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With the climate crisis hitting Britain, we must build resilience at a local level by rewilding, saving water and fighting floods

Imagine, for a moment, if 2025 was the year that the UK achieved its legally binding targets of reducing dangerous carbon emissions to zero. Imagine if the Extinction Rebellions of 2019 had achieved their goal, and the government had bowed to the pressure of climate activism to meet this target. In this counterfactual reality, the world would be much saner than our own. But as the new year arrives, we’re forced to confront a stark reality. Britain is nowhere near achieving zero carbon in the next 12 months.

When Extinction Rebellion (XR) was founded in 2018, the 2025 target was conceived as a clarion call to action. It was based on the need to decarbonise quickly, to mitigate the worst impacts of climate decline, and to fulfil our historical responsibility as one of the world’s largest polluters. With the new year upon us, it’s clear that decarbonisation at the scale and speed we imagined isn’t a feasible goal within our existing political and economic frameworks. And this failure brings with it some uncomfortable truths that everyone concerned about the climate crisis must face head-on. And that means, in effect, everyone: for even if you don’t feel affected by this crisis, it still affects you.

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Behaviour experts say misinformation shared in media and by other stakeholders is impeding uptake

Experts from a “nudge unit” have been hired to help ministers fight misinformation about heat pumps to try to encourage take-up of the devices.

The appliances run on electricity instead of gas and are regarded as a way of decarbonising homes at scale. A target of installing 600,000 a year by 2028 is part of a drive to achieve Britain’s commitment to reach net zero by 2050.

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Five entire families can be killed, totalling 30 wolves, in move campaigners say is illegal under EU law

Sweden’s wolf hunt starts on Thursday, with the country aiming to halve the population of the endangered predator.

The Swedish government has given the green light for five entire wolf families, a total of 30 wolves, to be killed in a hunt campaigners say is illegal under EU law. Under the Berne convention, protected species cannot be caused to have their populations fall under a sustainable level.

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Phenomenon known as ‘sea sparkles’ or ‘red tide’ is caused by masses of noctiluca scintillans, a pink-coloured algae

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Masses of glittering algae have returned to Tasmania’s coastline in a spectacular bloom of bioluminescence that experts say is the largest seen in years.

The phenomenon, known as “sea sparkles” or “red tide”, was caused by masses of noctiluca scintillans, a pink-coloured algae that experts say was beautiful to look at, but considered bad news for the environment.

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Western European population has risen 25% with ban and some UK sites have seen promising increases

There are signs of hope for the turtle dove, one of the most endangered birds that has been plummeting towards extinction in Britain.

After a temporary ban on the annual shoot of the migratory birds as they pass through France, Spain and Portugal, which began in 2021, there has been a remarkable 25% increase in its western European population, which includes the 2,000 individuals clinging on in England.

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Virginijus Sinkevičius, a former environment commissioner, criticises bloc’s decision to delay deforestation law

A former EU environment commissioner has warned against backsliding on the protection of nature and the battle against the climate crisis after the bloc decided to delay its landmark deforestation law.

Virginijus Sinkevičius, the Lithuanian MEP and a vice-president of the European parliament’s Green group, said he disagreed with the decision to amend the deforestation law in order to give companies a year of extra time to ensure their products are not implicated in the felling of trees.

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LA is trying to expand its cycling network ahead of the 2028 Olympics, but some are skeptical.

PM will have to respond to Climate Change Committee’s recommendations on future emissions cuts with drastic changes in many sectors of economy

Keir Starmer will face a key test of his claims to leadership on the climate early next year, when the UK’s statutory advisers issue their latest advice on future cuts to greenhouse gas emissions.

The independent Climate Change Committee will set out recommendations on the UK’s seventh carbon budget on 26 February. At the core of the budget will be an overall cap on emissions for the years 2038 to 2042, needed to meet the legal obligation of reaching net zero emissions in 2050.

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Co-locating renewable generation, load and storage offers substantial benefits, particularly for manufacturing facilities and data centres.

