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One missing person in Tuscany has been found alive, Ansa reports.
Spain’s state meteorological agency has published data on yesterday’s strong winds.
Continue reading...Category Archives: Environment
Climate crisis talks resume on ‘loss and damage’ funding for poorest countries
World leaders will reconvene in Abu Dhabi before UAE’s Cop28 after talks broke down two weeks ago
Governments will meet this weekend for a last-ditch attempt to bridge deep divisions between rich and poor countries over how to get money to vulnerable people afflicted by climate disaster.
Talks over funds for “loss and damage”, which refers to the rescue and rehabilitation of countries and communities experiencing the effects of extreme weather, started in March but broke down in rancour two weeks ago.
Continue reading...Delhi air pollution spikes to 100 times WHO health limit
Season of smog begins with air quality index near worst possible level of 500 and little apparent progress in controlling annual poisonous blight on life
Air quality in Delhi hit severe levels on Friday and a thick toxic smog cloaked the city, marking the beginning of a pollution season that has become an annual catastrophe for India’s capital.
Schools were shut and non-essential construction was banned around Delhi as the air quality index in the city hit 500 – the highest the measurement will go and 100 times the limit deemed to be healthy by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Continue reading...Great Barrier Reef annual coral spawning begins east of Cairns
Divers captured the spawning of soft corals on Moore Reef with researchers to analyse next generation
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Annual coral spawning has begun on the outer Great Barrier Reef, with researchers set to analyse the next generation of corals.
Divers captured the spawning of soft corals on Moore Reef, 47km east of Cairns, on Thursday night.
Continue reading...Storm Ciarán: deaths reported across Europe while UK faces major disruption – as it happpened
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Here is a map of the risks in France.
Météo-France, the French national meteorological service, is warning about very strong winds.
Continue reading...Rare white platypus spotted in northern NSW: ‘I didn’t think anyone would believe me’
Researcher shares images of an ultra-rare platypus – possibly the first ever documented - observed in the Northern Tablelands
Researchers hunting for an endangered turtle have discovered something even rarer – a white platypus frolicking in a New South Wales stream.
Photos and footage of the extraordinary creature have been published in a scientific journal after several encounters over the past two years or so.
Continue reading...Icelandic surfers fear port development will ruin ‘perfect point break’
Volcanoes, northern lights and midnight sun are all on offer at this haven, which locals want to preserve
“Look at this wave,” says Mathis Blache, pointing to the sea from the shore’s black rocks as a swell rolls in. “It’s just perfect.” Despite air and water temperatures in the single digits, the 27-year-old student and surfer points out two other surfers – and a couple of seals – delighting in the conditions at Þorlákshöfn in south-west Iceland.
This spot, where surfers can enjoy either the midnight sun or the northern lights depending on the time of year, has in recent years become the heart of Iceland’s rapidly growing surfing community.
Continue reading...Pineapple loses its crown: Sainsbury’s sells leafless version to cut waste
Removing leaves will mean they can be replanted or shredded for animal feed and could reduce emissions
The pineapple has been dethroned: Sainsbury’s has announced it will start selling a crownless version of the tropical fruit from Wednesday.
The spiky, green leaves that grow from the top of the plant are a unique feature of the exotic fruit. But, says the supermarket, they are typically thrown away by customers, contributing to up to 700 tonnes of food waste a year.
Continue reading...‘A titan of the climate movement’: tributes pour in for Saleemul Huq
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...Republicans welcome local benefits of climate law despite voting against it
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...Baltic Sea faces ‘critical challenges’ on climate and biodiversity, report warns
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...Pittsburgh in ‘extreme embrace’ with fossil fuel lobbyists, research finds
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...Swedish authorities battle to stabilise stricken ferry leaking oil into Baltic Sea
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...Ulez expansion: 45% fewer ‘dirty’ vehicles now on London’s roads, says TfL
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...Rescuers free humpback whale ‘hog-tied’ to 300lb crab pot in Alaska
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...Deforestation has big impact on regional temperatures, study of Brazilian Amazon shows
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...More than 4,000 English flood defences ‘almost useless’, analysis finds
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...Weather tracker: UK and France brace for Storm Ciarán
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...Sharp rise in bear attacks in Japan as they struggle to find food
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...Toyota sales chief says EVs ‘impractical’ for Australian drivers as Tesla retaliates against ‘cynical’ attack
Sean Hanley says hybrid vehicles are ‘better fit’ in Australia but Electric Vehicle Council says brand’s comments could undermine lithium industry
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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.
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