The Guardian

Australian limits on acceptable levels of these toxic chemicals in drinking water ‘orders of magnitude’ higher than in US

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High levels of so-called forever chemicals have been found in surface and groundwater all over the world, with Australia one of several hotspots for toxic PFAS, a University of New South Wales study has found.

Researchers examined groundwater samples from around the world and found 69% had per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at levels above Canada’s safe drinking water criteria and 32% had levels higher than the US proposed drinking water hazard index.

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Around 1m people, including 13,000 youths, especially vulnerable because they can do little to protect themselves, co-author says

Nearly half of US prisons draw water from sources likely contaminated with toxic PFAS “forever chemicals”, new research finds.

At least around 1m people incarcerated in the US, including 13,000 juveniles, are estimated to be housed in the prisons, and they are especially vulnerable to the dangerous chemicals because there is little they can do to protect themselves, said Nicholas Shapiro, a study co-author at the University of California in Los Angeles.

Livestock bosses celebrate outcome at online summit, while critics condemn failure to tackle meat and dairy consumption

Lobbyists for the world’s biggest meat companies have lauded a better than expected outcome at Cop28, which they say left them “excited” and “enthusiastic” for their industry’s prospects.

US livestock bosses reflected on the conference’s implication for their sector on a virtual panel, fresh from “sharing US agriculture’s story” at the climate summit in December.

Campaigners and climate scientists had hoped the summit, which was billed as a “Food Cop” because of its focus on farming, would result in governments agreeing to ambitious action to transform food systems in line with the goals of the Paris climate agreement.

Slowing anthropogenic climate change is the ONLY thing that will save the reef

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Footage captures flooding near the rural township of Charleville following a weekend of heavy rain in parts of southern Queensland and northern New South Wales. Communities across the region have been impacted by flooding, with some isolated by road closures.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, the Warrego River gauge near Bakers Bend, in south-west Queensland, recorded a peak of 10.16m on Monday morning

• Australia news live: major flooding in south-west Queensland

• It’s not just the total rainfall – why is eastern Australia experiencing such sudden, devastating downpours?

• Weather tracker: flood warnings after heavy rain in south-eastern Australia

Russia’s government has declared flooding in the Orenburg region a federal emergency, state media has reported.

The floods, caused by rising water levels in the Ural River, forced more than 4,000 people, including 885 children, to evacuate, the regional government said. The state news agency Tass said a further 2,000 homes were flooded, bringing the total to nearly 6,300 in the region

• Russia declares federal emergency over floods after dam bursts

When I set up my honeybee hive, I had no idea I might be harming wild bee species. Now I’ve found better ways to encourage biodiversity

I took up urban beekeeping more than a decade ago with the best intentions. I wanted to help to save bees from the many threats they faced in the countryside – the modern farming practices that douse crops in toxic pesticides and rob bees of wildflower meadows. My small back garden filled with bee-friendly flowers seemed like a paradise in comparison.

But what I didn’t know was that by keeping bees I would only be helping one species of bee – the domesticated honeybee, which doesn’t really need saving – and possibly harming others.

The last time Brood XIX and Brood XII emerged from underground at the same time, Thomas Jefferson was president

They look a little like cockroaches and have bulging orange eyes, and trillions of them are about to erupt from the earth in much of the midwestern and eastern United States. The emergence of two groups of cicadas will assemble a chorus of the insects not seen in several hundred years, experts say.

The simultaneous appearance of the two cicada broods – known as Brood XIX and Brood XII – is a rare event, not having occurred since 1803, a year when Thomas Jefferson was US president. “It’s really exciting. I’ve been looking forward to this for many years,” said Catherine Dana, an entomologist who specializes in cicadas at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “For the public, it’s going to be a really special experience.”

Global concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide climbed to unseen levels in 2023, underlining climate crisis

The levels of the three most important heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere reached new record highs again last year, US scientists have confirmed, underlining the escalating challenge posed by the climate crisis.

The global concentration of carbon dioxide, the most important and prevalent of the greenhouse gases emitted by human activity, rose to an average of 419 parts per million in the atmosphere in 2023 while methane, a powerful if shorter-lasting greenhouse gas, rose to an average of 1922 parts per billion. Levels of nitrous oxide, the third most significant human-caused warming emission, climbed slightly to 336 parts per billion.

Experts say ‘bare minimum’ building codes and a lack of interest from builders are making Australian bathrooms less energy-efficient

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A long shower at the end of the day might be a relaxing escape from reality, but there is a reason to stay alert. Energy efficiency experts say the way Australian bathrooms are being built will drain your wallet – and the environment.

