The Guardian
NSW considers laws to stop courts and planners blocking coalmines on climate grounds
Move comes after Minerals Council attacked planning decisions that cited carbon emissions as a reason for rejecting or imposing conditions on a mine
The New South Wales government is considering legislation that could limit the ability for planning authorities to rule out coalmines projects based on the climate change impact of emissions from the coal once it is burned.
It comes after a campaign from the NSW Minerals Council over decisions that have referenced the impact of “scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions” as a reason for either rejecting a mining project entirely or for imposing conditions on it.
Continue reading...World's largest wind turbines to be built off Yorkshire coast
Biggest offshore windfarm in North Sea will generate electricity for 4.5m homes
The largest offshore wind turbines ever built will begin powering millions of British homes using blades more than 100 metres long by the early 2020s.
Each of the new mega-turbines planned for the world’s biggest offshore windfarm at Dogger Bank in the North Sea will reach 220 metres high and generate enough electricity for 16,000 homes.
Continue reading...Australia’s vast carbon sink releasing millions of tonnes of CO2 back into atmosphere
Australia’s mangroves and seagrass meadows absorb 20m tonnes of CO2 a year but report warns damage to ecosystems contributing to climate change
Australia’s mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrass meadows are absorbing about 20m tonnes of carbon dioxide every year, according to a major new study that is the first to measure in detail the climate benefits of the coastal ecosystems.
But the study, published in the journal Nature Communications, warns that degradation of these “vegetated coastal ecosystems” was already seeing 3 million tonnes of CO2 per year being released back into the atmosphere.
Continue reading...City-sized iceberg separates from Antarctic ice shelf – video
A gigantic iceberg has broken away from the Amery ice shelf in east Antarctica. The tabular iceberg, officially named D28, is 1,636 square kilometres in size, or about 50 x 30 kilometres - the size of greater London or greater Sydney. It separated from the ice shelf last week, on 26 September but scientists said it was not related to climate change
Continue reading...Bad ancestors: does the climate crisis violate the rights of those yet to be born?
Our environmental vandalism has made urgent the question of ethical responsibilities across decades and centuries
What if climate breakdown is a violation of the rights of those yet to be born? Finally, this urgent question seems to be getting the attention it deserves. Last month an astonishing 7 million people from nearly 200 countries took to the streets as part of the youth-led global climate strike. Young people around the world recognise that the disastrous repercussions of the already present ecological crisis will fall disproportionately on their shoulders, and the shoulders of generations to come – in particular on those whose communities have emitted the smallest proportion of greenhouse gasses.
Greta Thunberg, whose “school strike for the climate” ignited a movement, often speaks on behalf of those who don’t yet exist. Addressing the UN climate action summit in Manhattan on 23 September she denounced the assembled adults for pursuing money over morality and embracing “fairytales of eternal economic growth” instead of facing the facts of hard science. “Young people are starting to understand your betrayal,” she said. “The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: we will never forgive you.”
Continue reading...Pine martens released to secret location in Forest of Dean
Reintroduction of species into Gloucestershire could prove setback for grey squirrels
The shy and elusive pine marten, a woodland creature almost hunted to extinction in the UK, has been reintroduced to a forest in the English west country.
Eighteen of the animals have been released at a secret and remote location in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire.
Continue reading...Weatherwatch: glass skyscrapers are worst energy offenders
Big windows and high air-conditioning needs mean radical new approaches are needed
Whatever you think of skyscrapers, they guzzle energy. One study revealed that electricity use per square metre of floor area was nearly two and a half times greater in high-rise office buildings (20 or more storeys) than in low-rises (six storeys or less).
The gas use for heating was about 40% more for tall buildings, and the total carbon emissions from these buildings was twice as high.
Continue reading...Peregrine falcon chicks hatch in Melbourne as Facebook fans watch on
Thousands of fans are monitoring the new brood in their nest in a high-rise office building
The peregrine falcons at 367 Collins Street in Melbourne’s CBD have hatched a new brood of chicks, to the delight of the thousands of fans who monitor the birds via a livestream video feed.
One of their eggs hatched on Sunday, with another cracking open early Monday: developments tracked on an almost minute-by-minute basis by the 4,000 members of the 367 Collins Falcon Watchers Facebook group.
Continue reading...Australian petition backing declaration of climate emergency hits record – but will it work?
The tampon tax was axed after parliament received a petition with 104,185 signatures. The climate e-petition has hit 160,000 names, but those hoping for imminent action shouldn’t hold their breath
What do tampons and climate change have in common?
It’s not just their environmental toll (seriously: take a look at what’s in some disposable menstruation products and then tell me the Diva Cup seems weird) – both issues attracted the largest number of signatures to an Australian parliament e-petition.
Continue reading...The environmental cost of formula milk | Letter
Like virtually every environmental campaigner and commentator, Jonathan Safran Foer (Meat of the matter, Review, 28 September) fails to mention one of the greatest uses of dairy products globally and nationally – formula milk.
Babies consume only milk for the first six months – and everyone is a baby once. Breastmilk is the most sustainable food it is possible to have, yet use of formula milk is rising, with global sales predicted to hit over £70bn by 2020.
