Category Archives: Environment

‘Every second counts’: wife of British journalist missing in Amazon urges action

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Alessandra Sampaio, wife of Dom Phillips, tells Brazilian authorities: ‘Please answer the urgency of the moment with urgent actions’

The wife of a British journalist who has gone missing in a remote corner of the Brazilian Amazon notorious for illegal mining and drug trafficking has urged authorities to intensify their search efforts.

Dom Phillips, a longtime Guardian contributor, vanished on Sunday morning while journeying by boat through the Javari region of Amazonas state where he was reporting for a book he is writing about conservation.

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Paris protesters celebrate saving trees around the Eiffel Tower

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City abandons €72m scheme to develop area and create huge garden in time for 2024 Olympics

Protesters in Paris are celebrating having saved more than 40 trees – one of them over 200 years old – from being chopped down or threatened with damage around the Eiffel Tower as part of a €72m scheme to create a huge garden.

Paris’s city hall has been forced to row back on plans to clear the area around the structure on the Champ-de-Mars to improve access to the tower and make the traffic-clogged area greener in time for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

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US bird flu outbreak: millions of birds culled in ‘most inhumane way available’

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Controversial asphyxiation method used in 73% of culls this year despite vets urging its use to be limited

The US poultry industry has increasingly switched to “the most inhumane method available” to cull tens of millions of birds during the latest outbreak of avian influenza, according to government data.

Outbreaks of the disease, also known as bird flu, have wreaked havoc across Europe and the US this year, with 38 million birds killed in the US so far.

But how these birds are killed has generated controversy, with veterinarians and animal welfare campaigners urging an end to the use of the ventilation shutdown method, which kills animals by sealing off the airflow to the poultry sheds and increasing temperatures to lethal levels.

Workers have described the method as like “roasting animals alive”. European officials have said it should not be used in the European Union.

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Chris Bowen says Labor ‘actively managing’ energy crisis as Dutton criticises response

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Bowen blames decade of inaction on renewables and limitations on gas trigger for preventing a swifter fix

Chris Bowen has rejected Coalition claims Labor is not doing enough to fix the energy crisis, labelling its input “as effective as advice from the captain of the Titanic on navigation skills”.

The climate change and energy minister told Sky News on Sunday the new government was “actively managing” the crisis but a decade of inaction on renewables and limitations on the gas trigger was preventing swifter fixes.

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Prince Charles pays tribute to the Queen’s ‘lifetime of selfless service’

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Prince of Wales praises his mother’s ability to ‘bring us together’ at Platinum Jubilee Party at the Palace

The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge paid tribute to the Queen – and environmental activists across the world – in speeches at a concert at Buckingham Palace.

Speaking on the third day of a four-day celebration to mark the Queen’s platinum jubilee at the BBC’s Platinum Party at the Palace, Prince Charles began his address “Your Majesty, Mummy”.

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Whale watching season starts early as humpback population bounces back

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Not long ago, the humpback was almost wiped out, now its numbers are booming in what conservationists say is a ‘wonderful success story’

People across Australia’s east coast are catching an earlier than expected first glimpse of breaching humpback whales as they migrate north, and scientists say the reason why is a conservation success story.

Whale watchers were treated to a spectacular show in Sydney on Monday as two humpback whales surged from the water metres from their boat. Dr Wally Franklin, director of the Oceania Project, said sightings have also been reported off the coast of Merimbula, Byron Bay, Tweed Heads, the Gold Coast and Hervey Bay, as the whales journey north from the Antarctic to the Great Barrier Reef.

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Environment to-do list: five ministerial priorities for Tanya Plibersek

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Australia’s new minister faces difficult challenges fixing laws, creating an EPA and curbing an extinction crisis

There was surprise last week when Tanya Plibersek was announced as Australia’s new environment and water minister. The portfolio, which had been held by Terri Butler in opposition before she lost her seat, comes with a long list of unaddressed challenges.

Here are five that Plibersek will face as she gets up to speed in her new role.

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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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Unions back minimum wage submission – as it happened

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Labor government recommends minimum wage be increased in line with inflation; Anthony Albanese says stopping new gas projects ‘doesn’t reflect the needs’ of economy; new monkeypox cases reported in NSW and Victoria; nation records at least 50 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

‘Pick up the phone and call your energy retailer’

The CEO of the Australian Energy Council, Sarah McNamara, appeared on ABC News Breakfast this morning to discuss the perfect storm the market is currently facing.

It is not a systemic market failure under way but there is a coincidence of factors occurring in the market, putting pressure on the wholesale price and that will put pressure on retail bills as well.

Most consumers won’t experience the kind of wholesale market price spikes we are seeing at the moment. That is because their retailers have hedging contracts to ensure their supply costs are smoothed out over time. However, because there is general upward pressure on prices, people are going to experience higher bills over the coming year.

