', 'environment/ice', 'environment/glaciers', 'australia-news/csiro', 'environment/oceans', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/lisa-cox', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/poles | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2022-10-14T07:37:01Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
weather/2009/jan/15/weatherwatch-saunton-sands | Weatherwatch: 15 January 2009 | Saunton Sands near Barnstaple in north Devon has magnificent expanses of sand backed by Braunton Burrows, an international nature reserve of shifting sand dunes. On 3 August 1990, it scored one of the UK's highest recorded temperatures, 35.4C, and sometimes sees remarkably warm winter temperatures as well. The south-west of England often catches mild winds from the sub-tropics or sweeping off the Gulf Stream. Saunton Sands is sheltered by a horseshoe array of hills: Exmoor, Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor, and as wet winds drop their rains over these uplands they sweep down to the coast as dry, warm air with clear skies. This balmy climate may have helped to establish one of the most alarming alien pests recorded in Britain. In 1996 a colony of termites was discovered at a bungalow on a southwest-facing slope close to the coast, where frost is rarely seen. The termites were a particular species more often found in southern Europe and North Africa, and possibly arrived in Saunton in a pot plant brought back from the Canaries. The house was treated with insecticides but the termites proved stubborn and returned. The infestation has set alarm bells ringing, as termites are one of the world's most destructive insect pests and notoriously difficult to eradicate. If they can survive in the balmy microclimate of Saunton there are fears they may eventually spread out, although there is no sign of any expansion yet. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'uk/weather', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/jeremy-plester', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2009-01-15T00:01:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2021/oct/22/as-we-aim-for-net-zero-our-love-of-buying-is-the-stuff-of-nightmares | As we aim for net zero, our love of buying is the stuff of nightmares | Letters | Adrian Chiles rightly highlights the problem with stuff addiction and the advertising industry being complicit in this (We need to stop buying stuff – and I know just the people to persuade us, 20 October). His article is really another version of the concept of “de-growth”. This means relinquishing the fixation on GDP expansion and concentrating on producing better-quality, affordable items designed to last a lifetime, while repurposing, repairing and recycling everything else. This requires a radical restructuring of our economy rather than “greening up” the economy we currently operate. Dr David Dixon Catford, London • As Adrian Chiles recognises, “Stop buying stuff” will never catch on as an ad campaign. All lifeforms prosper by consuming available resources, but in human consciousness this all too often translates as “happiness equals more stuff”. We will be waiting forever for the behavioural changes needed to achieve net zero; technology and economic tools are our only hope. John Rieuwerts Yelverton, Devon • Bravo, Adrian. I have cleared out all the stuff that I know I will never use again. It’s gone to the charity shop, where at least it will benefit someone less fortunate than me. Linda Karlsen Whitstable, Kent • Reading Adrian Chiles’ article, my mind jumped to clearing out my grandmother’s house in 1970. She was 85 when she died and her stuff consisted of a few clothes, stored in a chest of drawers that was a wedding gift in 1912, a teapot and the remains of a 50-year-old dinner service. At 15, the realisation that you could live a perfectly good life without stuff was great preparation for the next 50 years. The challenge for me has been living with other people’s stuff! Lorraine Croxford Dunstable, Bedfordshire • Adrian Chiles refers to frequent updating of kitchens, a habit many people seem to have got into these days due to “must have” advertising. My kitchen was put in when we moved into our house 43 years ago and I’m still happy with it. Even the work surfaces are nearly as good as new; they don’t make worktops like that any more. Diane Woodley Westgate-on-Sea, Kent • Adrian Chiles might like George Carlin’s very funny diatribe on “stuff”, which is on YouTube. Maybe it is time we took it seriously? Anne Knowles Nebo, Ceredigion • 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/ethical-living', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'money/homeimprovements', 'environment/recycling', 'money/money', 'environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/letters', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-10-22T16:51:23Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2016/dec/02/two-thirds-of-australians-think-reef-crisis-is-national-emergency-poll | Two-thirds of Australians think reef crisis is 'national emergency' – poll | More than two-thirds of Australians think the condition of the Great Barrier Reef should be declared a “national emergency” and support much stronger measures to protect it than are now being considered. On Thursday the government released its report on the reef to Unesco, which was a condition of the reef being excluded from the UN body’s “world heritage in-danger” list. The government reported slow progress on the key issue of water quality and the failure of a major plank in the plan – slowing tree clearing in Queensland. An Essential Research poll of more than 1,000 people found 68% of people agreed that the reef should be declared a “national emergency”. Commissioned by WWF and the Australian Marine Conservation Society, it also found three-quarters of people agreed that the government should ban all tree clearing in Great Barrier Reef catchment areas. A full 86% of respondents said the government should legislate to stop farm chemicals polluting the waters of the reef. Respondents were also very concerned about the impact of Adani’s huge Carmichael coalmine on the natural wonder. More than three-quarters of respondents said the mine and its associated port expansion would have an impact on the reef, with 46% saying it would have a “major impact”. Only 4% said they thought it would have no impact. More than two-thirds of respondents said the mine should not go ahead. Imogen Zethoven, the AMCS Great Barrier Reef campaign director, said despite the Australian government’s assurances to the Unesco’s world heritage centre, the community believed far more must be done. “The message from the Australian community is that leaders of all major political parties should commit to major improvements in reef protection, including not allowing the Carmichael coalmine to go ahead,” Zethoven said. “Australians are way ahead of their governments in recognising the threat to the reef and tourism jobs, and demanding strong, urgent action. The health of the reef is in crisis, requiring a national response and leadership from the federal government. “It’s time for our leaders to recognise that they can’t have a massive new coalmine and a healthy reef. Australians don’t want carbon pollution. They want a healthy reef and economic opportunities to rapidly transition to clean, renewable energy.” | ['environment/great-barrier-reef', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'world/unesco', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/michael-slezak', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/great-barrier-reef | BIODIVERSITY | 2016-12-01T19:00:15Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2003/sep/20/guardianleaders.naturaldisasters | Leader: Working up a storm | Hurricane Isabel was undoubtedly a nasty business. It left thousands on the United States eastern seaboard without electricity, took the roofs of a lot of homes, flooded some coastal areas and uprooted many trees. And at least 17 deaths have been attributed to it. Yet without wishing to belittle Isabel, one does have to ask whether we in this country - and even Americans themselves - do not overreact to US weather dramas. America can certainly have dangerous weather. But so can other parts of the planet. Along the Bay of Bengal, this year's monsoons have killed more than a thousand people. Half a million people in north-west Bangladesh are currently stranded in their flooded homes. They have received a fraction of the attention lavished on Isabel. It is one thing for Americans to work themselves up about a local weather drama (though even in the US, questions about the extent of the frenzy deserve to be asked). But it is another thing for us to do the same. British broadcasters have given far more time and prominence to Isabel than it deserved. It would do us all good if the obsession was downgraded, just as the hurricane itself has now been. | ['environment/environment', 'tone/editorials', 'world/natural-disasters', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/hurricanes', 'type/article'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2003-09-20T01:42:48Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
media/pda/2008/may/16/guardianviralvideochart66 | Guardian Viral Video Chart | Is Senator Barack Hussein Obama the great hope for America's future, or just its greatest motivational speaker. The goody-goody image of the senator from Illinois comes slightly unstuck this week when he was caught on camera calling a pesky female TV report the distinctly un-PC moniker "sweetie". Peggy Yaeger of Channel Seven Action News had been asking him about job security for local auto workers when she got the Obama brush off. "This sweetie never did get an answer to that question" Yaeger reported to viewers. What did she expect, with a name like Peggy? It is the first of several Obama vids this week, included a starring role in The Empire Strikes Barack and what I guess we would have to call an incident where the politician "mis-speaks" the number of US states. Elsewhere on the world wide web, the Flight of the Conchords whimsy on men rollerskating is about the best of it. Guardian Viral Video chart: compiled by viralvideochart.com. 1 MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU Stop motion animation with graffiti-strewn walls giving life to humanoid characters. Life in the urban wasteland. 2 Sweetie How retro. Barack Obama calls a difficult female TV reporter "sweetie". 3 Apple Mac Music Video Sweet song, but this video clip, which seems to have been created entirely on a Mac, is unlikely to reach heavy rotation status on MTV. 4 Vicky Cristina Barcelona Trailer Spanish hotties of both sexes kiss, smoke and shoot at each other in the trailer for the upcoming flick. 5 NERD - Everybody Nose [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO] Every wondered what women get up to in the ladies loo at nightclubs? Click here to find out. 6 TechCrunch's Demo of Microsoft TouchWall The Touchwall allows you to "view content organically". Be careful what you wish for. 7 The Trinity of Hell This guy has got it in for Oprah, Obama and Rev Jeremiah Wright. Curious staccato delivery style belies highly defamatory content. 8 Flight of the Conchords - Ladies of the World The Conchords amuse themselves and us with their musings on the sexual allure of men rollerskating. 9 Blues Darth Vader The mighty Darth Vader death scene, with a little harmonica augmentation 10 The Incredible Hulk - Trailer #3 But are we going to care about the Hulk? Not with that amount of CGI. 11 John Edwards Endorses Barack Obama A late jump on the bandwagon. Is he hoping to be V-P? 12 Windows 7 Features, Screenshots, Demo Crushingly dull demonstration of how Windows 7 works. Yup. that's it. 13 Bill O'Reilly Flips Out O'Reilly shows his true colours... swears on TV.. always knew he was a nasty piece of work. 14 Sexy Subaru Forester Sumo Carwash Amusing advert showing a group of sumos washing a car. But I have to query sexy. 15 THE EMPIRE STRIKES BARACK This is brilliant...with Hillary as Darth Vader! 16 Suge Knight Gets Knocked the F@#$ Out! Does what it says on the tin. 17 Guys Backflip into Jeans An oldie but a goodie that seems to solve the great boxers vs briefs debate. 18 Nike: Take It To the NEXT LEVEL (Full Length) Football advert filmed entirely from a player's point of view. This is skill. 19 NO NEWS Our very own BBC and ITV on the great no news crisis. 20 Obama Claims He's Visited 57 States Obama gaffes again! Can't count the number of US states. Clearly unpatriotic. Source: Viral Video Chart. Compiled from data gathered at 16:30 on May 15 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', 'media/media', 'technology/digitalvideo', 'technology/internet', 'technology/technology', 'tone/blog', 'media/media-blog', 'type/article', 'profile/stephenbrook'] | technology/digitalvideo | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2008-05-16T06:00:28Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2017/oct/06/eu-rules-out-tax-on-plastic-products-to-reduce-waste | EU rules out tax on plastic products to reduce waste | The EU has ruled out penalties on single-use plastic products, in favour of raising public awareness of the damage consumer plastics are doing to the world’s oceans. Frans Timmermans, vice president of the European commission, said a tax would “not be sustainable”, but that changing the way plastic was produced and used could work. “The only sustainable method is to create recyclable plastic and take out microplastics. You can’t take out microplastics with a tax. You need to make sure things are reused, and not put in the ocean.” He said the commission was working with manufacturers to help change their products and packaging. Karmenu Vella, environment commissioner, also pledged that the EU’s long-awaited plastics strategy would be published by the end of the year. The European commission cannot raise taxes directly, but can encourage member states to do so, and can impose other penalties, as with the emissions trading scheme to reduce carbon from heavy industry. Timmermans rejected outright charges and taxes on single-use plastic, and was reluctant to consider legislative measures, but called instead for public information campaigns on the problems plastics cause. “It is not that we, through legislation, should force [producers of plastic to change], though if we have to we might, but through public awareness, to urge countries to raise awareness,” he said. “Nothing disciplines companies more than consumer practices. We are on the verge of changing consumer habits. I sense a turning point, like that we saw 10 to 15 years ago on climate change,” he told journalists at the Our Ocean conference in Malta. “That was what happened with recycling. Who made us recycle? Our kids. I don’t think there is one producer of consumer goods that would go against the grain of public awareness.” At present, only about 6% of plastic waste is recycled within the EU. In part, this is because of the many different forms of plastic that are used in consumer goods, and the difficulty of returning them to the kind of versatility that virgin plastics enjoy. But Timmermans said consumers would accept “less flashy” and less aesthetically pleasing packaging, if they understood it would help remove pollution from the oceans. Vella added that companies should design plastic products with reuse in mind from the outset: “The circular economy is the most effective way to deal with plastics.” He promised that the forthcoming plastics strategy would include design, recycling, biodegradable plastics, single-use plastics and microplastics. The commission is also to remove single-use plastics, including drinking vessels, from its own offices by the end of this year. The commission is to devote €550m (£490m) to projects that improve the health of the oceans, from marine protection zones and satellite monitoring, to plastic waste disposal. At the conference, more than €6bn was pledged in total by governments, institutions and private sector companies towards efforts to combat overfishing, pollution, plastic waste, ocean acidification and other threats to the marine environment. This included a pledge of $150m (£115m) from a group of NGOs and companies to prevent plastic waste reaching oceans in south-east Asia. Five countries – China, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand – are responsible for half of all the plastic waste that enters the oceans globally each year. In those countries, on average less than 40% of plastic waste is recycled. The organisations include PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, 3M, the American Chemistry Council, the World Plastics Council and Ocean Conservancy. Insurers are also taking action against illegal fishing, with several of the world’s biggest companies pledging to stop insuring vessels that have been pirate fishing. Illegal fishing costs the world an estimated $10bn to $23bn a year, amounting to about 25m tonnes of fish that are taken from waters against quotas, or in contravention of national fisheries rights and policies. The insurers include Allianz, Axa, Generali, Hanseatic Underwriters, and The Shipowners’ Club. However, the environment lawyers ClientEarth said laws against illegal fishing in the EU were being undermined by failures among member states. Analysing the enforcement system in six of the EU’s biggest fishing countries – France, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, Ireland and the UK – the lawyers found none were properly implementing the anti-piracy regulations of the Common Fisheries Policy, and the level of sanctions against offenders was low. Elisabeth Druel, lawyer at ClientEarth, said authorities were doing little to combat illegal fishing. “Strong and systematic sanctions are needed to deter illegal fishing and pay for the damage done to our marine environment. The fishing industry would have us believe they are heavily inspected and sanctioned, but our research shows that is just not the case.” This article was amended on 27 October 2017. Oceana was named as one of the organisations involved in the $150m plastic pledge; this should have been Ocean Conservancy. | ['environment/plastic', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'world/eu', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-10-06T13:53:51Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2020/feb/28/greta-thunberg-bristol-schools-shut-students-join-climate-strike | Greta Thunberg in Bristol: schools shut as students join climate strike | Tens of thousands of people, many of them children skipping school, braved heavy rain to join a climate strike headed by Greta Thunberg in Bristol city centre. The vast crowd fell