Category Archives: Environment

Flooding in Assam and Nepal kills hundreds and displaces millions

Posted on by

Hurried evacuation of millions of residents will increase coronavirus cases, officials say

Severe flooding in India’s tea-growing state of Assam and neighbouring Nepal has killed at least 200 people and displaced millions, severely hampering efforts to stop the spread of coronavirus.

In Assam, heavy monsoon rains burst the banks of the Brahmaputra River, causing more than 2,000 villages to be enveloped in floods and mudslides and displacing 2.75 million people in the past two weeks. There have been 85 deaths reported in the state.

Continue reading...

Rescuers struggle to free sperm whale trapped in netting off Sicily

Posted on by

Divers and biologists trying to free whale caught in illegal netting near island of Salina

The Italian coastguard is struggling to free a sperm whale caught up in illegal fishing netting off the coast of one of Sicily’s Aeolian islands.

A team of divers and biologists have been working for more than 48 hours to help the whale close to the island of Salina. The whale’s huge size and agitated state has made the operation more challenging.

Continue reading...

Howey Ou: China’s first school climate striker – video profile

Posted on by

As the first young person in China to engage in Greta Thunberg-inspired Fridays for Future climate strikes, Howey Ou says she has become a target for the authorities who see that activism as a challenge to their control.

The 17-year-old claims she has been told to ditch her climate activism as a condition for her restarting studies at Guangxi Normal University affiliated high school in Guilin, where she studied until late 2018.

It is not necessarily her concerns for the climate that have sparked a pressure campaign from authorities, Kecheng Fang, an assistant professor at the school of journalism at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told the Guardian. He said: 'Most importantly, because it is about collective action ... No matter what kind of collective action it is, it’s considered highly sensitive'

Continue reading...

Africa can become a renewable energy superpower – if climate deniers are kept at bay

Posted on by

Nigel Lawson’s thinktank is pushing dirty energy on the continent with the greatest capacity for creating clean fuel

The power of climate science denial in the UK, thankfully, has been in retreat over the past decade. Nigel Lawson’s Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) may still boast a prime Westminster address, but its influence has waned. In fact, its decline aptly mirrors the fortunes of the coal industry, including US titans such as Peabody Energy, which saw its share price plunge 99% between 2008 and 2016 before filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy.

With countries rightly phasing coal out of their energy mix, the GWPF has turned its sights on Africa to peddle its misinformation about the merits of burning fossil fuels. It has published a new report, derisively titled Heart of Darkness: Why Electricity for Africa is a Security Issue, and launched a glossy website for “energy justice”, which uses the language of climate justice campaigners to try to undermine renewable energy.

Continue reading...

China’s first climate striker warned: give it up or you can’t go back to school

Posted on by

Ou Hongyi, who took part in the #FridaysforFuture protest, says she has been told she cannot return to school unless she stops her activism

Takes initiative. An independent thinker. Engages in study outside of the curriculum. Cares deeply about her community and the world around her. Stands up for her convictions and beliefs.

These are all qualities that would appear to make Ou Hongyi a suitable candidate for studying at her dream institution of Harvard University.

Continue reading...

It’s not raining – just a 50-mile wide cloud of flying ants

Posted on by

Met Office weather radar picks up swarm over south-east coast

A swarm of flying ants has been caught on a weather radar over the south-east coast. The Met Office’s radar imagery picked up the cloud of ants, about 50 miles (80 km) wide, over Kent and Sussex. Smaller swarms can be seen over London.

The Met Office tweeted a video of the swarm and said: “It’s not raining in London, Kent or Sussex, but our radar says otherwise.

Continue reading...

Huge swells on NSW Central Coast leave Wamberal homes at risk of collapse due to beach erosion

Posted on by

Several houses on Ocean View Drive now dangerously close to cliff edge as huge waves wash away beaches

Beachfront homes along the New South Wales Central Coast have been left dangling over the ocean and in danger of collapse after powerful surf caused massive erosion.

A powerful low across Australia’s east coast earlier in the week created large swells and high waves battering some coastal areas.

Continue reading...

Ethical labels not fit for purpose, report warns consumers

Posted on by

Schemes including Fairtrade and FSC may serve to mask human rights abuses and allow government inaction, study claims

Many of the world’s leading certification standards are not only failing to improve the ethical conduct of large corporations but are serving to entrench abusive business practices, a damning new report argues.

The study of 40 global voluntary initiatives, including emblematic on-pack labelling schemes such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Fairtrade International, identifies multiple failures in what it refers to as a “grand experiment” in corporate accountability.

“These kinds of initiatives are not effective tools for holding corporations accountable for abuses or for protecting rights holders against human rights violations,” says Amelia Evans, executive director at MSI Integrity, the US-based human rights group behind the research.

Related: Rainforest Alliance certifying unethical pineapple farms, activists claim

Continue reading...

Oil spill from Yemen tanker ‘would be four times worse then Exxon Valdez’ – UN

Posted on by

Spill from decaying vessel could wreck environment and livelihoods for decades

Time is running out to prevent a disastrous oil spill from a deteriorating tanker loaded with 1.1m barrels of crude that is moored off the coast of Yemen, the UN’s environment chief has said.

Inger Andersen told the UN security council that a spill from the FSO Safer, which has had no maintenance for more than five years, would wreck ecosystems and livelihoods for decades.

Continue reading...

Pandemic shows climate has never been treated as crisis, say scientists

Posted on by

Letter also signed by Greta Thunberg urges EU leaders to act immediately on global heating

Greta Thunberg and some of the world’s leading climate scientists have written to EU leaders demanding they act immediately to avoid the worst impacts of the unfolding climate and ecological emergency.