Alan Pears, a senior industry fellow at RMIT who helped develop Australia’s appliance energy star ratings, describes showers as “almost perfectly designed to waste energy and make you feel uncomfortable”. He says bathrooms lack “basic design principles” and are often cold and poorly ventilated, which exacerbates hot water use.

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Climate activist detained after Extinction Rebellion protesters tried to block road near Dutch parliament

Greta Thunberg was detained by police at a demonstration in The Hague, in the Netherlands.

The climate activist was put in a bus by local police along with other protesters who tried to block a major highway into the city on Saturday.

Regulator faces accusation of acting unlawfully in its investigation of Global Warming Policy Foundation

The Charity Commission is facing a legal challenge by MPs over its failure to investigate campaigning by a thinktank that questions climate science.

Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran, Labour’s Clive Lewis and Green MP Caroline Lucas, supported by the Good Law Project, have sent a legal letter to the regulator over an unresolved complaint they made in October 2022.

Testing of 40 types of bandages found 65% had alarming levels of ‘forever chemicals’ in adhesive flaps and pads that touch wounds

Many popular US bandage brands contain alarming levels of toxic PFAS “forever chemicals”, new research suggests, raising questions about the products’ safety.

Testing of 40 types of bandages made by companies such as Band-Aid, Curad, Walmart and CVS found 26 products, or 65%, contain alarming levels of a marker of PFAS. The chemicals were detected in the adhesive flaps and in absorbent pads that press against wounds.

A supermarket is using eye-tracking technology to find what messaging encourages take-up of unpackaged fruit and veg

With thick black frames and hidden cameras, the glasses look designed for espionage or the metaverse but instead the eye-tracking headgear is being deployed to get inside shoppers’ heads as part of the drive to cut plastic packaging from the weekly food shop.

It is an unlikely scene. Hooked up with the glasses a shopper is being tailed around a Waitrose produce department by a researcher carrying a large tablet that displays live footage of them picking up banal things such as potatoes, apples and bananas.

California, Vermont and Colorado push for ban after slow federal response to research finding forever chemicals in period products

State lawmakers in California, Vermont and Colorado are working to ban the sale of period products containing highly toxic “forever chemicals”, or PFAS, nearly a year after a report revealed the chemicals were found in everything from tampon applicators to period underwear.

Despite a growing awareness of the dangers and ubiquity of PFAS, federal regulators have been slow to respond to the bombshell 2023 report from the University of Notre Dame, in which researchers found forever chemicals in various menstrual products including those mentioned above and more. Federal bills designed to address PFAS in everyday consumer items – including period products – stalled last year in large part due to chemical industry lobbyists.

Sydney expected to be badly affected as further downpours and strong winds forecast to lash New South Wales coast

South-eastern Australia has been experiencing heavy rain since Thursday night, which will continue until Saturday morning local time. New South Wales will be particularly badly affected, with cumulative rainfall totals of 150-200m along coastal stretches.

Hourly totals are expected to reach 10-20mm at times, with the worst-affected areas potentially receiving 50mm within three hours. Strong winds are expected to accompany the heaviest downpours, with gusts of about 45mph (72km/h) at times.

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

Governments across region grappling for response as temperatures soar to unseasonable highs

Thousands of schools in the Philippines have stopped in-person classes due to unbearable heat. In Indonesia, prolonged dry weather has caused rice prices to soar. In Thailand’s waters, temperatures are so high that scientists fear coral could be destroyed.

A “historic heatwave” is being experienced across south-east Asia, according to Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist and weather historian. In updates posted on X, he said heat that was unprecedented for early April had been recorded at monitoring stations across the region this week, including in Minbu, in central Myanmar, where 44C was recorded – the first time in south-east Asia’s climatic history that such high temperatures had been reached so early in the month. In Hat Yai, in Thailand’s far south, 40.2 C was reached, an all-time record, while Yên Châu in north-west Vietnam hit 40.6C, unprecedented for this time of year.

Lending to meat, dairy and feed corporations led to ‘significant proportion’ of banks’ emissions, Friends of the Earth found

American banks are “sabotaging” their own climate commitments by financing meat, dairy and feed corporations, according to a report.

The report analysed funding from 58 US banks to animal protein and feed companies in the form of loans and underwriting, such as share and bond issuance guarantees.

Mining company hit with accusation it contaminated waterways with harmful levels of uranium and lead

In a letter of claim, a document that is an early step in a lawsuit, the villagers accuse Rio Tinto of contaminating the waterways and lakes that they use for domestic purposes with elevated and harmful levels of uranium and lead, which pose a serious risk to human health.

This story was published in partnership with The Intercept. The reporting for this investigation was supported by a grant from Journalists for Transparency, an initiative of Transparency International.