silent as the 17-year-old activist told them governments were acting like children and so it fell to young people to be “the adults in the room”. Police said there were more than 15,000 people at the Bristol Youth Strike 4 Climate event, while Thunberg estimated the figure as at least 30,000. As Thunberg spoke, onlookers clambered on to bus shelters and up trees and hung out of windows to catch a glimpse. Criticising governments and the media, she said: “Once again they sweep their mess under the rug for us – young people, their children – to clean up for them. We must continue and we have to be patient. Remember that the changes required will not happen overnight.” Thunberg arrived in Bristol by train and was driven to the climate strike in a red Nissan Leaf electric car. Wearing a yellow raincoat and woolly hat – a look copied by some of her devotees – she took to the stage to chants of “Greta, Greta” from schoolchildren and teenagers. She told them: “We will not be silenced because we are the change, and change is coming whether you like it or not. This emergency is being completely ignored by the politicians, the media and those in power. “Basically, nothing is being done to halt this crisis despite all the beautiful words and promises from our elected officials. So what did you do during this crucial time? I will not be silenced when the world is on fire.” Thunberg flagged up the recent decision by north Somerset council to oppose Bristol airport expansion as an example of what could be achieved if activists worked together. The Swedish teenager went on to join protesters on a march through the city centre accompanied by a samba band. She waved at well-wishers and at one point consoled a child who was clearly overwhelmed by the experience. Avon and Somerset police had warned of the potential for protesters to be hurt and urged parents not to allow children to go unaccompanied. Bristol Cathedral, which sits on College Green, was ready to open its doors to anyone needing refuge but the organisers insisted they had put enough measures in place to make sure nobody was hurt. The poor weather did not dampen enthusiasm. Alison Thomson, who brought along her 10-year-old daughter, Emily, said: “I thought she might be a bit young but she said this would be her only chance to see [Thunberg] speak so I agreed.” Emily said: “I think it’s really important that people understand what is happening to the Earth.” She was returning to school after the event to give a presentation on climate change. Isaac and Maya Swann, 11 and 15, had persuaded their mother, Karen Davies, to bring them along. Maya said: “We want to help make a change. Greta’s really brave and inspirational, giving up part of her childhood to spread this message. It was cold and wet but it is was worth it. It was exciting to see how many people care.” Davies said: “I was against them taking time off school but last night they came to me and said they felt if I was their age I would be there. They were right. I’d be in the thick of it. I sent an email to the school and they were supportive. I think many schools see it as educational. It was a lovely experience … It’s good to see that so many people can be inspired by one girl.” Hannah Burge, 12, and Harvey Hennessy, 16, have organised school strikes in Barnstaple, north Devon. Their biggest turnout has been 850. “It’s been amazing seeing so many people here,” said Hannah. “Greta is such a role model for us.” Mya-Rose Craig, 17, an ornithologist who recently became the youngest person in the UK to be awarded an honorary doctorate, said: “It’s so cool to see so many thousands of young people here ready to fight for our future.” Ed Thompson, a housemaster at Clifton college, took overseas boarders aged 11-13 and the school’s “green team” to the event. He said: “We have discussed Greta’s influence in school, and she is a true icon to all ages for her passion, determination, tenacity and likability. The word ‘inspiration’ is too often used, but she is a guiding light to the next generation for peaceful but powerful activism, and encouraging love and care for our environment, which is such a strong message for young people.” The crowd was swollen by many students who were missing lectures, tutorials and lab sessions. But it was not just young people who attended. There were groups of doctors, nurses and even a collective of wildlife film-makers. One moment of tension came when police equipped with video cameras moved through the crowd pointing their lenses at strikers, including a group from the Public and Commercial Services Union. Some employers had turned a blind eye to workers taking time to attend. Good Energy, a green energy company from Chippenham in Wiltshire, went further by actively telling its 250-strong workforce to join the strike. The mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees, tweeted: | ['environment/greta-thunberg', 'uk/bristol', 'environment/school-climate-strikes', 'environment/activism', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/protest', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/stevenmorris', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/school-climate-strikes | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2020-02-28T13:53:55Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
environment/2021/jul/02/study-suggests-bacteria-in-cows-stomach-can-break-down-plastic | Study suggests bacteria in cow’s stomach can break down plastic | Bacteria found in one of the compartments of a cow’s stomach can break down plastic, research suggests. Since the 1950s, more than 8bn tonnes of plastic have been produced – equivalent in weight to 1 billion elephants – driven predominantly by packaging, single-use containers, wrapping and bottles. As a result, plastic pollution is all-pervasive, in the water and in the air, with people unwittingly consuming and breathing microplastic particles. In recent years, researchers have been working on harnessing the ability of tiny microscopic bugs to break down the stubborn material. There are existing microbes that are able to degrade natural polyester, found for example in the peels of tomatoes or apples. Given that cow diets contain these natural polyesters, scientists suspected the bovine stomach would contain a cornucopia of microbes to degrade all the plant material. To test that theory, Dr Doris Ribitsch, of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna, and her colleagues procured liquid from the rumen, a compartment of a cow’s stomach, from a slaughterhouse in Austria. One cow typically produces a rumen volume of about 100 litres, noted Ribitsch. “You can imagine the huge amount of rumen liquid accumulating in slaughterhouses every day – and it’s only waste.” That liquid was incubated with the three types of polyesters – PET (a synthetic polymer commonly used in textiles and packaging); PBAT (biodegradable plastic often used in compostable plastic bags); and PEF (a biobased material made from renewable resources). Each plastic was tested in both film and powder form. The results showed all three plastics could be broken down by the micro-organisms from cow stomachs in the lab setting, with the plastic powders breaking down quicker than plastic film. The next steps, she said, were to identify those microbes crucial to plastic degradation from the thousands present in the rumen, and then the enzymes produced by them. Once the enzymes have been identified, they can be produced and applied in recycling plants. For now, plastic waste is mostly burned. To a lesser extent, it is melted for use in other products, but beyond a point it becomes damaged and can no longer be used again. Another method is chemical recycling – turning plastic waste back into base chemicals – but that is not an environmentally friendly process. Using enzymes is billed as a form of green chemical recycling. Other researchers are further along in their quest to developing and scaling such enzymes. In September a super-enzyme was engineered by linking two separate enzymes, both of which were found in the plastic-eating bug discovered at a Japanese waste site in 2016. The researchers revealed an engineered version of the first enzyme in 2018, which started breaking down the plastic in a few days. But the super-enzyme gets to work six times faster. Earlier in April, the French company Carbios revealed a different enzyme, originally discovered in a compost heap of leaves, that degrades 90% of plastic bottles within 10 hours. In the rumen liquid, it appears there is not just one type of enzyme present, but rather different enzymes working together to achieve degradation, the authors suggested in the journal Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology. Carbios was working on scaling up its technology, noted Ribitsch. “But of course, it’s always good to have even better enzymes that are maybe recycling other polymers, not only PET, for example … so it can be seen as a general recycling material.” | ['environment/plastic', 'environment/environment', 'science/science', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/waste', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/natalie-grover', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-07-02T09:14:48Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2008/apr/09/deforestation-burma | Burma's disappearing teak forests | I live with my family in Hsipaw, home of the heart of the Shan State, the largest in Burma; it borders Thailand, Laos and China. We have an uncomplicated existence: we grow our own food, have sporadic electricity, and our water comes from the river. The river runs by the back of my house. In days gone by it was a source of wealth: the clean water flowed past, supplying the local population, sometimes carrying flecks of gold. Many people would spend their days panning, collecting small particles of gold until enough was gathered to trade for other goods. It was a tough life at times, but we were always sustained by the land. The river has long since given up its mineral wealth, but it's still an important meeting place. Alongside the waters, in a quiet spot behind an ancient bodhi tree, sits an old prayer house. It's made entirely from teak – it's a beautiful structure. Teak is our traditional building material; it's a locally sourced timber, strong and long-lasting. Of all the world's teak, 70% comes from Burma. But today, for the average man wanting to repair his house, teak is surprisingly difficult to find and harder still to afford. Prepared teak lasts for three generations, but in the case of this prayer house that interval has passed; the beams have reached the end of their natural life. You can tell by listening. Teak has a distinctive acoustic nature, but once the life has drained from it the sound becomes flat and dull. Hsipaw, along with areas of Burma like Mawkmai and Namlan, was once known for its teak forests. Sadly this is no longer the case. It takes 100 years for teak to mature into timber, and many of the mature forests are no more. Burma still has teak, but in all but the most inaccessible regions much has been sold. Logging has provided valuable funds for the military forces, serving to support their regime while at the same time exploiting the foundations of the land. Harvested sensibly there would be ample to share, but this is not happening. Deforestation and all its associated ills are beginning to have their effect on the land; nutrient depletion and subsidence are phenomena that we are not used to encountering on such a scale. There are international embargos against the sale of Burmese teak, but once it crosses the borders it is reclassified as non-Burmese. The sanctions do little, and although smuggling a tree sounds no easy feat, our neighbouring countries do little to enforce the embargos. There are rivers across the border to Thailand and China, and one boat can carry 34 tonnes. Despite this, Burma is not an impoverished nation. It's possible for its people to be easily sustained by the natural resources of the land. As well as teak in the north, there is oil in the south; jade, sapphires and 90% of the world's rubies also come from Burma. So we are blessed with the same curse that befalls many developing nations – mineral wealth that creates an ulterior motive for power. Resources in the soil of Burma have provided a financial backbone to the SPDC [State Peace and Development Council, the body of 12 military generals that rules the country]. Surrounding nations turn a blind eye for the sake of regional stability and financial gain. Until the political will exists to address these issues, the land that has provided us for centuries may not be able to support us for much longer. • U Tin Naing, whose name has been changed, was talking to Pete Browne | ['environment/deforestation', 'environment/environment', 'world/series/first-person', 'world/south-and-central-asia', 'world/myanmar', 'type/article'] | environment/deforestation | BIODIVERSITY | 2008-04-09T08:00:00Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/blog/2009/apr/02/g20-climate-camp-protest-london-police-bishopsgate | G20: Climate Camp protest ends with batons and butties | All day long yesterday, the contrast between the two protests taking place in the City of London could not have been greater. Around the Bank of England where protesters were kettled by police the atmosphere was febrile, silent except for the clatter of the helicopters and the occasional rising chant: "Whose street? Our street!" A few hundred feet down the road in Bishopsgate, however, it was a different story altogether, with music, drumming, dancing and face-painting. Climate Camp, having taken possession of this stretch of London road, proceeded to turn it into a mini-Glastonbury, complete with queues for the toilet and tent cities. Which made it all the more shocking when, at 7.10pm, with no warning whatsoever, helmeted riot police suddenly marched towards the crowd and closed off the street. Clamping together both ends of the protest simultaneously, they trapped several thousand people in the area, and used their batons in several places. "Why are they doing this?" said one of the Climate Camp legal observers who, like me, had ended up by chance on the outside of the kettle. "It's been completely peaceful all day long, there's no need for this at all." In the scuffles that followed the police action at the Bank of England end where we stood, one policewoman was felled and had to be taken off for medical attention, while we witnessed several protesters being hit and kicked by police holding the line together. The police slowly moved those outside the line back – using the same technique they had used by the Bank of England of kettling the central group and building up a large gap between them and any other protesters nearby. Around 8 o'clock one protester, Dave from South Africa, stumbled towards the group: he'd attempted to sneak round police lines and had, he said, been forced face down into the ground, and had his wrists bent as far forwards as they would go. In a clear state of shock he said: "The police told me that I was lucky they weren't breaking my wrists, that I would feel this for three days." On the left side of his face was a bleeding gash from contact with the road. The police had initially indicated that they would start to let people out after a couple of hours, but as the night wore on there was no sign of that beginning, and no information from the police. Observers were increasingly worried about protesters with small children, and the growing cold. But inside the kettle the mood was, apparently, not too bad. The Bicycology group carried on playing music, there was a bit of performance poetry, and more dancing. "About 11pm," said one protester, Jenny Hill. "I started making a sandwich for a friend after the central kitchen had closed, and then discovered stashes of bread and peanut butter and jam, and ended up making about two hundred." When the police finally began letting people out, at about 11.30pm, she was relieved to go home, but like other protesters could not understand the way police dealt with them. Another protester recounts the way that police at the end forced them out without giving them time to get their tents or belongings, after holding them there for five hours. "It was all done in a mood of violence," she said. "It had been really peaceful all day, so I don't understand why it had to end like that." So it was a long day with a fairly miserable ending. The legality of the kettle is under scrutiny, and Climate Camp are still going through the process of finding out if there were arrests. It was never going to be a beautiful sunset, but most people believe it could have ended very, very differently. What do you think? | ['environment/climate-camp', 'environment/blog', 'environment/activism', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/g20', 'tone/blog', 'type/article', 'profile/bibivanderzee'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2009-04-02T11:00:35Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
