The Guardian

A bill passed the state legislature that will require state-funded institutions to provide halal and kosher meals on request

As a student at Sullivan high school in Chicago, Ridwan Rashid frequently skipped lunch and was distracted by hunger, even though his school offered free meals to all students. Rashid is Muslim, as are a growing number of students at Sullivan. But until recently, none of the meals served at the Sullivan cafeteria were halal, which meant they were off limits for most of the school’s Muslim students.

“We go to school and it’s like, OK, some of the kids can eat and none of the Muslim kids can eat,” Rashid said. “It’s not fair.”

Across the UK, fossil fuel companies’ broken promises have left scarred and polluted landscapes, and no one held accountable

When you’re in a hole, keep digging. This is the strategy of opencast miners across the world: our past debts and future liabilities can one day be discharged if only we’re allowed to dig a little deeper and extract a little more. And public authorities keep falling for it.

The UK’s biggest opencast coalmine, Ffos-y-Fran in south Wales, was granted permission in 2005 on the grounds that it would rehabilitate a hill, on the outskirts of Merthyr Tydfil, which had been made dangerous by the shafts and spoil heaps left by deep mining. It wasn’t called a coalmine, but a “land reclamation scheme”. If the reclaimers happened to stumble across 11m tonnes of coal while improving the land by digging a 400-hectare (1,000-acre) pit, 200 metres deep, who could blame them for taking it?

The Environmental Protection Agency is suing the manufacturer, even as the company continues to make and sell its toxic products

Consumer groups are blasting the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for allowing plastic containers made with toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” to continue being distributed across the economy even though the agency is suing the manufacturer over the dangerous compounds leaching into containers’ contents, such as food or personal care products.

The groups are now intervening in the lawsuit and regulatory proceedings between the EPA and Inhance Technologies, which they estimate produces about 200m PFAS-contaminated plastic containers annually.

Green groups criticise Jemena for offering incentive to switch from electricity amid policies in Victoria and NSW aimed at winding back gas use

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The gas company Jemena has come under fire from environmental groups for offering customers in New South Wales cash incentives to replace their electric home appliances with gas ones.

Customers can claim money back for buying a range of gas appliances, such as $500 for ducted heating, $400 for hot water, $400 for a gas log fire and $100 for a cooktop, with Jemena putting up $250,000 for the promotion.

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Exclusive: The same studies were submitted to US regulators and some are relevant to safety levels, the researchers say

Pesticide companies failed to disclose a series of studies assessing brain toxicity to European regulators, according to new research, despite the same studies having been submitted to US regulators.

When the EU authorities were made aware of the studies, between 14 and 21 years after they were conducted, new safety limits were applied in some cases and evaluation is still under way in other cases.

Exclusive: Report claims Australia’s shareholdings in development banks has made it responsible for investing $828m in fossil fuel projects over five years

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Australia’s shareholdings in three international banks – including the World Bank – has seen it responsible for investing $828m in fossil fuel projects between 2016 and 2021, according to a research report.

The World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank have collectively pumped $32.85bn into fossil fuel projects – almost entirely linked to oil and gas production or power generation – over the same period, the report says.

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Groundbreaking analysis of safety and justice hopes to inform next generation of sustainability policy

Human activity has pushed the world into the danger zone in seven out of eight newly demarcated indicators of planetary safety and justice, according to a groundbreaking analysis of the Earth’s wellbeing.

Going beyond climate disruption, the report by the Earth Commission group of scientists presents disturbing evidence that our planet faces growing crises of water availability, nutrient loading, ecosystem maintenance and aerosol pollution. These pose threats to the stability of life-support systems and worsen social equality.

Exclusive: Labor facing calls from 15 crossbenchers, as well as party insiders, to transition to plantation timber as part of reform to environmental laws

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A group of 15 crossbench MPs and senators has written to the federal environment minister calling on the Albanese government to end native forest logging, as pressure also grows within Labor for it to do so.

All seven teal independents, including Monique Ryan and Allegra Spender, the Greens, MP Andrew Wilkie and influential crossbench senator David Pocock have all called on Tanya Plibersek to end native forest logging in New South Wales and Tasmania as part of upcoming environmental law reform.

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While the Tories’ dire record on green issues gets worse by the day, Keir Starmer’s pledges show an impressive commitment

It’s been a long time coming, but at last it seems that voters who give a damn about the climate emergency will have a real choice at the next general election. While the Tories have fiddled, Labour has been putting together a pretty impressive pro-climate portfolio.

The latest pledge to ban all new domestic oil and gas developments and cut off borrowing for fossil fuel-related projects sits in diametric opposition to Tory plans to suck as much oil and gas as possible out of the North Sea. And Labour’s goody bag of climate measures contains plenty more that environmentally informed voters can cheer.

Bill McGuire is professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at UCL and author of Hothouse Earth: an Inhabitant’s Guide

Inventory shows Australia has burned through 27% of emissions budget under Paris climate accord in 25% of allotted time

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Australia’s carbon emissions edged lower in 2022 with reductions from the electricity sector partly countered by increases in pollution from transport and agriculture.

