The Guardian
Extinction Rebellion highlight climate emergency at Glastonbury
Campaigners joined by indigenous people who have led fight against global heating
Nearly 2,000 festival-goers have joined climate change campaigners Extinction Rebellion to stage a procession across the Glastonbury site, paying tribute to indigenous people who have led the fight against global heating.
Waving flags bearing the extinction symbol, which was seen across central London earlier this year when Extinction Rebellion protests brought the city to a standstill, the crowd marched for about an hour in the scorching afternoon sun on Thursday from the festival’s park stage to its stone circle.
Continue reading...Eel smuggling arrests rise 50% in Europe-wide crackdown
Europol says about 15m of the creatures were seized last year in trade worth €3bn annually
The number of arrests for the smuggling of eels in Europe has increased by 50% after a concerted effort by enforcement agencies to tackle the problem.
Eels are in demand in China and other east Asian countries and about 350m are trafficked out of the European Union each year, in a trade worth about €3bn (£2.7bn) annually. It is the world’s biggest wildlife crime in terms of the number of creatures trafficked. About 15m eels were seized last year and 153 arrests were made, compared with 98 arrests the year before.
Continue reading...UK spent nearly £2bn on fossil fuel projects overseas last year
Elevenfold rise in funding over 12 months came as support for renewables fell to £700,000
Britain increased support for fossil fuel projects overseas to almost £2bn last year, marking an elevenfold increase over the previous 12 months.
Backing for oil and gas operations in Oman, Kuwait, Brazil and other countries, amounted to more than a quarter of the total commitment by UK Export Finance (UKEF), the government agency responsible for promoting British exports with credit, guarantees, loans and insurance.
Continue reading...People of color live with 66% more air pollution, US study finds
African Americans in the north-east and mid-Atlantic are exposed to 61% more pollution particles from burning gasoline
People of color in the American north-east and mid-Atlantic are living with 66% more air pollution from vehicles than white residents are, according to a new analysis from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).
On average, African Americans are exposed to 61% more of the tiny pollution particles that come from burning gasoline. Asian Americans breathe 73% more and Latinos 75% more.
Continue reading...Doctors against climate catastrophe | Letter
We are qualified medical doctors united by our distress at the minimal response to looming environmental disaster. We sympathise with current widespread protest, notably by children who will be most affected. We urge government and media to respond immediately and proportionately.
As caring professionals we cannot countenance current policies that push the world’s most vulnerable towards environmental catastrophe. We are particularly alarmed by the effects of rising temperatures on health and heed predictions of societal collapse and consequent mass migration. Such collapse risks damage to physical and mental health on an unprecedented scale.
Continue reading...Farne Islands seabirds in danger as heavy rain kills chicks
National Trust says species decline apparent as climate crisis brings more frequent destructive storms in summer
Seabirds nesting on the remote Farne Islands have been hit by heavy rain which has killed many of their young, the National Trust said.
Arctic terns, puffins, guillemots and shags, all suffered losses as chicks including pufflings, or baby puffins, were battered by nearly 127mm (5in) of rain in 24 hours on 13 June.
Continue reading...Government urged to set up $1bn fund to help farmers protect the environment
Long-awaited review says government should consider farming interests before listing threatened species
The environment minister should consider farming interests before deciding whether to list threatened species, according to a long-delayed government review of how conservation laws could better serve the agriculture industry.
The review, completed in September but not made public until Thursday, also recommends setting up a $1bn trust fund to help farmers to protect the environment and inviting the public to have a say before threatened species are assessed by a government-appointed scientific advisory committee.
Continue reading...UK accused of ignoring obligations on aviation emissions
NGOs say others also in breach of 1998 convention by failing to disclose details on policies
The UK and other EU governments are in breach of international obligations by failing to be open about their policies to tackle emissions from aviation, a coalition of NGOs has said.