business/2021/may/05/ikea-uk-to-buy-back-unwanted-furniture-in-recycling-push | Ikea UK to buy back unwanted furniture in recycling push | The UK’s biggest furniture retailer, Ikea, will launch a scheme to buy back unwanted furniture from customers to resell as part of the Swedish group’s efforts to reduce its impact on the environment. The group has pledged to shift towards a circular model of consumption where items it sells can be reused, recycled or rejigged rather than dumped. Sideboards, bookcases, shelving, small tables, dining tables, office drawers, desks, chairs and stools without upholstery, all previously bought from Ikea, can be taken back after customers register a request online. Customers won’t need to scramble for their screwdrivers – the recycled items will all be sold ready assembled. Shoppers returning items will receive a refund card worth up to 50% of their original value to spend in store, with the value calculated according to the condition of the items returned. The used furniture will then be sold in special areas in Ikea stores and via Gumtree, the online marketplace. Hege Sæbjørnsen, sustainability manager of Ikea UK & Ireland, said there was demand from shoppers in reuse as buying secondhand goes mainstream. “All retailers have to take this movement seriously. We have to remain relevant. Companies that don’t really follow this and work with customers and the movement will find themselves not providing the services or needs that customers are asking for. It is also the right thing to do,” she said. “We are supporting a healthy sustainable lifestyle, working together to move away from the linear model [in which used items are thrown away].” A rising interest in buying secondhand has recently seen Asda begin selling preloved clothing in 50 of its supermarkets and the likes of Asos, Selfridges and John Lewis selling vintage items. Music Magpie, the online specialist which trades in used phones CDs, books and DVDs, recently launched on the London stock exchange. Ikea’s nationwide UK scheme, delayed from a planned November launch by the coronavirus lockdowns, has been tested in Australia and Portugal as well as stores in Scotland where 10,000 items were brought back in just under a month in the autumn. Some children’s products will also qualify for the scheme with those selling items being given the option to fill in a “pre-loved label” giving details about the item’s past. Peter Jelkeby, retail manager for Ikea UK & Ireland, said: “Through buyback we hope to make circular consumption mainstream; making it easier for customers to acquire, care for and pass on products in circular ways. “As we move towards our goal of becoming fully circular and climate positive by 2030 we will continue to take bold steps ensuring that, by then, all products will be made from renewable, recyclable and/or recycled materials; and they will be designed to be re-used, refurbished, re-manufactured or recycled, following circular design principles.” He said that about 60% of global greenhouse gas emissions were connected to homes and so small actions taken could make a difference. “As one of the biggest brands in the world, we recognise our unique opportunity to help lead that change,” he said. | ['business/ikea', 'business/business', 'business/retail', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/environment', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/waste', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/sarahbutler', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-05-05T05:01:05Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
media/greenslade/2008/sep/01/gustavastorminateacup | Gustav - a storm in a teacup? | Nick Davies's book Flat Earth News begins by exposing the falsity of the great media scare story about the Y2K phenomenon. It strikes me that this weekend's hurricane Gustav story may well turn out to be a similar fake scare. The latest Washington Post story begins with the obligatory sentence about New Orleans being "braced" for the storm that "officials fear could devastate coastal Louisiana and parts of New Orleans." But the second paragraph tells the real story: Gustav picked up speed but lost some of its strength in the Gulf of Mexico. Forecasters said the changes could weaken the storm's punch, and they expressed optimism that the predictions of flooding in the city might not come to pass. And a weather expert interviewed on this morning's Radio 4 Today programme also poured cold water on the threat. Was I alone in wondering why Gustav's possible threat to the US has dominated news bulletins for two days with only passing references to the fact - the fact - that it caused death and destruction to certain islands in the Caribbean? Why have TV reporters not rushed to those islands? Why have we not seen and heard the bereaved tell of their horror stories? Why was Gustav's threat to the US more of a story than its reality in Cuba? | ['media/greenslade', 'media/pressandpublishing', 'media/media', 'us-news/hurricanegustav', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/blog', 'tone/analysis', 'profile/roygreenslade'] | us-news/hurricanegustav | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2008-09-01T06:57:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
sport/2003/nov/03/rugbyleague.australiarugbyleague | Girdler doubt for Test as Kangaroos grind down Wales | Even in posting a record score against Wales, the Kangaroos were not entirely convincing in their last match before Saturday's first Test in Wigan, and an injury to their centre Ryan Girdler has given Great Britain's prospects a further lift. Girdler limped off with a recurrence of the calf problem that ruled him out since the Australian grand final. "We'll give him 48 hours and wait and see," said the tourists' coach Chris Anderson. Brisbane's Michael de Vere would be the likely replace ment but he was unimpressive against England A last week. As Allan Bateman reflected after playing throughout the second half, this is not a vintage Kangaroos' backline. "They weren't a flash outfit, they didn't have great pace in the centres," said the 38-year-old. "But they are big and powerful and they made the hard yards. If they play like that, Great Britain will struggle." Wales's coach Neil Kelly agreed and made Australia "slight favourites" to retain the Ashes. He also raised the question of whether this fixture should even have gone ahead, given the probability of such a damaging scoreline. Australia led 18-0 inside 13 minutes, with tries for Girdler, Phil Bailey and Steve Simpson. All three were instigated by Brett Kimmorley who went on to score two of his own. Ian Watson was the best performer for the Welsh, laying on their only try although that was scored by an Aussie, Kris Tassell, a Queenslander with a grandfather from the Valleys. Wales: Atcheson; O'Hare, Tassell, Hughes, Gibson; A James, Lennon; Roberts, Watson, Farrell, Aston, Morley, Ellis (capt). Subs: Bateman, Mills, Price, J James. Try: Tassell. Australia: Lockyer; Minichiello, Bailey, Girdler, Hegarty; Gower, Kimmorley; Webcke, Buderus, Civoniceva, Simpson, Fitzgibbon, Ricketson. Subs: Villasanti, Mason, Waterhouse, Wing. Tries: Girdler, Bailey, Simpson, Kimmorley 2, Lockyer, Buderus 2, Hegarty, Wing, Minichiello 2, Gower. Goals: Fitzgibbon 11, Gower. Referee: K Kirkpatrick (Warrington). | ['sport/rugbyleague', 'sport/sport', 'sport/australiarugbyleague', 'sport/wales-rugby-league-team', 'sport/australia-sport', 'type/article', 'profile/andywilson'] | sport/wales-rugby-league-team | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2003-11-03T01:07:49Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
artanddesign/2023/jul/14/painting-undoubtedly-raphael-go-on-display-bradford | Painting ‘undoubtedly’ by Raphael to go on display in Bradford | A mystery painting found to be “undoubtedly” by Raphael is to go on public display for the first time in Bradford. The de Brécy Tondo has been the subject of research and debate for more than 40 years due to its resemblance to Raphael’s Sistine Madonna. Recent analysis using artificial intelligence-assisted, computer-based facial recognition showed the faces in the painting were identical to those in Raphael’s famous altarpiece. The Tondo will be on display at Bradford council’s Cartwright Hall Art Gallery for two months from 25 July after a University of Bradford professor’s research into identifying the painting. Prof Hassan Ugail, the director of the centre of visual computing at the university, has developed an AI model to recognise paintings by old masters. He said: “My AI models look far deeper into a picture than the human eye, comparing details such as the brush strokes and pigments. Testing the Tondo using this new AI model has shown startling results, confirming it is most likely by Raphael. “Together with my previous work using facial recognition and combined with previous research by my fellow academics, we have concluded the Tondo and the Sistine Madonna are undoubtedly by the same artist.” Ugail said he believed the technology “could be used alongside human experts, leading to easier authentication and greater transparency”. He used millions of faces to train an algorithm to recognise and compare facial features in thousands of dimensions. A similarity above 75% is considered identical. The similarity between the madonnas was found to be 97%, while comparison of the child in both paintings produced an 86% similarity. Ugail’s AI analysis adds further weight to previous analysis by Prof Howell Edwards, emeritus professor of molecular spectroscopy at the University of Bradford, who found the pigments in the Tondo placed it firmly in the Renaissance period, and Prof Christopher Brooke, of the University of Nottingham, a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and historian of ecclesiastical art and architecture. The Tondo was bought in 1981 by the Cheshire businessman George Lester Winward, who set up the de Brécy Trust Collection to preserve his collection of paintings and drawings and make them available to art scholars for study. Timothy Benoy, the honorary secretary of the de Brécy Trust, said: “It is only fitting that the Tondo’s first public display is in Bradford, where cutting-edge technologies at the university have been used to determine its attribution. “We believe the work on the Tondo very forcibly illustrates the increasing value of scientific evidence in the attribution of a painting.” Councillor Sarah Ferriby said Bradford council was “delighted to be the first place in the world to have this amazing artwork on public display”. | ['artanddesign/raphael', 'uk/bradford', 'artanddesign/artanddesign', 'culture/culture', 'uk/uk', 'uk-news/north-of-england', 'technology/artificialintelligenceai', 'technology/facial-recognition', 'technology/computing', 'technology/technology', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/nadia-khomami', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | technology/facial-recognition | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2023-07-14T13:55:11Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2008/may/01/ethicalliving.carbonfootprints | The green room: Fearne Cotton, TV presenter | What's your biggest guilty green secret? I feel very guilty about the fact that I go to America a lot to work. I try to offset it. I can't walk to America, unfortunately. Do you know your carbon footprint? I did it the other day, but I've forgotten what it is. I went online and did this 10-question quiz. I think my score was average. But I know I can do more. What was the last green thing you did? I've got about 30 cloth bags in my car boot and I've not used a plastic bag for ages. If people haven't got a cloth bag, how difficult is it for them to re-use one of their plastic bags from home? What is your favourite green habit? Cycling. I live about a 20-minute walk from shops, so I try to walk or cycle. I only drive if I'm doing a big shop. If you could buy any green gadget, what would it be? I read an article the other day about KT Tunstall and how she's got this super green home with solar power. One day I'd love to have solar power. I live in an old cottage, so it would be a bit tricky, but I have got solar-powered lights in the garden, so that's a start. What wakes you up in a sweat in the middle of the night? If I've left the TV on standby I will wake up and turn it off. My boyfriend always says, "Just leave it", but I'm like, "No, we're turning it off". What skill do you have for a post-oil world? Maybe I could buy a rickshaw and drive people round in that for a living. I'm a good cyclist and I've got sturdy thighs, so why not? What would you save, apart from your family and friends, come the floods? My cats and my paintings. I've been painting for years and they're the most precious things in my house. Except perhaps my teddy bear. I know, I know, I'm 26 and I'm still psychologically attached to my teddy bear. I've had it for ever and it comes everywhere with me. The first thing I do when I get home is run upstairs, put the PJs on and grab the bear, even if it's four o'clock in the afternoon. · Fearne Cotton is supporting npower's Climate Cops campaign, which is designed to inspire school students to become greener in their habits (npower.com/GreenSOS) | ['environment/ethical-living', 'environment/carbonfootprints', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'environment/series/greenroom', 'tone/interview', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'type/article', 'tv-and-radio/fearne-cotton', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/g2', 'theguardian/g2/features'] | environment/carbonfootprints | EMISSIONS | 2008-04-30T23:22:17Z | true | EMISSIONS |
business/economics-blog/2012/apr/02/nuclear-dreams-economic-reality-blog | Nuclear industry dreams dashed by current economic reality | The news that nuclear giants RWE and E.ON are dropping plans to build any new UK reactors has sent a toxic cloud not only over Wales, but over the nuclear industry itself. Of course, everyone knows nowadays, post-Chernobyl, post-Fukushima, that nuclear power plants are not really safe. Even if there are a few noisy die-hards, arguing that the resulting radiation is harmless, and that "hardly anyone" dies as a direct consequence of atomic meltdown, that old canard just won't wash any more. Other nuclear myths, though, have lingered on. Atomic energy, unveiled by Her Majesty with grand aplomb at Calder Hall half a century ago, still has a hi-tech glamour, an aura of somehow being "the future". The reality that atomic plants are basically steam engines staffed by thousands of casual workers who would otherwise be picking strawberries or digging up roads somehow never impinges. Perhaps one of the most shocking images post-Fukushima, was of unskilled workers hosing sea water on to the smouldering wreckage. Not here the calm, fatherly figures in their white lab-coats in front of consoles worthy of the Starship Enterprise. But there are solid, practical reasons why nuclear power relies on casual staff using dustpans and brushes to sweep up radioactive dust, or hoses to cool down spent fuel. Best of which is that it's cheaper. An enlightening fact about Fukushima, where the tsunami swept over the safety wall, was that at this point on the coast, the land is well above the level of any waves, tsunami or otherwise. It required considerable ingenuity to bulldoze the cliffs down to sea-level to construct a plant that was then potentially at risk. However, the plant operators knew that nuclear electricity is not actually "too cheap to meter", whatever Eisenhower may have said, and the additional cost of pumping seawater up to the top of the cliffs would have eaten into their bottom line. Hence, the small, if ever so slightly risky, strategy of situating the complex at sea-level. So the torpedo that has just been launched at the majestic British nuclear ship by the sneaky German energy corporations has hit the most vulnerable part of the nuclear industry - its economic credibility. Among the wreckage, the unpalatable fact is that the electricity produced is not economic and that the scheme has only been kept going by increasingly exotic public subsidies and finance packages (read sub-prime crisis). That's not even to mention other economic tricks the industry excels in, such as putting off decommissioning and waste disposal costs into a far distant future and hiving off its disaster and insurance liabilities by, er … basically, ignoring them. The promise of nuclear was that if its plants were expensive, surely, over time, industry costs would drop, both due to economies of scale and new technology, and that sooner or later, the electricity it produced would become commercial, rather than merely a useful by-product of plutonium enrichment. (The military dimension that even the official programme for Calder Hall acknowledged.) But even as rival energy technologies have dropped steadily in price, nuclear has done the reverse. Nowadays, a typical scheme involving multiple reactors on one site, puts you back $25bn! The money was not to be produced up-front, of course, but created by complex financial packages based on debt, not equity. The sums involved, the "paper" floating on the underlying asset – the nuclear complex – run into the trillions. Even well-run German multinationals have trouble coping with that, unaided by the state. And evidently, RWE and E.ON are sceptical about the long-term ability of the UK's "here today, gone tomorrow" coalition government to prop up their nuclear plans. • Martin Cohen is a writer on philosophy and social science issues, including green economics. He is editor of The Philosopher and his latest book (with Andrew McKillop) is The Doomsday Machine : the high price of nuclear energy, the world's most dangerous fuel (Palgrave) | ['business/economics-blog', 'business/economics', 'business/business', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'business/centrica', 'business/utilities', 'business/energy-industry', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2012-04-02T09:58:10Z | true | ENERGY |
