The Guardian

Use of ‘scrubbers’ to cut air pollution increases pollutants pumped into sea, UN report says

New shipping pollution regulations introduced earlier this year could harm humans by contaminating fish and crustaceans with toxins, according to an internal report compiled by the International Maritime Organization and obtained by the Guardian.

In the report the IMO, the United Nations agency responsible for regulating shipping, says that there is insufficient “toxicity data” to be able to assess the risk to humans caused by the increased use of exhaust gas cleaning systems, which are also known as “scrubbers”.

Proposed route slices through a major drinking water source and an important stop for migratory birds

To the west of Istanbul, between the Black Sea and the Marmara Sea, lie diverse landscapes of forest, farms, marshes and ancient settlements. Following a curving line from north to south would connect you through the Terkos Lake, Sazlıdere stream and reservoir and Küçükçekmece lagoon, important water sources for migratory birds – not to mention the city’s residents.

This line, however, is also the path of Kanal İstanbul, a $12.6bn(£9.7bn) mega-infrastructure plan described by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as his “crazy project” when he first mentioned the idea in 2011.

In the second episode of The Frontline, a major series on how Australians are already experiencing the climate crisis, we show what daily life looks like in one of dozens of Australian towns that have run out of drinking water

2019 was the driest year in Australia’s recorded history. In places like Euchareena in the central west of NSW, water has become so scarce the only option has been to truck it in. But this comes with a serious cost that many can’t afford to pay. In this episode of Full Story we hear from one family about how the cost is not just financial, but cultural and spiritual too

You can read more about Fleur and Lockie Magick Dennis and see them interviewed in this interactive feature.

This story is part of Guardian Australia’s The frontline: inside Australia’s climate emergency series.

Storm Dennis has hit England and Wales creating severe flooding, especially in south Wales where officials have warned conditions are ‘life-threatening’.

Streets have been evacuated by lifeboat in some of the worst-hit areas and people moved to emergency rescue centres after their properties and businesses were devastated by water from overflowing rivers

• Storm Dennis: six severe flood warnings in place across England and Wales – live updates

The insects have been swarming across East Africa in numbers not seen for decades – and the phenomenon may be more common in the future

Last week, the UN issued a warning about the numbers of desert locusts currently swarming through much of East Africa; they have now reached Uganda and Tanzania. The outbreak is the largest for decades and has already devastated crops in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, countries with fragile food security. The problem is not confined to Africa, with swarms also occurring in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

From climate change to the budget, we see politicians pretend they think something then do the opposite

You don’t need to observe politics for too long before realising that hypocrisy is the natural scent of the politics.

It is a stench that pervades much of what is said and policy that is enacted. There are two particular types – the hypocrisy where politicians pretend they care about something and then do nothing, and the one where they pretend to think something and do the opposite.

The leader of the 2015 Paris accord talks about her new book, The Future We Choose, and why it’s crunch time for humanity

• ‘The only uncertainty is how long we’ll last’: the worst case scenario for 2050
• ‘Air is cleaner than before the Industrial Revolution’: the best case scenario for 2050

Christiana Figueres is a founder of the Global Optimism group and was head of the UN climate change convention when the Paris agreement was achieved in 2015.

Your new book is called The Future We Choose. But isn’t it too late to stop the climate crisis?
We are definitely running late. We have delayed appallingly for decades. But science tells us we are still in the nick of time.

The Future We Choose, a new book by the architects of the Paris climate accords, offers contrasting visions for how the world might look in thirty years (read the worst case scenario here)

• Christiana Figueres, author: ‘This is the decade and we are the generation’

It is 2050. We have been successful at halving emissions every decade since 2020. We are heading for a world that will be no more than 1.5C warmer by 2100

In most places in the world, the air is moist and fresh, even in cities. It feels a lot like walking through a forest and very likely this is exactly what you are doing. The air is cleaner than it has been since before the Industrial Revolution. We have trees to thank for that. They are everywhere.

The Future We Choose, a new book by the architects of the Paris climate accords, offers two contrasting visions for how the world might look in thirty years (read the best case scenario here)

• Christiana Figueres, author: ‘This is the decade and we are the generation’

It is 2050. Beyond the emissions reductions registered in 2015, no further efforts were made to control emissions. We are heading for a world that will be more than 3C warmer by 2100

The first thing that hits you is the air. In many places around the world, the air is hot, heavy and, depending on the day, clogged with particulate pollution. Your eyes often water. Your cough never seems to disappear. You think about some countries in Asia, where, out of consideration, sick people used to wear white masks to protect others from airborne infection. Now you often wear a mask to protect yourself from air pollution. You can no longer simply walk out your front door and breathe fresh air: there might not be any. Instead, before opening doors or windows in the morning, you check your phone to see what the air quality will be.

