Huq, ‘a visionary and climate champion’, who was named one of the top 10 scientists in the world by Nature last year, has died at 71
Tributes have poured in from around for world for the renowned Bangladeshi scientist Prof Saleemul Huq, who died on 28 October.
Huq, 71, was an acclaimed academic, a relentless climate activist and the director of the International Centre for Climate Change & Development (ICCCAD), a research and capacity-building organisation in Bangladesh.
Continue reading...Nancy Mace and Marjorie Taylor Greene among those accused of hypocrisy over efforts to gut landmark Inflation Reduction Act
At least a dozen Republican members of Congress have welcomed clean energy investment flowing to their electorates following Joe Biden’s landmark climate bill, even as they launch fresh attempts to dismantle the legislation.
The group of conservative lawmakers, including the House of Representatives members Nancy Mace, Clay Higgins and Marjorie Taylor Greene, have all recently praised the arrival of new renewable energy, battery or electric vehicle jobs in their districts even after voting against last year’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which was loaded with incentives for clean energy projects.
Continue reading...Audit finds ‘little to no improvement’ in health of sea between 2016 and 2021, as Swedish coastguard battles oil spill
The Baltic Sea faces “critical challenges” due to the climate crisis and degradation of biodiversity, a report has said, as Sweden’s coastguard battled to contain the impact of an oil spill off the country’s southern shore.
In the most comprehensive audit of its kind to date, experts at the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (Helcom) said on Tuesday there had been “little to no improvement” in the health of the body of water between 2016 and 2021.
Continue reading...Several of the city’s governmental, environmental and cultural institutions share lobbyists with fossil fuel companies
Dozens of governmental, educational, cultural and environmental organizations across the city of Pittsburgh have hired lobbying firms who work with planet-heating fossil fuel companies, new research shows.
The Pennsylvania city has almost entirely divested its pension funds from fossil fuels and plans to dramatically cut its planet-heating pollution. Yet in 2023, it employed lobbyists who also worked for ExxonMobil and seven other fossil fuel companies.
Continue reading...Coast guard tackling ‘very serious’ incident as severe weather hampers efforts to empty oil from Marco Polo, which grounded near Hörvik
A ferry that ran aground off south-eastern Sweden had “extensive damage” and was leaking oil into the Baltic Sea, a spokesman for the Swedish coast guard said.
On 22 October the Marco Polo was running between two Swedish ports – Trelleborg and Karlshamn – when it ran aground near Horvik and started leaking. It continued under its own power before grounding a second time.
Continue reading...Sadiq Khan hails ‘huge progress’ as progress report finds more than 95% of vehicles are now compliant
The number of the most polluting vehicles driven in London has fallen by almost half since the capital’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) was expanded, taking almost 80,000 older cars off the roads.
About 77,000, or 45%, fewer non-compliant cars and vans were detected on average a day in September, the first month of operation of the expanded zone – compared with June 2023.
Continue reading...Local residents discovered trapped whale ‘trailing two buoys, making unusual sounds and having trouble moving freely’
A young humpback whale was freed by rescuers in Alaska after it was discovered hog-tied to a 300-lb crab pot.
The rescue, which occurred on 11 October, came after two local residents discovered the trapped whale a day earlier in the coastal waters near Gustavus, a city close to Glacier Bay national park in the southernmost part of Alaska. Researchers estimate the whale to be about three to four years old.
Continue reading...Research highlights benefits forests bring surrounding regions in terms of cooler air and more rainfall
Deforestation has a far greater impact on regional temperatures than previously believed, according to a new study of the Brazilian Amazon that shows agricultural businesses would be among the biggest beneficiaries of forest conservation.
The research has important political implications because farmers in Amazonian states have, until now, led the way in forest destruction on the assumption that they will make money by clearing more land.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Hundreds of ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ defences are in areas battered by Storm Babet, according to analysis by Unearthed
More than 4,000 of England’s vital flood defences are so damaged they are almost useless, including hundreds in areas battered by Storm Babet.
Nearly 800 critical assets – defined as those where there is a high risk to life and property – were in a “poor” or “very poor” condition in the 10 English counties worst affected by last week’s historic downpours.
Continue reading...Torrential rain and 100mph gusts forecast in some areas when low-pressure system makes landfall
Storm Ciarán is expected to arrive in the UK and Ireland, France, and the Iberian peninsula on Wednesday night into Thursday. Gusts of up to 100mph (160km/h) could be possible off the western coast of France before the severe winds filter through the Channel. Brittany and the western French coast could experience wind speeds of more than 80mph, and it is likely to remain windy through the weekend.
Torrential rain is also expected, with a chance of flooding in parts of western France and the north-western Iberian peninsula. Coastal inundation is also likely to be a risk along the northern Spanish and Portuguese coasts, as well as along the French coastline, with sea swell caused by strong winds and the low-pressure displacement of seawater. The rest of France could also experience heavy rain.
