The Guardian

High Wycombe vigil implores senior Tory, who has questioned cost of net zero, to quit as trustee of Global Warming Policy Foundation

Protesters gathered in High Wycombe on Friday to implore their MP, Steve Baker, to quit as a trustee of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, a thinktank that has been accused of being one of the UK’s leading sources of climate scepticism.

Christians from the MP’s constituency prayed and sang Amazing Grace outside the constituency office, holding signs reading “Praying 4 Steve Baker”, “The Earth is what we all have in common”, “… And God created science”. Baker is an evangelical Christian.

Grower says quick crop is down to weather conditions as well as use of coconut fibre

British asparagus is landing on supermarket shelves eight weeks earlier than usual after the mild winter weather quickened the arrival of this year’s first spears.

The traditional start to the season is 23 April but Waitrose will have homegrown asparagus in its shops from Saturday. It has been grown in polytunnels in Hampshire where the grower reported “unseasonably warm” January temperatures.

Damian Hinds challenged schools to ditch disposable plastics by 2022 but goal is still long way off

The UK government has failed to back up its call for schools to ditch plastic, say campaigners, despite setting a 2022 target.

Three years ago Damian Hinds, then the education secretary, challenged headteachers in England to ditch disposables such as straws, bottles, bags and food packaging by this year. But campaigners say that without tangible targets, funded resources and a realistic strategy, this goal is still a long way off.

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including firefall, rock goats and a pack of grey wolves

PFAS chemicals detected in 20% of private wells and 60% of public wells sampled in 16 eastern states

Pollution by toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” in America’s aquifer system has led to widespread contamination of private and public drinking water wells, data from a new study by the US Geological Survey finds.

The study, published in Environmental Science and Technology, detected PFAS chemicals in 20% of private wells and 60% of public wells sampled in 16 eastern states, and offered new insights on how to predict which drinking water sources may be contaminated.

Tony Juniper says he has high hopes for scheme obliging new developments to factor in 10% nature increase

Demand for nature is exceeding supply but new wildlife areas can be created by regulations to ensure housing estates bring about “biodiversity net gain”, according to the chair of England’s nature watchdog.

Tony Juniper said the post-pandemic surge in people visiting wild places for their mental and physical wellbeing – and to walk lockdown puppies – was concentrating footfall in relatively few nature reserves, which were increasingly used like public parks.

Officials say a trio of oversized bears is responsible for home invasions that had been blamed on a 500lb black bear dubbed Hank the Tank

DNA evidence has shown that the 500-pound black bear the public had nicknamed Hank the Tank is, in fact, at least three not-so-little bears who have damaged more than 30 properties around Lake Tahoe in recent months.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife on Thursday said it would soon begin trapping bears in the South Lake Tahoe area to tag the animals and collect evidence for genetic analysis. The bears will be released in a “suitable habitat” and the agency said no trapped animals will be euthanised as part of the project.

World leaders to gather in Nairobi next week to discuss first global treaty to combat plastic waste

World leaders will come together online and in Nairobi, Kenya, next week, in what is described as a “critical moment” in progress towards the first ever global treaty to combat plastic waste. Inger Andersen, director of the UN Environment Programme, said an agreement at the UN environment assembly could be the most important multilateral pact since the Paris climate accord in 2015.

Public disgust and impatience over the growing mountain of plastic waste has led to an unprecedented “degree of focus” that could see member states agreeing a blueprint for a legally binding treaty to control plastics “from source to sea”, she said.

Video has emerged which appears to show military vehicles at the site of the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl. It was among the most worrying developments on an already shocking day, as Russia invaded Ukraine. Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal announced that Russian forces took control over the site after a fierce battle with Ukrainian national guards. "All infrastructure of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant are controlled by Russian military forces," he said. Radioactivity is still leaking from the Chernobyl nuclear plant, where history’s worst nuclear disaster took place 36 years ago.

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Firm makes apparent concession to boycott that began over untreated discharges into coastal waters

Southern Water is offering discounts on bills to some people engaged in a non-payment protest campaign over raw sewage discharges, in an apparent concession to the boycott.

The non-payment protest, which was backed by Sir Bob Geldof, began because of anger at the level of untreated sewage discharged into coastal waters.

