The Guardian
Adani mine railway loan would breach government's policy, says legal group
Complaint lodged over prospect of Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility partially funding 400km rail line
A $1bn federal loan to builders of a railway line between the proposed Adani coalmine and the coast would be a direct breach of government policy, a legal group has claimed.
Environmental Justice Australia has lodged a formal complaint with the Productivity Commission over the prospect of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility partially funding the 400km rail line.
Continue reading...Environmentalists sue EPA for reversing Obama-era move to ban pesticide
The EPA chief, Scott Pruitt, has ignored the scientific recommendation of his own agency to allow continued use of chlorpyrifos, despite its links to brain damage
Environmental groups have filed a complaint against the US government over its support of a pesticide linked to brain damage in children, one week after Donald Trump’s administration rejected federally backed science and reversed an Obama-era policy.
The Pesticide Action Network and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) filed the case against the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday, seeking to force the government to follow through with the Obama administration’s recommendations to ban an insecticide widely used in agriculture.
Continue reading...Make car makers, not drivers, pay for the diesel crisis, experts say
German and French governments have already required that manufacturers fix vehicles spewing high levels of toxic pollution but UK is ‘doing nothing’
The diesel-fuelled air pollution crisis should be solved by making motor companies recall and upgrade the dirty cars they sold, experts said on Wednesday.
Current UK plans are focused on making diesel drivers pay to enter cities and a possible taxpayer-funded scrappage scheme.
Continue reading...How do you dispose of throwaway plastic bottles?
We’d like to find out about how single-use plastic bottles are recycled where you live. Share your you views and experiences from around the world
The disposal of plastic bottles is a global issue. Every year millions of single-use bottles end up in landfill sites or in our oceans and a very small proportion are recycled.
It’s estimated Americans throw away at least 50 million bottles every day. Every year, a UK household uses 480 plastic bottles, but only recycles 270 of them, according to Recycle Now, a campaign group funded by the government’s waste advisory group Wrap. A survey by Greenpeace found five out of six global soft drinks firms sold single-use plastic bottles weighing more than two million tonnes – only 6.6% of which was recycled plastic.
Continue reading...The end of coal: EU energy companies pledge no new plants from 2020
Companies from every EU nation except Poland and Greece sign up to initiative in bid to meet Paris pledges and limit effects of climate change
Europe’s energy utilities have rung the death knell for coal, with a historic pledge that no new coal-fired plants will be built in the EU after 2020.
The shock announcement was made at a press conference in Brussels on Wednesday, 442 years after the continent’s first pit was sunk by Sir George Bruce of Carnock, in Scotland.
Continue reading...Climate change impacting ‘most’ species on Earth, even down to their genome
Three recent studies point to just how broad, bizarre, and potentially devastating climate change is to life on Earth. And we’ve only seen one degree Celsius of warming so far.
Climate change is rapidly becoming a crisis that defies hyperbole.
For all the sound and fury of climate change denialists, self-deluding politicians and a very bewildered global public, the science behind climate change is rock solid while the impacts – observed on every ecosystem on the planet – are occurring faster in many parts of the world than even the most gloomy scientists predicted.
David Attenborough and BBC take us to Hotel Armadillo – in pictures
The giant armadillo benefits 80 other species by providing a unique lodging and dining service in the largest wetland on Earth – the Pantanal in Brazil. Here’s a sneak peek into the lives of nature’s most amazing host and its guests
Continue reading...'Spider bite' double amputation likely to be mistaken identity, experts say
White-tail spider unlikely to be responsible for necrotising skin infection that led to amputation of Filipino tourist’s legs
A Melbourne man’s double amputation is likely to have been misattributed to a white-tail spider bite.
The family of Terry Pareja, a Filipino tourist, say he may have been bitten by a white-tailed spider while visiting relatives in Birchip in regional Victoria in late February.
'Irreversible consequences': Adani coalmine granted unlimited water access for 60 years
Environmental and legal groups fear impact on groundwater and accuse Queensland government of giving Indian mining company special treatment
Adani’s controversial $21bn Carmichael coalmine has been granted an unlimited 60-year water licence in what environmental and legal groups say is another example of governments giving the company special treatment.
The associated water licence, signed by a Queensland government representative the day after Cyclone Debbie tore through the state’s north, allows Adani Mining to take water from or near the Betts Creek formation when removing or draining water from the mine.
Continue reading...Like love, violets gladden the heart
Wenlock Edge Violets have a built-in nostalgia, a belonging to something that is always fleeting and longed for
A century and a half ago, when springs were different, the poet John Clare wrote: “All bleaching in the thin March air / the scattered violets lie.” (March Violet). He may have meant violets growing under withered and bleached nettle stems, but for me, today, there are shining white violets “bleaching” on the hedge bank in one of the last cold, grey, “thin” mornings in March.
Even though there are beautifully subtle violet violets scattered in the mossy shadows under trees and through the emerging leaves beneath hedges, the eye is drawn to the white ones. I wonder if bees prefer white violets to violet-coloured violets? The more common forms have ultraviolet markings on their petals called bee guides, which look like veins filled with iodine and must be as vivid as rope lights to insects.