sport/2022/sep/24/afl-and-fifa-must-rethink-concussion-rules-amid-paul-mccrory-plagiarism-claims-says-expert | AFL and Fifa must rethink concussion rules amid Paul McCrory plagiarism claims, says expert | A leading international concussion expert has said “anything Paul McCrory has touched” must be reviewed in the wake of plagiarism allegations against the Australian-based neurologist who has advised global sporting bodies on the effects of concussion. American neuroscientist and chief executive of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, Dr Chris Nowinski, said the advice that McCrory gave to some sporting bodies that participants of collision-based sports are not necessarily at risk of developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy was damaging and wrong. He accused McCrory of “sowing doubt” about the link between head impacts in sport and CTE in a way that has substantially damaged efforts to prevent another generation from developing the brain disease. McCrory resigned as chair of the Concussion in Sport Group in March amid earlier allegations of plagiarism in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. At the time he was quoted on Retraction Watch apologising, saying his failure to attribute third party work was an error and “ … not deliberate or intentional”. In the wake of those allegations, his work is also being investigated by the AFL – to whom he provided research and advice for years – and he is the subject of a separate investigation by Australia’s medical regulator. Now McCrory has been accused of 10 more cases of plagiarism, as revealed by Guardian Australia. He has not responded to repeated and detailed requests for comment. McCrory was the lead author on four of the last five Consensus Statements on Concussion in Sport, from which Fifa and myriad other organisations draw their concussion guidelines and assessment protocols. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Nowinski told Guardian Australia that McCrory had convinced a lot of people the dangers of CTE had been overblown. “It’s obvious he’s wrong, and that will take a long time to unwind,” he said. “Frankly, anything Paul McCrory has touched has to be reopened. Everybody he’s advised has to reopen what they’ve done, every paper he has been part of should be looked at.” Nowinski, a former American college football player and professional wrestler who still experienced symptoms from his last concussion 19 years ago, accused McCrory of misinterpreting and accordingly misrepresenting Boston University brain injury research during his 2016 Florey Institute lecture. During that lecture, McCrory described concussion among NFL players as “overblown” and said “the first myth [is] this idea that every hit causes some sort of brain damage; it’s patent nonsense”. He also referenced the research’s finding that 4% of NFL retirees have suffered from CTE and surmised that “the other way to look at it is 96% don’t get it”. CTE can only be definitively diagnosed at autopsy. “Unfortunately I think Paul McCrory’s advice has done a lot of damage here. He’s been the chair of the Concussion in Sport Group, who have been sowing doubt about the connection between head impacts and CTE when it’s been accepted for 100 years in boxing. “And when you actually look at the science – as we did – there’s no room for debate. There’s not even another alternative hypothesis … when we don’t accept this link, we are essentially sentencing another generation to developing this disease.” CTE is a neurodegenerative condition linked to repeated head traumas. Symptoms experienced during life include cognitive impairment, impulsive behaviour, depression, suicidal thoughts, short-term memory loss and emotional instability. In February, the Australian Sports Brain Bank reported it had found CTE lesions in the brains of 12 of the 21 donors it had examined since the bank’s inception in 2018, including three under the age of 35. In July, Nowinski was lead-author of a study which found conclusive evidence that repetitive head impacts can cause CTE. He was in Sydney earlier this month to launch the Australian arm of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, a multinational organisation that he co-founded in 2007, and a campaign called Stop Hitting Kids in the Head, which calls for the banning of tackling in children’s sport until the age of 14. It follows news that the English Football Association will trial a ban on “heading” for children under 12. “Our position is that, before 14, we cannot find a possible reason to expose children to CTE,” Nowinski said. “Whatever we think we’re teaching them through contact sports, we can find another way to do it. “We’re trying to help people understand that whether you are hitting your own child in the head, or whether you’re letting them get tackled hundreds of times, their brain can’t tell the difference.” McCrory did not respond to a request for comment. Do you know more? Contact emma.kemp@theguardian.com | ['sport/concussion-in-sport', 'sport/australia-sport', 'sport/sport', 'campaign/email/morning-mail', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'sport/afl', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/emma-kemp', 'profile/melissa-davey', 'profile/stephanie-convery', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-sport'] | sport/concussion-in-sport | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2022-09-23T20:00:47Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
uk-news/2018/jan/22/uk-flood-warnings-cold-heavy-rain | UK flood warnings issued as cold snap ends with heavy rain | Flood warnings have been issued and treacherous conditions forecast across the UK as the recent cold snap gives way to milder temperatures. Heavy rain and meltwater have swollen rivers in parts of England and Wales, where the the Environment Agency has issued eight flood warnings and 52 flood alerts. On Sunday, homes were evacuated in north Devon as heavy rain caused landslides, road damage and flooding, and Environmental Agency staff were deployed with pumps to assist those affected. The Met office has issued yellow weather warnings for icy conditions in north-east England and Yorkshire for Monday morning. “Icy patches are likely to form on Sunday night and last into Monday morning. With surfaces left wet from Sunday afternoon’s mix of rain, sleet and snow, icy patches are likely to form overnight and into Monday morning on any untreated roads, pavements and cycle paths. Some injuries from slips and falls on icy surfaces are possible,” it warned. On Sunday people were forced to flee homes in Kentisbury, near Barnstaple, and properties were flooded in Combe Martin on nearby Exmoor, the Devon and Cornwall police force said. The Environment Agency issued flood warnings for people to take immediate action on the rivers Taw and Exe in mid-Devon, and three others in Somerset and Wiltshire. Further flood warnings were in place on the River Wye in Herefordshire and Riseley Brook in Bedfordshire. In Somerset, Cheddar Gorge was closed to traffic after rain washed rocks and debris into it. Train services between London, Devon and Bristol, and services in south Wales were affected by flood waters on Sunday night. A Great Western Railway spokesman said: “Due to heavy rain flooding on the railway between Swindon and Chippenham all lines are blocked.” The milder conditions follow a weekend of heavy snow and freezing conditions, with temperatures as low as -13.5C in Dalwhinnie in the Scottish Highlands, the lowest temperature since February 2016. On Sunday afternoon, five people were injured in a two-car crash amid hazardous conditions in the Highlands. Police said the injuries were not thought to be life-threatening. The A82 near Glencoe mountain resort was closed while officers dealt with the incident. The snow gates at Glencoe were closed as the weather deteriorated, with winds causing drifting snow and white-out conditions. In Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland, a 64-year-old man was rescued by a mountain rescue team on Sunday afternoon after he tried to walk to safety after spending a week cut off by snow. On Saturday morning, two climbers were rescued after being stuck in a precarious position on a mountain ridge. The pair survived the night without shelter at 3,000ft at Bidean Nam Bian in Glencoe. After blizzards prevented the Glencoe mountain rescue team reaching them on Friday, a coastguard helicopter located them just after 8.30am on Saturday morning. The coastguard warned people not to put themselves in unnecessary danger. | ['uk/weather', 'uk/uk', 'environment/flooding', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/patrick-greenfield', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2018-01-22T00:28:48Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2014/may/22/hurricane-season-atlantic-forecast-slower-than-usual | Atlantic hurricane season in the US forecast to be slower than usual | The coming hurricane season in the US will be slower than usual, with just three to six expected, the national weather agency said in its annual forecast on Thursday. But officials warned repeatedly it takes just one storm to make landfall to cause a major disaster. The annual forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted eight to 13 named tropical storms, and three to six hurricanes. One or two of those hurricanes could develop into major hurricanes of category 3 or higher, which carry wind speeds above 111mph. The forecast, which covers the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, was lower than in typical years, largely because a developing El Niño. The system tends to damp down hurricane activity in the Atlantic. But Noaa's administrator, Kathryn Sullivan, cautioned against complacency even in an El Niño year. “Today is not about percentages and ranges,” she told reporters on a briefing call. “It only takes one destructive storm to make for a very bad season on the ground.” The Noaa forecast was released from Brooklyn – which suffered huge damage during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Officials repeatedly underscored that hurricane risks extended to storm surge, as well as high winds and rain, and covered the entire Atlantic coastline. The agency said it will deploy new higher resolution technologies this year that would enable it to predict the trajectory of storms with far greater accuracy seven days out. Officials said the new system would have enabled forecasters to predict Superstorm Sandy's devastating left hook, seven days before it turned into the New Jersey coast. At the time, forecasters believed the storm would head out to sea. Noaa will also for the first time use high-resolution imaging to map and show the height of projected storm surges along the coast. The Atlantic hurricane season begins on 1 June 1 and ends 30 November. The first named storms of the season will be Arthur, Bertha, Cristobal and Dolly. | ['world/hurricanes', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/world', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/suzannegoldenberg'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2014-05-22T17:40:10Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
politics/2024/jan/04/keir-starmer-labour-fiscal-rules-green-investment-targets | Starmer rules out breaking Labour’s fiscal rules to meet £28bn green target | Keir Starmer has ruled out breaking Labour’s fiscal rules to meet its green investment targets if it wins the election this year, in the clearest sign yet that the party is willing to scale back one of its headline policies in the face of Conservative attacks. The Labour leader told an audience in Bristol on Thursday that he would not borrow £28bn to spend on green projects if it meant breaking a separate promise to reduce government debt as a proportion of economic output. The £28bn policy has been at the centre of a tussle between senior Labour figures for months, with some wanting to drop it and others arguing it is an essential part of the party’s growth plan. Starmer said on Thursday that the £28bn promise was not sacrosanct, and that the party’s main green policy was instead to have zero-carbon power by 2030. “There is no question of pushing back on the mission – the mission is clean power by 2030,” he said. But he added: “The money that is needed for the investment … will be subject to our fiscal rules. And that means that if the money is for borrowing … but the fiscal rules don’t allow it, then we will borrow less.” The Labour leader was answering questions after a speech in Bristol to mark the beginning of election year. Starmer promised that Labour would restore optimism to a “downtrodden” country if it wins the election, adding: “We must crush that politics of divide and decline with a new ‘project hope’.” A year ago, he and Rishi Sunak gave back-to-back speeches in which they made competing promises for how they intend to lead the country. While the prime minister has met only one of his five promises – halving inflation – Starmer has come under pressure in different ways. As Labour officials rush to finish the party’s manifesto, previously announced policies are coming under increased scrutiny to make sure they can withstand the heat of an election campaign. Chief among those is the party’s promise to spend £28bn on green investment projects, funded mainly by borrowing. Several senior Labour officials want the plans to be scaled back in order to protect Labour’s reputation for fiscal prudence, while others believe doing so would add to criticisms that Starmer’s promises cannot be trusted. Starmer clarified on Thursday that the party’s fiscal rules would come first. Nevertheless, party officials have not yet decided what to do if they cannot borrow enough to fund the green plans. Labour could either decide to hit the target using spending from elsewhere or revenues from increased taxes, or it could decide to drop or delay the target. Starmer’s words suggest he is more committed to achieving clean power by 2030 than he is on spending the full £28bn. “Clean power by 2030 will mean lower bills, energy security, the next generation of jobs,” he said. But his comments have angered some on the left who insist Labour’s green targets will not be met without proper investment. Sharon Graham, the general secretary of the union Unite, said: “‘Project hope’ will require serious investment. Relying on growth to generate that investment is not realistic. We have not had significant growth since the 1970s. If we depend on growth to fund all the investment we need it will only result in inertia. “Britain needs a Labour government,” she added. “But it needs it to be serious about real change.” Meanwhile, Starmer appeared to damp down speculation that Labour could go into the next election promising income tax or national insurance cuts. He suggested Labour would reverse any inheritance tax cut announced by the Tories. “I’m challenged on tax all of the time,” he said. “The first lever that we want to pull, the first place we will pull, is growth in our economy, because that’s what’s been missing for 14 years without growth.” Asked whether he would reverse a mooted cut to inheritance tax, he replied: “I’d oppose it, it wouldn’t be what we would do, and of course we would change that if we got the opportunity to do so.” He also clarified that while Labour was willing to process more asylum cases abroad, it wanted to do so before they arrived in Britain rather than afterwards as is being proposed as part of the government’s Rwanda plan. “The Ukraine [asylum] scheme has an element of processing offshore before people arrive in this country – it can be done,” he said. “And I’m open to sensible suggestions and credible solutions to what is very obviously a problem.” Starmer will embark on a three-month tour of the UK, hosting a series of question and answer sessions with voters primarily in medium-sized towns that the party is hoping to take from the Tories this year. | ['politics/labour', 'politics/keir-starmer', 'environment/green-politics', 'environment/environment', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/kiran-stacey', 'profile/stevenmorris', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/green-politics | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2024-01-04T13:39:39Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2021/nov/08/tuvalu-minister-to-address-cop26-knee-deep-in-seawater-to-highlight-climate-crisis | Tuvalu minister to address Cop26 knee deep in water to highlight climate crisis and sea level rise | Tuvalu’s foreign minister has recorded a speech for the United Nations climate conference in Glasgow standing knee-deep in seawater to highlight how his low-lying Pacific Island nation is on the frontline of climate change. Images of Simon Kofe standing in a suit and tie at a lectern set up in the sea, with his trouser legs rolled up, have been shared widely on social media, drawing attention to Tuvalu’s struggle against rising sea levels. “The statement juxtaposes the Cop26 setting with the real-life situations faced in Tuvalu due to the impacts of climate change and sea level rise and highlights the bold action Tuvalu is taking to address the very pressing issues of human mobility under climate change,” Kofe said in his video message. The video was shot by public broadcaster TVBC at the far end of Fongafale, the main islet of the capital Funafuti, a government official said. It is due to be shown at the climate summit on Tuesday and comes as regional leaders push for more aggressive action to limit the impact of climate change. Many big polluters have vowed to intensify their carbon cuts over coming decades with some aiming for net zero carbon emissions by 2050. But Pacific Island leaders have demanded immediate action, pointing out that the very survival of their low-lying countries is at stake. Before Cop26, it emerged that one-third of Pacific small island states and territories would be unable to send any government figures to the summit in Glasgow due to Covid-19 travel restrictions. The lack of high-level representation of Pacific nations at the meeting led to fears that the concerns of these countries, which are among those most at risk due to the climate crisis, would not be appropriately represented at the summit. In October, a World Bank report said that projected sea level rise could cost the Marshall Islands, a country in the north Pacific halfway between Hawaii and Australia, its status as a nation. It has a population of 59,000 and a land mass of just 180sq km, consisting of 1,156 individual islands. It is one of the countries considered most at risk of disappearing due to sea level rise. With Reuters | ['environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021', 'world/pacific-islands', 'world/world', 'world/asia-pacific', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-foreign'] | environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021 | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2021-11-08T06:57:16Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
commentisfree/2010/sep/17/in-praise-of-bottle-deposits | In praise of … deposits on bottles | Editorial | There is something special about Irn-Bru: not just the taste or bright orange colour, but the bottle, at least in Scotland, where it is one of the last in Britain still to be sold with a deposit. Return it to the company – and last year seven out of 10 glass bottles came back for refilling – and you get 30p. It's a simple scheme and an old one, sadly defunct in the rest of the country, where disposable plastic replaced glass years ago, with bad consequences for the environment. Energy is wasted making the plastic and the remains litter roadside verges for ever, or at least until councils gather them up at great expense. That's why the Campaign to Protect Rural England is right to call for the deposit refund scheme to be revived, charging 15p for small bottles and cans, and 30p for larger ones. A report commissioned by the CPRE claims the cost of running the scheme could be funded by unclaimed deposits, and that the public sector would save £160m a year in cleaning costs. Some will dispute those figures, but deposit schemes work in other countries. When deposits were brought back in New York state and Germany, litter rates fell. Retailers won't like it: they think customers should recycle glass bottles. But melting glass down uses energy, and anyway the bigger problem is plastic, most of which is now thrown away. The CPRE's report estimates that 24bn drink containers – cans and bottles – would be recovered each year. The government says it is interested. An old idea may be about to be reused – just like the bottles themselves. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'commentisfree/series/in-praise-of', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/environment', 'tone/editorials', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2010-09-16T23:05:55Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