Court to hear West Virginia case that takes aim at EPA’s ability to issue strict rules to curb pollution from fossil fuel power stations

Joe Biden’s faltering effort to tackle the climate crisis faces a further, potentially devastating, blow on Monday in a supreme court case that experts warn could severely restrict any future US government attempt to limit planet-heating emissions.

The court has agreed to hear a case brought by West Virginia, supported by 18 other Republican-led states, that takes aim at the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ability to issue strict regulations to curb pollution from fossil fuel-fired power stations.

Elsevier’s work with fossil fuel companies ‘drags us towards disaster’, climate researcher says

Scientists working with one of the world’s largest climate research publishers say they’re increasingly alarmed that the company consults with the fossil fuel industry to help increase oil and gas drilling, the Guardian can reveal.

Elsevier, a Dutch company behind many renowned peer-reviewed scientific journals, including The Lancet and Global Environmental Change, is also one of the top publishers of books aimed at expanding fossil fuel production.

There's no denying that electric vehicles are what most of us will be driving in the near-future. Countries around the world have pledged to phase out the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles over the next few decades, in an effort to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. But with lingering questions over the mining of rare metals, battery manufacturing and electricity consumption, Josh Toussaint-Strauss investigates whether electric vehicles are as green as we've been led to believe

Up to 45% of Barataria Bay’s dolphins died after 2010. Now they face the threat of new drilling and a Mississippi River scheme

Nearly 80% of dolphins exposed to oil in the Deepwater Horizon disaster remain badly affected nearly 12 years later, according to new research, even as the Biden administration continues to approve leases for oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

Scientists looked at the long-term impact of the oil spill on bottlenose dolphins living in Barataria Bay, near New Orleans.

Net zero advisers says refusing new licences would signal green ambition, but final decision must be for ministers

The prospects for an expansion of oil and gas drilling in the North Sea have cleared a major hurdle, as the Committee on Climate Change said “stringent tests” must be applied to any new exploration licences but stopped short of saying they could not be issued.

New drilling would not reduce energy bills for UK consumers, the committee found, and its chair, former Conservative environment secretary Lord Deben, said he would “favour” a moratorium on North Sea exploration.

Research by sustainability charity Wrap debunks idea single-use plastic on fruit and veg helps prevent waste

Supermarkets should stop selling fresh produce such as apples and potatoes in plastic packaging, research suggests, because it does not make them last longer and adds to pollution and food waste.

The 18-month study by the sustainability charity Wrap, which also looked at sales of bananas, broccoli and cucumbers, debunks the idea that single-use plastic wrappers help prevent waste.

Rising temperatures pushing much more freshwater towards poles than climate models previously estimated

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Rising global temperatures have shifted at least twice the amount of freshwater from warm regions towards the Earth’s poles than previously thought as the water cycle intensifies, according to new analysis.

Climate change has intensified the global water cycle by up to 7.4% – compared to previous modelling estimates of 2% to 4%, research published in the journal Nature suggests.

Australian Conservation Foundation says blowouts show government’s safeguard mechanism is ‘failing’ to control industrial emissions

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A fifth of Australia’s major coal, gas and oil facilities emit significantly more greenhouse gas than originally estimated in government approval processes, an investigation has found.

In the worst cases, some fossil fuel developments now emit more than 20 times what was expected before they were given the green light, according to a report by the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF).

Bid by Mike Cannon-Brookes to take over AGL drew some strong words from the prime minister, but do his claims stack up?

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The prime minister, Scott Morrison, was convinced of only one thing this week as news came of an $8bn bid to buy the country’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter in order to shut its coal plants early.

“Let me be really clear about something,” Morrison said. “We need to ensure that our coal-fired generation of electricity runs to its life, because if it doesn’t, electricity prices go up, they don’t go down.”

In Wycombe, voters have set up Steve Baker Watch to send him a message. His Net Zero Scrutiny Group should heed it too

Steve Baker and the group of MPs and peers who make up the Net Zero Scrutiny Group are risking not only my future but that of my children. That may sound over-dramatic, but it’s what I firmly believe to be true – and it’s why I have set my heart on making Baker either change his climate stance or change his job of MP for Wycombe.

How did I get here? Since I had my children, my climate anxieties have rocketed. I have read enough climate science to know that food shortages, flooded cities and millions dying, especially in the global south, are down the line if we don’t act now. I can’t bear the idea of my children living in that future.

Gemma Rogers is an occupational therapist and a member of Steve Baker Watch