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Contract signed for new two-turbine wind farm in Victoria
Wesfarmers’ energy retailing unit signs up for W.A.’s biggest solar farm
Worried world urges Trump not to pull out of Paris climate agreement
- Officials around the world warn president not to reverse climate efforts
- Trump has already begun to peel away pollution rules imposed by Obama
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Donald Trump’s scorched-earth approach to environmental protections has shocked current and former government officials overseas who are waiting nervously to see whether the US will destabilize the Paris climate agreement by pulling out of the deal.
The Guardian has spoken to a number of officials from key countries before Trump makes a decision on the Paris agreement this month. Trump’s announcement might come as early as this week.
Continue reading...Air pollution: the battle to save Britain from suffocation
It has been a richly satisfying week for James Thornton, founder and chief executive of the environmental law group ClientEarth. On Tuesday the government admitted defeat in its lengthy battle with the firm over atmospheric pollution and pledged that it would publish its strategy to improve air quality in Britain – which it did on Friday.
Ministers have, for the past decade, resolutely refused to acknowledge their obligations in dealing with a problem that is believed to be shortening the lives of thousands of people in the UK. Their change of mind, enforced by Thornton and his team of young lawyers, was a major, humiliating climbdown for our leaders and a significant victory for ClientEarth.
Continue reading...Shark sighting forces Western Australian triathlon swimmers out of water
Busselton Ironman 70.3 reduced to a duathlon after about 100 swimmers brought to shore
Dozens of swimmers at a triathlon in Western Australia’s south had to be removed from the water after a shark was spotted.
Most of the individual competitors in the Ironman 70.3 in Busselton on Sunday had already completed their 1.9km swim when the shark was seen, but those who remained in the water were removed by Surf Life Saving WA and the beach was closed.
Continue reading...The eco guide to laundry
Microfibres in synthetic clothing are one of the biggest menaces when washing your clothes, says Lucy Siegle. A mesh laundry bag is the best solution
I almost yearn for the days when 80% of a garment’s ecological impact was down to the phosphates and optical brighteners in detergent. Oh, and climate emissions from the energy used to heat the water.
Cleaning up all that was straightforward: turn the machine down to 30C and use an eco detergent.
Continue reading...Under threat - climate, land and water science
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The world's largest artificial sun
Theresa May urged to persuade Trump not to quit Paris climate accord
Theresa May is facing calls from Britain’s leading environment and development groups to use her influence to persuade Donald Trump that the US must remain committed to the Paris climate change agreement.
In a strongly worded letter, the heads of Oxfam, the RSPB, Greenpeace, WWF, Christian Aid, Cafod and other groups have called on the prime minister to “pick up the phone” to the US president to warn him of the consequences of leaving the Paris accord, something Trump pledged to do within 100 days of coming to power, a timeline that passed last week.
Continue reading...Government set to be taken back to court over air pollution plans
Environment lawyers are expected to take the government back to court over its controversial plans to tackle the UK’s air pollution crisis. They say the proposals are so weak they flout ministers’ obligation to protect public health.
The government published its plans to cut levels of diesel fumes, nitrogen oxides and particulates in the atmosphere on Friday – after being forced by judges to act on the crisis. Medical experts say toxic air is responsible for tens of thousands of premature deaths every year.
Continue reading...Nearly 400 birds killed after flying into Texas skyscraper in storm
Nashville and Blackburnian warblers among birds of more than 20 species that hit American National Building, possibly after mistaking lights for moon or sun
Nearly 400 migratory birds of brilliant plumage were killed when they smashed into an office tower in Texas while flying in a storm, officials said on Friday.
Related: Twitterstorm: why British birdsong is vital to music
Continue reading...Sidmouth wages war on scavenger seagulls with £80 feeding fines
Feeding the gulls in this part of East Devon can now bring a hefty financial penalty. Will it stop the problem?
Perry King takes a break from cleaning windows in the seaside resort of Sidmouth. “Some of the seagulls do look fat,” he muses. “You look at them and think, that’s a chip bird.”
