Environment news

• Vietnam boats using child labour for illegal fishing

  19-11-2019 14:49 via theguardian.com
  
  Children as young as 11 discovered on boats fishing illegally in Thai waters for seafood that could end up on sale in EU supermarketsChildren as young as 11 are working aboard Vietnamese vessels fishing illegally for seafood that could end up on sale in supermarkets in the EU and US, according to an investigation by the Environmental Justice Foundation.The children were discovered on boats detained by Thai authorities for fishing illegally in Thai waters, thousands of miles from their homes. Con
  
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• Fears grow over rising number of oil lobbyists at UN plastic pollution talks

  25-04-2024 15:44 via theguardian.com
  
  Proposed global treaty to curb production represents challenge to producers of fossil fuels, from which most plastics are madeThe number of fossil fuel and petrochemical industry lobbyists at UN talks to agree the first global treaty to cut plastic pollution has increased by more than a third, according to an analysis.Most plastic is made from fossil fuels, via a chemical process known as cracking, and 196 lobbyists from both industries are at the UN talks in Ottawa, Canada, where countries are
  
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• ‘Huge disappointment’ as UK delays bottle deposit plan and excludes glass

  25-04-2024 14:05 via theguardian.com
  
  Scheme for plastic bottles and cans put back to 2027 while environment minister says glass recycling ‘unduly’ complex A UK deposit return scheme for recycling drinks bottles has been delayed to 2027, meaning it will not be in place until almost a decade after it was proposed.Campaigners say the delay is a “huge disappointment”, adding they are doubly dismayed that the plan will not include glass bottles. Continue reading...
  
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• New rule compels US coal-fired power plants to capture emissions – or shut down

  25-04-2024 13:35 via theguardian.com
  
  New EPA directive will cut pollution equivalent to the emissions of 328m cars, but industry group decries it as a ‘reckless plan’Coal-fired power plants would be forced to capture smokestack emissions or shut down under a rule issued on Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).New limits on greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-fired electric plants are the Biden administration’s most ambitious effort yet to roll back planet-warming pollution from the power sec
  
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• Global battery rollout doubled last year – but needs to be six times faster, says IEA

  25-04-2024 13:17 via theguardian.com
  
  Energy watchdog warns pace must accelerate to hit targets after new batteries increased capacity by 130%The rollout of batteries across the global electricity industry more than doubled last year but will need to be six times faster if the world hopes to meet its renewable energy targets, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).A report from the global energy watchdog found that new batteries totalling 42 gigawatts (GW) were plugged into electricity systems around the world last year,
  
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• Flint residents grapple with water crisis a decade later: ‘If we had the energy left, we’d cry’

  25-04-2024 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Years after the emergency, the Michigan city is yet to replace all lead pipes and affected families are still awaiting justiceEarlier this month, Brittany Thomas received a call that her 11-year-old daughter Janiyah had experienced a seizure at school.“She’d been seizure-free for about two years now,” said Thomas, a resident of Flint, Michigan. “And they just came back.” Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Outrageous’ climate activists get in the faces of politicians and oil bosses – will it work?

  25-04-2024 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  As the climate crisis has deepened, protesters have become more confrontational – and their ambitions have grownThe head of ExxonMobil told to “eat shit” as he was about to receive an award. A US senator and coal boss called a “sick fuck”, almost sparking a brawl. Theatre shows interrupted. As the climate crisis has deepened, protests aimed at those deemed responsible are becoming starkly personal, and often confrontational.At the vanguard of this new style of in-yo
  
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• Twenty-nine pilot whales dead after mass stranding on WA beach

  25-04-2024 10:48 via theguardian.com
  
  Up to 160 whales have beached themselves at Toby Inlet near Dunsborough, more than 250km south of PerthFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastAuthorities are rushing to save more than 150 whales from a mass stranding at a beach in Western Australia’s south-west. Four pods have spread across roughly 500 metres at Toby Inlet near Dunsborough and 29 of these have died, Parks and Wildlife Service Western Au
  
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• 160 pilot whales stranded and 26 confirmed dead in Western Australia – video

  25-04-2024 07:19 via theguardian.com
  
  Authorities are rushing to save more than 150 whales from a mass stranding at a beach in Western Australia’s south-west. Four pods have spread across roughly 500 metres at Toby Inlet near Dunsborough and 26 of these have died, Parks and Wildlife Service Western Australia confirmed. Wildlife officers, marine scientists and veterinarians are on site assessing the conditions of the whales that have become stranded► Subscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTubeMass pilot whale stranding on
  
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• Repeated periods of heat and drought causing some trees to die – study

  25-04-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Researchers in the Netherlands find climate change is increasing vulnerability of some speciesClimate change is causing apparently healthy trees to die after periods of heat and drought. Many may not die immediately but repeated periods of hot weather seem to increase the vulnerability of some species more than others.Researchers studied 20 species of conifers planted 100 years ago in the same place in the Netherlands, taking tree ring samples to see how they did in droughts between 1970 and 201
  
