Category Archives: Environment

Australian-based company’s PNG mine could pose big environmental risk

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Gold and copper project for Sepik region also has potential to cause social conflict and unrest, report says

A gold and copper mine proposed for the Sepik region in Papua New Guinea by an Australian-based company threatens to destroy the health of a major river system, poison fish stocks and cause violent unrest, a report has found.

The Chinese-owned company, PanAust, says the Frieda river project could have a 45-year life span and generate A$12.45bn in tax, royalties and production levies for the PNG government and landholders.

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Lincolnshire flooding: hundreds of homes evacuated

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Military helicopters are drafted in to repair broken bank of River Steeping in Wainfleet

Hundreds of homes have been evacuated in a Lincolnshire town following severe flooding as the local MP warned that residents are “by no means out of the woods yet”.

Residents in at least 590 homes in Wainfleet and Thorpe Culvert were told to leave as waters continued to surge on Saturday.

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Global heating to inflict more droughts on Africa as well as floods

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New UK research predicts extremes of weather will hit food production

Global heating could bring many more bouts of severe drought as well as increased flooding to Africa than previously forecast, scientists have warned.

New research says the continent will experience many extreme outbreaks of intense rainfall over the next 80 years. These could trigger devastating floods, storms and disruption of farming. In addition, these events are likely to be interspersed with more crippling droughts during the growing season and these could also damage crop and food production.

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Nothing new in Coalition’s nuclear awakening. No wait, perhaps there is

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Could this be the catalyst for the Coalition of 2019 to reconnect itself with the position it adopted in 2007 for sound reasons?

Fair warning before we kick off this weekend. Increasingly, I’m reaching that stage of my professional life where I can be heard muttering, and sometimes shouting, I’m too bloody old for this.

My long-suffering colleagues in the Canberra bureau of Guardian Australia have absorbed bouts of muttering and shouting over the past few weeks as various Nationals and some Liberals have lined up post-election to support a new inquiry into nuclear energy, as if this might be a light bulb moment.

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Pope Francis declares ‘climate emergency’ and urges action

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Addressing energy leaders, pope warns of ‘catastrophic’ effects of global heating

Pope Francis has declared a global “climate emergency”, warning of the dangers of global heating and that a failure to act urgently to reduce greenhouse gases would be “a brutal act of injustice toward the poor and future generations”.

He also endorsed the 1.5C limit on temperature rises that some countries are now aiming for, referring to warnings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of “catastrophic” effects if we crossed such a threshold. He said a “radical energy transition” would be needed to stay within that limit, and urged young people and businesses to take a leading role.

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A city built on water: the hidden rivers under Tokyo’s concrete and neon

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More than 100 rivers and canals flow beneath Tokyo, but from the ground it’s hard to notice them. Why has the city turned its back on water?

Of the near-endless flow of people over the busy Shibuya scramble crossing every day, few realise that beneath their feet is something else flowing, unseen and unnoticed: the crossing of two ancient rivers, the Uda and the Onden.

Beneath all the concrete and neon, Tokyo is a city built on water. It is the reason the Japanese capital’s 37 million citizens are here at all. From fishing village to seat of political power, canny water management was a key driver of the city’s extraordinary growth.

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Blue Mountains wilderness would be ‘permanently’ changed by raising dam wall, leak reveals

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Draft report says Warragamba dam changes would affect Aboriginal historical sites

A leaked draft report has predicted world heritage areas of the Blue Mountains would be “permanently” changed by a controversial New South Wales government plan to raise a dam wall.

The state government is proposing to raise the walls of the Warragamba Dam by 14 metres to mitigate the impact of floods – a move that environmental activists say would flood Unesco-protected bushland, and endanger 50 historic Indigenous sites.

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Most ‘meat’ in 2040 will not come from dead animals, says report

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Consultants say 60% will be grown in vats or plant-based products that taste like meat

Most of the meat people eat in 2040 will not come from slaughtered animals, according to a report that predicts 60% will be either grown in vats or replaced by plant-based products that look and taste like meat.

The report by the global consultancy AT Kearney, based on expert interviews, highlights the heavy environmental impacts of conventional meat production and the concerns people have about the welfare of animals under industrial farming.

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Revealed: Mobil sought to fight environmental regulation, documents show

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Oil giant looked to make tax-exempt donations to universities and civic groups in the early 1990s to promote the company’s interests

Oil giant Mobil sought to make tax-exempt donations to leading universities, civic groups and arts programmes to promote the company’s interests and undermine environmental regulation, according to internal documents from the early 1990s obtained by the Guardian.

Related: How Mobil pushed its oil agenda through 'charitable giving'

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Chernobyl writer urges Instagram tourists to ‘respect’ nuclear disaster site

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Spike in visitors, including some who pose in little more than a g-string, prompts writer of HBO hit to speak out

The writer of the acclaimed HBO drama series Chernobyl has spoken out about the proliferation of lewd and inappropriate selfies taken by tourists visiting the nuclear disaster site in Ukraine.

