Category Archives: Environment

Australia’s coal export boom forecast to end abruptly amid big drop in demand from China

Posted on by

Study finds Chinese consumption will fall within two to three years as Australian coalmining communities warned to reduce dependence on industry

Australia’s coal export boom will come to an abrupt end because of an “imminent and substantial” drop in purchases by China, and local coal mining communities should brace for the change, the lead author of a new study says.

The peer-reviewed paper, published on Thursday in the journal Joule, forecasts China’s thermal coal imports will contract at least a quarter from 2019 levels of 210m tonnes by 2025, mostly as improved transport links will give local suppliers an edge.

Continue reading...

‘It will be hard to find a farmer left’: Sri Lanka reels from rash fertiliser ban

Posted on by

Harvests have collapsed, and the way President Rajapaksa introduced the policy angered even organic farmers

Driving through the verdant landscape of Rajanganaya, a rural district in north Sri Lanka where the hibiscus flowers pop out of rich green foliage and the mango trees are already weighed down by early fruit, it is hard to imagine this is a community in crisis. Yet for many of those who have farmed this land since the 1960s, mainly with rice and banana crops, the past year has been the toughest of their lives.

“If things go on like this, in the future it will be hard to find a farmer left in Sri Lanka,” said Niluka Dilrukshi, 34, a rice paddy farmer.

Continue reading...

Biden launches $6bn effort to save America’s distressed nuclear plants

Posted on by

Officials say nuclear energy remains vital as carbon-free source of power to help tackle the climate crisis

The Biden administration is launching a $6bn effort to rescue nuclear power plants at risk of closing, citing the need to continue nuclear energy as a carbon-free source of power that helps to combat climate change.

On Tuesday, a certification and bidding process opened for a civil nuclear credit program that is intended to bail out financially distressed owners or operators of nuclear power reactors, the US energy department told the Associated Press exclusively, shortly before the official announcement. It’s the largest federal investment in saving financially distressed nuclear reactors.

Continue reading...

Killers confronted: humpback whale turns on orca pod in rare encounter

Posted on by

Footage shows five-year-old humpback in Canadian waters stalking and ambushing group more used to role of attackers

An aggressive humpback whale appeared to turn the tables on a pod of orcas off the Canadian coast, stalking then ambushing the group that more usually would have been attacking it.

The rare occurrence took place on the Salish Sea between British Columbia and Washington state and was witnessed and recorded by enthralled tourists on a whale-watching trip.

Continue reading...

Labour says it will insulate 2m houses in first year to cut bills

Posted on by

Ed Miliband says move will ease energy price crisis and reduce dependence on Russian gas

Labour has said it would insulate 2m houses within a year to slash bills and reduce reliance on Russian gas, accusing Boris Johnson of a “shameful” failure to stop Britain’s homes leaking heat.

The government put major nuclear and onshore wind projects at the heart of its energy security strategy announced earlier this month, but faced criticism for failing to include any new measures on insulation despite the UK having some of the draughtiest housing in Europe.

Continue reading...

US calls on Australia to increase 2030 emission reduction pledge to help prevent ‘greater destruction’

Posted on by

Senior official says US ‘determined that everyone raise ambition’ in tackling climate crisis and stresses need to keep heating below 1.5C

The US will urge Australia to increase its 2030 emission reduction pledge this year, with a senior official declaring it was “a long time ago” when the Abbott government set the target the Morrison government says is “fixed”.

The assistant US secretary of state for environmental affairs, Monica Medina, said the US was “determined that everyone raise ambition” in tackling the climate crisis in a bid to avoid “greater destruction”.

Continue reading...

Queensland government acknowledges subsidence caused by CSG could affect farmland

Posted on by

Farmers in the Darling Downs say even minuscule changes to the flat black soil plains could disrupt soil drainage and farming methods

A Queensland government technical study has acknowledged for the first time that subsidence caused by coal seam gas drilling could have potential consequences for farmers in the fertile Darling Downs.

Relationships between some farmers and CSG companies have become strained in the past few years, amid claims that one company, Arrow Energy, drilled diagonally beneath farmland without notifying landholders.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Australian wholesale power costs soaring despite Morrison government’s budget claims

Posted on by

Spike in prices in part caused by coal-fired power plants cutting output, says analyst

Australia’s wholesale power costs are soaring, with prices for most of the national electricity market running at double the rate promoted by the Morrison government in last month’s budget.

April prices are forecast at $175 per megawatt-hour in Queensland, the most among the major east coast states, ASX futures data shows. New South Wales isn’t far behind at $173/MWh, while South Australia at $150 and Victoria just above $100.

Continue reading...

‘Lawless logging’ in DRC raises concerns over $500m forests deal signed by Boris Johnson

Posted on by

Critics say cash from UK, Norway, France and Germany could be wasted as damning report reveals illegalities, corruption and environmental crimes

Environmental groups have raised concerns about a $500m (£380m) forest protection deal signed by Boris Johnson at Cop26, after a damning report into the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s “lawless” logging sector.

Johnson signed the letter of intent on behalf of the Central African Forest Initiative (Cafi) for a 10-year agreement which includes objectives to protect high-value forests and peatlands. Of the £200m committed to protecting the Congo basin by the UK at Cop26, £32m was given to Cafi from the aid budget.

Continue reading...

Salt spat highlights Canadian national park’s troubling history

Posted on by

Park agency’s order to stop harvesting salts for commercial gain has angered Indigenous community

For years, Melissa Daniels has been travelling to the vast wilds of northern Alberta to harvest naturally occurring salts on lands her ancestors once hunted and fished. She blends the salt with wildflowers from the woods and sells it in small batches.