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• Nature destruction will cause bigger economic slump in UK than 2008 crisis, experts warn

  25-04-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Green Finance Institute report said further pollution could cut 12% off GDP by 2030sThe destruction of nature over the rest of the decade could trigger a bigger economic slump in Britain than those caused by the 2008 global financial crisis and the Covid pandemic, experts have warned.Sounding the alarm over the rising financial cost from pollution, damage to water systems, soil erosion, and threats from disease, the report by the Green Finance Institute warned that further breakdown in the UK&rs
  
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• Ministers of Germany, Brazil, South Africa and Spain: why we need a global tax on billionaires

  25-04-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Finance chiefs say higher taxes for the super-rich are key to battling global inequality and climate crisisBillionaires should pay minimum 2% wealth tax, say G20 ministersWhen the governors of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund convened for the spring meetings last week, it was all about the really big questions. What can the international community do to accelerate decarbonisation and fight climate change? How can highly indebted countries retain fiscal space to invest in povert
  
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• Country diary: The dandelions should be crowded; instead, a solitary bee | Paul Evans

  25-04-2024 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  The Marches, Shropshire: These glorious so-called weeds are everywhere at the moment, undimmed by the lack of attentionDandelion days. There is such wild energy in the air, the weather blows from hail, through showers, to bright sunshine, and dandelions pop up everywhere. There’s old “piss-a-bed” with its fang-root biting into an abandoned cemetery memorial: the white marble one with pillars, wreaths and adoring wives.Anywhere dandelions grow they are local; antisocia
  
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• Mosquito-borne diseases spreading in Europe due to climate crisis, says expert

  25-04-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Illnesses such as dengue and malaria to reach unaffected parts of northern Europe, America, Asia and Australia, conference to hearMosquito-borne diseases are spreading across the globe, and particularly in Europe, due to climate breakdown, an expert has said.The insects spread illnesses such as malaria and dengue fever, the prevalences of which have hugely increased over the past 80 years as global heating has given them the warmer, more humid conditions they thrive in. Continue reading...
  
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• Twenty-six pilot whales dead after mass stranding on WA beach

  25-04-2024 05:23 via theguardian.com
  
  Up to 160 whales have beached themselves at Toby Inlet near Dunsborough, more than 250km south of PerthFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastAuthorities are rushing to save more than 150 whales from a mass stranding at a beach in Western Australia’s south-west. Four pods have spread across roughly 500 metres at Toby Inlet near Dunsborough and 26 of these have died, Parks and Wildlife Service Western Au
  
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• Survey finds that 60 firms are responsible for half of world’s plastic pollution

  24-04-2024 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Study confirms Philip Morris International, Danone, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are worst offendersFewer than 60 multinationals are responsible for more than half of the world’s plastic pollution, with five responsible for a quarter of that, based on the findings of a piece of research published on Wednesday.The researchers concluded that for every percentage increase in plastic produced, there was an equivalent increase in plastic pollution in the environment. Continue reading...
  
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• Tory duty on Ofwat protects profits over reducing sewage pollution, experts say

  24-04-2024 18:24 via theguardian.com
  
  Campaigners fear growth duty will hamper water regulator’s ability to crack down on companies in poor financial stateThe Conservatives have pushed through a duty on the water regulator to prioritise growth, which experts have said will incentivise water companies to value their bottom lines over reducing sewage pollution.Campaigners fear this move will weaken Ofwat’s ability to crack down on water companies as it may force the regulator to consider a company’s financial situati
  
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• How divestment became a ‘clarion call’ in anti-fossil fuel and pro-ceasefire protests

  24-04-2024 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The divestment movement has a long history among US student activists, including in the overlapping movements of todayCameron Jones first learned about fossil fuel divestment as a 15-year-old climate organizer. When he enrolled at Columbia University in 2022, he joined the campus’s chapter of the youth-led climate justice group the Sunrise Movement and began pushing the school in New York to sever financial ties with coal, oil and gas companies.“The time for institutions like Columbi
  
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• Doctors condemn suspension of retired GP over UK climate protests

  24-04-2024 15:16 via theguardian.com
  
  British Medical Association says decision to take Dr Sarah Benn off medical register for five months ‘sends worrying message’Doctors groups are calling for urgent consideration of the rules for medical professionals who take peaceful direct action on the climate crisis, which they say is the “greatest threat to global health”, after a GP was suspended from the register for non-violent protest.Dr Sarah Benn, a GP from Birmingham, was taken off the medical register for five
  
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• UK ‘helping Russia pay for its war on Ukraine’ via loophole on refined oil imports

  24-04-2024 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  £2.2bn-worth of oil processed in China, India and Turkey – to whom Russia supplies crude – was imported in 2023, data showsThe UK has been accused of “helping Russia pay for its war on Ukraine” by continuing to import record amounts of refined oil from countries processing Kremlin fossil fuels.Government data analysed by the environmental news site Desmog shows that imports of refined oil from India, China and Turkey amounted to £2.2bn in 2023, the same record
  
