Researchers find climate crisis aggravated the four days of heavy rainfall and deadly floods
Planet-heating pollution doubled the chance of the extreme levels of rain that hammered central Europe in September, a study has found.
Researchers found global heating aggravated the four days of heavy rainfall that led to deadly floods in countries from Austria to Romania.
Continue reading...Decision angers environment groups with Australian Conservation Foundation saying Albanese government ‘continues to disappoint’
The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, approved three coalmine expansions on Tuesday in a step described by conservationists as reckless and “the opposite of climate action”.
The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) said the three projects, all in New South Wales, would generate more than 1.3bn tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in their lifetime.
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Continue reading...Local vet says nine birds have died and the rest are being treated, with many unable to stand or walk
The New South Wales environmental watchdog is investigating a suspected poisoning that has left nine magpies dead and more than a dozen others needing treatment.
Karlie Johnston, the practice manager at Cooper Street veterinary hospital in Cootamundra, said 30 magpies had been brought into the vet in recent days. Many were unable to stand or walk, and some had completely lost the use of their legs.
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Continue reading...Thirty-five flood warnings in place across England after some areas get more than 100mm of rain in 48 hours
Commuters in parts of England are still facing travel issues despite a respite from heavy rain.
Parts of Bedfordshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Northamptonshire have had more than 100mm of rain in the past 48 hours, with Woburn in Bedfordshire recording 132mm, more than twice its September average rainfall, according to the Met Office.
Continue reading...Former secretary of state accuses oil and gas companies of ‘business as usual’ at major climate summit in New York
Countries are ignoring commitments they made less than a year ago to shift away from fossil fuels and to provide aid to those most vulnerable to the climate crisis, a host of leading figures have admitted during a gloomy start to a major climate summit in New York.
Al Gore, the former US vice-president, and John Kerry, the former US secretary of state and climate envoy, have led the condemnation of the largest greenhouse gas emitters, led by China and the US, for failing to follow a UN pact signed in Dubai by nearly 200 countries in December to “transition away” from oil, coal and gas.
Continue reading...State had already banned thin plastic shopping bags, but new measure bans all plastic bags starting in 2026
“Paper or plastic” will no longer be a choice at grocery store checkout lines in California under a new law signed on Sunday by the governor, Gavin Newsom, that bans all plastic shopping bags.
California had already banned thin plastic shopping bags at supermarkets and other stores, but shoppers could purchase bags made with a thicker plastic that purportedly made them reusable and recyclable.
Continue reading...Move comes after weeks of uncertainty over reports of financial problems as green vehicle sector struggles
The Swedish batterymaker Northvolt is to cut 1,600 jobs, in response to “headwinds” blowing through the electric car industry.
The battery company announced redundancies across three of its sites on Monday, including 1,000 in Skellefteå, in northern Sweden, where it is suspending the expansion of Northvolt Ett, Europe’s first homegrown battery gigafactory.
Continue reading...One dead and several missing as ‘life-threatening situation’ declared in earthquake-hit Ishikawa prefecture
Heavy rain caused extensive flooding in central Japan over the weekend, with at least one person reported dead and several more unaccounted for.
Officials said “unprecedented” rainfall generated floods and landslides in Ishikawa prefecture, where a powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake on New Year’s Day killed more than 200 people. The Japan meteorological agency issued its highest-level warning for Ishikawa, advising of a “life-threatening situation”.
Continue reading...Plan aimed to expand protection of endangered ecosystems, but opponents said it posed risk to business development
Voters in Switzerland have rejected a proposal to make authorities do more to protect natural habitats from pollution and development, preliminary results of a referendum have showed.
The biodiversity initiative, which the Swiss government and parliament had already rebuffed, envisaged changing the law to set aside more land for conservation beyond areas that were already protected.
Continue reading...‘It will cost more, it will push prices up, it will take longer,’ treasurer says of opposition leader’s ‘fantasy’
Coalition plans to build seven nuclear power plants are “economic insanity”, Jim Chalmers has said, in the lead-up to a speech by Peter Dutton that is expected to provide new details of the policy.
The federal opposition has outlined plans to build seven nuclear reactors across five states, should it win the next election, with the first to be built by 2035 to 2037 at the earliest.
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Continue reading...Exclusive: independent MPs and Lidia Thorpe tell PM that environment law reforms under negotiation must remove exemptions for native forest logging
Independent MPs and a crossbench senator are trying to increase the pressure on the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to remove Howard-era exemptions that allow native forest logging to operate outside national environment laws.
The government has been negotiating over reforms to the laws in the Senate, where the Greens and crossbenchers David Pocock and Lidia Thorpe have been pushing for an end to the exemptions for logging covered by regional forest agreements.