australia-news/2023/jun/28/pwc-walks-back-report-used-to-claim-australias-nature-repair-market-could-be-worth-137bn | PwC walks back report used to claim Australia’s nature repair market could be worth $137bn | PwC has walked back a report used to claim the nature repair market could be worth $137bn, accepting it measures “indirect spending towards biodiversity” but the amount spent on “threatened species conservation, with clear outcomes, is likely much less”. The consultancy firm made that submission to a Senate inquiry examining the Albanese government’s nature repair market bill in response to a critique of the report from the progressive thinktank the Australia Institute. PwC has also come under fire from the Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who says the firm has questions to answer about whether the report was written to “get their foot in the door to win more work” associated with the market. The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, announced the nature repair market in August 2022 and introduced the bill in March. It proposes to create a market to incentivise investment in nature restoration by creating tradable certificates for projects that protect and restore biodiversity. The Coalition at first agreed in principle, because it replicated a policy of the Morrison government, but withdrew support in June, putting the bill at risk of defeat in the Senate. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup In March Plibersek cited the PwC report, titled “A nature-positive Australia” and published in December 2022, which she said had found a biodiversity market that “could unlock $137bn to repair and protect Australia’s environment by 2050”. The report measured the “direct value [of] financial flows to biodiversity” with estimates of components including: private biodiversity, conservation and natural capital investments ($78bn); forest carbon and biodiversity offsets ($33bn); conservation NGOs and environmental charities ($11bn); government expenditure and subsidies ($8.5bn). The Australia Institute submitted to the Senate environmental legislation committee that the report was “misleading on a number of fronts and is entirely unrelated to the nature repair market”. “Critically, the $137bn figure presented in the PwC report seems to be in 2050 dollars,” it said. “That is, PwC has inflated the figures to what they would be in 2050. It is not an accurate representation of what the financial flows it presents are in 2023 or will be in the near future.” The Australia Institute also argued that “a significant share” of the financial flows estimated by PwC were “not related to ‘markets’ at all, such as direct government intervention and environmental spending by NGOs and charitable donations”. “Adjusting the estimates to 2023 dollars lowers the total financial flows to just $70bn, and ‘market-based’ flows down to $18bn,” it concluded. The Australia Institute also took aim at evidence in Senate estimates on 23 May, in which the environment department deputy secretary, Lyn O’Connell, said it “did not commission or pay for that report”. “It came out of a conversation I had with a principal at PricewaterhouseCoopers in terms of, ‘here’s something that would be useful for us to know’,” she said. Hanson-Young told Guardian Australia that “there are questions as to whether this is part of a PwC strategy to get their foot in the door to win more work – it’s a corporate strategy we know has been used elsewhere by PwC”. A PwC spokesperson said: “PwC regularly authors thought leadership on important topics, and in this case saw an important opportunity to progress a conversation around the role of biodiversity markets and the role for the private sector in funding nature repair.” In its reply submission, PwC’s acting chief executive, Kristin Stubbins, said its report was “developed in light of government interest in market-based mechanisms, as well as businesses and financial institutions becoming increasingly aware of nature-related risks and opportunities”. PwC accepted the methodology involved estimating “financial flows from a range of vehicles” and the report “details the limitations” of estimates given the lack of data. “We also acknowledge in the report that financial flows capture indirect spending towards biodiversity through environmental and conservation initiatives, but the proportion spent on targeted threatened species conservation, with clear outcomes, is likely much less.” “The report did not attempt to outline the impacts specific to the nature repair market, as it was developed both independently of the Australian government and at a time when the [bill] was yet to be made public.” Plibersek said: “I’ve been clear that I expect the nature repair market will generate billions of dollars of investment in nature repair to better protect our environment for our kids and grandkids.” “Any extra investment in nature should be welcomed by people who care about the environment,” she said, citing support for the bill from the World Wildlife Fund, National Farmers’ Federation, Australian Land Conservation Alliance, Landcare and the Northern Land Council. The bill is opposed by many environment groups due to concerns that the scheme as proposed could be used to offset habitat destruction caused by other developments. It passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday evening, with Labor and most independent MPs in favour, while the Coalition, Greens and Zoe Daniel opposed it at the second reading stage. Hanson-Young said: “The last election was about climate action and integrity but the government’s Green Wall Street scheme has neither. “We need stronger environment laws to protect nature and the climate, not koala credits for greenwashing.” | ['business/pricewaterhousecoopers', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/tanya-plibersek', 'australia-news/australian-greens', 'australia-news/labor-party', 'australia-news/independents', 'campaign/email/afternoon-update', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/biodiversity', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/paul-karp', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-politics'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-06-27T15:00:38Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
news/2019/may/31/weatherwatch-rainbows-with-added-heart-lifting-value | Weatherwatch: rainbows with added heart-lifting value | The brightest and best-defined rainbows come from sunlight striking large, uniform droplets. Showery weather and plenty of daylight make June a prime month for rainbow spotting. Rather than a single arc, you may be lucky enough to spot multiple rainbows if you know where to look. The most common multiple form is a double rainbow. Most rainbows are produced by internal reflection within raindrops. When the light is strong enough for a double internal reflection, you may see a dimmer secondary rainbow around the main bow, with the order of the colours reversed. Look closer and you may see faint supernumerary arcs just inside the main rainbow. These are paler and may show only as pink, blue and purple bands. They were explained by Thomas Young in 1804 as the result of a complex interference effect, and again they are only visible with bright rainbows. You usually see rainbows opposite to the sun; from your point of view, the rainbow is centred on the shadow of your head. Very rarely though, faint additional rainbows may appear in the other direction, close to the sun. These are known as tertiary and quaternary rainbows. These are very much dimmer, and there have only ever been a handful of scientifically-accepted sightings of such rainbows. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'science/meteorology', 'uk/weather', 'environment/summer', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/davidhambling', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2019-05-31T20:30:44Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
technology/2008/nov/14/my-video-rights-youtube-google | YouTube director Patrick Walker joins board of digital distribution firm myvideorights.com | YouTube's director of video partnerships Patrick Walker has become an investor in and joined the board of myvideorights.com, the digital distribution firm backed by former Endemol chief creative officer Peter Bazalgette. Walker, who oversees Europe, Middle East and Africa in his YouTube role, joins a high-profile board that also includes former Carlton TV International chief executive Rupert Dilnott-Cooper, Richard Mansell, former director of Protiviti Technology and ex-Sun editor Kelvin Mackenzie. Although Walker's investment in the firm is in a personal capacity, the appointment of a senior YouTube executive is significant for the fledgling firm, which was established in August as a specialist online distributor and monitoring firm for professional web content. Walker joined Google-owned YouTube in January 2006 and has spent 15 years in the media industry working at Real Networks, Intel, the BBC and NHK. "Patrick's experience and knowledge in this field is second to none and YouTube is the most important video sharing site in the world," said Bazalgette, adding that YouTube is also in the early stages of trying to monetise videos through pre-roll and overlay ads. Content producers have struggled against the huge piracy problem online and YouTube, as the largest video-sharing website, has faced intense criticism from some media companies and rights owners. Parent company Google is still embroiled in a lengthy legal battle with media giant Viacom, though since the case began YouTube has stepped up its anti-copyright infringement technology to include a "digital fingerprinting" tool that scans uploaded clips and deletes them if they are listed in a database of copyrighted material. Bazalgette said the 40bn clips were watched online last year and that when he was at Endemol overseeing Big Brother the firm was struggling to monetise the millions of clips watched online because so many were illegally distributed. "We know that more and more people and watching video clips served on the web, and that's how they want to watch," he added. "MVR has spent £1m on a technology platform that lets content owners distribute clips and platform owners use clips in a way that returns revenue and monetises those clips." MVR has already announced a distribution deal with YouTube, as well as independent production firms All3Media, Zodiak International and Eagle Rock, and sports giant ESPN International. Bazalgette said the firm would be pursuing its second round of funding early next year. "The state of the economy has had no effect on MVR at all, other than redoubling our efforts to build the business. It is true that online advertising is growing slightly less than it was, perhaps 15% annual growth rather than 25%, but this is still just the beginning," he added. · To contact the MediaGuardian news desk 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/youtube', 'media/digital-media', 'technology/digitalvideo', 'technology/google', 'media/media', 'business/business', 'technology/technology', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/jemimakiss'] | technology/digitalvideo | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2008-11-14T10:41:41Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/damian-carrington-blog/2013/oct/21/nuclear-power-energy-edf-deal | Nuclear power's broken promises means EDF deal is a delusional dream | Damian Carrington | Energy efficiency is cheapest and the cost of renewable energy is falling. In contrast, gas prices have risen by 50% in five years and the cost of nuclear energy has trebled since 2008. Yet the UK government today staked a large part of the nation's energy future on the latter, by agreeing a deal with EDF which might lead to them building a new nuclear power station. Ministers have not backed the favourite, or even a speedy but erratic outsider: they have backed a horse running in reverse. The 60-year history of the nuclear industry is one unblemished by promises kept. From "too cheap to meter" to safe as houses, every pledge has been broken. When the UK government once again fell for the renewed vows of the nuclear industry in 2008, they were promised reactors would cost £2.8bn to build. Today's deal shows the cost is now £8bn. They were promised electricity for £31-42 per megawatt-hour: today's price is £92.50/MWh. The trashed guarantees stack up as steadily as the toxic waste pile that already costs billions a year to store. In 2007, David Cameron said: "The problems of nuclear waste have to be dealt with to make any new investment possible." In January 2013, Cumbria, the only place in the running for a permanent disposal site rejected the idea. The government pledge that the private sector would build the new reactors has collapsed too: EDF is owned by the French state and can only move ahead itself with about 40% of the money stumped up by China. The final crushed commitment comes from the 2010 coalition agreement: New nuclear power stations "will receive no public subsidy". If forcing energy consumers to pay roughly £38bn above the current cost of electricity is not a subsidy, what is? If a government package of insurance against accidents and loan guarantees is not a subsidy, what is? This farrago of fictions matters. EDF and the government say the deal protects the public against the near-certainty of broken promises on costs. But read the small print: "The strike price could be adjusted, upwards or downwards, in relation to operational and certain other costs." Perhaps the government could bail out of the deal if the costs soared? No: "Hinkley Point C would be protected from being curtailed without appropriate compensation." If new risks came to light increasing the cost of insurance, could we get out then? No: "Protection would be provided for any increases in nuclear insurance costs as a result of withdrawal of government cover." No wonder opponents are terrified by the lack of any independent scrutiny to date of the deal struck by the government. The nuclear industry has captured the government as comprehensively as the big six energy companies have captured the domestic energy market. Don't forget that just 48 hours after the Fukushima catastrophe, government officials were working with the industry to play down the terrible events - before they had even unfolded. The alternative to nuclear, made to appear unthinkable by the industry's lobbying, is in fact far from inconceivable. A huge effort to improve the UK's woeful energy efficiency is the first step. The UK government currently expects electricity demand to rise by 33-66% by 2050. Why? Germany predicts a 25% cut. That's how to seriously cut energy bills and the carbon emissions driving climate change: by not having to generate power in the first place. It also happens to create thousands of jobs in every part of the UK, unlike the government's failing green deal energy efficiency programme, which is actually killing jobs. The second step is a genuine commitment to renewable energy, youthful technologies ripe for further cost reductions in stark contrast to nuclear. Even today, once you account for the much longer time for which nuclear is promised subsidies, offshore wind costs the same and it will fall. Yet the ambition for 40GW of offshore wind by 2020, which can be built five times faster than nuclear, is being shredded. The subsidies on offer to up to eight nuclear power stations could build that 40GW twice over, though the money has to be spent up front. Gas would also play an important transitional role, in the absence of nuclear power. Cameron today said the Hinkley nuclear deal was an example of "our new industrial policy that looks to the future". It is the precise reverse. With its long and lousy track record, it is little wonder that even the sober thinkers at the Economist concluded that "nuclear is the dream that failed". | ['environment/damian-carrington-blog', 'environment/environment', 'tone/blog', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/energy', 'business/energy-industry', 'technology/energy', 'business/edf', 'money/energy', 'money/money', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energyefficiency', 'environment/green-deal', 'environment/windpower', 'type/article', 'profile/damiancarrington'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2013-10-21T10:07:00Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2023/sep/09/australian-government-backflips-on-cancellation-of-antarctica-penguin-surveys | Australian government backflips on cancellation of Antarctica penguin surveys | The federal government has reversed its decision to cancel surveys of rapidly declining penguin populations in Antarctica and will send more scientists south this summer. The decision comes after Guardian Australia revealed the Australian Antarctic Division planned to cancel, delay or restrict dozens of science projects, according to a leaked planning document. The list of restricted science projects, which included studies of record low sea ice, triggered a Senate inquiry into the impact of the division’s need to find $25m of savings in 12 months. In a statement, a spokesperson for the division said “monitoring and population surveys of penguins and flying seabirds near Mawson station is an additional project that has now been supported for travel this summer”. