Category Archives: Environment

‘A plague of locusts’: Barcelona battles port authorities to curb cruise tourists

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Councillors and residents hope to limit the number of daytrippers arriving by boat to preserve the city’s streets and character

The ships, at times dwarfing the average apartment building, begin lumbering into Barcelona while much of the city is still asleep. Stretching as long as five buses, some come to embark or disembark passengers, while others disgorge thousands of daytrippers keen to glimpse the city’s modernist architecture and stroll the narrow streets of the gothic quarter.

It’s a scene that plays out daily in Barcelona – much to the chagrin of some local officials. Last Monday, five cruise ships were slated to arrive; this Friday, on 14 April, eight are expected.

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Beached sperm whale in Cleethorpes feared to have died

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Distressed mammal was reported at lunchtime on Friday, but marine rescue service arrived too late to save it

A sperm whale is feared to have died after it washed up on the Lincolnshire coast.

British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) was called at about 12.15pm on Good Friday to help with a “large stranded whale” on the beach at Cleethorpes. The charity said the whale had been spotted “upright in the water” at about midday, but by the time it reached the beach, it was stranded on its side.

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Coal seam gas waste plan risks washing ‘5m tonnes of salt into the Murray-Darling Basin’

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Critics say a proposal to dispose of salt from waste brine by burying it in lined landfill is ‘not a long-term solution’

Local landholders and advocacy groups in southern Queensland have criticised the state government’s plans to store millions of tonnes of coal seam gas waste in lined landfills, saying it risks contaminating the Murray-Darlin Basin.

They have also questioned the integrity of the government’s long-awaited waste management action plan for coal seam gas brine, saying it relies on research from oil and gas lobby group the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (Appea) and the University of Queensland Centre for Natural Gas, whose donors include Arrow Energy, Australia Pacific LNGand Santos.

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California: stunning shift as parched reservoirs replenished by storms

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Reservoirs whose water levels had plummeted during punishing drought have recovered – but officials warn of ‘weather whiplash’

Water levels fell so low in key reservoirs during the depth of California’s drought that boat docks sat on dry, cracked land and cars drove into the center of what should have been Folsom lake.

Those scenes are no more after a series of powerful storms dumped record amounts of rain and snow across California, replenishing reservoirs and bringing an end – mostly – to the state’s three-year drought.

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Value of Australian lithium exports tipped to match thermal coal in five years

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Revenue from mining key metal used in EV batteries to triple by 2027-28 while thermal coal exports set to fall by more than 70%

Exports of Australian lithium – a key metal used in batteries – are expected to earn as much as sales of thermal coal within five years, as the world increasingly embraces clean energy and the market value of fossil fuels falls.

New data released by the Australian government forecasts local lithium production will double and the industry’s revenue will triple by 2027-28 compared with last financial year.

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State actor still main suspect behind Nord Stream sabotage, says investigator

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Swedish prosecutor casts doubt over theories that independent group was responsible for pipeline blasts

The Swedish prosecutor investigating the Nord Stream sabotage attack has said the “clear main scenario” was that a state-sponsored group had been involved, seemingly casting doubt over theories that posited an independent group was responsible for the pipeline blasts.

Mats Ljungqvist told Reuters on Thursday that though a non-state-backed plot was still theoretically possible, the type of explosive used in the bombings ruled out a “large portion of actors”.

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Greenhouse gas emissions rose at ‘alarming’ rate last year, US data shows

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Noaa report shows rapid increase in atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide

Record temperatures, devastating floods and superstorms are causing death and destruction across the planet but humans are failing to cut greenhouse gas emissions fueling the climate emergency, new US data shows.

Atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide – the greenhouse gases emitted by human activity that are the most significant contributors to global heating – continued to increase rapidly during 2022, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (Noaa).

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Pat Dodson takes leave from Senate – as it happened

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Former Tasmanian Liberal premier condemns party’s opposition to voice

Tasmania is the last Liberal state government left in the country and its former premier has taken to social media this morning to speak out against the federal party’s decision to oppose the voice to parliament.