Continue reading...‘Time is running out’: Extinction Rebellion activists on why they risked arrest
We talk to some of the hundreds of XR protesters charged with public order offences
Hundreds of people who were arrested for their part in the peaceful Extinction Rebellion (XR) protests in April are being taken to court charged with public order offences under section 14.
Here we talk to some of them and hear why the scale of the climate crisis means they were prepared to risk arrest.
Continue reading...Scores of Extinction Rebellion protesters face London courts
Green party’s Caroline Lucas condemns action against ‘brave XR activists’
Scores of environmental activists will appear in court this week in one of the UK’s biggest legal crackdowns on climate protests.
Related: ‘Time is running out’: Extinction Rebellion activists on why they risked arrest
Continue reading...Girls and young women call for UK to reduce single-use plastic
Hundreds of thousands of girls join Girlguiding campaign to tackle plastic pollution
Hundreds of thousands of girls and young women are calling for the UK to make a promise to reduce single-use plastic.
The call is part of a campaign launched by Girlguiding aimed at tackling plastic pollution.
Continue reading...Rising voices: young people fight for climate action – video
On 20 September, filmmakers Cybele Malinowski, Charlie Ford and Amy Low created a makeshift set at the global climate strike event held in Sydney, Australia. They interviewed 18 passionate young people from different backgrounds about why the event matters. The result is an intimate, raw and formidable series capturing the thoughts, fears and hopes of Australia’s next generation
Continue reading...'It's heartbreaking': a coastal community watches its beach wash away
Manmade sea walls and the effects of climate change eating away at Stockton beach, and locals are rallying to save it
Noel Burns started work on Stockton beach as a council lifeguard in 1971 and spent 37 years with his eyes fixed on the surf and the sand.
“Mate, I’m broken-hearted,” says the 70-year-old. “It’s terrible what it looks like now. They have been studying this [erosion] for 20 years but nothing is getting done. Everyone is getting angry now.”
Continue reading...Sustainability expert Michael Mobbs: I’m leaving the city to prep for the apocalypse
The man who wrote the book on living off-grid in the city plans to retreat to a rural bolthole, saying eco-friendly progress has not kept pace with the speed of climate collapse
Michael Mobbs, you might say, has been preparing for this moment his entire life.
The 69-year-old former environmental lawyer who, in 1996, converted his two-storey 19th century Sydney terrace into one of the world’s first inner-city self-sufficient homes, is selling his famous passion project and moving to a remote coastal location to prepare for what he predicts will be impending societal collapse induced by climate change.
Continue reading...Britain's ancient yews: mystical, magnificent – and unprotected
Some have stood for thousands of years, yet trees enjoy little legal protection. Campaigners aim to change that
A dark green tree stands on the north side of the medieval stone church in Defynnog. The tree is broader than it is tall and has divided into two quite separate trees over the centuries. Beneath its low boughs, multiple trunks resemble molten lava. Some limbs twist like sinews; others are ramrod straight. Some patches of wood are as smooth as liquid; other parts are as spiny as a sea urchin. There are stag’s antlers of dead branches but also spiky fresh foliage that turns ancient stumps into enormous shaving brushes.
All forms of tree seem to be present in this fantastical, sculptural yew in a small Welsh village in the Brecon Beacons. But the most extraordinary feature of this ancient tree is that it is less protected than the much younger church beside it. Now a petition calling for legal protection for ancient yews has gained 230,000 signatories. The trees’ fate has been discussed by the ancients of the House of Lords and barristers are drawing up plans for new legislation.
Continue reading...Precious escargot: the mission to return tiny snails to Pacific islands
British zoologists part of global project to release 15,000 endangered partula species vital to French Polynesia
They are some of the smallest animals on our planet, measuring from 1cm to 2cm in length. But the recent return of thousands of tiny tropical tree snails to French Polynesia represents one of the biggest reintroduction programmes ever attempted by conservationists.
More than 15,000 partula snails – bred by a total of 16 key international conservation organisations, including the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), and Edinburgh, Chester and Amsterdam zoos – have been shipped out to Polynesia over the past five years. A few weeks ago, the most recent arrivals – more than 4,000 Partula rosea and Partula varia snails – were released on the islands of Huahine and Moorea in the Society Islands. (The archipelago, which includes Tahiti and Bora Bora and covers an area of 1,600 sq km in the South Pacific, is noted for its coral-fringed lagoons and rugged mountains.)
Continue reading...UK ‘needs billions a year’ to meet 2050 climate targets
Report estimates up to £20bn a year in investment needed to build net-zero carbon economy
The UK will need investment worth billions of pounds every year to remove enough greenhouse gases from the air to meet its 2050 climate targets, according to a report commissioned by the government.
The report, by analysts at Vivid Economics, estimated that the UK would need as much as £20bn a year to remove up to 130m tonnes of carbon dioxide from the air.
Continue reading...Greta Thunberg: the speeches that helped spark a climate movement – video
In August 2018, Greta Thunberg, then 15, skipped school to protest alone outside the Swedish parliament in Stockholm for urgent climate action. In just 13 months, she has become the figurehead of a global movement that has pushed the crisis to the top of the news agenda and inspired millions to take to the streets.
These are five of the key speeches that helped spark the #climatestrike movement
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