The post What comes after microgrids? Energy parks based around wind, solar and storage appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Advances in technology raise questions about the need to send people to space - and the risks and cost

Advances in technology raise questions about the need to send people to space - and the risks and cost

The rocket, which took off from a site north of Chennai, places two satellites in orbit.

Amidst habitat destruction and ecological grief, let’s make a New Year’s resolution for nature — to care for beetles and butterflies, rainforests and reefs, ourselves, and future generations. Darcy Watchorn, Threatened Species Biologist, Wildlife Conservation & Science Department, Zoos Victoria, and Visiting Scholar, School of Life & Environmental Science, Deakin University Marissa Parrott, Senior Conservation Biologist, Wildlife Conservation & Science, Zoos Victoria, and Honorary Research Associate, BioSciences, The University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Seven local authorities in England have waste figures highlighted as government launches circular economy measures

New government data published on Monday showed that 95% of non-recycled waste in Essex is sent to landfill, as ministers launched their plans for a circular economy.

The data revealed that seven local authorities in England reported sending more than 40% of their residual waste to landfill in 2022 to 2023, with Essex county council at the top of the list.

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Part of their body is hollow, this amplifies the sound. The longer you listen to their sound, the more they seem to sync up

Of all the languages’ words for cicada, Croatian’s might be the best: cvrčak, pronounced: tvr-chak. The sound it makes is tvr-chi tvr-chi. I have a Croatian friend who taught me part of a poem – Cicada – when we were in high school. It is by Vladimir Nazor, who was Croatia’s first head of state. The first stanza includes the satisfyingly low on vowels and onomatopoeic phrase: “cvrči, cvrči cvrčak” (pronounced “tvrchi, tvrchi tvrchak”) – which translates as “chirp, chirp cicada”.

And the cricket chirps, chirps on the knot of the black spruce
Its deafening trochee, its sonorous, heavy iambic …
It is noon. – Like water, it spills out in silence.
A solar dithyramb.

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Competition named after champion surfer Eddie Aikau is held only when waves in Waimea Bay top 30ft

A rare surfing event, the Eddie, took place in Hawaii last week, thanks to some giant waves.

Formed about a week ago in the north Pacific Ocean, the waves emerged as a low-pressure system produced an exceptionally large swell. They went on to hit Hawaii, enabling the Eddie to take place for just the 11th time in its 40-year history.

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UN secretary general, António Guterres, says ‘we must exit this road to ruin’ in annual new year message

The world has endured a “decade of deadly heat”, with 2024 capping 10 years of unprecedented temperatures, the UN has said.

Delivering his annual new year message, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, said the 10 hottest years on record had happened in the past decade, including 2024.

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Wildlife Victoria expects ‘catastrophic and long-term impacts’ for wildlife, including substantial loss of life, burns, blindness and starvation

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As fires headed toward her Grampians property in the Australian state of Victoria on Boxing Day, wildlife carer Pam Turner sheltered 20 joeys in her living room.

The animals gathered inside – standing alert from the noise of the sprinklers – are all hand-reared by her after being orphaned through car accidents, fence hangings and shootings.

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Astronomers are poised to see a star system about 3,000 light years away explode into brightness.

Part of an international initiative to combat organised wildlife crime, similar seizures in Australia and Norway have recovered more than 50,000 eggs

More than 6,000 eggs have been seized in the biggest haul of its kind in UK history, after police carried out raids in Scotland, South Yorkshire, Essex, Wales and Gloucester. Thousands of eggs were found secreted in attics, offices and drawers.

The UK raids took place in November as part of Operation Pulka, an international effort to tackle organised wildlife crime – specifically the taking, possessing and trading of wild birds’ eggs. The raids began in June 2023 in Norway, and resulted in 16 arrests and the seizure of 50,000 eggs. In Australia, an estimated 3,500 eggs have been seized, worth up to A$500,000 (£250,000).

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