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• Birdsong once signalled the onset of spring on my street – but not this year | Tony Juniper

  24-04-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  A dawn chorus of flutes, whistles and chirps once flowed through my Cambridge window, but there has been a shocking collapse in birdlife. What can be done?Every year from February through to June, the early morning chorus of birdsong is one of the most evocative manifestations of spring. During late winter I open the bedroom window before going to sleep, to hear that incredible mix of flutes, whistles and chirps that begin before first light, when I wake. I listen for the layers of song that sim
  
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• Estuaries, the ‘nurseries of the sea’, are disappearing fast

  24-04-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Study reveals repurposing of ecologically vital land for homes or agriculture is happening particularly rapidly in AsiaEstuaries – the place where a river meets the ocean – are often called the “nurseries of the sea”. They are home to many of the fish we eat and support vast numbers of birds, while the surrounding salt marsh helps to stabilise shorelines and absorb floods.However, a new study shows that nearly half of the world’s estuaries have been altered by human
  
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• Country diary: Standing in the shadow of a giant | Sean Wood

  24-04-2024 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Dumfries, Scotland: It’s strange to think sequoias are more numerous here than in their homeland California. This one, down the road from me, is captivating companyAs a young boy, my copy of Strange But True contained fascinating photographs of a coach and horses and a Model T Ford driving through a hole in an enormous sequoia. Recently, these monsters have been in the news due to the number of sequoias, or giant redwoods, in the UK – about 500,000 here, compared with only about 80,0
  
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• Plant apocalypse: how new diseases are destroying EU trees and crops

  24-04-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  From ancient olive groves to root vegetables, foreign pests introduced via the bloc’s open import system are causing damage worth billions – and outbreaks are on the riseThe plants slowly choke to death, wither and dry out. They die en masse, leaves dropping and bark turning grey, creating a sea of monochrome. Since scientists first discovered Xylella fastidiosa in 2013 in Puglia, Italy, it has killed a third of the region’s 60 million olive trees – which once produced al
  
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• The Guardian view on the Sahel and its crises: the west can still make a difference | Editorial

  23-04-2024 19:53 via theguardian.com
  
  The region is turning towards Russia and other global players when it comes to security. Tackling the climate crisis would contribute to a solutionTwo apparently separate developments in the Sahel are linked by more than geography. Last week, the US confirmed that it will withdraw more than 1,000 troops from Niger after the military junta revoked a security pact – just six years after a new $110m military base opened. Meanwhile, a record heatwave is the latest deadly extreme weather event.
  
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• ‘We all connected over Flaco’: artists turn beloved animals into symbols of their US cities

  23-04-2024 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The biggest cities in the US are mourning animals who fostered a rare sense of connection. Art is preserving their legaciesWorking near Central Park, one New Yorker regularly witnessed one of its most beloved residents: Flaco the owl, who became a celebrity after escaping the nearby zoo. The woman took the bird’s message to heart, re-evaluated her life and decided to quit her job. Now, she’s one of dozens with a Flaco tattoo.“They’ll be walking around the rest of their li
  
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• ‘Long live the king’: the artists and tattooists turning Flaco and P-22 into city icons

  23-04-2024 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The biggest cities in the US are mourning animals who fostered a rare sense of connection. Art is preserving their legaciesWorking near Central Park, one New Yorker regularly witnessed one of its most beloved residents: Flaco the owl, who became a celebrity after escaping the nearby zoo. The woman took the bird’s message to heart, re-evaluated her life and decided to quit her job. Now, she’s one of dozens with a Flaco tattoo.“They’ll be walking around the rest of their li
  
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• Dutton’s plan to save Australia with nuclear comes undone when you look between the brushstrokes | Temperature Check

  23-04-2024 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The dystopian picture of renewables painted by the opposition leader is full of inconsistencies, partial truths and misinformationGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastThe Coalition leader, Peter Dutton, has been trying to paint a picture of what life in Australia will be like if it tries to power itself mostly with renewable energy and without his technology of choice: nuclear.Towering turbines offshore will hurt whales, dolphins and the fishing industry, fact
  
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• Retired UK GP suspended for five months after climate protests

  23-04-2024 16:47 via theguardian.com
  
  Sarah Benn is first of three GPs facing disciplinary tribunals this year over climate activismA doctor who went to jail after a series of climate protests has been taken off the medical register for five months – and still faces being permanently struck off.The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) – the disciplinary arm of the General Medical Council (GMC) – suspended Dr Sarah Benn on Tuesday, having found last week that her fitness to practise as a doctor had been imp
  
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• Boy, 9, from Derbyshire, wins gull screeching competition

  23-04-2024 13:16 via theguardian.com
  
  Cooper Wallace wore a costume and lunged at some chips in his act at the impersonation contest in BelgiumA nine-year-old boy from Derbyshire has screeched his way to victory at the European championships of a gull impersonation competition.Cooper Wallace, a gull enthusiast from Chesterfield, competed in the fourth European gull screeching championship in Belgium on Sunday. Continue reading...
  
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