Environment news

• Water campaigners are right about enforcement. Labour’s plans are still too vague | Nils Pratley

  22-08-2024 19:49
  Without regulatory reforms and proper funding, the country will lack a muscular enforcer to strike fear among pollutersThe organisers of the March for Clean Water – that’s Feargal Sharkey and River Action, supported by organisations that range from Surfers Against Sewage to the RSPB to the Women’s Institute – make an excellent point: while it’s nice that the government will bring a water bill to parliament, the initiatives revealed so far “are not nearly exten
  
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• Could a £2-a-day basic income be the key to protecting rainforests?

  22-08-2024 17:00
  Pilot scheme in Amazon communities of central Peru aims to help people choose a more sustainable way of living“At the beginning, there was a lot of fear and disbelief,” said Ketty Marcelo. “There was a perception from the communities that this was another scam, that it was only looking to steal information or our integrity.”Indigenous communities in the Amazon have grown weary of people coming in from outside with plans that could mean them losing their land or way of lif
  
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• Jail term for climate protester, 77, is disproportionate, says Carla Denyer

  22-08-2024 16:11
  
  MP for Bristol Central tells home secretary sending Just Stop Oil activist to prison is unjust and waste of resourcesA 20-month prison sentence handed to a 77-year-old woman for a climate protest on the M25 is disproportionate, unjust and a waste of resources, the Green MP Carla Denyer has said.In a letter to Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, Denyer called the jailing of Gaie Delap three weeks ago “an example of an ongoing and serious problem with disproportionate sentencing for climate a
  
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• Environmental activists urge Kamala Harris to go big on climate: ‘She’s got to seize the moment’

  22-08-2024 16:00
  
  With the largest US fossil fuel lobby group at the Democratic convention, some urge VP to prioritize crisis in her speechAs Donald Trump accuses Kamala Harris of waging “war on American energy”, some advocates are pressing the vice-president to embrace a bold climate message at the Democratic national convention this week.Harris will have a major opportunity to lay out her key platform as she accepts the Democratic party’s presidential nomination on Thursday evening. Some are h
  
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• We must restore nature to avoid global catastrophe, warns biodiversity summit president

  22-08-2024 15:53
  Just cutting carbon emissions will not prevent climate breakdown, says Susana Muhamad before Cop16 in ColombiaHumanity risks catastrophic global heating if it focuses only on decarbonisation at the expense of restoring the natural world, Colombia’s environment minister has said in the lead-up to the world’s key nature summit later this year.Susana Muhamad, who will be president of the UN biodiversity Cop16 summit in Cali in October, said that a singular focus on cutting carbon emissi
  
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• Getting an allotment totally changed my summer – and radically altered my relationship with food | Diyora Shadijanova

  22-08-2024 09:00
  
  I’ve relearned the meaning of seasonality – and how fragile the natural systems that sustain us really areA few months ago, when I received an email about an available allotment in my area, I struggled to remember when I had signed up for one. It turns out I had done so two years ago, fuelled by my envy for those with gardens during lockdown. Back then, all I wanted was a small bit of outdoor space that felt like my own, to plant flowers, herbs and, at a push, some chillies. A place
  
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• Activist opposed to Rio Tinto lithium mine receives anonymous death threats

  22-08-2024 08:00
  
  Serbian green campaigner who co-drafted declaration against lithium exploitation now fears for his safetyWhen Aleksandar Matković received the first message threatening his life, he thought it was a prank. The text, sent to his Telegram account just after midnight on 14 August read: “We will follow you until you disappear, scum.”Matković is one of the campaigners who have been at the forefront of widespread protests against plans to develop a massive lithium mine in Serbia.
  
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• I’m obsessed with sea worms: ‘Thankfully, in 25 years of working with them, I’ve never been bitten’

  22-08-2024 07:00
  An associate professor in marine biology explains her fascination with the surprisingly diverse animals – and how they could help to address the climate crisisRead more in this seriesI found my first encounter with sea worms a little terrifying. I got into studying them because I was fascinated by a question: how can something as simple as a worm living in the mud in an estuary in Newcastle know exactly what day of the year it is, so that the whole population is able to reproduce on the sa
  
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• How climate crisis made this UK summer feel like a letdown

  22-08-2024 07:00
  
  July was warmer than 1961-1990 average and the 34.8C peak this month was very hot, but perceptions have changedThere has been a widespread feeling that this summer was a big letdown, unusually cool and even cold at times. But was it really so bad? There were some hot spells, and on 12 August temperatures peaked at 34.8C in Cambridge, which was remarkably hot.British summers in the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s were far more likely to be thoroughly cool. And even the historic long hot summer of 1976 ha
  
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• Animal eclipses co-star Jean Reno in filming of My Penguin Friend

  22-08-2024 06:00
  
  How the five-year real-life friendship between a retired Brazilian fisher and Magellanic penguin became a movieThe film My Penguin Friend has two main characters – one played by a Hollywood star and the other by a newcomer – but there was no doubt on set about who should be the most pampered.The first-timer had a “trailer” with a natural saltwater pool and only worked until 3pm. To keep the star from being bitten by a mosquito from the tropical Brazilian beach, a flamethr
  
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• About 500,000 trees cut down at site of Tesla gigafactory near Berlin

  22-08-2024 06:00
  
  Satellite image analysis shows 329 hectares of forest cleared during development of factory in GermanyThe development of a Tesla gigafactory near Berlin has resulted in about 500,000 trees being felled, according to satellite analysis.The building of the German factory has been highly controversial and attracted significant protests, as well as prompting a debate about the trade-offs involved in developing a green economy. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Ingrained in our heritage’: UK’s ancient oaks showcased in Tree of the Year contest

  22-08-2024 01:01
  
  Woodland Trust’s competition comes as charity campaigns for more robust legal protection for precious treesAn oak tree shaped like an elephant and the oak with the widest girth in the UK have been shortlisted for the annual Tree of the Year competition.The Woodland Trust runs the annual competition to raise awareness of the UK’s ancient and at-risk trees.Marton oak, Cheshire
  Sessile oak (quercus petraea) / Approximate age: 1,200 years / Girth: 14.02 metres.Bowthorpe oak, Lincolnshire
  
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• Heat deaths in Europe may triple by end of the century, study finds

  22-08-2024 00:30
  
  Countries in south most at risk, with rise likely to outstrip fall in cold-related deaths if global heating hits 3C or 4CHeat deaths in Europe could triple by the end of the century, with the numbers rising disproportionately in southern European countries such as Italy, Greece and Spain, a study has found.Cold kills more people than heat in Europe, and some have argued that climate change will benefit society by reducing those deaths. But the study, published in the Lancet Public Health, found
  
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