The letter, which is being sent before a European council meeting starting on Friday, says the Covid-19 pandemic has shown that most leaders are able to act swiftly and decisively, but the same urgency had been missing in politicians’ response to the climate crisis.

Continue reading...

Climate change made Siberian heatwave 600 times more likely – study

Posted on by

Scientists say human fingerprint on record temperatures has rarely if ever been clearer

The record-breaking heatwave in the Siberian Arctic was made at least 600 times more likely by human-caused climate change, according to a study.

Between January and June, temperatures in the far north of Russia were more than 5C above average, causing permafrost to melt, buildings to collapse, and sparking an unusually early and intense start to the forest fires season. On 20 June, a monitoring station in Verkhoyansk registered a record high of 38C.

Continue reading...

Weatherwatch: the Gambia’s pleasant subtropical climate

Posted on by

Tiny west African country enjoys warm temperatures, which are cooler on its tourist-filled coast

As the smallest country on the African mainland – just 30 miles (50km) across at its widest point, and barely larger than Devon and Cornwall combined – you would not expect the Gambia to have a very varied climate. The low-lying nature of the country, which runs along the Gambia River, also means there is little or no altitudinal variation.

But there is a difference in temperature, and especially humidity, between the Atlantic coast in the west and places further upriver: inland sites are noticeably hotter and more humid, especially from March to June. Hence the vast majority of the holiday resorts are situated along the 50-mile coastline, where pleasantly warm winds also offer some relief from the heat.

Continue reading...

Tensions mount as Ethiopia allows dam across Nile headwaters to fill

Posted on by

Egypt fears hydroelectric project will restrict limited waters on which its population depends

Ethiopia has allowed a controversial dam built across the headwaters of the Nile to fill with rain water, raising tensions with Egypt and Sudan.

The huge hydroelectric project on the Blue Nile, known as the Grand Renaissance dam, is at the centre of Ethiopia’s plan to become Africa’s biggest power exporter, but Egypt fears already limited Nile waters, on which its population of more than 100 million people depends, might be restricted.

Continue reading...

Governments put ‘green recovery’ on the backburner

Posted on by

G20 countries aim their pandemic bailout spending at fossil fuel industries, leaving Paris climate change targets in doubt

Governments are spending vastly more in support of fossil fuels than on low-carbon energy in rescue packages triggered by the coronavirus crisis, new data has shown, despite rhetoric from many countries in support of a “green recovery”.

Data from the Energy Policy Tracker, a new research effort by several civil society groups, shows that at least $151bn (£120bn) of bailout cash has been spent or earmarked so far to support fossil fuels by the G20 group of large economies. Only about a fifth of this spending is conditional on environmental requirements such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions or cleaning up pollution.

Continue reading...

Killing nearly 500 wolves in a year failed to protect endangered caribou – study

Posted on by
  • British Columbia performed cull as part of caribou recovery plan
  • Focus on wolves ignores complex web of factors, researchers say

With their ability to glide silently through snow drifts and vanish into forests, mountain caribou have been called the grey ghosts of western Canada’s alpine region.

But in recent years, a steep drop in their population has raised fears the knobby-kneed ungulates may disappear forever.

Continue reading...

Andean condor can fly for 100 miles without flapping wings

Posted on by

World’s largest soaring bird flaps wings only 1% of time in flight, study shows

A study sheds light on just how efficiently the world’s largest soaring bird rides air currents to stay aloft for hours without flapping its wings.

The Andean condor has a 3-metre (10ft) wingspan and weighs up to 15kg (33lbs), making it the world’s heaviest soaring bird.

Continue reading...

Former NSW water minister defends exclusion of driest years from sustainable water calculations

Posted on by

New water-sharing plans use data that ends at 2004 to calculate extractions from major tributaries in the Murray-Darling system

The former NSW water minister Kevin Humphries has defended controversial legislation that effectively excludes some of the driest water years from figures used to calculate sustainable water allocations for irrigators, towns and the environment.

Humphries, who confirmed he had been referred to the Independent Commission Against Corruption over unspecified decisions he took as water minister, told a NSW parliamentary committee that the 2014 legislation he introduced was to give greater certainty to all water users.

Continue reading...

‘Compelling’ evidence air pollution worsens coronavirus – study

Posted on by

Exclusive: best analysis to date indicates significant increases in infections, hospital admissions and deaths

There is “compelling” evidence that air pollution significantly increases coronavirus infections, hospital admissions and deaths, according to the most detailed and comprehensive analysis to date.

The research indicates that a small, single-unit increase in people’s long-term exposure to pollution particles raises infections and admissions by about 10% and deaths by 15%. The study took into account more than 20 other factors, including average population density, age, household size, occupation and obesity.

Continue reading...

Robot dolphins: the cruelty-free £20m ‘animal’ you can’t tell from the real thing

Posted on by

Creators say robot dolphins provide an alternative to keeping cetaceans in captivity and could be rolled out in Chinese aquariums

They can respond to questions, swim happily in shopping mall display tanks, and withstand close contact that would usually be harmful to real animals – without any ethical problems. And they could soon be coming to aquariums in China.

Entrepreneurs in New Zealand are working with American creators of some of Hollywood’s most famous creatures to develop animatronic dolphins that look almost identical to their living counterparts.

Continue reading...

Mont Blanc’s melting glacier yields time capsule of Indian history

Posted on by

Retreating French ice leaves behind newspapers proclaiming Indira Gandhi’s rise to PM, probably from 1966 plane crash

The Mont Blanc glacier in the French Alps is yielding more secrets as it melts – this time a clutch of newspapers with banner headlines from when Indira Gandhi became India’s first, and so far only, female prime minister in 1966.

The copies of Indian newspapers the National Herald and the Economic Times were probably aboard an Air India Boeing 707 that crashed on the mountain on 24 January, 1966, claiming 177 lives.

Continue reading...