Category Archives: Climate crisis

Activists hail Biden’s use of security powers to boost clean energy

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President invokes Defense Production Act to increase production of solar panels, building insulation and other equipment

Environmental groups have welcomed Joe Biden’s invoking of national security powers to rapidly expand the production of clean energy technology as a significant advance in the effort to curb dangerous climate breakdown.

Biden has triggered the Defense Production Act, a cold war-era law used compel businesses to ramp up production of certain materials to aid national security, to boost the output of solar panels, building insulation, transformers for power grids and heat pumps, which are used to efficiently heat and cool homes.

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Food strategy for England likely to be watered down

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People working with government on strategy say ambitious plans to tackle nature, climate and health crises have been ditched

The government is expected to water down its upcoming food strategy for England, ignoring the ambitious recommendations proposed in two government-commissioned reports, campaigners say.

The white paper, due later this month, was supposed to be a groundbreaking plan to tackle the nature and climate emergencies in response to eye-catching recommendations urged by the restaurateur Henry Dimbleby in his reports.

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Let Africa exploit its natural gas reserves, says Mary Robinson

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Ex-UN climate envoy says continent’s need for energy is so great it should be able to widely use the fossil fuel

African countries should be able to exploit their vast natural gas reserves despite the urgent need to cut global greenhouse gas emissions, the former UN climate envoy Mary Robinson has said.

Robinson, the chair of the Elders group of former world statespeople and business leaders, said African countries’ need for energy was so great that they should use gas widely, in contrast to developed countries that must halt their gas use as quickly as possible to stave off climate breakdown.

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Elif Shafak: there’s a scream building up in young people

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Author cites Brexit and the climate crisis as examples of previous generations ‘breaking’ their future

The author Elif Shafak has said she thinks “there’s a scream building up” inside many young people, because they feel their future “is being shaped by older generations”.

“It’s difficult to be young, in this age in particular,” the Turkish-British novelist told the Hay festival. “It’s their future that’s been broken by previous generations,” she said, citing Brexit and the climate emergency.

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Fights broke out as top-down approach to Lismore flood response failed, inquiry told

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Locals who were trying to help rescue residents and feed evacuees clashed with NSW agencies, community witnesses say

Lismore residents have told of fights breaking out between members of the public trying to help and officials attempting to implement a failed “top-down” approach during the height of the flood emergency.

Several community witnesses at a parliamentary inquiry into catastrophic flooding in the town told MPs on Tuesday they were completely disillusioned with Resilience NSW, the new agency established in 2020 to lead disaster and emergency efforts from prevention to recovery.

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Biden praises Ardern for ‘galvanising action’ on gun control and climate change

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US president welcomes New Zealand’s PM to Oval Office and speaks of devastation caused by mass shootings

New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern has met US president Joe Biden to discuss shared concerns about China’s growing influence in the Pacific, as well as extremism and dealing with the aftermath of mass shootings.

The two leaders spoke for more than an hour, with Biden saying Ardern’s leadership on issues like climate change, violence and extremism was of international importance.

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Thirty-five dead as heavy rainfall lashes north-eastern Brazil

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Downpours batter two cities on Atlantic coast in country’s fourth major flood in five months

At least 35 people have died amid heavy rainfall in north-eastern Brazil on Friday and Saturday, as downpours lashed two major cities on the Atlantic coast, in what is the South American nation’s fourth major flooding event in five months.

In the state of Pernambuco, at least 33 people had died as of Saturday afternoon, as rains caused landslides that wiped away hillside urban neighbourhoods, according to the state’s official Twitter account. Another 765 people were forced to leave their homes, at least temporarily, according to the state government.

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Beekeepers and communists: how environmentalists started a global conversation

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The world’s longest serving environment correspondent explains the origins of a slow and continuing journey

It all began with Högertrafikomläggningen, Swedish for “the right-hand traffic reorganisation”.

On 3 September 1967, Sweden switched from driving on the left to driving on the right. The change mainly took place at night, but in Stockholm and Malmö all traffic stopped for most of the weekend while intersections were reconfigured.

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Consultant who ditched Shell: ‘take a look at yourselves in the mirror’

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Caroline Dennett says she has been flooded with support after decision that has cost ‘around 60%-70% of my business’

Caroline Dennett’s eye was caught by a placard with two stark words: “insiders wanted”. The safety consultant was watching a video of Extinction Rebellion climate protesters who had glued themselves inside Shell’s headquarters in April and were encouraging employees to jump ship to aid its cause.

This week Dennett, who runs the independent agency Clout, released a bombshell video severing ties with Shell after an 11-year business relationship. She emailed 1,400 Shell employees and accused the £177bn behemoth of causing “extreme harms” to the environment and having a “disregard for climate change risks”.

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Spain and Morocco feel the heat as unseasonal snow falls on Colorado

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Analysis: high temperatures affect southern Europe, while in US state mercury rapidly drops more than 30C

Extremely hot and mostly sunny conditions have been experienced across southern Europe this week. Parts of Spain have had record-breaking temperatures for the month of May, with the southern city of Jaén in Andalucia recording 40.3C (104.5F) on Friday 20 May, according to the Spanish weather agency Aemet. Meanwhile, in the nearby town of Andújar, temperatures exceeded 42C two days in a row.

Intense heat also affected northern Africa, with Sidi Slimane city in Morocco recording its hottest day in recorded history, reaching a scorching 45.7C. Although one particular weather event cannot be directly attributed to the climate crisis, scientists believe the severity and duration of heatwaves are expected to increase in the future in response to a warmer global climate.