Should the Liberal party maintain its opposition to the voice it will simply accelerate its increasing irrelevance.

I have asked for Cyber Security NSW to issue advice to NSW government employees, to implement this change as soon as possible.

I will no longer be using TikTok.

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Ministers treating coastal areas like ‘open sewers’, says Labour

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Shadow minister submits bill to curb spills as Environment Agency reveals sewage was dumped for almost 1m hours last year

Ministers have treated coastal communities as if they are “open sewers”, Labour has said, after a damaging analysis of Environment Agency (EA) data revealed sewage was dumped for almost a million hours last year.

In total, the data – which was analysed by the party – shows 141,777 sewage-dumping events occurred across 137 constituencies on the coasts of England and Wales in 2022.

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Police appeal for return of platypus spotted travelling on Brisbane train

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Two people were seen boarding the train with the animal wrapped in a towel

A platypus believed to have been taken from the wild and transported on a Brisbane train urgently needs to be returned to its natural environment, officials say.

Two people were spotted boarding the train at Morayfield on Tuesday with a platypus wrapped in a towel, Queensland police said.

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Snake on a plane forces South African pilot to make emergency landing

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Rudolph Erasmus praised for ‘great airmanship’ after discovery of deadly cobra in cockpit of private plane

A South African pilot was forced to make an emergency landing after a 5ft deadly cobra slithered past his side and curled up under his seat.

Rudolph Erasmus was flying four passengers in a private plane at 11,000ft when he said he felt a “cold sensation” on his hip. Thinking that his water bottle might have been leaking, Erasmus looked down instead at the sight of a highly venomous snake disappearing underneath him.

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Paris prosecutors open criminal inquiry into air quality on Métro

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Operator investigated for possible trickery and causing involuntary injuries over pollution levels within network

Prosecutors in Paris have opened a criminal investigation into allegations that pollution in the capital’s Métro system is putting travellers’ lives at risk.

The operator of the Métro, the RATP, is being investigated for possible trickery and causing involuntary injuries after it was claimed it had deliberately underreported pollution levels and failed to inform passengers about the dangers.

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Water ban in drought-stricken Tunisia adds to growing crisis

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Risk of unrest rises amid fourth dry year, poor grain harvest, weak economy and likely food subsidy cuts

Tunisia has introduced water rationing as the country suffers its fourth year of severe drought.

The state water distribution company, Sonede, has already begun cutting mains water supplies every night between 9pm and 4am. The agriculture ministry has now banned the use of water for irrigation, watering green spaces and other public areas, and for washing cars.

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Mackerel loses sustainable status as overfishing puts species at risk

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Marine Conservation Society calls for better regulation of how north-east Atlantic mackerel is caught as stocks decline

Mackerel populations are declining because of overfishing and the fish no longer a sustainable food choice, the Marine Conservation Society has said in its new UK guide to sustainable seafood.

North-east Atlantic mackerel has been considered an environmentally-friendly choice for consumers since before 2011, but the species has become increasingly scarce and now experts are calling for more regulation over how its caught.

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Riverina irrigator fined $150,000 for illegally extracting $1.1m of groundwater

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The Natural Resources Access Regulator is also prosecuting the alleged theft of water by another irrigator near Wentworth on the Murray

A Riverina irrigator has been convicted and fined more than $150,000 for taking $1.1m worth of water from an at-risk groundwater source in south-western New South Wales during a period of drought between July 2017 and June 2020.

Dean Troy Salvestro pleaded guilty to five charges against sections 91G(2) and 60C(2) of the Water Management Act 2000 in a judgment handed down in the NSW land and environment court . Four of the charges concerned breaches of bore extraction limits and one charge was for taking water not in accordance with an access licence allocation.