Activists aim to raise awareness of sustainable design and the need to reduce emissions from flights

Activists from Extinction Rebellion (XR) blocked traffic outside a London fashion week venue on Saturday and also staged a protest at Gatwick airport.

Dozens of demonstrators prevented traffic from passing through a busy intersection leading to the Strand in Westminster, where the fashion trade show was being held.

Forceful declaration calls for governments to set short-term zero emissions target to avoid catastrophic warming

The megafires of Australia’s summer “are a harbinger of life and death on a hotter Earth”, a climate summit has said in a forceful declaration for urgent and dramatic climate action.

The Climate Emergency Summit, held in Melbourne this week and of which Guardian Australia was a partner, released a declaration saying the warming world was a clear threat to Australian society and civilisation.

Ash, along with other detritus, from Australia's fierce bushfire season is being washed into rivers by heavy rainfall, depriving the rivers of oxygen, killing fish and turning the waters an inky, silty black

IEA welcomes appointment of Alok Sharma but others worry about nature of his dual role

Boris Johnson must put the climate crisis at the top of his government’s agenda if crunch UN talks this year are to be a success, leading international figures have told the Guardian.

Alok Sharma was appointed on Thursday as the business secretary and president of Cop26, the UN talks on the climate crisis to be held this November in Glasgow. Some climate experts are concerned that he won’t be able to stand up to governments reluctant to make strong commitments to cut greenhouse gases, while at the same time supporting British businesses struggling in the turmoil of Brexit.

Scientists say it’s the poppies’ fat and protein, not their narcotic alkaloids, that keep the birds coming back for more

Tasmanian farmers have reported their poppy crops are being ravaged by cockatoos, but experts say it is likely that it is a taste for the fatty seeds, and not an addiction to opiates, that is attracting the birds.

Tasmanian farmer Bernard Brain told the ABC on Tuesday that flocks of about 300 white cockatoos had decimated his harvest by ripping capsules from his poppy flowers and eating them, leading him to believe that the native birds were addicted to the alkaloid found in the seed.

If you were a political scientist, you might wonder if some of these internal differences within the major parties are irreconcilable

I’ll get to the divisions on coal and climate afflicting both of the major parties shortly, but before we arrive there I want to ask a bigger question about disunity, one I’ve been carrying around with me since election night last year. Forgive this indulgence, I need to get this off my chest.

Politics watchers will know that prime ministers and opposition leaders intone with all the sobriety of an undertaker that “disunity is death”. People in my line of work tend to amplify that line dutifully, not because we are ciphers, but because it appeared to be true – one of those truisms so true it required no rebuttal.

Fisheries managers arrived too late to save more of the endangered species as heavy rain washes ash into NSW rivers, robbing fish of oxygen

Luke Pearce had arrived at Mannus Creek for a three-day mission to rescue the Murray-Darling Basin’s last population of Macquarie perch.

For 10 years Pearce had visited this spot on the edge of the Snowy Mountains that, just weeks earlier, was ravaged by fire. There had been rain and the creek was flowing fast.

In UK, students march on first anniversary of nationwide protests by young people

• Greta Thunberg hails school climate strikes

Striking students have joined Valentine’s Day rallies across the world as the protest movement attempts to ratchet up pressure on governments and companies before crunch UN climate talks in Glasgow later this year.

In London, the young demonstrators held banners proclaiming “Roses are red, violets are blue, our Earth is burning and soon we will too” and “Climate change is worse than homework” as they marched through Parliament Square on Friday to mark the first anniversary of nationwide climate strikes in the UK.

Campaigns to promote consumption of pork and veal labelled ‘indefensible’ in light of health and climate concerns

The EU has been accused of an “indefensible” approach to human health and the climate crisis in spending tens of millions of euros each year on campaigns to reverse the decline in meat eating and trying to rebut so-called “fake news” on the mistreatment of animals bred for food.

Campaigns range from those designed to counter official warnings about the risk of cancer from eating red meat, to improving the public image of veal products said to be crucial in “deriving value from young male calves” superfluous to the dairy industry.

Outgoing charity chief Craig Bennett says next generation ‘could not be more exciting’

The school strikes movement will ensure an exciting and dynamic future for environmental activism for decades to come, the outgoing head of Friends of the Earth has said, as students across the globe leave classrooms on Friday to demand political action on the climate crisis.

Speaking on the first anniversary of the movement in the UK, Craig Bennett said it was grassroots activism, not centralised politics, that was leading to change.