Environment news

• Rare vision of WA’s Scott Reef shows dazzling ecosystem threatened by gas projects – video

  11-12-2024 23:59 via theguardian.com
  
  A dozen marine scientists, film-makers, musicians and conservationists, including Tim Winton, John Butler and Dr Ben Fitzpatrick, have made an epic voyage to Scott Reef, one of Australia’s wildest and most remote coral reefs, to document the threats posed by Woodside’s Browse gas proposal. Woodside’s Burrup Hub is the biggest new fossil fuel project in the southern hemisphere and, if approved, wouldemit more than 6bn tonnes of CO2 by 2070Australia’s north-west reefs teem
  
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• Workers farm at night to avoid intense heat – but it can lead to other negative effects

  11-12-2024 18:00 via theguardian.com
  From farm workers in Brazil to India and the US midwest, shifting to a schedule where it’s dark out could mean dangerous conditions and less foodThis story was produced by Grist and co-published with the Guardian.For years, Josana Pinto da Costa ventured out every morning on to the waterways lining Óbidos, Brazil, in a small fishing boat. Gliding over the murky, churning currents of the Amazon River basin, her flat nets brought in writhing hauls. Continue reading...
  
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• 'Christmas lights' galaxy reveals how Universe formed

  11-12-2024 17:00 via bbc.com
  
  The galaxy resembling Christmas lights hanging in the cosmos has space scientists feeling festive
  
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• ‘A human face on an abstract problem’: ICJ forced to listen to climate victims

  11-12-2024 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Marginalised communities have been elevated during hearings in The Hague on impact of climate crisisThe village of Veraibari in Papua New Guinea sits at the mouth of the Kikori River, just before it opens into the Pacific. “Veraibari was so beautiful when I was a child,” remembers Ara Kouwo, 52. “I used to walk down to the beach passing under mango trees.”Kouwo’s testimony was one of many included in written submissions to the international court of justice (ICJ) be
  
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• Food insecurity rising in UK because of climate breakdown, Defra report finds

  11-12-2024 14:04 via theguardian.com
  
  Access to balanced diet also affected by inflation and Brexit, hitting most vulnerable households hardestUK politics live – latest updatesNumbers of hungry and malnourished households in the UK are on the rise because of climate breakdown and inflation, government figures show, with poorer, younger and disabled people hit hardest.Many households worry about food running out, cannot afford balanced meals, experience hunger and have missed meals in the past 30 days, the figures reveal. Conti
  
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• Trawl the sea or mine for metals? Pacific nations wrestle with how to protect oceans - and livelihoods

  11-12-2024 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Palau plans to allow more fishing in its marine sanctuary, as countries across the region seek to balance conservation with economic needsDotted across the north-west of the Pacific Ocean, the limestone islands of Palau rise like forested domes. Beneath the waves, reefs pulse with activity – fish dart through coral gardens, turtles drift nearby, while sharks with black-tipped fins shadow a passing tourist boat.Nearly a decade ago, the country took a bold step to safeguard this vibrant seas
  
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• ‘I have to live in a cocoon’: locals in Pennsylvania feel ‘sacrificed’ for Shell plastics plant

  11-12-2024 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Residents accuse the oil firm of overstating the benefits of its ethane cracker plant – and playing down the harmsNadine Luci lives on a breezy hill south-western Pennsylvania, but hardly ever opens her windows for fear the air outside is harming her.“I have to live in a cocoon year-round,” she said. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Making Argentina great again’? What a year under a climate-change denying president has done for the country

  11-12-2024 12:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Javier Milei’s push for extraction and cuts to land protections have left people fearing for their way of life – and environmentalists concerned about the futureLike many who follow Mapuche traditions in the Mendoza region of Argentina, Gabriel Jofré, 50, raises goats, moving between the plains in winter and the peaks of the Andes in summer, amid the region’s 4,000 glaciers. But the future of his people’s ancestral way of life is threatened, he says, by the climate
  