But Canada’s national park agency recently ordered her to stop, in a move that has angered her community and highlighted the park’s troubling history.

Continue reading...

Waterless skincare: the beauty firms tapping into ethical cleansing

Posted on by

Anhydrous products are good for the planet and consumers – but will mainstream brands buy into the concept?

The climate crisis is driving a new trend that will change the look of your bathroom cabinet for ever: waterless skincare.

While wrapping-free, vegan toiletries have long had a place on British high streets, thanks to independent brands such as Lush, the new wave of waterless – or anhydrous – beauty products is driven by a combination of ethical concerns, innovations taken from Korean skincare and new developments in packaging.

Continue reading...

Labour split by leadership call for action against climate crisis blockades

Posted on by

Plea by shadow justice secretary Steve Reed for nationwide bans on activists’ tactics angers many on left of party

Labour faces an escalating internal row over the treatment of climate crisis protesters after a shadow cabinet minister backed calls for nationwide injunctions to stop them blocking critical roads and fuel supplies.

Steve Reed, the shadow justice secretary, called for immediate and wide-ranging bans on protesters’ tactics to be put in place last week. Reed said ministers should “get on with their jobs” and block further action from the Just Stop Oil group after about 40 arrests were made at Inter Terminals in Grays, Essex, last Monday. Others were arrested at Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire.

Continue reading...

Women with electric rickshaws combat Delhi’s toxic air – and its sexism

Posted on by

Break into male-dominated public-transport helps tackle city’s pollution crisis and safety concerns

Monika Devi is thrilled to be driving her autorickshaw. The 35-year-old has two reasons to be particularly proud as she winds her way through New Delhi’s insanely congested streets.

She is one of the first women to be driving one of the three-wheeled taxis that swarm the roads of the Indian capital. And she is driving one of Delhi’s first e-rickshaws – part of the city’s drive to tackle its notoriously filthy air.

Continue reading...

Diesel tanker sinks off Tunisia risking environmental disaster

Posted on by

Ship carrying 750 tonnes of fuel from Egypt to Malta ran into difficulty in bad weather on Friday evening

A tanker carrying 750 tonnes of diesel fuel from Egypt to Malta sank in the Gulf of Gabes off Tunisia’s south-east coast, sparking a rush to avoid a spill.

The Equatorial Guinea-flagged Xelo was sailing from the Egyptian port of Damietta to Malta when it requested entry to Tunisian waters on Friday evening owing to bad weather.

Continue reading...

Wildflower believed to be extinct for 40 years spotted in Ecuador

Posted on by

Gasteranthus extinctus had been presumed extinct after extensive deforestation

A South American wildflower long believed to be extinct has been rediscovered.

Gasteranthus extinctus was found by biologists in the foothills of the Andes mountains and in remnant patches of forest in the Centinela region of Ecuador, almost 40 years after its last sighting.

Continue reading...

Iraq’s ancient buildings are being destroyed by climate change

Posted on by

Water shortages leading to rising salt concentrations and sandstorms are eroding world’s ancient sites

Some of the world’s most ancient buildings are being destroyed by climate change, as rising concentrations of salt in Iraq eat away at mud brick and more frequent sandstorms erode ancient wonders.

Iraq is known as the cradle of civilisation. It was here that agriculture was born, some of the world’s oldest cities were built, such as the Sumerian capital Ur, and one of the first writing systems was developed – cuneiform. The country has “tens of thousands of sites from the Palaeolithic through Islamic eras”, explained Augusta McMahon, professor of Mesopotamian archaeology at the University of Cambridge.

Continue reading...

Raising cash for water: why Somalis are bypassing aid agencies in drought crisis

Posted on by

Analysis: with more than 6 million people in need, there is anger at perceived lack of action from the government and the UN

The UN this week issued a stark warning on Somalia, projecting that 350,000 children could starve to death without urgent action.

The country is in the middle of a drought that is already killing people. Some regions in the Horn of Africa are the hottest they have been since satellites started recording data 40 years ago, according to an analysis by the World Food Programme.

Continue reading...

Canada ignored warnings of virus infecting farmed and wild salmon

Posted on by

Government was in possession of a newly-released report that linked large-scale farms and wild salmon to contagious virus

Canada was warned in 2012 by its own scientists that a virus was infecting both farmed and wild salmon, but successive governments ignored the expert advice, saying for years that risks to salmon were low.

Justin Trudeau’s government has said it will phase out open-pen industrial fish farms off the coast of British Columbia by 2025. But both his government and the previous Conservative government were in possession of a newly released report that linked large-scale farms and wild salmon to the highly contagious Piscine orthoreovirus (PRV).

Continue reading...

EPA opens civil rights investigations over pollution in Cancer Alley

Posted on by

Agency will look at whether Black citizens’ rights were violated in polluted industrial corridor in Louisiana

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has opened a series of civil rights investigations into state agencies in Louisiana to examine whether permits granted in the highly polluted industrial corridor, known locally as Cancer Alley, have violated Black citizens rights.

The news, first reported by the New Orleans Advocate, marks further enforcement action taken by the federal agency in the region since the EPA administrator, Michael Regan, visited the area late last year.

Continue reading...

South Africa braces for more heavy rain after floods kill hundreds

Posted on by

President describes ‘catastrophe of enormous proportions’ as more than 300 people die in Durban area

South Africa is bracing for more heavy rain in districts hit by massive and lethal downpours earlier this week.

More than 300 people have died in flooding in and around the eastern coastal city of Durban in recent days. On Wednesday the president, Cyril Ramaphosa, described the flooding as a “catastrophe of enormous proportions”, directly linking it to the climate emergency.

Continue reading...