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Continue reading...One person dead and several missing after deluge in Noto, still recovering from 1 January earthquake
Heavy rain pounded Japan’s north-central Noto region, triggering landslides and floods and leaving one person dead and several missing, officials have said.
The deluges caused swollen rivers to overflow, flooding homes and leaving some people stranded in a region still recovering from the deadly 1 January earthquake.
Continue reading...Environment agency advised that the animal posed a danger to elderly woman in remote summer house in Westfjords
A rare polar bear that was spotted in a remote village in Iceland was shot by police after being considered a threat, authorities have said.
The bear was killed in the north-west tip of the country after police consulted the national environment agency, which declined to have the animal relocated, according to the Westfjords police chief, Helgi Jensson.
Continue reading...Pennsylvania plant was site of most serious nuclear meltdown and radiation leak in US history in 1979
A nuclear reactor at the notorious Three Mile Island site in Pennsylvania is to be activated for the first time in five years after its owners, Constellation Energy, struck a deal to provide power to Microsoft’s proliferating artificial intelligence operations.
The plant was the location of the most serious nuclear meltdown and radiation leak in US history, in March 1979 when the loss of water coolant through a faulty valve caused the Unit 2 reactor to overheat. More than four decades later, the reactor is still in a decommissioning phase.
Continue reading...A ban on exporting offshore gas was lifted in WA this week, and the Greens say two of the ‘biggest winners’ were the massive resources companies
Western Australian gas companies Mineral Resources and Woodside gave more than $20,000 to WA Labor while it was considering changes to its domestic gas policy that allowed more gas to be exported from the state.
On Thursday the state government lifted a ban on onshore gas being exported, allowing 20% to go overseas until 2031, in a change the premier, Roger Cook, said would boost the state’s gas industry.
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Continue reading...Firefighters and police in Rondônia battle fires intensified by both the climate crisis and a criminal assault on the rainforest
The occupants of the vinyl-coated military tents at this remote jungle camp in Brazil’s wild west compare the hellscape surrounding them to catastrophes old and new: the extinction of the dinosaurs, the bombardment of Gaza, the obliteration of Hiroshima during the second world war.
“It’s as if a nuclear bomb has gone off. There’s no forest. There’s nothing. Everything’s burned. It’s chaos,” said Lt Col Victor Paulo Rodrigues de Souza as he gave a tour of the base on the frontline of Brazil’s fight against one of its worst burning seasons in years and a relentless assault on the greatest tropical rainforest on Earth.
Continue reading...More than 400,000 people evacuated, hundreds of flights cancelled and many roads shut due to flooding and winds
Typhoon Bebinca struck the east coast of China this week, making landfall near Shanghai, a city of almost 30 million people, on Monday. Bebinca developed into a typhoon to the east of the southern Japan islands late last week, before traveling westwards through the East China Sea and making landfall in Shanghai at approximately 7.30am local time (00.30BST).
The Chinese media say it is the strongest typhoon to hit Shanghai in 75 years. Wind speeds were reported to have reached just over 150km/h (about 94mph), making it equivalent to a category 1 hurricane, albeit just shy of a category 2 in strength. Before Bebinca, Shanghai had been hit directly by only two typhoons, one in 1949 and another in 2022, as they usually track further south.
Continue reading...The country, which has more 300 days of sunshine a year, has embraced rooftop systems that harness the sun’s energy
The Thriamvos company truck pulls up at noon outside the four-storey building in the heart of Nicosia.
It’s the third rooftop installation of a solar-powered water heating system that Petros Mihali and his assistant, Soteris, have made in the Cypriot capital since their working day began at 7am.
Continue reading...Victoria is home to perhaps the largest population and the only mainland state with ‘legislative relic’ of protections
Land holders and managers along with landcare and environment groups want Victoria to remove protections for feral deer, as booming populations wreak havoc on agriculture and the local environment.
Jordan Crook, from the Victorian National Parks Association, said recognising deer as pests – alongside foxes, rabbits and pigs – would bring Victoria in line with the rest of mainland Australia.
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Continue reading...Meloni government accused of lacking will to confront climate crisis as floods cause havoc in Emilia-Romagna
Two people are missing and about 1,000 people have been evacuated from their homes after devastating floods and landslides hit the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, prompting accusations that Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government lacks the will to confront the climate crisis.
The flooding was brought on by Storm Boris, which had earlier wreaked havoc in central and eastern Europe, killing at least 24 people. Several major cities in central Europe were bracing for swollen rivers to peak on Thursday but defences generally appeared to be holding.
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