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Election of Donald Trump ‘could put world’s climate goals at risk’

The Guardian - Sun, 2024-03-31 21:00

Former UN climate chief warns of global impact of a possible regression in US green policies

Victory for Donald Trump in the US presidential election this year could put the world’s climate goals at risk, a former UN climate chief has said.

The chances of limiting global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels are already slim, and Trump’s antipathy to climate action would have a major impact on the US, which is the world’s second biggest emitter of greenhouse gases and biggest oil and gas exporter, said Patricia Espinosa, who served as the UN’s top official on the climate from 2016 to 2022.

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Spinning, whirling fish in south Florida prompt emergency response

The Guardian - Sun, 2024-03-31 21:00

Smalltooth sawfish are behaving oddly, eliciting a first-ever plan to rescue and rehabilitate species from wild

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is launching what the agency described as an emergency response effort in south Florida after emerging reports of smalltooth sawfish spinning, whirling and displaying other abnormal behaviors.

In a statement released last Wednesday, NOAA said that in addition to the abnormal behaviors, there have been reports of fish deaths in the lower Florida Keys, including more than 28 smalltooth sawfish as of 24 March.

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Seagulls 'charismatic' not 'criminal', say scientists

BBC - Sun, 2024-03-31 10:05
Urban seagulls get a bad press but we must learn to live alongside them, say conservation experts.
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Latest talks fail to solve deep sea mining regulation spat

Carbon Pulse - Sat, 2024-03-30 20:59
Countries failed to reach an agreement on a consolidated text on commercial deep sea mining regulations at the first part of the 29th Council of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), as metal companies are pressing to apply for permits even in the absence of a framework.
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Japan aims at international impact in nature positive strategy

Carbon Pulse - Sat, 2024-03-30 14:07
Japan has released a Nature Positive Economy Transition Strategy, taking aim at creating impact well outside its own borders and including the use of carbon and biodiversity credits.
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FEATURE: First deliverables from voluntary carbon market standards’ collaboration coming in Q3, but bigger challenges lay ahead

Carbon Pulse - Sat, 2024-03-30 13:45
The first deliverables from a collaboration between some of the world’s largest voluntary carbon market (VCM) standards are expected to arrive in Q3 this year, and “more complicated pieces” to come in 2025, but the alliance faces larger challenges - some existential - on the road ahead.
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Partnership to launch broad range of carbon projects in Malaysia

Carbon Pulse - Sat, 2024-03-30 12:42
A Southeast Asian carbon consultancy has teamed up with a Malaysian university to drive the creation of a wide range of nature- and technology-based offset projects, with resulting credits to be made available on the domestic carbon exchange.
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IUCN proposes biodiversity article in global plastics treaty

Carbon Pulse - Sat, 2024-03-30 12:08
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has proposed including a separate article on biodiversity in the UN global plastics treaty, ahead of the fourth round of negotiations to be held later this month.
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Washington to offer higher current year volume at Q2 auction in June

Carbon Pulse - Sat, 2024-03-30 09:35
Washington state's Department of Ecology (ECY) will offer a higher number of current year volumes at its quarterly carbon allowance auction in June, as well as a smaller amount of future vintage allowances, according to a notice published by the agency Friday.
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Hospital admissions for waterborne diseases in England up 60%, report shows

The Guardian - Sat, 2024-03-30 08:30

Labour party analysis of figures since 2010 shows raw sewage was discharged for more than 3.6m hours last year

Waterborne diseases such as dysentery and Weil’s disease have risen by 60% since 2010 in England, new figures reveal.

Analysis of NHS hospital admissions by the Labour party has found that the number of people admitted to hospital with diseases transmitted via waterborne infection has increased from 2,085 in 2010-11 to 3,286 in 2022-23.

