The Guardian
Flooding caused by poor management and floodplain building, says experts
Big floods likely to become more frequent because of climate breakdown
Poor management of the rural landscape along with global heating and building on floodplains are the main factors that led to the floods that have engulfed towns in northern England, according to experts.
Sheffield, Rotherham and Doncaster are among the places flooded, 12 years after they were badly hit when the River Don burst its banks in 2007. Many affected areas, including Meadowhall shopping centre, where customers were stranded overnight, lie within the river’s floodplain – low-lying land next to the river that naturally floods during high flow.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson accused of 'outrageous' lack of concern about floods
PM to chair Cobra meeting after being criticised for not declaring national emergency
Boris Johnson has been accused of displaying an “utterly outrageous” lack of concern about the severe floods that have devastated hundreds of homes and caused more than 1,200 properties to be evacuated in northern England.
The prime minister will chair a meeting of the government’s emergency committee Cobra on Tuesday after he was criticised by Jeremy Corbyn for not declaring a national emergency.
Continue reading...'We depend on the Tongass': Alaskans fight to save US’s largest national forest
Tribal leaders to testify before Congress in battle against Trump administration’s assault on environmental protections
Tribal leaders, fishermen and environmentalists from Alaska will testify before Congress on Wednesday in an effort to save America’s biggest national forest – the latest battle against the Trump administration’s assault on environmental protections.
The Tongass national forest, one of the world’s last intact temperate rainforests which plays a crucial role in fighting the climate crisis, is under threat of logging as Alaska seeks exemption from the Roadless Rule, which protects millions of acres of pristine forests across the US. The Tongass is considered the “crown jewel” of the national forest system, sequestering huge amounts of carbon dioxide to keep the greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere.
Continue reading...Catastrophic fire conditions along Australia's east coast – in pictures
Parts of New South Wales and Queensland woke to catastrophic bushfire danger warnings and towns and cities blanketed in smoke on Tuesday. Hundreds of schools were closed and residents in bushland areas were advised to leave as conditions were expected to worsen. Two hundred homes and sheds had been destroyed in recent days and three people confirmed dead.
• Live coverage of Tuesday’s catastrophic fire conditions
• How you can donate and help with the NSW and Queensland bushfires
• Open thread: tell us how you’re affected by the fires
• If you are in a bushfire affected area stay tuned to your local emergency broadcaster. Full alerts can be found here for NSW and here for Queensland
Continue reading...Adani mine could snuff out black-throated finch’s last chances of survival
Development has long been given priority over the endangered bird’s welfare – and is set to again with the Carmichael coalmine
The black-throated finch is a refugee. For decades, progress has forced the small, rotund, patchwork finch to retreat to a few pockets of grassland in central and north Queensland. Now the largest colony will be forcibly moved from the best remaining habitat to make way for Adani’s Carmichael coalmine.
Since it was listed as endangered and protected under Australian law, 775 development applications have proposed removing or damaging potential finch habitat. One has been rejected.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson to hold emergency Cobra meeting over floods
Response follows Jeremy Corbyn urging PM to ‘take personal charge’ as locals tell of ruined homes
Boris Johnson has agreed to chair a meeting of the government’s emergency committee on Tuesday to discuss the response to the recent severe floods, after he was urged by Jeremy Corbyn to “take personal charge” of the situation.
The announcement by Downing Street came as residents began a clean-up operation, and warned that further damage was likely unless existing water was pumped away.
Continue reading...Q&A: Labor's Mark Butler says climate debate should be put aside amid bushfires
ABC panel manages civil debate on climate change after shadow climate minister’s intervention
Shadow climate change minister Mark Butler issued a plea last night to set aside public debates about climate change while communities were fighting for their lives and homes in the face of unprecedented bushfires.
Speaking at the beginning of ABC TV’s Q&A program last night, Butler said his political colleagues on all sides should stick to an unwritten protocol of “putting political disputes aside” while people were in harm’s way during emergencies.
Continue reading...Mouse deer species not seen for nearly 30 years is found alive in Vietnam
Silver-backed chevrotain caught on camera after it was feared lost to science
A distinctly two-tone mouse deer that was feared lost to science has been captured on film foraging for food by camera traps set up in a Vietnamese forest.
The pictures of the rabbit-sized animal, also known as the silver-backed chevrotain, are the first to be taken in the wild and come nearly 30 years after the last confirmed sighting.
Continue reading...Moth populations in steady decline in Britain, study finds
Long-running survey finds 1976 heatwave boom has been followed by dropping numbers
Moths are declining in abundance by 10% each decade in Britain but the average weight of moths caught in traps is still double what it was in 1967, according to a new study.
Researchers studying the biomass of moths caught in the world’s longest-running insect survey said their findings suggested that if there had been an “insect armageddon” in Britain, it had occurred before scientific recording began in 1967.
Continue reading...Climate Visuals photography award 2019: winners and shortlisted
Climate Visuals is a project that aims to create a new visual language for climate change. Images of polar bears, melting ice and factories do not convey the urgent human stories at the heart of the issue. Based on international social research, Climate Visuals provides insights for a more compelling visual language for climate change. It has recognised existing and outstanding images with impact for its inaugural photography awards. The project is run by Climate Outreach, Europe’s leading climate communication organisation, which celebrated its 15th anniversary on 7 November
Continue reading...Ecuador's vanishing jaguars: the big cat vital to rainforest survival
Industries such as coffee and cacao have devastated the jaguar’s habitat, but its dwindling numbers leave a delicate ecosystem hanging in the balance
Across the American continent, from the north of Mexico to Argentina, the jaguar has long been revered for its strength and power. But in some parts of Ecuador, the largest cat in South America is increasingly at risk as roads, mining and agriculture take over the rainforests.
