Environment news

• Include gardens in new rules for UK housebuilders, green groups urge

  23-10-2024 19:39
  
  RHS says ensuring access to green space as part of housebuilding push could make Britons healthier Requirements for gardens and the planting of trees must be included in Labour’s planned new rules for housebuilders, green groups have said.The government is drawing up its future homes standard for new developments and it is not yet clear what requirements there will be for green space. Continue reading...
  
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• Disaster dining: cookouts became a lifeline in a hurricane-ravaged North Carolina city

  23-10-2024 19:00
  With no power, no water and soon-to-spoil food, Asheville residents fired up their grills and emptied their freezers for communal mealsErin Kellem’s Asheville, North Carolina neighborhood is a short drive from the city center, but feels remote. The Haw Creek area’s culs-de-sac are fronted by spacious yards and surrounded by thick woods that might give the illusion of isolation.Hurricane Helene changed that, dropping an ocean of rain on the southern Appalachian mountains. Floods of bi
  
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• Solar panels for new homes may just be optional after pressure on Labour from housebuilders

  23-10-2024 16:43
  
  Long-delayed regulations for England may ‘encourage’ housebuilders to equip homes with solar panels, rather than requiring themLabour is considering making solar panels optional on new homes in England, after pressure from housebuilders, in a move that would weaken low-carbon regulations, the Guardian has learned.Ministers are preparing to publish long-delayed regulations for new homes, known as the future homes standard, which would ensure that all newly built homes are low-carbon.
  
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• ‘I had to fill the tub with ice water’: how US readers climate-proof their homes

  23-10-2024 16:17
  Americans are responding to the reality of the climate crisis by adapting their homes, from insulation as a refuge from heat to removing yard debris in case of wildfiresRose, 62, was living in a remote area of Washington, west of Seattle, when the scorching “heat dome” of 2021 hit the Pacific north-west. As the house Rose shared with her then-93-year-old mother grew hotter, and their two aircon units struggled to make any dent on the wall of heat, Rose’s heart rate climbed, and
  
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• ‘I had to fill the tub with ice water’: Americans on how they climate-proof their homes

  23-10-2024 16:17
  US readers are responding to the reality of the climate crisis by adapting their homes, from insulation as a refuge from heat to removing yard debris in case of wildfiresRose, 62, was living in a remote area of Washington, west of Seattle, when the scorching “heat dome” of 2021 hit the Pacific north-west. As the house Rose shared with her then 93-year-old mother grew hotter, and their two air conditioning units struggled to make any dent on the wall of heat, Rose’s heart rate c
  
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• Bill Maher puts the fate of the Great Barrier Reef in the spotlight – but do the claims stack up? | Temperature Check

  23-10-2024 16:00
  
  Danish political scientist Bjorn Lomborg told the US cable host its biggest threat was not the climate crisis, but do his claims stack up?Great Barrier Reef’s worst bleaching leaves giant coral graveyard: ‘It looks as if it has been carpet bombed’Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastInstead of an existential crisis for species worldwide, or threatening to submerge entire Pacific nations and coastal cities where hundreds of millions of people live, or a phe
  
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• ‘We don’t know where the tipping point is’: climate expert on potential collapse of Atlantic circulation

  23-10-2024 15:00
  Oceanographer and climatologist Stefan Rahmstorf discusses causes and possible fallout from changing currentsThe dangers of a collapse of the main Atlantic Ocean circulation, known as Amoc, have been “greatly underestimated” and would have devastating and irreversible impacts, according to an open letter released at the weekend by 44 experts from 15 countries. One of the signatories, Stefan Rahmstorf, an oceanographer and climatologist who heads the Earth system analysis department a
  
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• Plan to put solar panels on all new English homes could be scrapped

  23-10-2024 14:27
  
  Long-delayed regulations may ‘encourage’ housebuilders to equip homes with solar panels, rather than requiring themLabour is considering making solar panels optional on new homes in England, after pressure from housebuilders, in a move that would weaken low-carbon regulations, the Guardian has learned.Ministers are preparing to publish long-delayed regulations for new homes, known as the future homes standard, which would ensure that all newly built homes are low-carbon. Continue rea
  
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• Guardians of the gibbons: inside the Indian village where humans and hoolocks live side by side

  23-10-2024 12:06
  
  Villagers in Barekuri, Assam, have lived closely with endangered hoolock gibbons for generations. A new Guardian documentary shows their bond – and the fight to protect themOn a misty winter morning, farmer Mohit Chutia sits on the ground outside his home rocking his grandson in his lap. He sings about the hoolock gibbons, the only ape species in India. High in the tree canopy above, the gibbons leap gracefully from branch to branch. Below, Chutia and his family watch.It is a picture of th
  
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• Guardians of the Gibbons: can India save its only ape species from extinction?

