The Guardian
Put the needs of the planet before Flybe | Letters
In his discussion of Flybe and HS2 (Growth versus green? The short-term view always prevails, Journal, 16 January), Larry Elliott seems to be tying himself in knots. On the one hand, he rightly claims that it is the better-off who fly intercity in the UK, while on the other hand he suggests that allowing Flybe to go under would hack off a lot of voters, many of whom voted Tory for the first time in December. Frankly, I think it is more likely than not that intercity fliers and the reluctant Tories of the now-collapsed red wall form two mutually exclusive groups.
The bottom line is that both bailing out Flybe and pushing through HS2 are appalling options from an environmental perspective. The green way forward is simple and straightforward. Leave Flybe to sink or swim, keep air passenger duty as it is (or preferably hike it further), and scrap HS2. The £100bn or so saved should be diverted to developing railways – and reopening some of those lost to Beeching’s axe – in those parts of the country where improved transport links are needed most.
Bill McGuire
Emeritus professor of geophysical and climate hazards, University College London
Extinction Rebellion listed as 'key threat' by counter-terror police
Awareness training across London led to ‘intelligence’ tip-offs, according to report
A police force in London labelled Extinction Rebellion one of its “key threats” in a counter-terrorism assessment and provided awareness training on the climate crisis group across the capital, resulting in “intelligence” tip-offs, the Guardian can reveal.
City of London police grouped the environmental protest group alongside “far-right organisations” in an assessment of its counter-terrorism operations seen by the Guardian.
Continue reading...Treat coastal erosion as a natural catastrophe, UK ministers urged
East Yorkshire councillors bemoan lack of national guidance and funding
Ministers have been urged to step in to help families whose homes are at imminent risk of collapsing into the sea on the fastest-eroding coastline in northern Europe.
Residents in the Yorkshire village of Skipsea were told this week that more than 20 homes were at risk of falling into the North Sea in the next 12 months, with hundreds vulnerable in the coming decades.
Continue reading...I eat only strangers' leftover food – and it's the best diet I've ever had
To try to combat the mountain of food waste, diabetic Andrew Mayers decided to live on what people chuck in the bin. Even if it’s two doughnuts and a cucumber
My NHS dietician says that January is a dangerous month for diabetics such as me. The shops are full of Christmas leftovers: those high-calorie, nutrient-light foodstuffs, now for sale at massive discounts – confectionery collections, deep-filled mince pies, presentation tins of chocolate biscuits. You exert all that willpower over the festive period, and just when you think it’s safe to go back into the supermarkets …
But in the last year I’ve pretty much stopped going into supermarkets. Or takeaways. Or fast-food joints. Not that I’ve stopped eating their products – I’ve restricted myself to hoovering up what other people bring on to the streets and squander: my own personal Deliveroo, free of charge.
Continue reading...Luxury travel: 50 wealthy tourists, eight countries ... and one giant carbon footprint
Forget cruises. The super-rich have found a new way to see the world in the luxurious style of an ocean liner but taking a fraction of the time: private jet round-the-world tours.
This week, 50 members of the wealthy elite will board a privately chartered Boeing 757 to begin a 24-day guided tour of the globe, taking in Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, the Galápagos islands and mountain gorillas in Rwanda.
Continue reading...Beetles and fire kill dozens of 'indestructible' giant sequoia trees
Deadly interaction between insects, drought and fire damage have forced California’s park officials to trigger climate crisis plans intended for the 2050s
Giant sequoia trees, the largest living organisms on the planet – some more than three millennia old – have started dying from beetle attacks linked to the climate emergency, the preliminary findings of a new study have revealed.
The deaths of the trees, some of which lived through the rise and fall of hundreds of empires, caliphates and kingdoms – not to mention the inauguration of every US president – have shocked researchers in their speed and novelty.
Continue reading...Youth activists lose appeal in landmark lawsuit against US over climate crisis
Court confirms government’s contribution to the issue, but judges find they lack power to enforce climate policy decisions
The ninth circuit court of appeals has dismissed a lawsuit brought by 21 youth plaintiffs against the federal government over climate crisis, citing concerns about separation of powers.
The case was brought against the government in 2015, charging that it sanctioned, permitted and authorized a fossil fuel system that compromised the youth plaintiffs’ civil right to property. It implied a constitutional right to a stable climate, and alleged that the government violated the public trust by failing to protect assets held in trust, notably the atmosphere.
Continue reading...The week in wildlife - in pictures
The pick of the best flora and fauna photos from around the world, including an iguana and an injured leopard
Continue reading...Small steps towards a plastic-free world | Letters
Re John Vidal’s article (The solution to the plastic waste crisis? It’s not recycling, Journal, 15 January), after his earlier article on plastic (The plastic polluters won 2019 – and we’re running out of time to stop them, 2 January) I pledged not to buy any plastic for a week. This was eye-opening, as my family discovered that all the apples (and most of the other loose fruit) in our supermarkets had plastic stickers on every piece of fruit. Milk bottles were out (plant milk cartons have plastic tops); as was bread, salt, pasta, cereal (plastic inners) and tofu (entirely encased in plastic). On our second trip out we finally hunted down non-plastic-wrapped yeast to make our own bread. It opened our eyes to what a mountain of plastic we normally cart home in our eco-friendly cloth bags.
