The Guardian
Climate crisis to AI: why firms and governments must change mindset | Mohamed El-Erian
As climate, privacy, globalisation and demographic developments accelerate, adjustments are needed
Firms and governments must increasingly internalise the possibility – indeed, I would argue, the overwhelming probability – of an acceleration of four secular developments that influence what business and political leaders do and how they do it. Decision-makers should think of these trends as waves, which, especially if they occur simultaneously, could feel like a tsunami for those who fail to adapt their thinking and practices in a timely manner.
The first and most important trend is climate change, which has evolved from a relatively distant concern, on which there is ample time to take remedial action, to an imminent and increasingly urgent threat.
Continue reading...Ghost glaciers: the transcendent Anthropocene – in pictures
Peter Funch’s latest photo-book, The Imperfect Atlas, explores human impact on the environment by using a technique invented at the height of the industrial revolution – RGB tri-colour separations
Firms making billions from ‘highly hazardous’ pesticides, analysis finds
Use of harmful chemicals is higher in poorer nations, according to data analysed by Unearthed
The world’s biggest pesticide companies make billions of dollars a year from chemicals found by independent authorities to pose high hazards to human health or the environment, according to an analysis by campaigners.
The research also found a higher proportion of these highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) in the companies’ sales in poorer nations than in rich ones. In India, 59% of sales were of HHPs in contrast to just 11% in the UK, according to the analysis.
Continue reading...Australian CEOs must rupture the political stagnation to lead the charge on climate action | Sam Mostyn
Zali Steggall’s bill is pragmatic and responsible and a goal we can all work towards to reduce our carbon emissions
The unprecedented, devastating bushfires that engulfed Australia – from even before our summer began – have forever disrupted our usually laconic and relaxed memories of Christmas and New Year.
Those memories are instead marked by anguish, anxiety, grief and consternation about our future.
Continue reading...Thousands of feral horses to be removed from Kosciuszko national park after bushfires
NSW government says relocation the priority but will not rule out some brumbies may be killed during largest removal of horses in park’s history
About 4,000 feral horses will be removed from Kosciuszko national park in New South Wales as part of an emergency response to protect the alpine ecosystem after large areas were devastated by bushfires.
The move would be the largest removal of horses in the park’s history, said the NSW environment minister, Matt Kean.
Continue reading...NSW government drops forestry privatisation plan after bushfires devastate plantation
Deputy premier John Barilaro says the government’s priority is ‘getting new trees in the ground and strengthening the industry’
The New South Wales government won’t proceed with privatising Forestry Corporation’s softwood plantation business after an unprecedented bushfire season.
The government decided to forgo a long-term lease of the business after a five-month investigation which took into account recent damage to the state’s forestry assets.
Continue reading...The toxic air we breathe: the health crisis from Australia's bushfires
For months, Australians breathed air pollution caused by bushfire smoke that was up to 26 times above levels considered hazardous to human health. The long-term impact could be devastating
Continue reading...Ancient fish dinners chart Sahara’s shift from savannah to desert
Bones of fish eaten by humans thousands of years ago offer clue to region’s ancient climate
The Sahara’s shift from savannah with abundant lakes to a largely arid expanse has been traced in the remains of fish eaten thousands of years ago.
Researchers analysing material found in a rock shelter in the Acacus mountains in south-west Libya say they have found more than 17,500 animal remains dating from between 10,200 and 4,650 years ago, 80% of which are fish. About two-thirds of the fish were catfish and the rest were tilapia. The team say telltale marks on the bones reveal the fish were eaten by humans who used the shelter.
Continue reading...One in 10 new homes in England built on land with high flood risk
Number of properties built in high-risk areas has more than doubled in recent years
One in 10 of all new homes in England since 2013 have been built on land at the highest risk of flooding, official figures reveal, potentially leaving tens of thousands of people in greater danger from extreme winter storms.
The number of properties built in these high-risk areas annually has more than doubled in recent years, with more than 84,000 new at-risk homes in total since 2013, according to a Guardian analysis of government data.
Continue reading...Getting a proper grip on flooding problems | Letters
There is a link between the Trinity College protest (Cambridge college lawn dug up by XR protesters, 18 February) and the flooding on which you also report. The Trinity protest was aimed at the plan to dig up farmland in Kirton, Suffolk, to build a mammoth lorry park, which would ruin three villages. This particular proposal has now been rejected.
You also report on the need for better natural drains to protect against floods (Better natural drains needed as storms get more intense, warn scientists, 18 February). However, the main natural drain in Suffolk is precisely the farmland and marshland that Trinity is infamous for building on (the plan for a lorry park has now been replaced with plans for a de facto new town). Digging up green belt land and farmland is a flood risk. The water that used to be stored in the ground has to go somewhere. Suffolk was spared this time round, but last year had floods in areas adjacent to new-builds that had never flooded before. Other counties may not have been so lucky – there was building uphill just outside Tenbury Wells.
Continue reading...Oil and gas firms 'have had far worse climate impact than thought'
Study indicates human fossil methane emissions have been underestimated by up to 40%
The oil and gas industry has had a far worse impact on the climate than previously believed, according to a study indicating that human emissions of fossil methane have been underestimated by up to 40%.
Although the research will add to pressure on fossil fuel companies, scientists said there was cause for hope because it showed a big extra benefit could come from tighter regulation of the industry and a faster shift towards renewable energy.