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup This means scientists can now study a severe decline in Adélie penguin numbers off the east Antarctic coast. Long-term monitoring has revealed a 43% drop over a decade in the number of birds that breed across 52 islands near the Mawson research station. Scientists believe the rapid decline is due to a change in environmental conditions including fast ice, which is attached to the coast of the islands. The spokesperson said other science climate science projects would be restored, with four extra scientists approved to travel south on the icebreaking research vessel RSV Nuyina. “This science relates to krill and krill ecosystems, whale acoustic monitoring and Southern Ocean ecosystems,” the spokesperson said. The internal document revealed a project to help conserve the Antarctic krill population – which help reduce carbon and provide food for the entire ecosystem – was not initially supported due to budget cuts. Projects still not supported include the Cleaner Antarctic program at Mawson station, which remediates the damage caused by human activity including diesel spills. The document said this cannot be supported “due to budget constraints”. Last month, Australian and Canadian scientists found pollution at Australia’s largest research station, Casey, has exceeded international guidelines for close to 20 years. Research that still cannot be supported “due to budget restraints” at Davis station include an “airborne” survey of sea ice thickness and “observations of Antarctic land-fast sea ice”. The “East Antarctic Margin Ice Zone Study” is not supported from Davis, but can continue from Casey. The impact of budget pressures at the division will be examined by a senate inquiry in early October. Confidential sessions will be available for scientists and public servants who are concerned about publicly criticising the division. In a submission to the inquiry, the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water said the budget pressure was largely due to “the known lapsing budget measure to support the commissioning of the RSV Nuyina”. The submission implies the division had committed to projects it could not afford. Since the list of affected projects was revealed, many scientists have raised concerns. Prof Alexander Babanin and Dr Joey Voermans of the University of Melbourne told the inquiry there was an “urgent” need to understand the impact of the climate crisis in the region. “It is our view that cuts in research support will have detrimental effects on Australia’s leading expertise in Antarctic and Southern Ocean sciences and will cause gaps in critical observational datasets that function as baselines in climate studies for the next few decades. These gaps are irreversible,” the academics said in a submission. Dr Stuart Corney, a senior lecturer at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, has told the inquiry that cutting Southern Ocean research would “diminish our international reputation for excellence in science”. “It is the equivalent of removing the canary from the coalmine as it starts to choke due to a lack of breathable air.” | ['australia-news/australia-news', 'world/antarctica', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/biodiversity', 'campaign/email/afternoon-update', 'environment/wildlife', 'type/article', 'profile/henry-belot', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-09-08T22:59:28Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/2023/oct/22/as-a-global-energy-crisis-returns-the-uk-push-for-a-green-economy-makes-even-more-sense | As a global energy crisis returns the UK push for a green economy makes even more sense | Richard Partington | Earlier this year, the world economy had a lucky escape. After a mild winter in Europe, energy prices were in retreat as the continent shifted away from Russian gas supplies. Inflation was cooling, while economic growth remained resilient. “Hello lower gas prices, bye-bye recession,” analysts at the US investment bank JP Morgan wrote in January. Less than a year later, the Israel-Hamas war serves as a stark warning that the global energy crisis has far from vanished. European gas prices have jumped by more than a third since the start of October, before a difficult winter to come, as the conflict in the Middle East threatens to escalate. Oil prices have risen sharply, with a leap of more than $20 a barrel since June, continuing a rise that began even before the war. While not underestimating the human tragedy in Israel and Gaza, most experts reckon that a serious escalation engulfing the wider region remains unlikely – limiting the impact for the world economy. Yet the outbreak of war in another of the world’s most important energy exporting regions, less than two years after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, is an all too painful reminder of economic vulnerabilities. Mohamed El-Erian, the president of Queens’ College, Cambridge, and a former deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, says a further rise in tensions would compound existing fragilities as policymakers navigate weak economic growth and stubborn inflation. “If this horrific crisis is not contained then this will add to the supply constraints facing the global economy. The very first impact will be higher prices, and possibly less oil around, and that is inherently stagflationary. It’s not just inflationary, it’s stagflationary,” he says. At a highly uncertain juncture, the extreme risk is the possibility of Iran becoming directly involved and impeding transit through the Strait of Hormuz – the supply route for about 30% of the world’s seaborne oil and one-fifth of global liquified natural gas (LNG). It’s a concern raised with alarming regularity – in these darkest of days for the Middle East, this is a danger many are considering. For Britain and other European countries there should be particular alarm. After efforts to diversify gas supplies away from Russia, the reliance on fossil fuel imports from the Middle East has only risen – especially from Qatar, the world’s largest LNG exporter, which ships through Hormuz. European LNG imports rose by 71% last year in the rush to replace Russian gas – including a 74% rise to the UK, which sources almost one-third of its imported supply from the country. With the UK experiencing a much slower decline in inflation than almost any other advanced economy, there is potential for any renewed energy shock to trigger a fresh phase in the cost of living crisis before the last one is over. Fossil fuels account for almost 80% of the UK’s primary energy consumption, and reliance on imports is a risk the government is all too aware of. So far, Rishi Sunak’s answer to the question of Britain’s energy security has been to redouble efforts to exploit North Sea oil and gas reserves. The prime minister also wants to see billions of pounds invested in renewables, carbon capture and storage, and nuclear. Yet despite promising “long-term decisions for a brighter future” in his Tory party conference speech, nowhere near enough is being done to move to a low-carbon economy fit for an increasingly volatile world. Rather than accelerate the transition, Sunak has chosen to water down net zero policies in an attempt to build a narrow electoral advantage. This is not only shortsighted, but makes little economic sense. After the Covid pandemic, leading nations have struggled to cope with successive shocks to the supply side of the economy – not least because of the current energy crisis. All have added to inflationary pressures, fuelling the cost of living emergency. One shock is the restructuring of global supply chains. After severe disruption in the pandemic, and in an increasingly volatile geopolitical world, businesses are putting more emphasis on resilience over efficiency. Supply chains are being reshored, nearshored and friendshored, with higher costs entailed. Another disruption is the function of the labour market. Repatriation of workers during the pandemic, and tighter post-Brexit controls on migration in the UK, alongside an ageing population, have cut the supply of workers available to businesses. However, the energy crisis also presents a serious economic opportunity – from the jobs, growth and future energy security that building a low-carbon economy could bring. In the US, Joe Biden is aiming to capture this opportunity with the vast Inflation Reduction Act, ploughing billions of dollars into helping the US meet its climate goals, while creating jobs and ultimately bringing down bills for households and businesses. It’s a plan that EU nations are responding to, and one now forming the cornerstone of Labour’s economic agenda. As free marketeers, the Conservatives are naturally sceptical, yet there is a recognition in the mainstream of economics that state activism and taxpayer funding are vital components in this transition. “This is a case where governments need to be involved in partnership with the private sector,” says El-Erian. “These are generation-defining transitions the private sector can’t handle on its own.” Britain has a serious opportunity to revive growth and restore economic security. Given the clear risks in the world economy, there isn’t a moment to lose. | ['business/series/economicsmonday', 'business/global-economy', 'business/economics', 'business/business', 'politics/economy', 'politics/politics', 'world/israel', 'world/hamas', 'business/energy-industry', 'business/oil', 'business/gas', 'money/energy', 'business/supply-chain-crisis', 'business/useconomy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/green-economy', 'business/commodities', 'environment/energy', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/richard-partington', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2023-10-22T10:55:14Z | true | ENERGY |
politics/2023/aug/09/hacked-uk-electoral-commission-data-target-voter-disinformation-warn-expert | Hacked UK voter data could be used to target disinformation, warn experts | Data accessed in the Electoral Commission hack could help state-backed actors target voters with AI-generated disinformation, experts have warned. The UK elections watchdog revealed on Tuesday that a hostile cyber-attack had been able to access the names and addresses of all voters registered between 2014 and 2022. It said the integrity of the UK’s largely paper-based electoral system was not at risk, but experts said the data could still be used by rogue actors if deployed alongside powerful new artificial intelligence tools. Michael Veale, an associate professor in digital rights at University College London, said the electoral register data could be combined with other leaked datasets to help target disinformation. Veale cited the example of a vote suppression scandal in Canada in 2011, when automated phone calls impersonating election officials were made to voters, telling them falsely that their polling stations had been moved. A former campaign worker for Canada’s Conservative party was sentenced to nine months in jail for his role in the incident, which involved the misuse of a party database. “Leaked electoral record data can result in serious electoral threats,” said Veale. He added that generative AI – the catch-all term for tools that can produce convincing text, images and fake voices from human prompts – had now increased the potential for misuse of such information. “Risk of misuse is only amplified by the extremely convincing personalised text or voice generation possible with generative AI systems. The more data you collate on people, the more convincing fake calls, text messages or emails can seem, based on writing styles and information about individuals and their social connections,” Veale said. Michael Wooldridge, a professor of computer science at the University of Oxford, said gaining direct access to voters was a “gift” for rogue actors. “Providing direct access to voters is a gift for anyone attempting to subvert the electoral process. I’m very worried about voter manipulation by AI, and the data breach does rather seem to be a gift to the unscrupulous,” he said. Wooldridge warned the Guardian in May that chatbots such as ChatGPT could produce bespoke disinformation targeted at voters in individual constituencies. However, other experts have warned that any attempt at mass disinformation, even harnessed to the power of generative AI, would be a challenge. “Unless you’re targeting a high-net-worth individual and are prepared to invest significant time and resources crafting a scam, it’s unlikely that generative AI would be used for large-scale attacks, yet,” said Dr Andrew Rogoyski, director of the Institute for People-Centred AI at the University of Surrey. The Electoral Commission said on Tuesday it did not know for certain what files may or may not have been accessed, though it added that much of the data at risk was already in the public domain. The attack also breached its email system, which means the hackers could have accessed the email addresses of voters who had contacted the Electoral Commission, or any images they had sent to the organisation. Russia, a state with a record of electoral cyber espionage, has been flagged as a potential architect of the attack. Sir David Omand, a former director of the British spy agency GCHQ, told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme that Russia was “first on my list of suspects”, while Sir Richard Dearlove, a former head of MI6, told the Daily Telegraph that the Kremlin would “be at the top of the suspects list by a mile”. | ['politics/electoral-commission', 'technology/artificialintelligenceai', 'type/article', 'technology/cybercrime', 'campaign/email/morning-briefing', 'technology/data-computer-security', 'technology/data-protection', 'technology/hacking', 'technology/chatgpt', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'profile/danmilmo', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | technology/hacking | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2023-08-09T17:21:51Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
commentisfree/2012/dec/04/hurricane-sandy-won-president-obama | Was it hurricane Sandy that won it for President Obama? | Harry J Enten | Many forecasted that Mitt Romney would defeat President Obama in the 2012 presidential election. They were wrong. Some of those who were incorrect took it in stride and admitted as much. Others, such as Twitter sensation and National Review blogger Josh Jordan (aka NumbersMuncher), decided that their logic was sound, and it was only because of Superstorm Sandy that Obama won. At first glance, their logic seems to makes some sense. Obama got good Sandy press, highlighted by nice photos with and words from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Polls indicated that Americans approved of Obama's Sandy response. The national polls were biased against Obama, and even some of the state polls were too pro-Obama compared to the final results. The question is whether the polls indicate that Obama gained in the final days. We can figure this out by comparing pre- and post-Sandy pre-election surveys. Examining the data in that manner finds that the Sandy theory for Obama's rise is fatally flawed. The majority of polls did not show great movement to the president after Sandy. The two most accurate national polls were consistent in pegging Obama at a mid single-digit victory. Ten days before Sandy, Democracy Corps had Obama leading by 3 points. In the days after Sandy, Obama gained a statistically insignificant 1pt after Sandy, to be up by 4pt. Rand actually had Obama's lead falling from 5.1pt just prior to Sandy, to 3.3pt in their final tracking poll. The full national polling also doesn't support universal movement to Obama after Sandy. Seven pollsters had Obama gaining no points, or actually losing a few, after Sandy. Four pollsters had Obama's margin expanding only by a point after Sandy. Put together, with an 11 out of 19 majority, pollsters had Obama gaining a point or less post-Sandy. This confirms the finding I made in an earlier piece. The national surveys were consistently skewed against Obama in the final month. Sandy did not change that, and it wasn't because of the superstorm that the vast majority of national surveys failed to accurately project the outcome. You might argue that the national polls don't matter. After all, the election was won and lost in the swing states. Referencing polls only pre-Sandy, Simon Jackman of HuffPollster had Obama winning every state he would win, except for Florida – the closest state. Given the polling splits in swing states, Jackman estimated that Obama had a 99% chance of winning. Others, from Drew Linzer to Nate Silver, to Sam Wang, all had Obama as a heavy favorite pre-Sandy. You can see why their odds changed little after Sandy by examining the 12 swing states. In the table below, I controlled for each pollster and averaged the result from those who had polls completed fully post-first debate and post-Sandy (that is, by 29 October). If a pollster had two post-Sandy polls, I took the mean. It turns out that in only three of the 12 states did Obama see a gain in the majority of post-Sandy swing-state polls. In the 67 situations where the same pollster had a pre- and post-Sandy survey, only 25 resulted in Obama doing better after Sandy. Only in Virginia did Obama pick up more than 1pt. So, like the national polls, the swing-state polls don't indicate that Obama was better-off electorally thanks to Sandy. It's possible, of course, that there was a Sandy effect in the states most affected by the storm. So, what do the polls say of Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania – the states with the greatest numbers of power outages caused by Sandy? Like all the other polling, Sandy's effect seems to be minimal. Obama was at or below his pre-Sandy levels in seven of the ten polls released in this quad-state region. Only in Connecticut did Obama gain in both polls post-Sandy, by an average of 2.5 points. Only one poll was published post-Sandy in New Jersey and New York respectively, and Romney picked up 1pt in both. The only swing state in this group is Pennsylvania, and Obama wasn't in a better position in five of the six surveys there. In fact, Romney closed the gap between Obama and him by an average of 1.5pt. Overall, there is very little evidence that Obama added to his lead because of Sandy. Neither the national, nor especially in the state polls, did Obama poll better post-Sandy. Any polling errors were because of longstanding miscalculations of the make-up of the electorate, not Sandy-specific pollster mistakes. | ['global/series/on-polling-and-politics-2012', 'us-news/hurricane-sandy', 'us-news/us-elections-2012', 'commentisfree/commentisfree', 'tone/comment', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'world/natural-disasters', 'us-news/barack-obama', 'us-news/mittromney', 'us-news/us-politics', 'us-news/florida', 'us-news/new-york', 'us-news/pennsylvania', 'us-news/new-jersey', 'us-news/connecticut', 'us-news/virginia', 'type/article', 'profile/harry-j-enten'] | us-news/hurricane-sandy | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-12-04T18:17:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/2007/jul/10/nuclearindustry.science | 50 scientists and engineers sacked from nuclear decommissioning project | Fifty newly-recruited scientists and engineers in charge of the government's nuclear decommissioning programme in Harwell and Winfrith are to be sacked by Christmas, with another 150 facing redundancy next June. Malcolm Wicks, the energy minister, said that the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has a budget of £60m for the next financial year — nearly half that allocated for 2006 — resulting in 200 job losses and a big delay in the programme, which includes the creation of science parks at both sites. Prospect, the union representing the scientists, condemned the move. David Luxton, Prospect's national secretary, said scientists affected by the cuts were furious about the decision, since many had left private companies expecting to spend six to 10 years on the decommissioning project. "This is a false economy because the effect will be to put back the whole decommissioning programme, and delay the opening of new science parks for up to 10 years," he said. Mr Wicks indicated in a letter to the Tory leader, David Cameron, that an attempt will be made to try to get more resources during further talks with the Treasury — but "the NDA can only confirm funding at the lower level (£60m)". He admitted this will have an impact on the handover of the Harwell site for a privately funded science park. Mr Cameron described the response as "very depressing". He has alerted his frontbench team to challenge the government. He said the slowdown in the decommissioning programme will delay the creation of a science park at Harwell from 2014 to 2030. The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority has been forced to make the cuts because it was relying on profits from the now abandoned Thorp reprocessing plant in Sellafield to help fund decommissioning. | ['business/business', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'science/science', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'profile/davidhencke'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2007-07-10T18:01:09Z | true | ENERGY |
