Environment news

• Microplastics in placentas linked to premature births, study suggests

  30-01-2025 23:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Tiny plastic pollution more than 50% higher in placentas from preterm births than in those from full-term birthsA study has found microplastic and nanoplastic pollution to be significantly higher in placentas from premature births than in those from full-term births.The levels were much higher than previously detected in blood, suggesting the tiny plastic particles were accumulating in the placenta. But the higher average levels found in the shorter pregnancies were a “big surprise”
  
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• No targets for aviation or farming in UK climate plan

  30-01-2025 21:02 via bbc.com
  
  The UK has set an ambitious goal to radically reduce carbon emissions by 2035.
  
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• Ben Jennings on Labour’s climate climbdown – cartoon

  30-01-2025 19:24 via theguardian.com
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• ‘Everyone has an impact’: how to start reducing your environmental footprint

  30-01-2025 18:05 via theguardian.com
  
  As fires tear through California and Trump sets back efforts to curb the rise of global temperatures, what can individuals do to make a difference?2024 was the hottest year on record. Average global temperatures rose to 1.6C above preindustrial levels, according to data from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) – a rise that led to extreme weather events and “misery to millions of people”, as one of the group’s experts told the Guardian.Less than a month
  
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• How US states are leading the climate fight – despite Trump’s rollbacks

  30-01-2025 16:30 via theguardian.com
  Officials are making clean-energy moves in California, New York and beyond, and Republican states will be integral tooAs the Trump administration rolls back decades-old environmental protections and pulls Biden-era incentives for renewable energy, state-level advocates and officials are preparing to fill the void in climate action.Some state leaders are preparing to legally challenge the president’s environmental rollbacks, while others are testifying against them in Congress. Meanwhile, a
  
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• Hundreds protest in London as jailed climate activists’ appeals are heard

  30-01-2025 16:10 via theguardian.com
  Road outside high court blocked in protest at ‘draconian’ sentences given to 16 Just Stop Oil ‘political prisoners’Hundreds of protesters have blocked the road outside the high court in London, where the appeals of 16 jailed climate activists are being heard, in condemnation of “the corruption of democracy and the rule of law”.As England’s most senior judge heard arguments in the appeal of the sentences of the Just Stop Oil activists, who are serving a c
  
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• Labour warned tough laws against people smugglers in new bill could penalise asylum seekers – UK politics live

  30-01-2025 14:44 via theguardian.com
  Refugee Council says ‘many refugees themselves could also be prosecuted’ under proposalsRichard Madeley goes next.Q: The Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary says you are wrong, and the third runway won’t be built until you are 70. You are 45 now. Why is he wrong?We’re signing off decisions on wind farms, on solar farms, a commitment to a new stadium at Old Trafford. We are upgrading the Transpennine route to make journey times easier between York and Manchester via Leeds a
  
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• ‘The world order could start to evolve from the Arctic’: Trump, thin ice and the fight for the Northwest Passage

  30-01-2025 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  While the US president seems hellbent on securing Greenland, local experts believe that controlling the potentially lucrative shipping route will be no mean featIf shipping boss Niels Clemensen were to offer any advice to Donald Trump or anyone else trying to get a foothold in Greenland, it would be this: “Come up here and see what you are actually dealing with.”Sitting on the top floor of his beamed office in Nuuk harbour, where snow is being flung around by strong winds in the mid-
  
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• ‘The world order could start to evolve from the Arctic’: Trump, thin ice and the fight for Greenland’s Northwest Passage

  30-01-2025 12:00 via theguardian.com
  While the US president seems hellbent on securing Greenland, local experts advise that achieving control of its potentially lucrative shipping route will be no mean featIf shipping boss Niels Clemensen were to offer any advice to Donald Trump or anyone else trying to get a foothold in Greenland, it would be this: “Come up here and see what you are actually dealing with.”Sitting on the top floor of his beamed office in Nuuk harbour, where snow is being flung around by strong winds in
  
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• Rosebank oilfield go-ahead decision ruled unlawful by Edinburgh court

  30-01-2025 11:00 via theguardian.com
  Court says UK government green light for Rosebank and Jackdaw permits does not take into account CO2 emissionsThe decision to greenlight a giant new oilfield off Shetland has been ruled unlawful by the courts in a major win for environmental campaigners.The proposed Rosebank development – the UK’s biggest untapped oilfield – had been given the go-ahead in 2023 under the previous government. Continue reading...
  