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South Australia turns to diesel generators as gas shortage and price spike hits

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Calls for faster transition away from ‘volatile’ fossil fuel supply as SA burns large amounts of gas and diesel

Australia’s east coast gas shortage has forced South Australia to turn to diesel generators in order to meet demand, prompting calls for a faster transition away from “volatile” fossil fuels towards renewable energy and storage.

According to the energy mix tracker published by the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo), South Australia’s energy mix around 9am Thursday morning was made up of 61% gas and 11% diesel, with wind and solar providing the rest.

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Coalition scrapped recovery plans for 176 threatened species and habitats in one of its final acts

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‘On what sort of planet does the commonwealth think they don’t need a recovery plan for a Tasmanian devil’, asks Wilderness Society

Recovery plans designed to prevent the extinction of almost 180 threatened species and habitats, including the Tasmanian devil, were scrapped by the Coalition in one of Sussan Ley’s final acts as environment minister.

Last year, the Morrison government proposed removing the requirement for a legislated plan for 185 plants, animals and habitats, including several plans that were years overdue.

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Australian scientists discover ‘biggest plant on Earth’ off WA coast

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Genetic testing has determined a single 4,500-year-old seagrass may have spread over 200 sq km of underwater seafloor – about 20,000 football fields

About 4,500 years ago, a single seed – spawned from two different seagrass species – found itself nestled in a favourable spot somewhere in what is now known as Shark Bay, just off Australia’s west coast.

Left to its own devices and relatively undisturbed by human hands, scientists have discovered that seed has grown to what is now believed to be the biggest plant anywhere on Earth, covering about 200 sq km (77 sq miles, or about 20,000 rugby fields, or just over three times the size of Manhattan island).

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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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Species recovery targets in England damaging and illogical, scientists warn

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Exclusive: PM told there could be eight years’ decline before any gains despite already being at ‘rock bottom’

The government has set damaging and illogical targets for species recovery in England that could mean there is eight years of decline before any improvement, despite already being at “rock bottom”, scientists have warned the prime minister.

Twenty-three leading scientists from institutions including Oxford and Cambridge universities, the Natural History Museum, the Zoological Society of London and the RSPB have written to Boris Johnson expressing their alarm over the nature targets.

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Hinkley Point B owner says it will not extend life of nuclear plant

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EDF Energy tells staff reactors will be shut down in summer despite concerns of blackouts later this year

The owner of one of the UK’s six nuclear power plants has said it will not extend its life beyond a planned shutdown in summer, despite officials raising concerns over the danger of blackouts in the months that follow.

The French-owned EDF Energy sent a memo to staff on Monday in which it said it would not postpone the closure of the two reactors at Hinkley Point B in Somerset, which are scheduled to be shut down on 8 July and 1 August.

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Focus on battery storage could be a cost-effective energy goal for Albanese government, report says

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With electricity bills soaring, a national Renewable Electricity Storage Target may be one way of achieving lower emissions – and lower prices

The Albanese government should redirect some of the $20bn earmarked for its Rewiring the Nation plan to support a storage goal that would turbocharge the take-up of batteries and other methods to store power, according to a Victoria Energy Policy Centre report.

The paper, released on Tuesday by the independent group, said the market alone was unlikely to achieve either the bipartisan-supported net zero emissions goal by 2050 nor Labor’s pledge to lift Australia’s current 2030 emissions reduction goal by almost two-thirds. The former would require a 20-fold increase from existing storage levels.

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First hurricane of 2022 season makes landfall in Mexico

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Analysis: Hurricane Agatha kicks off what is forecast to be another busy period of Atlantic storms

The first hurricane of 2022 for the eastern Pacific has made landfall in southern Mexico. Agatha has been slowly moving north towards the Mexican Pacific coast, strengthening before making landfall late on Monday. The storm has produced damaging tropical-force winds and heavy rain.

Winds are easing but heavy rain will continue through Tuesday as the storm moves inland. It is forecast to cause flash flooding and mudslides that could pose a threat to life.

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G7 countries to stop funding fossil fuel development overseas

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Ministers from world’s biggest economies reach agreement that could shift estimated $33bn a year to clean energy sources

The world’s biggest economies are to stop funding any overseas fossil fuel development from the end of this year, in a move likely to choke off some of the investment in “carbon bombs” that are imperilling efforts to meet the world’s climate targets.

The agreement could shift about $33bn (£26bn) a year from fossil fuels to clean energy sources, according to analysts’ estimates.

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Victorian and Tasmanian governments under fire for laws that target environmental protesters

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Anti-logging protesters reject state governments’ claims new laws are necessary to protect workers’ safety

Governments in two Australian states have been accused of undermining democracy by introducing legislation designed to criminalise environmental protests.

In Victoria, protesters attempting to prevent native forest logging would face 12 months’ jail or more than $21,000 in fines, and bans from protest areas under laws proposed last week by the Andrews Labor government.

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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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