Since the five-part miniseries about the 1986 catastrophe at the former Soviet Union power plant began airing in May, tourism at the site has reportedly increased by 30–40%. Social media influencers visiting the site have been subject to criticism in recent days for using renewed interest in the disaster to stage glamour shots for their Instagram accounts.

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Indian villages lie empty as drought forces thousands to flee

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Sick and elderly left to fend for themselves with no end in sight to water crisis

Hundreds of Indian villages have been evacuated as a historic drought forces families to abandon their homes in search of water.

The country has seen extremely high temperatures in recent weeks. On Monday the capital, Delhi, saw its highest ever June temperature of 48C. In Rajasthan, the city of Churu recently experienced highs of 50.8C, making it the hottest place on the planet.

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Theresa May commits to net zero UK carbon emissions by 2050

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UK to put down legislation but Greenpeace warns of impact on developing nations

Theresa May has sought to cement some legacy in the weeks before she steps down as prime minister by enshrining in law a commitment to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, making Britain the first major economy to do so.

The commitment, to be made in an amendment to the Climate Change Act laid in parliament on Wednesday, would make the UK the first member of the G7 group of industrialised nations to legislate for net zero emissions, Downing Street said.

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Grocery store urges customers to rethink plastic with embarrassing bags

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East West Market hopes humorous bags like ‘Wart Ointment Wholesale’ will persuade shoppers to shun single-use plastic bags

If concern over the climate crisis or revulsion over the contamination of the food chain are not enough to change consumer behaviour, one grocery store is hoping that another emotion may persuade people to shun single-use plastic bags: shame.

Related: Canada will ban 'harmful' single-use plastics as early as 2021

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Energy industry’s carbon emissions rise at fastest rate in nearly a decade

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BP report reveals that swings in global temperatures are increasing the use of fossil fuels

Carbon emissions from the global energy industry rose by the fastest rate in almost a decade in 2018 after surprise swings in global temperatures stoked extra demand for fossil fuels.

BP’s annual global energy report revealed for the first time that fluctuating temperatures are increasing the world’s use of fossil fuels in spite of efforts to tackle the climate crisis.

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Radiohead release hours of hacked MiniDiscs to benefit Extinction Rebellion

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Thom Yorke describes hours of recordings from OK Computer sessions as ‘not v interesting’, while climate activists thank the band for ‘unprecedented support’

Radiohead have released a vast collection of unreleased tracks made during the sessions for 1997 album OK Computer, after a MiniDisc archive owned by frontman Thom Yorke was hacked last week by an unnamed person, who reportedly held the recordings to ransom for $150,000.

The band have now made the 18 MiniDisc recordings, most of them around an hour in length, available on Bandcamp for £18. Proceeds will go to climate activists Extinction Rebellion.

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Death by clubbing: the brutality of Thailand’s pig slaughterhouses

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Humane killing practices are virtually unknown in the majority of Thailand’s abattoirs, say campaigners, with millions of pigs dying in pain

All photographs by Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals

Warning: this article includes some graphic images that some readers may find distressing

Photos of shirtless workers clubbing pigs with bats in a Thai slaughterhouse have prompted campaigners to call for wider training and monitoring of humane welfare practices.

Undercover images taken in the central Thailand abattoir and shared with the Guardian also shows workers stunning the animals on their eyes with what appear to be homemade stunning machines, contrary to equipment recommendations.

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Forest twice size of UK destroyed in decade for big consumer brands – report

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Greenpeace estimates 50m hectares cleared by 2020, warning companies must evolve to prevent ‘climate breakdown’

An area twice the size of the UK has been destroyed for products such as palm oil and soy over the last decade, according to analysis by Greenpeace International.

In 2010, members of the Consumer Goods Forum, including some of the world’s biggest consumer brands, pledged to eliminate deforestation by 2020, through the sustainable sourcing of four commodities most linked to forest destruction: soya, palm oil, paper and pulp, and cattle.

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‘Frightening’ number of plant extinctions found in global survey

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Study shows 571 species wiped out, and scientists say figure is likely to be big underestimate

Human destruction of the living world is causing a “frightening” number of plant extinctions, according to scientists who have completed the first global analysis of the issue.

They found 571 species had definitely been wiped out since 1750 but with knowledge of many plant species still very limited the true number is likely to be much higher. The researchers said the plant extinction rate was 500 times greater now than before the industrial revolution, and this was also likely to be an underestimate.

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Canada will ban ‘harmful’ single-use plastics as early as 2021

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Justin Trudeau said his government is drawing inspiration from EU in planning ban on water bottles, plastic bags and straws

Canada will ban single-use plastics as early as 2021, Justin Trudeau said on Monday.

The prime minister said the specific items to be banned will be determined based on a science-based review, but the government is considering items such as water bottles, plastic bags and straws.

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Food porn meets Hitchcock horror as seagull spies Maine chance

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Pepperdine professor photobombed by lobster mobster bird happy to see picture of roll reversal go viral

Alicia Jessop knew Friday was going to be memorable, but she didn’t realize it would be a day she would never forget.

Related: 'We live in a lobstocracy': Maine town is feeling the effects of climate change

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