commentisfree/2018/dec/13/scott-morrison-and-the-business-council-are-pushing-coal-but-on-what-evidence | Scott Morrison and the Business Council are pushing coal – but on what evidence? | Richard Denniss | Fresh from losing the economic fight about company tax cuts, the Coalition government is doubling down on an economic fight about renewable energy. And yet again, as they march into battle they have the Business Council of Australia as their key source of economic and political advice. What could go wrong? The cost of renewable energy has fallen dramatically in the past 10 years and will continue to fall for years to come. By some accounts, new renewables with storage are already cheaper than coal fired power stations. Some argue that they aren’t quite there yet. But no one argues that in 30 years’ time a new coal-fired power station that has to buy coal will be able to compete with a solar farm that gets its sunshine for free. Betting on the future cost of renewables is like catching a falling knife, but if there is one thing that unites the Coalition and the BCA it’s that they aren’t averse to self-inflicted wounds. At precisely the time when the costs of renewables and storage are plummeting and the world is meeting in Poland to discuss reductions in fossil fuel use, the Liberal government and the peak body for the biggest businesses in Australia are united in arguing that a 45% emissions reduction target by 2030 would be – in the words of BCA chief executive Jennifer Westacott – “economy wrecking”. As with the failed campaign for company tax cuts, the nation’s prime minister is getting his talking points from the nation’s biggest lobbyists. In parliament last week Scott Morrison declared “a 45% target is economy wrecking”, adding to a scare-campaign designed to convince the Australian public that they have to choose between the environment they want for their kids and the jobs they want for them. It is sickening. Not even the BCA’s own members believe the rhetoric of their peak body. Both Commonwealth Bank and Citi have renewable energy targets of 100% – Citi by 2020. Other BCA members like the CSIRO have put out a transition road map which includes 90% electricity generation from solar PV and wind by 2050 while maintaining reliability in the grid. Even big polluters like Rio Tinto boast that 75% of their electricity is carbon-free, while Origin has a 50% emissions reduction target. Indeed, it wasn’t that long ago that Westacott herself was sceptical of the claim that action to decarbonise Australia’s energy system would “wreck the economy”. In fact, in 2009 when she was heading up KPMG’s Sustainability, Climate Change and Water practice she told the Senate that: The science of climate change indicates the economic risks posed to Australia are both materially significant and proportionally higher than for most other countries … global carbon pricing is inevitable … [and] given these economic risks, Australia needs to act to decouple energy and emissions growth from economic growth, or we will face steadily declining competitiveness as global carbon pricing and other controls increase.” Of course, if the facts change it is good to change your mind. But it is hard to see what evidence Westacott and the BCA might be relying on. Not only have the costs of building large-scale wind, solar and battery projects collapsed since 2009, the retail costs of installing solar panels and batteries have declined similarly. There are now more than two million Australian homes with solar panels on their roofs, and that means there are more than two million homes that know that renewables not only work to generate power, but they work to lower electricity bills as well. Opinion polls show that an overwhelming majority of Australians support rapid investment in renewable energy. The Australia Institute’s 2018 Climate of the Nation survey of Australian attitudes on climate change showed that 67% of Australians want to end coal-fired power within the next 20 years. But it’s not just the economic and opinion polling evidence that suggests the BCA and Morrison government are pushing coal uphill. One of the key lessons from the recent company tax debate is that the Australian public no longer trust business leaders who claim that they are acting in the national interest rather than their self-interest. And when it comes to talking about electricity prices, the BCA’s biggest problem is that some of its biggest members are the biggest energy retailers who make some of the world’s biggest profits selling Australians some of the world’s dearest electricity. What could go wrong indeed? • Richard Denniss is chief economist for the Australia Institute | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'australia-news/business-australia', 'environment/energy', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'business/australia-economy', 'australia-news/coalition', 'environment/coal', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/richard-denniss', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-opinion'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2018-12-13T01:20:27Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2009/feb/04/china-drought-wheat-crop | China drought threatens wheat crop | A severe drought in northern China – considered the country's breadbasket – has hit almost 43% of the country's wheat crop this winter, senior officials have warned. Low rainfall since October has affected more than 9.3m hectares (229.71 acres) of land in northern China across six major grain-producing provinces, according to the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters. Last week it warned that 3.7 million people and 1.85 million livestock had lost access to drinking water. Vice-premier Hui Liangyu has urged local officials to make tackling the water shortage a priority, state media reported today. Beijing has set aside 100m yuan (£10m) of funding to help farmers combat the problem and have sent specialist teams to the worst affected areas. Provincial governments are planning to seed clouds to ensure it rains. Henan Daily reported that the drought is the province's most severe since 1951, with no rain for 105 days. It warned that up to 63% of the region's wheat crop is threatened. In Anhui the provincial government said the drought had already caused losses of 1.6bn yuan. It has set aside hundreds of millions of yuan to assist farmers. Sun Zhengcai, the agriculture minister, blamed low rainfall since October for the problems. The meteorological administration says no rain is forecast over the next week. But environmental campaigners warned the lack of rainfall had merely exacerbated a long term problem in a naturally dry region where consumption has soared, thanks to intensive agriculture, industry and a rising and increasingly urbanised population. Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs and author of China's Water Crisis, said that to have more than 100 rainless days was a record in recent decades. But he added: "Water use in the region is not sustainable. We have seen rivers running dry because too much water has been diverted for farming and increasingly for urban and industrial use. We have seen the water table dropping steadily over the last three decades. Obviously this kind of drought adds insult to injury." While the authorities had helped industry and cities to increase the efficiency of water usage, it was not enough to solve the problem. Ma said the northern half of China had over 40% of the country's population, more than 50% of the arable land and much industry due to its coal reserves – yet less than 20% of the nation's water. China said last month that it would spend 21.3bn yuan on the next phase of its ambitious water diversion project to help the arid north. The multibillion pound scheme, which will take up to half a century to complete, will connect the Yangtze, Huaihe, Yellow and Haihe rivers. It will require the creation of east, middle and western channels and will eventually divert 44.8bn cubic metres of water annually. The first phase of the eastern programme will begin to deliver water by 2013. Ma said the scheme was first conceived in the fifties, but that many people believed its time had come because the situation in the north was now so dire. "We have to keep in mind that this will not fill up the whole gap," he said. "From now on the focus should be seriously shifted to conserving water." Campaigners have warned that the scheme could have serious social and environmental repercussions, changing the ecosystem and requiring mass resettlement. | ['world/china', 'environment/drought', 'environment/environment', 'science/agriculture', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'world/asia-pacific', 'type/article', 'profile/taniabranigan'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2009-02-04T15:48:15Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2013/jun/14/climate-activists-anti-capitalists-canary-wharf-protest | Climate activists join anti-capitalists in Canary Wharf's biggest protest | One of London's key financial districts saw its biggest ever protest on Friday as an estimated 200 people occupied Canary Wharf to protest against public spending cuts and lack of action against climate change. Among the protesters were pensioners, children, people with disabilities, a brass band, musicians and a range of groups including Fuel Poverty Action, Disabled People Against Cuts, the Greater London Pensioners Association, No Dash for Gas and UK Uncut. A spokeswoman for the event said: "We picked Canary Wharf because it's a symbol of out-of-control neoliberal capitalism. It's completely private property where protests have been outlawed. We've come here because we want to pull together anti-capitalist, climate and anti-austerity struggles." The owner of Canary Wharf has previously taken legal action and put in place security measures to prevent protests in home of some of Britain's biggest banks. The action was part of a range of anti-G8 protests currently taking place, but unlike other events this one passed peacefully. Protesters erected and scaled bamboo tripods – structures designed to prevent attempts to clear the area by force. An assembly, speeches and workshops were held, as well as creative activities, music and poetry performances and guerilla gardening. James Granger, of Fuel Poverty Action, who helped organise the event, said the banks and financial institutions in Canary Wharf are "bankrolling fossil fuel projects across the world which are causing climate change and fuel poverty". "The price of fossil fuels is increasing, which is leading to one-quarter of the UK population facing the choice between heating and eating," he said. "I'm here to say that there is an alternative – renewable energy which is cheaper and cleaner, and an economy that works for the needs of people not the needs of profit." Betty Cottingham of the Greater London Pensioners Association said: "I'm here to protest along with the young and middle-aged people about what this lot are doing to our world. There's going to be 3,000 extra deaths this winter because pensioners and other people daren't turn the heating on." A Canary Wharf banker, who did not wish to be named, said he did not make the link between banking and the recession. "If it hadn't been caused by banking it would have been caused but something else," he said. "I think these people are here because they care about what's going on out there and the recession has given them a justification to get out here and do this." | ['environment/activism', 'world/protest', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'uk/uk', 'uk/london', 'business/banking', 'business/business', 'business/austerity', 'business/economics', 'world/g8', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'type/article'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2013-06-14T16:35:37Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
business/2017/jul/05/volvo-signals-carmakers-growing-confidence-electric-future | Volvo signals carmakers' growing confidence in an electric future | Volvo’s decision to exclusively build electrified or hybrid cars is the beginning of the end of the company’s relationship with fossil fuels, according to one motoring organisation. One Swedish carmaker starting down the road to a zero emissions future will not solve global warming alone. But the whole automotive industry following suit would begin to make a serious difference in reducing oil demand and emissions. Transportation accounts for 14% of global greenhouse gas emissions and, as the US Environmental Protection Agency notes, almost all of the energy – 95% – powering those cars, planes, trains and ships still comes from petrol and diesel. Electric cars show a route off that dependence, but their take-up has repeatedly disappointed. Barack Obama predicted 1m such car models in the US by 2015 – the actual number was 280,000. There are now 2m globally, out of more than 1bn cars in total, showing the mountain that still needs to be climbed. Bloomberg predicts 41m electric car sales a year in 2040, while BP this year revised its prediction upwards by 43m to a total of 100m on the roads by 2035. Renault-Nissan has arguably led the way in 100% electric cars so far, with 350,000 sold in total. VW, looking to clean up its image after the diesel scandal, plans to sell 1m electric cars a year by 2025. Volvo’s target is to sell 1m electric vehicles – that includes plug-ins and hybrids as well as pure battery-powered cars – by 2025. The company’s chief executive said he had changed his view from two years ago, when he suggested pure electric cars were not ready for primetime, because things had changed faster than expected. “I think things have changed, and you can change your mind as well. We were sceptic[al] about the cost level of batteries and the lack of infrastructure to charge all-electric cars,” Håkan Samuelsson told a press conference in Stockholm. “Things have moved faster. Customer demand is increasing. Battery costs have come down. There is also movement now on the charging infrastructure,” he said. Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, called the plan a “bold move” and said: “The announcement marks the beginning of the end of the company’s relationship with fossil fuels.” Beyond carbon emissions, fully electric vehicles are also seen as a panacea for tackling the dangerously dirty air, generated by conventional combustion engine cars, that blights many cities in Europe and Asia. James Thornton, chief executive of ClientEarth, the environmental law group which sued the UK government to improve its air pollution plan, said: “Volvo’s ambition in moving rapidly to cleaner technology should be heeded urgently by other manufacturers to defend the health of young and old alike.” Capital cities such as Paris, Madrid, Athens and Mexico City have said they will ban diesel vehicles from 2025 to cut air pollution. That leaves electric cars or petrol cars with hybrid engines as an obvious way to help millions breathe easier – not to mention a readymade market for Volvo’s future models. | ['business/volvo', 'business/automotive-industry', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/electric-cars', 'business/business', 'technology/motoring', 'environment/environment', 'environment/travel-and-transport', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/analysis', 'tone/news', 'profile/adam-vaughan', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-07-05T17:31:24Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
commentisfree/2011/jul/07/horn-of-africa-drought | Horn of Africa: From one drought to another | Editorial | Every day 1,000 Somalis stream across the Kenyan border to Dadaab, which is full to bursting with 367,000 people and already constitutes the largest refugee settlement in the world. They arrive malnourished and dehydrated but – after a walk lasting weeks – grateful that they have made it to a point where they will get food and water. The exodus is not the only indicator that a major food crisis is brewing in the Horn of Africa after the driest year for 60 years. In Somalia the price of the cereal red sorghum has risen by 240% in the last year, and a 90kg bag of maize is bartered for five goats now instead of one. The malnutrition rates of refugees arriving in Ethiopia are 45% – three times the rate that constitutes an emergency. Figures like these caused aid agencies to launch multimillion-pound appeals this week to address a humanitarian emergency in east Africa affecting up to 10 million people. Britain announced that it would give £38m in food aid to Ethiopia, which is generous. Would that other donors gave as much, even if that sum may only fund the World Food Programme operation in the country until September. But the problem is not just assessing the size of the current crisis, which is sure to grow. It is also the fact that the droughts in this region have become an almost annual occurrence. There have been five in the last seven years and, in terms of numbers affected, this may not be the largest. The biggest crisis peaked in 2009 when 22 million people were affected. Should everyone shrug their shoulders and put serial drought down to climate change? No, these are some of the least developed areas in Africa. Of course, Somalia is shattered by decades of intervention and insurgency, and the drought has got so bad in the areas controlled by the militant Islamist al-Shabab that it has lifted its ban on getting food aid from UN agencies. But the largest number affected are in north-eastern Kenya, where the lack of roads, the soaring cost of transport, the lack of access to markets makes pastoralists and their livestock vulnerable from one month to the next. As the NGO Care says, simple measures can strengthen their resilience – building water pans, leaving pastures spare, setting boreholes and maintaining them, and training health workers to diagnose diseases and provide treatment to livestock. There are larger structural problems such as migration routes blocked by land bought by agribusiness and tourism. As it is, aid agencies race from one drought to another. And the fact that the shortfall in WFP funding is 42% in Somalia, and 67% in Ethiopia and Kenya, speaks volumes about the mentality of donors who are only moved to act when it is too late. • This article was amended on 8 July. The original cited an incorrect figure for the malnutrition rate of refugees arriving in Ethiopia and said, incorrectly, that this was six times the rate that constitutes an emergency. This has been corrected. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'world/africa', 'world/somalia', 'world/kenya', 'global-development/malnutrition', 'world/ethiopia', 'environment/food', 'environment/drought', 'world/world', 'environment/water', 'global-development/global-development', 'society/society', 'environment/environment', 'tone/editorials', 'global-development/aid', 'global-development/poverty-matters', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-07-07T21:29:33Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