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US landfill emissions are 40% higher than what’s being reported to regulators, study finds

Carbon Pulse - Sat, 2024-03-30 07:17
Methane emissions from US landfills are on average 40% higher than what has been reported to the EPA, according to a study released Thursday.
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BRIEFING: Canada set to increase federal carbon tax again, to the dismay of conservative leaders

Carbon Pulse - Fri, 2024-03-29 23:49
A scheduled increase to Canada's revenue-neutral 'backstop' carbon tax on fossil fuels will go ahead on Apr. 1, despite pleas to abort the rise from several conservative provincial premiers and other populist politicians.
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Digested week: Germany has the right idea on dachshunds. Dogs should be cuddly | Lucy Mangan

The Guardian - Fri, 2024-03-29 21:50

Germans want to ban ‘torture breeding’ for extreme characteristics. Plus: don’t even think about swimming in British waters this Easter

I’ll say this for the Germans: when they’re right, they’re so right. Word reaches us that dachshunds are to be banned in Germany.

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Bolivian Indigenous groups assert claim to treasure of ‘holy grail of shipwrecks’

The Guardian - Fri, 2024-03-29 19:30

Descendants of enslaved miners who dug up gold, silver and emeralds worth billions call on Colombia to halt plan to lift cargo

Indigenous communities in Bolivia have objected to Colombia’s plans to recover the remains of an 18th-century galleon believed to be carrying gold, silver and emeralds worth billions, calling on Spain and Unesco to step in and halt the project.

Colombia hopes to begin recovering artefacts from the wreck of the San José in the coming months but the Caranga, Chicha and Killaka peoples in Bolivia argue that the excavation would rob them of their “common and shared” heritage.

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‘Ecocide in Gaza’: does scale of environmental destruction amount to a war crime?

The Guardian - Fri, 2024-03-29 19:00

Exclusive: Satellite analysis revealed to the Guardian shows farms devastated and nearly half of the territory’s trees razed. Alongside mounting air and water pollution, experts says Israel’s onslaught on Gaza’s ecosystems has made the area unlivable

In a dilapidated warehouse in Rafah, Soha Abu Diab is living with her three young daughters and more than 20 other family members. They have no running water, no fuel and are surrounded by running sewage and waste piling up.

Like the rest of Gaza’s residents, they fear the air they breathe is heavy with pollutants and that the water carries disease. Beyond the city streets lie razed orchards and olive groves, and farmland destroyed by bombs and bulldozers.

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Week in wildlife – in pictures: pedalo hijinks and a raccoon doing a handstand

The Guardian - Fri, 2024-03-29 18:00

The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world

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Extortionate Easter eggs and shrinking sweets: fears grow of a ‘chocolate meltdown’

The Guardian - Fri, 2024-03-29 15:00

Poor harvests in extreme weather conditions have led to a tripling of cocoa prices – but farmers have seen no benefit

Around the world this holiday weekend, people will consume hundreds of millions of Easter eggs and bunnies, as part of an annual chocolate intake that can exceed 8kg (18lb) for every person in the UK, or 5kg in the US and Europe. But a global shortage of cacao – the seed from which chocolate is made – has brought warnings of a “chocolate meltdown” that could see prices increase and bars shrink further.

This week, cocoa prices rose to all-time highs on commodity exchanges in London and New York, reaching more than $10,000 a tonne for the first time, after the third consecutive poor harvest in west Africa. Ghana and Ivory Coast, which together produce more than half of the global cacao crop, have been hit by extreme weather supercharged by the climate crisis and the El Niño weather phenomenon. This has been exacerbated by disease and underinvestment in ageing plantations.

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US National Park Service sued over plan to trap Puerto Rico’s famous stray cats

The Guardian - Fri, 2024-03-29 11:20

Activists say plan to remove 200 felines near Old San Juan fortress within six months is not enough time and worry cats will be killed

A non-profit organization said Thursday that it sued the US National Park Service over a plan to remove Puerto Rico’s famous stray cats from a historic district in the US territory.

The lawsuit filed by Maryland-based Alley Cat Allies comes four months after the federal agency announced it would contract an animal welfare organization to remove an estimated 200 cats that live in an area surrounding a historic seaside fortress in Old San Juan.

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Mammals battle for life in new Attenborough series

BBC - Fri, 2024-03-29 10:48
The six-part series 'Mammals' will air this Sunday at 19:00 GMT.
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