This inspired some changes around the house, which has reduced our consumption dramatically. It has had the added benefit of our food being healthier and cheaper. We now shop at Unboxed, a local store selling most essentials – including herbs and spices – without packaging. We make our own plant milk in the blender and bread in the bread maker (this all takes an average of 15 minutes every evening), and tofu with soy beans grown by a local farmer. We now stop before buying anything, and consider the packaging options.
Continue reading...Young sea eagle takes up residence among Oxfordshire's red kites
Bird is one of six released on Isle of Wight as first residents in England for 250 years
It is one of the country’s top predators, with a 2.4-metre (8ft) wingspan and a preference for plucking fish from the ocean.
So a young sea eagle’s choice of landlocked Oxfordshire as its home is unexpected. More surprising still is that the bird has lived for four months almost completely unnoticed by the public close to the M40 and the commuter belt.
Continue reading...Activists warn of ‘fracking by stealth’ and call for acid fracking ban
Fears grow companies may use it to get around temporary fracking moratorium
Campaigners have warned that the fracking moratorium announced by the UK government does not apply to acid fracking, a process that involves injecting acid into the earth to dissolve and fracture rock.
More than 500 academics, politicians and campaigners have signed an open letter initiated by Brockham Oil Watch calling on the government to ban the practice over fears companies may use it to get around the moratorium.
Continue reading...Heavy rain brings relief to parched south-eastern Australia – in pictures
Rain falls across drought and fire-ravaged parts of Australia, drenching cities and giving firefighters a chance to get fires under control
Continue reading...Biggest food brands 'failing goals to banish palm oil deforestation'
Commitments to phase out deforestation by 2020 are out of reach for many, reports find
Some of the world’s biggest brands are failing in their commitments to banish deforestation from their supply chains through their use of palm oil, despite making public claims to environmental sustainability, according to two reports.
Scores of the world’s biggest consumer brands have agreed to phase out deforestation through the use of sustainable palm oil by 2020, but this goal looks far out of reach for many, according to separate reports from the campaigning groups WWF and Rainforest Action Network.
Continue reading...UK green economy has shrunk since 2014
Conservative government critics blame Treasury’s dramatic cut in subsidies
Britain’s green economy has shrunk since 2014, heightening concerns that the government will miss targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions by the middle of the decade.
The number of people employed in the “low carbon and renewable energy economy” declined by more than 11,000 to 235,900 between 2014 and 2018, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Continue reading...Huge ‘hot blob’ in Pacific Ocean killed nearly a million seabirds
- Thousands of bodies washed up on North America’s Pacific coast
- Study finds common murres probably died of starvation
A million seabirds died in less than a year as a result of a giant “blob” of hot ocean water off the coast of New Zealand, according to new research.
A study released by the University of Washington found the birds, called the common murre, probably died of starvation between the summer of 2015 and the spring of 2016.
Continue reading...'It's heart-wrenching': 80% of Blue Mountains and 50% of Gondwana rainforests burn in bushfires
Guardian Australia analysis reveals the frightening amount of world heritage area burned in Australia’s ongoing fire crisis
At least 80% of the Blue Mountains world heritage area and more than 50% of the Gondwana world heritage rainforests have burned in Australia’s ongoing bushfire crisis.
The scale of the disaster is such that it could affect the diversity of eucalypts for which the Blue Mountains world heritage area is recognised, said John Merson, the executive director of the Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute.
Continue reading...Share your thoughts on the new agriculture bill
We’d like to hear from farmers and those in the agriculture sector about what they think about the new bill
After Brexit, the UK’s food security is to be regularly assessed by parliament to ensure minimal disruption to supplies while new trade deals are being sought, outlined in a new agriculture bill, introduced to parliament on Thursday.
British agriculture is facing the biggest shakeup in 40 years, and the bill requires a regular report to MPs outlining supply sources and household expenditure on food, as well as consumer confidence in food safety.
Continue reading...What the five hottest years on Earth look like - in pictures
The past five years – and the past decade – are the hottest in 150 years, the latest research has shown. It is bringing increasingly severe storms, floods, drought and wildfires, with one scientist saying the records being broken year after year is “the drumbeat of the Anthropocene”. We look at what the five hottest years look like in pictures
Continue reading...'There is no link': the climate doubters within Scott Morrison's government
Scott Morrison suggest he will ‘evolve’ his government’s climate policy but many still openly doubt the science
The science minister, Karen Andrews, has said it’s “time for everyone to move on” from ideological debates on climate change.
“Every second that we spend discussing if climate change is real is a second we don’t spend addressing these issues,” she told Nine Newspapers. “Let’s move on and get over this.”
Continue reading...Coalition's axing of funding to climate change adaptation body condemned
National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility funding was discontinued in 2017, while Scott Morrison was treasurer
The Coalition’s decision to axe funding to a climate change adaptation research body in 2017 has left Australia “not well positioned” to deal with fires, the “silent killer” of drought and other global heating impacts, its director has said.
Jean Palutikof, the director of the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF), told Guardian Australia the decision to discontinue funding in 2017 – when Scott Morrison was treasurer – had hollowed out the research community and “the capacity to take action on climate change is smaller than it was decade ago”.
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