Continue reading...Rare red panda triplets born near Sydney – video
A trio of red pandas have made their public debut at Symbio wildlife park, south of Sydney. They were born to first-time mother Kesari and father Pabu on Christmas Eve, weighing about 100g each. The pups are all male and the Symbio team will be announcing their names, once decided, over the coming days
Continue reading...Clear air plans won't punish drivers of older diesel cars, PM promises
Theresa May ‘very conscious’ that past governments encouraged motorists to buy diesel cars, as increased charges for polluting vehicles loom large
Theresa May says she will not punish drivers of older diesel cars who were encouraged to buy the polluting vehicles under the Labour government.
A crackdown on the vehicles to tackle poor air quality has been announced by the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, with drivers of polluting vehicles facing £24-a-day charges to drive in central London from 2019.
Continue reading...‘Disaster alley’: Australia could be set to receive new wave of climate refugees
US defence expert warns people fleeing low-lying Pacific islands a precursor to ‘climate-exacerbated water insecurities’ that could trigger wider conflict
Australia could be on the frontline of a new wave of “climate refugees” displaced by extreme weather events, droughts and rising seas, a US expert on the national security impacts of climate change has warned.
Sherri Goodman, a former US deputy undersecretary of defence, argues the impact of climate change – rising seas, extreme weather, prolonged droughts – will be a “threat multiplier” for sepacurity challenges, and could be the spark that ignites conflict and drives new waves of mass forced migration.
Continue reading...Visit a village that’s verging on greatness | Brief letters
I agree with Jill Bennett (Letters, 4 April) that daffodils may not look great on urban verges, but here in Old Buckenham we persuaded the parish council to fund the purchase of sacks of varied narcissi for us in 1999. These were planted in bulk by volunteers around the base of all of the seven 30mph speed signs at the various entrances to the village as a Millennium project. They first bloomed in 2000 and are still providing a welcome sight, some 18 seasons later. Perhaps Patrick Barkham should come and have a look before the blooms die off.
Ron Brewer
Old Buckenham, Norfolk
• Re David Shariatmadari’s article “Here’s one title we need” (3 April), using the word “actress” to describe a female actor is frowned upon. Might the Academy Awards help “remove gender from our calculations” by abolishing this anachronism and awarding one Oscar for the best actor, regardless of gender. Apart from anything else, it would make life easier for PwC.
John Lowery
London
Check whether your child's school is exposed to illegal levels of air pollution
More than 2,000 schools around England and Wales are located near roads with illegal and dangerous levels of emissions from diesel cars. Use this tool to see whether your school is on the list
Type a school name, postcode or town name into the box to see the schools affected by dangerous levels of NO2 pollution.
Continue reading...Thousands of British children exposed to illegal levels of air pollution
Exclusive: More than 2,000 schools and nurseries close to roads with damaging levels of diesel fumes, joint investigation by Guardian and Greenpeace reveals
Hundreds of thousands of children are being exposed to illegal levels of damaging air pollution from diesel vehicles at schools and nurseries across England and Wales, a joint investigation by the Guardian and Greenpeace’s investigations unit has revealed.
Related: Check whether your child's school is exposed to illegal levels of air pollution
Continue reading...'The car is ingrained into people here': West Midlands faces air pollution crisis
Region contains five of top 10 hotspots outside London for dangerous levels of nitrogen dioxide pollution
The West Midlands is one of the worst hit areas outside the capital for illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide pollution but many don’t seem to realise they and their children are breathing some of the UK’s most polluted air.
The region is criss-crossed with motorways and dual carriageways churning out NO2 from hundreds of thousands of diesel vehicles. The government’s own figures show air pollution is responsible for almost 3,000 deaths a year in the West Midlands and in 2015 Birmingham was one of five cities – alongside Leeds, Nottingham, Derby and Southampton – ordered to introduce a clean air zone by 2020.
Continue reading...Diesel vehicles will disappear sooner than expected, says EU industry chief
European parliament backs tougher rules and €30,000 per vehicle fine for carmakers to prevent repeat of VW emissions scandal
Diesel vehicles will disappear from roads much faster than expected, according to the European Union’s industry commissioner.
Elżbieta Bieńkowska spoke after the European parliament backed tougher rules to prevent manufacturers selling cars that produce far more toxic pollution when driven than in official tests.
Continue reading...Fuel duty cut for diesel cars was wrong, says ex-chief science adviser
David King, who served Labour and Tory governments, says he was misled by car industry over levels of diesel pollution
The former chief scientific adviser has admitted it was wrong to cut fuel duty on diesel vehicles after being hoodwinked by the car industry, as the mayor of London launched a crackdown on vehicle pollution.
David King, who until last week served Labour and Tory governments as special representative for climate change, said he was misled by carmakers over the amount of poisonous nitrogen oxides (NOx) diesel cars would emit on the road.
Continue reading...Inconceivable! The latest theatrical House 'Science' committee hearing | Dana Nuccitelli
Republican Party leaders keep putting fossil fuel industry profits over the well-being of Americans
Last week, the House “Science” committee held one of its regular hearings to dispute the validity of climate science research. Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) articulated the purpose of the hearing when speaking at a recent Heartland Institute climate science denial conference:
Next week we’re going to have a hearing on our favorite subject of climate change and also on the scientific method, which has been repeatedly ignored by the so-called self-professed climate scientists
Continue reading...