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Revealed: UAE plans huge oil and gas expansion as it hosts UN climate summit

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Exclusive: UAE’s fossil fuel boss will be the president of Cop28, making a mockery of the summit, say campaigners

The United Arab Emirates, which is hosting this year’s UN climate summit, has the third biggest net zero-busting plans for oil and gas expansion in the world, the Guardian can reveal. Its plans are surpassed only by Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The CEO of the UAE’s national oil company, Adnoc, has been controversially appointed president of the UN’s Cop28 summit in December, which is seen as crucial with time running out to end the climate crisis. But Sultan Al Jaber is overseeing expansion to produce oil and gas equivalent to 7.5bn barrels of oil, according to new data, 90% of which would have to remain in the ground to meet the net zero scenario set out by the International Energy Agency.

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England’s top beaches faced 8,500 hours of sewage dumping last year, study says

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Many blue flag beaches were covered in waste, and Brighton was among the worst-hit, Lib Dem report shows

England’s most celebrated beaches faced 8,500 hours of sewage dumping last year, new figures show.

Many beaches with blue flag status– an international mark of recognition that a beach is deemed safe and has good water quality – were found to have been covered in waste over the last 12 months.

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Former NSW deputy Liberal leader says party has ‘moved too far to the right’ – as it happened

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Prime minister pays tribute to Yunupingu

Prime minister Anthony Albanese has paid tribute to the Yolŋu man Yunupingu, one of the most significant Indigenous figures in history and a former Australian of the year, as “an extraordinary leader”.

He was one of the greatest of Australians.

An extraordinary leader of his people, respected right across Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia.

I said to him that I was serious, that we would do it.

Today we mourn with deep love and great sadness the passing of our dearly loved father Yunupiŋu.

The holder of our sacred fire, the leader of our clan and the path-maker to our future.

The loss to our family and community is profound. We are hurting, but we honour him and remember with love everything he has done for us.

We remember him for his fierce leadership, and total strength for Yolŋu and for Aboriginal people throughout Australia. He lived by our laws always.

Yunupiŋu lived his entire life on his land, surrounded by the sound of bilma (clapsticks), yidaki (didgeridoo) and the manikay (sacred song) and dhulang (sacred designs) of our people. He was born on our land, he lived all his life on our land and he died on our land secure in the knowledge that his life’s work was secure.

He had friendship and loyalty to so many people, at all levels, from all places.

Our father was driven by a vision for the future of this nation, his people’s place in the nation and the rightful place for Aboriginal people everywhere.

In leaving us, we know that Dad’s loss will be felt in many hearts and minds. We ask you to mourn his passing in your own way, but we as a family encourage you to rejoice in the gift of his life and leadership.

There will never be another like him.

In time we will announce the dates for bäpurru (ceremonies) that will see him returned to his land and to his fathers. These ceremonies will be held in North Eastern Arnhem Land.

We ask the media to respect our grieving space over the coming weeks as we put together ceremonial arrangements to honour Dad.

Instead of flowers, we invite those of you who were touched by Dad’s fire to share with us your personal recollections and memories of his life. This will lift our spirits.

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British cows could be given ‘methane blockers’ to cut climate emissions

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UK’s 9.4m cattle produce 14% of human-related emissions, mostly from belching, but green groups remain sceptical

Cows in the UK could be given “methane blockers” to reduce their emissions of the greenhouse gas as part of plans to achieve the country’s climate goals.

Farmers welcomed the proposal, which follows a consultation that began in August on how new types of animal feed product can reduce digestive emissions from the animals.

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Harvard professor’s fossil fuel links under scrutiny over climate grant

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Colleagues and students query role of Jody Freeman, who won prestigious research grant despite sitting on ConocoPhillips board

An eminent Harvard environmental law professor’s links to the fossil fuel industry are under scrutiny from colleagues and students after she was awarded a prestigious research grant to investigate corporate climate pledges.

Jody Freeman, founding director of Harvard’s environmental and energy law program and former Obama-era White House advisor, is a paid board member of ConocoPhillips – a Fortune 500 American multinational oil and gas company that was ranked the 13th most polluting in the world by a Guardian investigation in 2019. The firm’s controversial Willow drilling project in Alaska was recently approved by the Biden administration.

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