In this part of East Devon, however, the days of seagulls surviving on a diet of chips, doughnuts, ice-cream and pasties may be coming to an end. Last week the district council became the first in the country to attempt to control the birds’ fondness for junk food through financial sanction. Anyone found deliberately feeding the seagulls in five Devon seaside towns can now be fined £80 under a public spaces protection order.
Continue reading...The end of wild elephants? Why we must not let Africa become one giant food farm | Erik Solheim
The world’s rapid population rise risks turning Africa into one giant farm with no room for wildlife. We need to think again, says the head of UN Environment
Elephants are in big trouble. Even if we beat poaching and illegal trade, their potential doom has been sealed in projections for population growth, and has already been priced into the commonly accepted solutions to how we humans plan to feed ourselves well into the century – by looking to Africa to be our next big breadbasket.
Africa is home to 1.2 billion people, but by 2050 that number is likely to double, and may well double again by the end of the century to reach well over 4 billion. Globally, we may exceed 11 billion souls. This is of course a cause for celebration and a testament to the huge strides we’ve made in public health. We’ve all but beaten polio and yellow fever, mother and child mortality has plummeted, and we’re making headway in the fight against malaria.
Continue reading...Fun and games among the gulls
River Teifi, Cardigan They plunged into the water to emerge with twigs, which they threw in the air and caught like children
Above Pont y Cleifion, tidal reaches of the river Teifi run wide between banks of feathery, blond phragmites. White mist clung to the water as I walked along the southern bank, the sky an unsullied blue. Upriver the sun rose through thinning vapours. Gilded streamers followed the draining tide as it swirled through whirlpools under the bridge. The morning world glistened.
A school of gulls occupied mud-banks opposite Rosehill marsh. Some people like warblers; others finches; there are raptor enthusiasts. My preferences are for Laridae and Corvidae – gulls and crows, both of which get a bad press. I find them endlessly fascinating.
Continue reading...Waste - the resource, the barriers, and the possibilities
Air pollution plan: sacrificing the nation's health to save an election campaign
Penalising UK drivers in the heat of an election campaign promises a political car crash, so the government has hit the brakes and slammed clean air policy into reverse
For seven years, people in Britain have been forced to hold their breath and wait for a comprehensive plan to tackle the nation’s toxic air crisis. After a series of humiliating defeats in the courts, Friday’s government plan was meant to finally deliver.
But instead ministers hit the brakes and slammed the policy into reverse – the farcical new strategy has even less detail than the one already ruled illegal. What was the impassable roadblock in the way of finally starting to cut the 23,000 early deaths diesel pollution causes every year? Nothing but pure political expediency.
Continue reading...Could towing icebergs to hot places solve the world’s water shortages?
The idea of towing an iceberg from Antarctica to the UAE sounds fantastical, but might not be entirely beyond the realms of plausibility
Who is doing what?
A firm in Abu Dhabi has floated plans to tow icebergs from Antarctica to the United Arab Emirates to solve the country’s fresh water shortage. An iceberg holding 20bn gallons of fresh water could meet the needs of a million people for five years, but first it would have to be hauled across 10,000km of open ocean to the coast of Fujairah, a feat that could take a year. In a promotional animation released by the firm, a giant, flat-topped iceberg is towed into the Persian Gulf bearing penguins and polar bears, which double as a tourist attraction. There are no polar bears in Antarctica.
How bad is the water shortage problem?
The pace of development in UAE is such that groundwater supplies are predicted to run dry in the next 15 years. A typical Emirati uses 500 litres of water per day, about 80% more than the global average. Dozens of desalination plants provide nearly all of the country’s drinking water, but the plants are expensive and require huge amounts of electricity to strip the salt from seawater. Globally, the UN warns that within two decades, 600 million children will live in regions enduring extreme water scarcity.
Eating insects, noise versus nature, and a toxic air plan – green news roundup
The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox
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