William became largest private landholder in the national park when he inherited Duchy of Cornwall
Campaigners are urging Prince William to invest in significant rewilding across swathes of Dartmoor’s predominantly farmed land.
The land became William’s after he inherited the Duchy of Cornwall, an extensive landholding including the largest privately owned area of Dartmoor national park, from his father, King Charles, when he succeeded to the throne.
Continue reading...Countries including France, Germany and Poland all had their hottest Septembers on record
Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Poland and Switzerland have all experienced their hottest Septembers on record, with unseasonably high temperatures set to continue into October, in a year likely to be the warmest in human history.
As 31C (88F) was forecast in south-west France on Sunday and 28C in Paris, the French weather authority, Météo-France, said September’s average temperature was 21.5C, between 3.5C and 3.6C above the norm for the 1991-2020 reference period.
Continue reading...Survey shows nearly 90% of 2019 Conservative voters say green industry is vital to UK’s economic growth
Almost nine in 10 voters who intend to switch their support from Conservative to Labour candidates in the next general election believe that “green growth” is important for the future of Britain’s economy, according to a poll.
Carried out by pollsters Opinium, the survey found that 82% of all respondents backed the growth of Britain’s green industry to boost the economy, in the same week that the prime minister announced a series of U-turns on the government’s green commitments in an attempt to create a dividing line with Labour before the election.
Continue reading...Ngo Thi To Nhien detained over charges of ‘appropriating documents’, a government spokesperson confirmed
Vietnam state media has confirmed the arrest of the director of an independent energy policy thinktank – the sixth expert working on environmental issues to be taken into custody in the past two years.
A rights group reported last month that Ngo Thi To Nhien, executive director of the Hanoi-based Vietnam Initiative for Energy Transition (Viet), had been detained, although at the time there was no official confirmation.
Continue reading...Lithium-ion batteries embedded in the products have been blamed for an increasing number of hazardous fires at landfill sites
Campaigners are calling for a national strategy to force vape manufacturers, importers and retailers to take responsibility for the industry’s waste, given the threats it poses to the environment and human health.
Clean Up Australia says consumers are confused about how to responsibly dispose of their used products, which are variously classified as electronic waste or hazardous waste depending on where someone lives in Australia.
Continue reading...Arrival result of Enfield reintroduction scheme, started last year as part of natural flood defence project
A baby beaver has been photographed in London for the first time in 400 years, 18 months after an initiative began to reintroduce the species to the capital.
Enfield council began London’s beaver reintroduction programme last year as part of a wider rewilding and natural flood-management project.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed. You can read our latest full report on the flooding here:
Governor Kathy Hochul’s office has issued the following steps to residents to remain safe amid the heavy rainfall and flooding:
Develop a household disaster plan and know how to always contact family members. Identify an out-of-town friend or family member to be the “emergency family contact” and make certain all family members have the contact info
Designate an emergency meeting spot - a familiar location where family can meet if the residence cannot be accessed
Know hurricane and storm risks in your community
If you live near coastal areas, learn about your area’s storm surge history and your community’s warning signals and evacuation plans, including safe routes inland and the location of official shelters
Know where to relocate pets during a storm - most shelters will not allow pets
Keep the following supplies on-hand:
Enough non-perishable food and water supplies for 10 days
Battery-operated radios and flashlights and an ample supply of batteries
A first aid with supply of medicines
Important documents: Insurance policies, medical records, bank account numbers, Social Security card, etc. in a waterproof container
Cash, checkbook, credit cards and ATM cards
An emergency contact list of people and organizations who may need to be called: schools, doctors, providers, and insurance contacts
1,426 large dump trucks
315 large loaders
81 chippers
80 wheeled and tracked excavators
28 traffic tower platforms
15 vacuum trucks with sewer jets
15 tree crew bucket trucks
Continue reading...Low-traffic neighbourhoods and fines also face clampdown under plans condemned by active travel groups
Rishi Sunak has pledged to end “anti-car measures” as he set out a series of ideas to prioritise the needs of drivers at the likely expense of other road users such as bus passengers, cyclists and pedestrians.
Outlining what he called a “long-term plan to back drivers”, the prime minister unveiled a clampdown on 20mph limits, bus lanes, low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), and the ability of councils to fine drivers who commit offences.
Continue reading...Competition aimed at encouraging Swedish island residents to save water is being copied elsewhere
Dry, brown grass is no longer a source of shame on one Swedish island where residents have been competing over the “ugliest lawn” in an attempt to save water – and it seems the trend is spreading.
“It was the easiest competition to win, I didn’t have to do anything,” said this year’s winner Stina Östman, a resident of Sweden’s largest island of Gotland, who has mixed feelings about her victory. “It’s always nice to win, even if you are the worst,” she said.
Continue reading...NSW Environmental Protection Authority alleged company had exceeded standard concentration of solid particles under air pollution laws
Mining company Newcrest has pleaded guilty to breaching clean air regulations in the operation of the Cadia goldmine, near Orange in central west New South Wales.