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• ‘We’re an evolving laboratory’: the island on a quest to be self-sufficient in energy

  11-12-2024 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Harnessing wind, hydro and maybe geothermal power, the tiny Canary Island of El Hierro is blazing a trail for sustainable energy – and the secret is all in the mixWords and photographs by Ofelia de Pablo and Javier ZuritaA vertiginous outcrop with more than 500 volcanoes, El Hierro, the most westerly of the Canary Islands, is less than 12 miles (20km) wide but features elevation differences of more than 1,500 metres. Swept by strong Atlantic winds and pockmarked with volcanic craters, it h
  
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• I regret none of the climate policies we pushed in Ireland. But we underestimated the backlash | Eamon Ryan

  11-12-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  From rural buses to solar panels, our Green agenda has been transformative. Yet, vested interests and big polluters helped to poison the well of public thinkingEamon Ryan was Irish Green party leader from 2011 to 2024Ireland’s Green party went into government in 2020 determined to bring Ireland from laggard to leader on the climate crisis. Public opinion was with us, and we won more than 7% of the national vote. This mandate allowed us to negotiate a coalition agreement with Ireland’
  
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• Imported foods found with residues of 48 pesticides not approved for UK use

  11-12-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Pesticide Action Network analysis of government testing data finds chemicals linked to cancer and harmful to beesImported food has been found to have residues of 48 pesticides that have not been approved for use by British farmers, including chemicals linked to cancer and imidacloprid, which is harmful to bees, analysis shows.Pesticide Action Network (PAN) went through UK government testing data, comparing the results for pesticide tests on imported and domestically produced food. They found the
  
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• Britain leads the world in cracking down on climate activism, study finds

  11-12-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Research shows UK police arrest environmental and climate protesters at three times the average global rateBritish police arrest environmental protesters at nearly three times the global average rate, research has found, revealing the country as a world leader in the legal crackdown on climate activism.Only Australia arrested climate and environmental protesters at a higher rate than UK police. One in five Australian eco-protests led to arrests, compared with about 17% in the UK. The global aver
  
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• Birdwatch: have we been getting the unadmired starling all wrong?

  11-12-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Many resent them for bullying smaller birds at the garden feeder but their plumage has an undeniable beautyIf there were a competition for Britain’s least admired bird, the starling would be a leading contender for first prize. Only magpies, carrion crows and feral pigeons come close. It’s not that we actively hate starlings, although some people do resent their dominance over smaller birds at their garden feeders. But few would admit to actually liking them.Most of the time, we simp
  
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• Country Diary: These cliffs are more unstable than ever | Sara Hudston

  11-12-2024 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  West Bay, Dorset: People have lost their lives here, even long before the wetter weather we have now. So I keep my distance from the edgeSunlit air sparkles and fizzes, atoms dancing after the storm. A black-pepper scatter of jackdaws hangs in the wind, swaying like a shoal of fish opposing the tide. Herring gulls glide and scream, underwings white with reflected light.The sea is graphite-grey, heavy waves exploding and casting sheets of whipped egg-white foam across the sand. I stand back from
  
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• Global food production at increased risk from excess salt in soil, UN report warns

  11-12-2024 03:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Scientists say climate crisis and poor agricultural practices to blame with serious implications for crop yieldsThe extent of the world’s land affected by excess salt is set to increase rapidly with potentially devastating impacts on food production, research has found.About 1.4bn hectares (3.4bn acres), amounting to 10% of global land, is affected by salinity, with a further 1bn hectares classed as “at risk”, a report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization has found. Co
  
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• Seal colony thriving 'thanks to secluded site'

  11-12-2024 02:49 via bbc.com
  
  The National Trust hopes the colony will continue to grow and rival others along the coast.
  
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• Whale makes epic migration, astonishing scientists

  11-12-2024 01:02 via bbc.com
  
  A humpback whale makes one of the longest and most unusual migrations ever recorded, raising alarm.
  
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