The country’s emissions last year totalled 463.9m tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent (Mt CO2-e), down 0.4% or 2m tonnes from the previous year. Preliminary estimates for the year to 31 March 2023 indicated emissions totalled 464Mt CO2-e, or 0.2% lower on a rolling 12-month tally, the national greenhouse gas inventory shows.

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The proposed legislation would require changes to farming methods in Europe to tackle the climate crisis and restore nature, ensuring affordable food for all

For 10,000 years, human civilisation has grown and thrived because of Earth’s remarkable regenerative capacity that sustains climate stability and rich biological diversity. Now human activity has severely undermined this resilience.

Our patterns of economic growth, development, production and consumption are pushing the planet’s life-support systems beyond their natural boundaries. Last week, members of the European parliament’s agriculture and fisheries committees voted to continue this destruction, rejecting European Commission proposals for a nature restoration law. The vote flies in the face of science, and the claims by some MEPs to be defending farmers and food security are flawed.

The rising incidence of wildfires means many Californians can no longer insure their property. It’s a sign of what’s ahead for the whole housing market

Insurance company documents aren’t exactly renowned for being riveting reading. This week, however, State Farm, the largest insurance firm in the US by premium volume, came out with an eyeball-grabbing update: it has stopped accepting new homeowner insurance applications in California.

In a statement, the company said the decision was based on the heightened risk of natural disasters, such as wildfires, along with historic increases in construction costs.

Sir Keir Starmer is right to say no to new hydrocarbon extraction from the North Sea

Sir Keir Starmer has been admirably straightforward about his mission to make Britain a “clean energy superpower”. Blocking new oil and gas fields is a sine qua non to realise that ambition. The Labour leader even went to the lion’s den of Davos earlier this year to give business leaders that message.

But judging from the headlines over the past few days, you might be forgiven for thinking that Sir Keir had never uttered a word about his plans. Or that Labour had not argued that a big public investment programme was needed to green the economy. The Conservative press instead said Labour’s ideas were a “gift to Putin”; raised a “£28bn question”; and were a sure sign that eco-friendly donors were being appeased. Such a tendentious reading of policy gives opportunistic bunkum a bad name.

The agreement will fast-track the Mountain Valley pipeline, and limit the scope of environmental reviews for future developments

The deal to raise the US debt ceiling will have significant ramifications for the climate and nature, by fast-tracking a controversial gas pipeline in West Virginia and limiting the scope of environmental reviews for future developments, environmentalists have warned.

The agreement struck between Joe Biden and Republicans who control the House of Representatives states the Mountain Valley pipeline is “required in the national interest” and should be issued its necessary permits within 21 days and be shielded from legal challenge by those who object to it.

Government curbs transfer of trees to and from affected areas to limit spread of rash-causing oak processionary moths

The government has introduced new legislation controlling the movement of oak trees in south-east England due to a rise in the numbers of a toxic, invasive moth species.

The oak processionary moth was first spotted in Kew Gardens, in south-west London, in 2006 after the eggs were imported on an oak from Europe. The insects, whose caterpillars produce tiny hairs that can cause allergic reactions in humans, feed on the leaves of oak trees.

US airline pledged to go carbon neutral but plaintiffs say it is relying on offsets that do almost nothing to mitigate global heating

Delta Air Lines is facing a lawsuit over its $1bn carbon neutrality claim which plaintiffs say is “false and misleading” as it relies on offsets that do little to mitigate global heating.

In February 2020, the US airline announced plans to go carbon neutral, pledging $1bn to mitigate all greenhouse gas emissions from its business worldwide over the next decade. It included plans to purchase carbon credits generated from conserving rainforest, wetlands and grasslands along with decreasing the use of jet fuel and increasing plane efficiency.

River’s condition said to be declining as Wildlife Trusts calls for action from government on farming pollution

The River Wye’s health status has been downgraded by Natural England, as wildlife charities accuse the government of failing to stop farming pollution harming the waterway.

The government nature watchdog has updated the status of the river from “unfavourable-improving” to “unfavourable-declining”, meaning its condition is poor – and worsening.

Transition to post-Brexit farming payments means scheme to protect hedgerows could be lost

Hedgerows in England are under threat, farmers and nature groups have warned, as the government prepares to cut funding that protects them.

Hedges are vital habitat for many species, providing food and shelter for mammals, birds and pollinators, with the EU paying farmers under its farming subsidy scheme to have them on their land.

Powder produced by ice sheets could be used to help tackle climate crisis when spread on farm fields

Rock “flour” produced by the grinding under Greenland’s glaciers can trap climate-heating carbon dioxide when spread on farm fields, research has shown for the first time.

Natural chemical reactions break down the rock powder and lead to CO2 from the air being fixed in new carbonate minerals. Scientists believe measures to speed up the process, called enhanced rock weathering (ERW), have global potential and could remove billions of tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere, helping to prevent extreme global heating.

The Environmental Research Center says it tested five products and found toxic ‘forever chemicals’ linked to serious disease

KOS Nature-Powered Organic Plant Protein drinks and powders contain toxic “forever chemicals”, a recent filing with the California department of justice charges.

The filing, made by the Environmental Research Center (ERC), a San Diego-based consumer protection nonprofit, states that its testing found PFOA, a dangerous PFAS compound, in five KOS products.