The loss of habitat is the biggest threat to jaguars in Ecuador, particularly along the coast, where more than 70% of the original forest cover has been lost. The vast majority of this destruction has taken place over the last 50 years with the expansion of the logging and agriculture industries, including coffee, cacao, palm oil and bananas, one of the country’s largest agriculture exports.
Continue reading...Cornish homes take part in trial to supply clean power to grid
Project links solar-fitted premises in ‘milestone’ to form a mini virtual power plant
Hundreds of homes and businesses in Cornwall have started selling electricity to their local energy network and the national energy system in a pioneering move.
The trial is the first time that traditional energy users – such as homes, hotels and businesses – have acted as suppliers in a microcosm of a full energy system.
Continue reading...Norway's Equinor must modify environmental plan to drill in Great Australian Bight
Federal regulator wants to know more about the consultation Equinor conducted and the risks posed by oil spills
Norwegian energy company Equinor has been ordered to modify and resubmit an environmental plan to drill an oil exploration well in the Great Australian Bight.
The company has exploration rights on a site about 370km off the South Australian coast and first submitted its environmental statement on the drilling proposal in April.
Continue reading...Australia's climate response among the worst in the G20, report finds
Brown to Green report highlights Australia’s poor response on deforestation, transport, energy supply and carbon pricing
Australia’s response to climate change is one of the worst in the G20 with a lack of policy, reliance on fossil fuels and rising emissions leaving the country exposed “economically, politically and environmentally”, according to a new international report.
Australia’s progress to meeting its already “unambitious” Paris climate targets was third worst, fossil fuel energy was on the rise and policies to tackle high transport emissions and deforestation were also among the worst across the G20 countries.
Continue reading...Heavy rainfall and more flooding forecast for week ahead
More than 140 flood warnings and alerts in place as South Yorkshire villagers evacuate
Further heavy rainfall has been forecast for the UK this week and more flooding is expected as communities already affected struggle to cope.
Seven severe “danger to life” flood warnings remain in place in South Yorkshire in areas along the River Don. The Met Office also issued 41 active flood warnings and 94 flood alerts, and said a weather system moving across Europe would bring a “fair amount” of rainfall to England and Wales.
Continue reading...The difficulty of letting kids go wild | Letters
No one could dispute the Wildlife Trusts’ plea for all children to “have the opportunity to experience the joy of wildlife in daily life” and “to recognise the multiple benefits of nature for children – and ensure that at least one hour per school day is spent outdoors learning and playing in wild places”. (Call for schoolchildren to ‘go wild’ for at least one hour of every day, 7 November).
For the majority of children who go to schools that don’t have immediate access to those wild places, how is this to be achieved? Over the years many schools have established forest clubs and gardening clubs, but these do not and cannot equate with “wild places”. My childhood was spent on Vancouver Island in the 1950s, when we had large gardens that were in themselves wild places. My four children have been raised in Oxford, which certainly allows access to country places and, at Shotover Park, for example, a relatively wild place, at least for some, but not easily or practicably accessible to all.
Continue reading...Inside Market Forces, the small climate group Scott Morrison wants to put out of business
From humble beginnings, Market Forces is now in the crosshairs of the Coalition’s war on environmental boycotts
When Market Forces, a small climate activist group, was singled out as the target of the government’s push to stop environmental campaigns that advocate boycotts of fossil-fuel companies, its leader was briefly taken aback but not disappointed.
“You know you’re doing something right when the Morrison government tries to bring you down,” Julien Vincent, the group’s executive director and founder, says from its base in Melbourne. “It’s unpleasant, but it’s only happening because we are getting results.”
Continue reading...'I had no warning at all': floods submerge Doncaster village – video
Hundreds of homes in Fishlake village have been severely flooded with water from the River Don. Displaced residents were evacuated by rescue workers who accessed the area by boat. Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn visited those affected. There are seven severe flood warnings in Yorkshire and Johnson drew criticism for saying they did not need to be escalated to the level of a national emergency
Continue reading...Badger cull activists hit out at cost of shooters' tracking devices
Defra revealed that more than £300,000 of public money has been spent on the devices
Hundreds of thousands of pounds of UK taxpayers’ money has been spent on equipping badger cull marksmen and women with tracking devices so that their movements could be mapped by co-ordinators and police.
Anti-cull activists have criticised the expense, arguing that the cost of the cull should be met by farmers rather than the public purse.
Continue reading...Can laboratories curb their addiction to plastic?
Research scientists have largely gone unnoticed as major users of unrecyclable material. Now some universities are helping them kick the habit
Scientific research is a largely ignored consumer of single-use plastics, with the biomedical sciences a particularly high-volume offender. Plastic petri dishes, bottles of various shapes and sizes, several types of glove, a dizzying array of pipettes and pipette tips, a hoard of sample tubes and vials: they have all become an everyday part of scientific research. Most of us will never use such equipment, but without it, we wouldn’t have the knowledge, technologies, products and medicines we all rely on. It is vital to 21st-century lives, but it is also extremely polluting.
In 2015, researchers at the University of Exeter weighed up their bioscience department’s annual plastic waste, and extrapolated that biomedical and agricultural laboratories worldwide could be responsible for 5.5m tonnes of plastic waste a year. To put that in context, they pointed out that this was equal to 83% of the plastic recycled worldwide in 2012.
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