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‘Highly implausible’ that new Galilee Basin coalmines would be profitable, study finds

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Report says Adani’s Carmichael mine in central Queensland seems ‘rather a political decision, not an economically driven one’

Any new coalmines in Australia’s Galilee Basin, including Adani’s Carmichael mine, will not be economically viable in the long run under even the most generous assumptions about the future of the fossil fuel, according to an analysis by German academics.

The study, developed in conjunction with Australian experts, found it was “highly implausible” that mines in the central Queensland basin could run profitably and there was a high chance they would end up as stranded assets.

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Penny Wong tells Pacific nations ‘we have heard you’ as Australia and China battle for influence

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Foreign minister uses speech in Fiji to declare ‘this is a different Australian government’ that will act responsibly on climate change

The new foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has promised to treat Pacific island countries with respect, telling an audience in Fiji that Australia is “a partner that doesn’t come with strings attached” and won’t “impose unsustainable financial burdens”.

Wong promised to respect Pacific priorities and institutions as she set out an implicit contrast with China, which is pursuing a sweeping regional economic and security deal with Pacific nations that would dramatically expand Beijing’s influence and reach into those countries.

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‘It seems this heat will take our lives’: Pakistan city fearful after hitting 51C

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Residents of Jacobabad say loss of trees and water facilities makes record-breaking temperatures unbearable

Muhammad Akbar, 40, sells dried chickpeas on a wheelbarrow in Jacobabad, and has suffered heatstroke three times in his life.

But now, he says, the heat is getting worse. “In those days there were many trees in the whole city and there was no shortage of water and we had other facilities so we could easily beat the heat. But now there are no trees or other facilities including water, due to which the heat is becoming unbearable. I’m scared that this heat will take our lives in the coming years.”

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Egypt says climate finance must be top of agenda at Cop27 talks

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Host of November’s summit wants focus to be on ‘moving from pledges to implementation’

Financial assistance for developing countries must be at the top of the agenda for UN climate talks this year, the host country, Egypt, has made clear, as governments will be required to follow through on promises made at the Cop26 summit last year.

Egypt will host Cop27 in Sharm el-Sheikh in November. The talks will take place in the shadow of the war in Ukraine, as well as rising energy and food prices around the world, leaving rich countries grappling with a cost-of-living crisis and poor countries struggling with debt mountains.

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Election 2022 live: Dai Le dismisses eligibility concerns; doctors welcome Covid booster expansion as 41 deaths recorded

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Eligibility for fourth dose of Covid vaccine extended; ‘don’t think we’ve got a better choice’ for Liberal leader, Dave Sharma says of Peter Dutton; at least 41 coronavirus deaths recorded. Follow all the day’s developments

The SMH has some interesting lines from the Liberal candidate in Gilmore, Andrew Constance, who says his party were punished for being “too focused on themselves”.

While Gilmore remains on a knife-edge, the former state government minister said he was not surprised by the outcome of the election, warning the Liberal party that it needed to refocus on community concerns:

The party has been too introverted and too focused on itself.

It has to recognise its broad-based appeal is not sectional interest. The party exists for the community … there’s no such thing as a “heartland” in Australian politics.

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Deadly Indian heatwave made 30 times more likely by climate crisis

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Soaring temperatures in subcontinent, which have caused widespread suffering, would be extraordinarily rare without global heating

The heatwave scorching India and Pakistan has been made 30 times more likely by the climate crisis, according to scientists. Extreme temperatures and low rainfall since mid-March have caused widespread suffering, including deaths, crop losses, forest fires, and cuts to power and water supplies.

The study is the latest to show the already severe impacts of global heating on millions of people, even though the global average temperature has risen only 1.2C above pre-industrial levels to date. If it rises to 2C, heatwaves as intense as the current one would be expected as often as every five years in India and Pakistan, the scientists estimated.

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Shell consultant quits, accusing firm of ‘extreme harms’ to environment

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Caroline Dennett tells staff in video she made decision because of ‘double-talk on climate’

A senior safety consultant has quit working with Shell after 11 years, accusing the fossil fuel producer in a bombshell public video of causing “extreme harms” to the environment.

Caroline Dennett claimed Shell had a “disregard for climate change risks” and urged others in the oil and gas industry to “walk away while there’s still time”.

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Australia’s rightwing government weaponised climate change – now it has faced its reckoning

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PM Scott Morrison has been dumped by electorate fed up with inaction on emissions and eager for change

When Scott Morrison won Australia’s federal election in 2019, it seemed like the country would never emerge from the climate wars that had begun a decade earlier.

Morrison had taken the prime ministership late in 2018 after conservatives in the ruling Liberal-National Coalition deposed Malcolm Turnbull, in part, for his attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Australia’s energy sector.

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US heatwave brings historically high temperatures to dozens of states

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Temperatures between 20 and 30F above average in the mid-Atlantic and north-east, with Washington set to hit 96F (35.5C)

Dozens of states across the US began the weekend grappling with historically high spring temperatures, as a blistering heatwave that has scorched the country’s south and west moves east.

The early arrival of sweltering weather, before what’s expected to be another hot, dry summer, is forecast to break or tie roughly 130 heat records for this time of year, with temperatures between 20F and 30F above average in the mid-Atlantic and north-east.

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Temperatures in parts of Spain reach highest on record for May

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‘Extraordinarily hot’ in central and southern areas, say meteorologists, with forecast of 40C in Andalucía

Parts of Spain are experiencing their hottest May since records began, as a mass of hot, dry air blows in from Africa, bringing with it dusty skies and temperatures of more than 40C (104F).

Spain’s state meteorological agency, Aemet, has warned of a weekend heatwave of an “extraordinary intensity”, with temperatures between 10C and 15C above the seasonal average and more akin to high summer than mid-May.

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