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• Rosebank oilfield decision ruled unlawful by Edinburgh court

  30-01-2025 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Court of session says UK government go-ahead for Rosebank and Jackdaw permits does not take into account carbon emissionsThe decision to greenlight a giant new oilfield off Shetland has been ruled unlawful by the courts in a major win for environmental campaigners.The proposed Rosebank development – the UK’s biggest untapped oilfield – had been given the go-ahead in 2023 under the previous government. Continue reading...
  
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• Rachel Reeves says cabinet ‘united’ in backing Heathrow third runway plan – UK politics live

  30-01-2025 10:11 via theguardian.com
  Chancellor says she has support of cabinet as climate minister Ed Miliband reported to be sceptical over Heathrow plansRichard Madeley goes next.Q: The Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary says you are wrong, and the third runway won’t be built until you are 70. You are 45 now. Why is he wrong?We’re signing off decisions on wind farms, on solar farms, a commitment to a new stadium at Old Trafford. We are upgrading the Transpennine route to make journey times easier between York and Man
  
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• Reeves claims sustainable aviation fuel a ‘game changer’ in debate about emissions and third Heathrow runway – UK politics live

  30-01-2025 10:03 via theguardian.com
  Chancellor says she has asked Heathrow to present plans for runway expansion by summerRichard Madeley goes next.Q: The Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary says you are wrong, and the third runway won’t be built until you are 70. You are 45 now. Why is he wrong?We’re signing off decisions on wind farms, on solar farms, a commitment to a new stadium at Old Trafford. We are upgrading the Transpennine route to make journey times easier between York and Manchester via Leeds and Huddersfiel
  
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• Look at Labour’s acts of environmental vandalism and ask: did I vote for this? | George Monbiot

  30-01-2025 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Our rivers, our wildlife, the air we breathe: the government is sacrificing all to the insatiable god of GDP – and mocking our objectionsI can scarcely believe I’m writing this, but it’s hard to dodge the conclusion. After 14 years of environmental vandalism, it might have seemed impossible for Labour to offer anything but improvement. But on green issues, this government is worse than the Tories.The last prime minister to insist that growth should override every other consider
  
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• In the most untouched, pristine parts of the Amazon, birds are dying. Scientists may finally know why

  30-01-2025 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Populations have been falling for decades, even in tracts of forest undamaged by humans. Experts have spent two decades trying to understand what is going onSomething was happening to the birds at Tiputini. The biodiversity research centre, buried deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon, has always been special. It is astonishingly remote: a tiny scattering of research cabins in 1.7m hectares (4.2m acres) of virgin forest. For scientists, it comes about as close as you can to observing rainforest wildlife
  
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• Country diary: A shivering walk with a dramatic climax | Susie White

  30-01-2025 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Garrigill, Cumbria: The further we walk along the South Tyne river, the grander the gorges – till we reach a sweeping amphitheatreThe felltop road from Nenthead to Garrigill is still icy and we have to go carefully. Patches of snow linger behind dry stone walls despite the sunlight that delineates the workings and ruins of these heavily mined moors. Garrigill village, once a hub of industry where 1,000 people lived, is now a quiet collection of houses around a triangular green. The Spine R
  
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• How sled dogs and pets respond when the clocks change

  30-01-2025 02:04 via bbc.com
  
  The breeds show different reaction to clocks going back and forward, a study suggests.
  
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