commentisfree/2024/oct/03/vincent-van-gogh-just-stop-oil-sentencing-nature-painter-protesters-soup-sunflowers | Van Gogh is turning in his grave at the harsh Just Stop Oil sentence. I know, because I spoke to him | Nadya Tolokonnikova | I woke up to a call from Vincent van Gogh today. He told me he wants the Just Stop Oil protesters who threw soup on his Sunflowers to be released immediately. I nodded and promised to do everything I could to ensure Phoebe and Anna would be freed soon. Our conversation continued. “What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?” Van Gogh remarked. “We must try and keep courage alive.” He sounded upset about the sentence given the other day to Just Stop Oil activists – two years in jail for Phoebe Plummer, 23; 20 months for Anna Holland, 22. I sympathise with him. He seemed crestfallen that two young women were being thrown behind bars because a judge deified him and his painting, which, in Van Gogh’s mind, was not meant to be venerated, but instead inspire young artists and activists to do exactly what Phoebe and Anna had done – to push the boundaries of life and art even further, and raise uncomfortable questions. During his lifetime, Van Gogh was a pariah. No one would buy his paintings, and he suffered from numerous untreated mental illnesses. He also lived in desperate poverty. A few months before painting Sunflowers – desperate, unrecognised and lonely – Van Gogh cut off his ear. Years after his suicide, the art market finally caught up with Van Gogh. The art world tends to love artists more when they’re dead. When artists are alive, they’re often too unpredictable and opinionated for their work to be easily commodified. Nature was Van Gogh’s ultimate muse. He loved it, as do Phoebe and Anna. I believe he would have approved of Phoebe and Anna’s action – it belonging to the tradition of activists and artists defying norms to create a new, better world. In the case of Just Stop Oil, to save our one and only planet from destruction and protect the natural world that Van Gogh so loved. Their protest is part of the legacy that he himself contributed to, followed by the surrealists, dadaists, Fluxus, the Young British Artists and many others whose works now sell for millions and grace the walls of prestigious museums. One of the most iconic of Ai Weiwei’s works is Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn in 1995, in which he destroyed a 2,000-year-old vase. Banksy set his own painting to self-destruct after a $1.4m sale. Breaking and destroying is a valid and striking artistic and political statement. “The action you took was extreme, disproportionate and criminally idiotic, given the risks involved,” the judge, Christopher Hehir, said when sentencing Phoebe and Anna. “There is nothing peaceful or nonviolent about throwing soup. Throwing soup in someone’s face is violent.” Of course, the soup wasn’t thrown in someone’s face but on to the glass protecting the painting, which the protesters were aware of. The painting wasn’t damaged at all. Would Van Gogh have cared? Art critics, artists and professors should have testified in their trial – and I imagine their collective answer would be far more nuanced than the judge’s simplistic interpretation of events. It is a tragedy that the decision was left to an arrogant judge who views the action solely as “an extreme harm to society”. “In Parliament Square, the beating heart of democracy in the UK, there are statues of Pankhurst, Gandhi, and Mandela … Why?” Phoebe asked at the trial. “Because these people fought for our democracy. They battled to bring about the rights we see today. And how did they do that? They broke the law to bring about justice when the society they lived in was unjust.” Well-behaved women seldom make history; and fortunately for Phoebe and Anna, history is on their side. Their action was a carefully calibrated political statement, not the work of mindless hooligans. Yet I see so much contempt, even cruelty, directed at these young idealistic women, even from people in the art world that I hold dear. If you are one of them, I urge you to break free from the shackles of cynicism and conformity. Remember what it was like to be young and dream of a better world. Have sympathy, if not admiration, for these women. Listen to their articulate and thoughtful words, and think twice about whether you want to live in a world that cages intellectuals and dreamers while glorifying and rewarding corrupt, greedy oil CEOs who destroy the planet. There was no damage to the Van Gogh painting – but there was damage to “society”, according to Hehir. If society is the victim, as he judge said, then it must be society that speaks up and corrects this wrong. We must demand the release of these two young women, whose important years are being cruelly stripped away from them. I know Vincent would. Nadya Tolokonnikova is the creator of the feminist art collective Pussy Riot and former political prisoner Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/just-stop-oil', 'artanddesign/vincent-van-gogh', 'world/protest', 'environment/environment', 'artanddesign/national-gallery', 'uk/london', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/nadya-tolokonnikova', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/just-stop-oil | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2024-10-03T12:23:23Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
business/2017/jul/26/fill-your-boots-basket-but-not-with-condoms | Fill your Boots basket, but not with condoms | Brief letters | Boots’ attitude to contraception is nothing new (Boots faces boycott over high cost of morning-after pills, 21 July). Up until the 1960s it would not sell condoms at all lest it encourage promiscuity, and even after 1961 staff were reminded that the only exception was “where they are ordered by a medical man himself, or where a genuine prescription is handed in”. Further, Lord Trent, son of Boots’ founding father, asked his co-directors: “Would you like to see your daughters selling these things?” Dr Kenneth Macaulay Dunfermline, Fife • Quick, somebody reassure Gaby Hinsliff (Even if you love your job this new pension age is scary, 21 July) about retirement. You don’t actually stop working, Gaby, they just stop paying you. You get to do everything from befriending hospitals to running the transition movement. This will keep you going well into your dotage. Chrissy Allott Exeter • You report (26 July) that BMW will build an electric Mini near Oxford. We built Microdot, an electric car on a Mini chassis, in Oxford in 1979. Government engineers damned it and frightened away our investors. Better late than never. All vehicles will be electric. Noel Hodson Director, Mallalieu Engineering • Martin Brayne (Letters, 25 July) reminds us of a Jane Austen heroine’s fondness of cricket. Later in the same chapter of Northanger Abbey, we find: “Such was Catherine Morland at ten. At fifteen, appearances were mending; she began to curl her hair and long for balls.” Peter Soar Shepshed, Leicestershire • “A rainbow rewards walkers at Nare Head, on Cornwall’s eastern coastline on a blustery evening” (Weather view, 25 July)? I always thought that the eastern edge of Cornwall was Devon. Robin Luxmoore Stokesley, North Yorkshire • Your front page reports rising air pollution and falling sperm counts (Ban from 2040 on diesel and petrol car sales, 26 July; ‘Shocking’ decline found in sperm count of western men, 26 July). Erm, time for some joined-up thinking? Dr Brigid Purcell Norwich | ['business/allianceboots', 'society/contraception-and-family-planning', 'money/retirement-planning', 'environment/electric-cars', 'technology/motoring', 'books/janeausten', 'uk-news/cornwall', 'environment/pollution', 'society/fertility-problems', 'society/health', 'business/business', 'society/society', 'money/money', 'technology/technology', 'books/books', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment', 'commentisfree/series/brief-letters', 'tone/letters', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-07-26T18:26:54Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
cities/2018/feb/09/national-governments-neglecting-development-needs-of-cities-report | National governments neglecting development needs of cities: report | National governments around the world are neglecting the needs of their major cities with non-existent or inadequate development policies, a new report has found. National governments are key to making cities more sustainable, because cities are limited in the policy measures they can take for themselves, the report points out. However, only a quarter of the world’s governments have urban development policies at all, and most of those that do exist are not sufficient to make cities sustainable. The report looks at the key measures of energy generation, transport, waste management and infrastructure. For instance, putting in adequate public transport can transform the lives of citizens and the carbon footprint of the cities they live in. Encouraging the use of electric vehicles above petrol or diesel-driven cars can also have a large effect, not just on greenhouse gas emissions but also on removing some of the key causes of air pollution. The report, from the Stockholm Environment Institute and the Coalition for Urban Transitions and funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, suggests national governments are neglecting the needs of their major cities even when they have in place national policies on issues such as climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. Derik Broekhoff of the Stockholm Environment Institute, the lead author of the study, said: “Now is the time for national governments to put cities at the heart of their national development strategies. Countries must consider what policies they need to deliver in order to ensure their countries and cities are prepared for the unprecedented urbanisation and climate challenges the world is facing.” Cities around the world are facing rapid population growth, and are likely to be among the areas worst hit by dramatic climate change, in part because many are at risk of rising sea levels, floods and droughts. For most of human history, the rural population was greater than those of cities, and it is only in just over the last decade that this balance has shifted, with most of the world’s populations now living in urban centres, a trend that is expected to accelerate even further. As well as transport, housing is a key source of greenhouse gas emissions, with heating, cooling and other energy and water use. But while many cities are attempting to deal with these infrastructure issues, the report notes, national governments often hold the key but fail to consider the needs of their biggest cities when developing policy. | ['cities/cities', 'environment/sustainable-development', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/sustainable-development | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2018-02-09T00:01:41Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
commentisfree/2011/mar/20/observer-editorial-nuclear-power-japan | Nuclear power: Fukushima must not skew the energy debate | Observer editorial | The Fukushima nuclear power plant was designed, as are most buildings in Japan, to withstand a huge earthquake. In a sense, it did. The tectonic shock that struck the country last week was much more powerful than any in recent memory and yet the tremor itself did not cause an atomic calamity. It was the following tsunami that overwhelmed power supplies at Fukushima, resulting in overheating, fire and panic at the prospect of radiation leaking into the atmosphere. Which particular facet of a natural disaster broke Fukushima hardly matters to those engineers bravely struggling to bring the reactor under control. Nor does quibbling over causes comfort those people who have had to flee their homes. What good is a nuclear power plant on a coastal fault line that survives earthquakes but not tsunamis? The point is worth making, however, to underline quite how unusual the seismic event that devastated Japan was and so to put in some perspective the problems at Fukushima. That perspective is vital because the plant's problems are already having an impact on debate over the long-term viability of civil nuclear energy. It is 25 years since a fire at Chernobyl sent a plume of radioactive smoke into the skies over Europe. It took many years, a concerted public relations effort by the nuclear industry and advances in safety technology for public opposition to atomic reactors to soften. A key factor has been the alternative threat posed by climate change, a risk accelerated by carbon emissions from power plants run on fossil fuels. Some environmentalists have reluctantly accepted nuclear as an imperfect way to generate high volumes of low-carbon energy. For others, it creates more ecological problems than it solves. This is not a theoretical dilemma. Britain is commissioning eight new nuclear plants. As energy secretary Chris Huhne acknowledges in today's Observer, events in Japan could make it harder to find investment for those projects. But around 13% of the world's electricity is produced by nuclear plants. It is unrealistic to expect that capacity to be dismantled or quickly replaced. The threat to human safety, while real, is not unfathomably vast, nor beyond management. Radiation is harmful, but not apocalyptically deadly. It was the Earth's crust, not a manmade power station that caused tragedy in Japan. For Britain, events at Fukushima are a timely reminder of the need for vigilance over safety, but not a definitive argument for abandoning atomic reactors altogether. Nuclear power will doubtless remain part of a diverse portfolio of energy sources, but the solution to the problem of low-carbon power must ultimately lie in renewables. In the UK, that points to tidal and wave power, to which we are geographically well-suited, alongside carbon capture and storage technology. Britain is currently a leading centre for the innovation of these processes. Their successful development could create huge economic advantages in manufacturing and exports of the technology, alongside the strategic benefits of energy self-sufficiency. We cannot uninvent civil nuclear power. The great danger is not the technology but the possibility that we come to depend on it as much as we now depend on fossil fuels. The environment and our security would not be helped by substituting one toxic addiction for another. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'tone/editorials', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/energy', 'technology/energy', 'environment/environment', 'business/energy-industry', 'world/japan', 'world/world', 'uk/uk', 'world/asia-pacific', 'environment/fukushima', 'type/article', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/comment'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2011-03-20T00:04:31Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2021/may/10/how-a-whale-might-have-ended-up-in-the-thames-and-other-questions | How might a whale have ended up in the Thames? And other questions | What type of whale was spotted in the Thames? The minke whale, scientific name Balaenoptera acutorostrata, is the most common whale species in UK waters. Females reach up to 8.5 metres in length; males about 8 metres. They weigh between five to 10 tonnes. They are black, brown or dark grey on their backs and lighter below. How off-course was the minke? The whale, a juvenile of 4 metres in length, was found at Richmond lock, about 90 miles from the sea. The last minke whale in the Thames was found in 2019, in Battersea. How could it have ended up in the Thames? Minke whales are common in the UK, in open water. The juvenile minke could have been separated from its mother and become disorientated in the enclosed estuary. Is this happening more often and if so why? Reporting of strandings of cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) have been on the increase for the past five years, according to the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme, run by the Zoological Society of London. CSIP scientists believe the increase is due to increased awareness and ability to report, rather than a rise in numbers. Strandings usually happen in the north-east or south-est of England, where there are large bodies of water. River strandings are unusual. There were more than 18,000 strandings between 1990 and today, according to the CSIP. Most common were harbour porpoise, dolphins, followed by pilot whales and minke whales. Most of the time, an animal will have died of natural causes such as infectious diseases or starvation. They can also be found entangled in fishing nets and lines. | ['environment/series/seascape-the-state-of-our-oceans', 'environment/environment', 'environment/whales', 'environment/cetaceans', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'uk/london', 'uk/uk', 'environment/rivers', 'type/article', 'tone/explainers', 'profile/karenmcveigh', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/series/seascape-the-state-of-our-oceans | BIODIVERSITY | 2021-05-10T15:20:07Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
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