Continue reading...'The worst thing is the waiting': flood-hit communities tell of stress
People affected by UK floods tell of their impact and ‘painful, disruptive aftermath’
Flooding not only wrecks businesses, destroys homes and disrupts everyday life but also causes long-lasting and dangerous levels of stress, residents from flood-hit communities have said.
Hundreds of homes have been flooded and six people are thought to have died across England and Wales after heavy downpours and successive storms further exposed the fragility of flood defences and the gravity of the climate emergency.
Continue reading...Victoria's Secret under fire after store dumps hundreds of bras in bin
Discovery draws criticism from those who say fashion industry generates too much waste
Hundreds of Victoria’s Secret bras have reportedly been found discarded in a bin close to a recently closed branch of the lingerie store in Colorado.
The discovery comes at a time when the fashion industry is under fire for generating significant levels of waste, while Victoria’s Secret continues to face criticism regarding recent controversies.
Continue reading...Red-state Utah embraces plan to tackle climate crisis in surprising shift
Utah aims to reduce emissions over air quality concerns as other red states are also starting to tackle global heating
In a move to protect its ski slopes and growing economy, Utah – one of the reddest states in the nation – has just created a long-term plan to address the climate crisis.
Related: Washington state takes bold step to restrict companies from bottling local water
Continue reading...Mike and Annie Cannon-Brookes pledge $12m to supply solar systems for disaster relief
The billionaire couple want to provide ready-made solar and battery arrays to communities cut off from the power grid
Software billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and his wife Annie have promised up to $12m to install solar and battery systems in communities disconnected from the electricity grid by bushfire or flood.
The couple say they will provide prefabricated solar panel and battery systems through a new venture, known as Resilient Energy Collective, that will power up to 100 sites disconnected from the grid in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. Some are relying on diesel generators, others are without power.
Continue reading...The white swan harbingers of global economic crisis are already here | Nouriel Roubini
Seismic risks for the global system are growing, not least worsening US geopolitical rivalries, climate change and now the coronavirus outbreak
In my 2010 book, Crisis Economics, I defined financial crises not as the “black swan” events that Nassim Nicholas Taleb described in his eponymous bestseller but as “white swans”. According to Taleb, black swans are events that emerge unpredictably, like a tornado, from a fat-tailed statistical distribution. But I argued that financial crises, at least, are more like hurricanes: they are the predictable result of builtup economic and financial vulnerabilities and policy mistakes.
There are times when we should expect the system to reach a tipping point – the “Minsky Moment” – when a boom and a bubble turn into a crash and a bust. Such events are not about the “unknown unknowns” but rather the “known unknowns”.
Continue reading...The European Green Deal will bypass the poor and go straight to the rich | Daniela Gabor
For all the talk of retraining Polish miners, this fund will most likely line the pockets of the carbon finance elites
When Josep Borrell, the EU’s newly appointed foreign policy chief, recently caused outrage by dismissing young climate activists as flaky sufferers of “Greta syndrome”, he made not just a serious error of judgment but a serious mistake in macroeconomics. It was a mistake that is symptomatic of the dire state of European economic debate after a decade of austerity and schwarze Null (balanced budget) ideas.
Continue reading...Carrie Symonds’ influence only goes so far – green Toryism is a hollow dream | Alex Niven
Love of nature may be a party tradition, but the urge to exploit is strong. Boris Johnson is unlikely to go beyond minor tinkering
The nature of our new political consensus – call it Johnsonism if you must – is still hard to figure out. Will we see the rise of an authentic populism with a northern face, or just a nipped and tucked version of the same old Thatcherism? As we try to parse what this government has in store, all eyes are on Boris Johnson’s inner circle. The opinions of certain advisers seem to matter far more to the prime minister than those of Conservative MPs in his ultra-centralised regime.
A key player is Johnson’s partner, Carrie Symonds, whose controversial role in shaping government policy will be tested by a court probe into the cancellation of a cull on badgers in Derbyshire in the last months of 2019. As her opposition to the cull suggests, Symonds is an animal rights activist and patron of the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation, which will raise hopes in some quarters that Johnson’s government can find a special place in its heart for environmental issues.
Continue reading...I shot a deer – and I still believe it was the ethical thing to do | George Monbiot
Between kill nothing and kill almost everything lies the pragmatic aim of maximising diversity and abundance on Earth
It was a protest against me. But I sympathised with the demonstrators, who gathered outside the theatre where I was speaking last week to call me a killer. I didn’t dispute their claim. I am a killer.
While making Apocalypse Cow, a film for Channel 4 about how we should feed ourselves without destroying the world, I shot a deer. If it helps (though it didn’t help the deer), I hated every minute of it, from picking up the rifle and learning to use it, to finding and stalking the innocent animal, then shooting it through the chest from 180 metres, watching it rear into the air, stumble, spasm and die. It was a gruesome, horrible experience.
Continue reading...Putting the 'net' into net-zero targets: it’s time to start doing things that work. Now | Richard Denniss
The best way to hit a net zero target would have been to stop building coalmines and gas fields 20 years ago
After a summer of catastrophic bushfires, the most brutal evidence of the impacts of climate change, the government has managed to move the debate towards the pros and cons of setting a long-term net zero emissions target for 2050.
While #Scottyfrommarketing copped flack for his lack of empathy or response to the summer of fires, you have to admit, he’s done an amazing job of shifting the debate away from the Coalition’s failure to reduce emissions or prepare for the fires they were warned of by 24 former fire and emergency chiefs.
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