The NSW Environmental Protection Authority began proceedings against the company in August, alleging that the operation of surface exhaust fans attached to the main ventilation shaft for the underground goldmine, dubbed vent rise 8, had caused it to exceed the standard concentration of solid particles under air pollution laws.
Continue reading...Cape Town mayor declares major incident as roads closed and 80,000 people left without electricity
Extreme rain and strong winds across South Africa’s Western Cape province have caused flooding, torn off roofs, destroyed crops and damaged roads this week. It is estimated that the 48-hour rainfall totals between Sunday and Monday were between 100mm to 200mm (4-8in) in this region.
According to the Cape Town Disaster Risk Management Centre, 12,000 people were affected, but a further 80,000 people were left without electricity, according to the national power utility. The mayor of Cape Town signed a major incident declaration for additional resources and relief measures as 80 roads have been closed, 200 farm workers have been stranded and rail services have been suspended in the Western and Eastern Cape provinces.
Continue reading...Members of Sunrise Movement say House Speaker is ‘playing political games with our futures’ and must avert shutdown
Scores of young activists with the youth-led climate organization Sunrise Movement are protesting in the office of the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, on Thursday morning, demanding he avert a complete government shutdown.
“As storms rage stronger, fires grow hotter, and heatwaves grow more deadly, Kevin McCarthy is playing political games with our futures,” said Adah Crandall, a 17-year-old Sunrise Movement organizer, in an emailed statement.
Continue reading...Tanzania government blamed for violence against villagers in national park, while thousands more people face losing their homes
The World Bank is investigating allegations of killings, rape and forced evictions made by villagers living near the site of a proposed tourism project it is funding in Tanzania.
The bank has been accused of “enabling” alleged violence by the Tanzanian government to make way for a $150m (£123m) project ministers say will protect the environment and attract more tourists to Ruaha national park.
Continue reading...Green campaigners relieved after last week’s decision to delay ban on petrol and diesel cars
The government has confirmed the majority of new cars sold in Britain will have to be electric by 2030 despite Rishi Sunak’s decision last week to delay a ban on petrol and diesel cars by five years.
Under the long-awaited zero emissions vehicle (ZEV) mandate, 80% of sales must be fully electric, or another alternative, within seven years. Carmakers would have to pay £15,000 for each petrol or diesel engine above that threshold, the Department for Transport said on Thursday.
Continue reading...Pao Ling Tsai thought his chickens were being taken by a cat but instead he trapped an animal thought extinct on the Limestone Coast
A South Australian farmer trying to protect his chickens has caught a spotted quoll – a species not recorded in the state for over 130 years.
Pao Ling Tsai lost one of his chickens to a predator earlier this week but managed to take some photographs of the animal before it escaped. Unsure of what he had seen, he contacted South Australia’s national parks and wildlife service and they set up a trap.
Continue reading...Sweet Briar Marshes has been created in heart of city with fewer public footpaths than any other in England and Wales
Hidden between a hectic ring road, a chemicals factory and housing estates are 36 hectares (90 acres) of “a green beating heart, pumping nature” into the surrounding city.
Traffic noise and sirens are muffled by ancient oaks, while late-season dragonflies sweep over hawthorns laden with blood-red haws as a kestrel hovers, head down, searching for field voles hiding in the tufty grasses.
Continue reading...Campaigners including Greta Thunberg had called for halt to Rosebank project involving Oslo-listed Equinor
Britain has given the go-ahead to develop the UK’s biggest untapped oilfield off Shetland, sparking outrage from environmental campaigners.
The UK oil and gas regulator’s decision to grant the Oslo-listed Equinor and the British firm Ithaca Energy permission to develop the Rosebank oil and gas field in the North Sea was condemned by the Green party MP Caroline Lucas as “the greatest act of environmental vandalism in my lifetime”.
Continue reading...Labor heavyweight also warns of the danger of environment movement fading as he throws support behind new alliance
The former New South Wales premier Bob Carr has backed an alliance of conservation groups calling for tougher environmental protections and an overhaul of the state’s land-clearing laws.
A report from the new alliance – called the Stand Up for Nature alliance – calls for forests and native vegetation to be protected by “ending habitat destruction, run away land clearing and industrial native forest logging”.
Continue reading...Exclusive: PM says the ‘right decisions’ are needed to ensure Australia emerges a winner in the global race to renewable energy
Anthony Albanese has signalled he will do more to accelerate the transition to low emissions after the voice referendum has concluded, declaring the “right decisions” are needed to ensure Australia emerges a winner in the global race to renewable energy.
Albanese’s signpost during an interview with Guardian Australia’s politics podcast comes as the government is working up a policy response to challenges and opportunities created by the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act ahead of the prime minister’s visit to Washington in late October.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Pan-European investigation looked at thousands of transactions since Paris climate agreement in 2016
Banks including some of Europe’s largest lenders have helped fossil fuel companies to raise more than €1tn (£869bn) from the global bond markets since the Paris climate agreement, according to an investigation by the Guardian and its reporting partners.
In the push to zero carbon, Europe’s biggest lenders face growing pressure to limit their financial support for fossil fuel companies through direct loans and other financing facilities.
Continue reading...