  23-10-2024 11:56
  
  For over a century the villagers of Barekuri, north-east India’s biodiversity hotspot, have coexisted with the country’s only ape species, the hoolock gibbon. But this harmony stands in fragile ecological balance. Mohit Chutia, a 55-year-old farmer and father, has been taking care of one gibbon family while raising his own. When researcher Ishika Ramakrishna arrives to study human-gibbon interactions, she joins forces with Mohit and the villagers to tackle the gibbons' urgent populat
  
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• Guardians of the Gibbons: animal-human harmony hangs in the balance

  23-10-2024 11:56
  For over a century the villagers of Barekuri, north-east India’s biodiversity hotspot, have coexisted with the country’s only ape species, the hoolock gibbon. But this harmony stands in fragile ecological balance. Mohit Chutia, a 55-year-old farmer and father, has been taking care of one gibbon family while raising his own. When researcher Ishika Ramakrishna arrives to study human-gibbon interactions, she joins forces with Mohit and the villagers to tackle the gibbons’ urgent p
  
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• Guardian of the Gibbons: animal-human harmony hangs in the balance

  23-10-2024 11:56
  
  For over a century the villagers of Barekuri, north-east India’s biodiversity hotspot, have coexisted with the country’s only ape species, the hoolock gibbon. But this harmony stands in fragile ecological balance. Mohit Chutia, a 55-year-old farmer and father, has been taking care of one gibbon family while raising his own. When researcher Ishika Ramakrishna arrives to study human-gibbon interactions, she joins forces with Mohit and the villagers to tackle the gibbons’ urgent p
  
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• The Spin | Pat Cummins takes lead on climate crisis as cricketers pitch green plan

  23-10-2024 11:30
  
  Cricket for Climate is making ‘phenomenal’ strides in Australia, and the global game is joining the movementIt was four years ago during the Covid lockdown that Pat Cummins found himself with some time on his hands and started to join the dots between some of what he had experienced on the cricket field and the climate crisis. The time he lost six kilos in a day, the days he found it hard to breathe.He thought about it more when he became captain and started to make decisions based o
  
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• Cop29 host Azerbaijan set for major fossil gas expansion, report says

  23-10-2024 09:00
  
  Exclusive: Those with ‘interest in keeping world hooked on fossil fuels’ should not oversee climate talks, say report authorsAzerbaijan, the host of the Cop29 global climate summit, will see a large expansion of fossil gas production in the next decade, a new report has revealed. The authors said that the crucial negotiations should not be overseen by “those with a vested interest in keeping the world hooked on fossil fuels”.Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil and gas comp
  
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• Why does gas supplier charge £486 to remove meter when others do it free?

  23-10-2024 08:00
  
  We needed the gas supply cut off so we could install a heat pump to help the environmentAt our Quaker meeting house we have tried to help the planet by swapping our gas boiler for an air source heat pump. We asked our supplier, Crown Gas & Power, to end our supply, and were surprised to be told that we had to keep paying the 99p a day standing charge until the meter was removed.However, the big shock came when it charged us £486 to remove the meter. We queried this, but were told it wa
  
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• Terrawatch: mystery of Siberian explosive craters solved

  23-10-2024 07:00
  Study finds craters come from forceful releases of methane gas from underground ponds as temperatures warmIn 2014 a mysterious crater suddenly appeared on the Yamal peninsula in north-west Siberia. The debris surrounding this 50-metre-deep hole suggested it had been produced by an explosive process. Since then, scientists and local people have discovered several more craters on the Yamal and nearby Gydan peninsulas and a multitude of explanations have been put forward, ranging from meteor impact
  
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• Sellafield cleanup cost rises to £136bn amid tensions with Treasury

  23-10-2024 06:01
  
  National Audit Office questions value for money as predicted bill for decommissioning increases by £21bnThe cost of cleaning up Sellafield is expected to spiral to £136bn and Europe’s biggest nuclear waste dump cannot show how it offers taxpayers value for money, the public spending watchdog has said.Projects to fix buildings containing hazardous and radioactive material at the state-owned site on the Cumbrian coast are running years late and over budget. Sellafield’s spe
  
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• Western Australia is tearing up environmental protections – and taking a bet the rest of the country won’t notice | Carmen Lawrence

  23-10-2024 05:06
  
  The state Labor government is steering Australia’s climate policy, letting emissions soar unbridled as it paves the way for massive fossil fuel projectsWestern Australia sometimes feels more than three hours behind the rest of the country.The tyranny of our distance has always meant it’s been hard to get the attention of the east coast. Continue reading...
  
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• Mickey the cockatoo rescued after four weeks 'living on brioche' in Sydney supermarket – video

  23-10-2024 04:24
  
  A sulphur-crested cockatoo named Mickey that had been 'living on brioche' inside a Sydney supermarket for four weeks has been captured by wildlife services and is expected to be set free soon. On Tuesday morning, another cockatoo, Old Lady Doris, was taken into the supermarket by the Feathered Friends bird rescue director Ravi Wasan to comfort the lost bird, allowing Wasan to successfully capture him. Wasan said Mickey looked 'physically fine' and was not hungry because he was eating 'really wel
  
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• Rogue gamekeepers killing birds of prey, says RSPB

  23-10-2024 02:19 via bbc.com
  
  The bird protection charity described the deaths as a 'national disgrace'.
  
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• Urban green spaces have vital role in cutting heat-related deaths, study finds

  23-10-2024 00:30
  
  Comprehensive review suggests that adding more parks, trees and greenery could improve public health Green spaces in cities play a vital role in reducing illness and deaths caused by climate breakdown, according to the most comprehensive study of its kind.The findings of the review suggest that adding more parks, trees and greenery to urban areas could help countries tackle heat-related harms and improve public health. Continue reading...
  
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