Continue reading...Amid lack of acorns and beechnuts in natural habitats, bears have injured 158 people and killed two since April
Experts in Japan have warned that bear attacks are rising at an unprecedented rate, as the animals struggle to find food in their natural habitat.
Bears have caused at least 158 injuries and two deaths since April, equalling the record set in 2020, according to media reports. Most of the attacks occurred in the northern part of Honshu, Japan’s biggest island, the environment ministry said.
Continue reading...Sean Hanley says hybrid vehicles are ‘better fit’ in Australia but Electric Vehicle Council says brand’s comments could undermine lithium industry
Australia’s most popular car brand, Toyota, has launched a stinging attack on electric vehicles claiming they are not ready for our roads, not as green as they seem and remain “impractical for the vast majority of Australian motorists”.
But Australia’s most popular electric car brand and industry groups claim the argument is a “cynical” attack by a company “too slow off the mark” and at risk of losing the future automotive race.
Continue reading...Efforts at major conference in Tasmania stall despite evidence that such areas would save crucial foraging and breeding grounds for Antarctic wildlife
A major international conference on the Antarctic marine environment has failed to agree on new conservation areas despite hearing evidence the southern continent is facing a range of crises, including historically low sea ice levels, plummeting wildlife numbers and the first cases of bird flu.
Longstanding proposals to create nearly 4m sq km of marine protected areas did not receive consensus support largely due to opposition from the Russian government delegation, which arrived late due to visa-related delays and then repeatedly stalled discussions, according to multiple sources at the meeting in Hobart.
Continue reading...Campaigners call for Sir Robert Goodwill to resign as Guardian reveals he is also head of ‘destructive’ rural pressure group that backs trophy hunting
The Conservative chair of the environment select committee has been urged to resign as the Guardian revealed he is also chair of a group endorsing nature policies described by critics as “destructive and dangerous”.
Sir Robert Goodwill, who chairs the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) select committee (Efra), is tasked with holding the environment secretary to account on nature and environmental targets. He became chair of the committee after his predecessor, Neil Parish, resigned after a pornography scandal.
Continue reading...Trees once described as ‘about as much use to our wildlife as concrete posts’ to gradually be phased out in favour of more drought-tolerant plants
The City of Sydney has said it will gradually phase out the use of plane trees across the streets of the city.
Plane trees, which account for almost 10% of the street and park trees across the whole City of Sydney but are the dominant species in some areas, have had their fair share of critics over the years.
Continue reading...Derbyshire and South Yorkshire MPs say agency ‘not up to the task’ after people received warnings too late
MPs in areas of England worst hit by Storm Babet have called for a review of Environment Agency (EA) failings after reporting that some residents received flood alerts only after their homes were flooded.
Toby Perkins, the Labour MP for Chesterfield, said some people at Tapton Terrace in the Derbyshire town, where 83-year-old Maureen Gilbert was found dead in flood water, only received a phone call from the early warning system after their houses had been deluged.
Continue reading...The operator Tepco says the workers came in contact with the wastewater when a hose came off accidentally and have been taken to hospital as a precaution
Four workers at the Fukushima nuclear plant were splashed with water containing radioactive materials, with two of them taken to hospital as a precaution, according to the plant operator.
The incident, which took place on Wednesday, highlights the dangers Japan still faces in decommissioning the plant. The reactor was knocked out by an immense tsunami in 2011 in the world’s worst atomic disaster since Chornobyl in 1986.
Continue reading...Secrecy and lax oversight mean illegal loggers and miners in Amazon can park billions in real estate and other assets
Secrecy and lax oversight have made the US a hiding place for dirty money accrued by environmental criminals in the Amazon rainforest, a report says.
Illegal loggers and miners are parking sums ranging from millions to billions of dollars in US real estate and other assets, says the report, which calls on Congress and the White House to close loopholes in financial regulations that it says are contributing to the destruction of the world’s biggest tropical forest.
Continue reading...Images taken by public reveal insights into threatened minke whales, including finding the most attention-seeking whale
Snowy is the oldest known minke whale in Europe, while Knobble appears to adore attention – or, at least, the whale has been spotted more than 60 times since 2002, mostly close to the Isle of Mull.
Photographic records of minke whales submitted by members of the public are being published in a digital catalogue, providing insights about the threatened species.
Continue reading...WA police demanded the ABC reveal its sources for an episode featuring a Disrupt Burrup Hub protest against a Woodside gas project
Protesters gathered at ABC studios in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth on Thursday morning amid fears the broadcaster would reveal its confidential sources for a Four Corners program.
An episode of the investigative program that aired earlier this month featured Disrupt Burrup Hub as they planned a protest against Woodside Energy’s enormous gas project on the Pilbara’s Burrup peninsula.
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