The group is lodging a formal complaint over the secrecy surrounding regulation of emissions from international flights, which they say allows the aviation industry to be a “climate laggard”. Last year, aviation emitted 895m tonnes of carbon dioxide – 2.4% of global energy-related CO2 emissions, according to Carbon Brief. If aviation were a country it would be the sixth biggest emitter in the world.
Continue reading...Doctors call for nonviolent direct action over climate crisis
Governments have abrogated responsibility with woefully inadequate policies, says letter
More than 1,000 doctors including 40 professors, several eminent public health figures and past presidents of royal colleges are calling for widespread nonviolent civil disobedience in the face of the environmental crisis.
In a letter to the Guardian, the doctors say government policies are “woefully inadequate”, and call on politicians and the media to face the facts of the unfolding ecological emergency and take action.
Continue reading...Leon restaurants co-founder to lead review of UK food system
Brief for Henry Dimbleby is exploration of sustainable ‘farm to fork’ strategy
Henry Dimbleby, a co-founder of the restaurant chain Leon, has been appointed by the government to lead a landmark review of Britain’s food system to determine a national strategy lasting decades beyond Brexit.
Dimbleby said he was so determined to have an impact he was setting aside four days of his working week without pay for one year to work on the study.
Continue reading...UK's biggest carbon capture project is step-change on emissions
Tata-owned Cheshire plant to turn 40,000 tonnes of CO2 a year into useful products
The UK’s biggest carbon capture project will soon block thousands of tonnes of factory emissions from contributing to the climate crisis, by using them to help make the chemicals found in antacid, eyedrops and Pot Noodle.
Within two years a chemical plant in Cheshire could keep 40,000 tonnes of carbon from the air every year, or the equivalent of removing 22,000 cars from the UK’s roads.
Continue reading...Time Is Now thousands march in London for urgent climate action
Climate Coalition and Greener UK rally urges MPs to act over critical loss of nature
Thousands of people, including primary school children and members of the Women’s Institute, have lobbied MPs, calling for urgent action to tackle the climate emergency and critical loss of nature.
About 12,000 people gathered in Westminster on Wednesday to put pressure on politicians, according to the organisers the Climate Coalition and Greener UK, whose members include aid agencies, social groups and conservation organisations.
Continue reading...Climate crisis, tree planting and new left economics | Letters
Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has acknowledged that our planet faces a climate emergency. Inextricably linked to this is the growing ecological crisis. We must not let Brexit derail us from tackling these global challenges head-on. Whatever the outcome of the political uncertainties, we need robust, binding targets for the recovery of Scotland’s natural environment to safeguard both nature and people. This is why we have come together from across Scottish society to ask the first minister to bring forward a new Scottish environment act.
Ensuring our world is rich in nature is the best insurance we have against dangerous climate heating. Protecting, restoring and enhancing Scotland’s natural environment would help limit temperature rises and help us adapt to changes that we cannot avoid. It would also give us so much more.
Continue reading...US in energy landmark as renewables produce more electricity than coal
- In April, renewables provided 23% compared to coal’s 20%
- ‘The fate of coal has been sealed. The market has spoken’
The US generated more electricity from renewable sources than coal for the first time ever in April, new federal government data has shown.
Related: Shell is not a green saviour. It’s a planetary death machine | George Monbiot
Continue reading...Could this be Glastonbury's greenest year yet? - video explainer
With its sea of discarded tents and litter-strewn fields, Glastonbury has become almost as infamous for the mountain of rubbish left in its wake as it is renowned for its music. But this year, organisers are hitting back by banning plastic bottles in a bid to stem the tide of waste. Festivalgoers are being urged to limit their impact on the environment in other ways, too.
- Glastonbury festival bans plastic bottles
- Co-op to trial 100% compostable wrappers at Glastonbury
- Glastonbury festival 2019: full lineup and stage times announced
The Guardian is Glastonbury festival's media partner
Continue reading...Action on air pollution works but far more is needed, study shows
UK’s dirty air still ‘a public health emergency’ despite dramatic fall in death rates
Government action can cut air pollution, a long-term study has shown, with early deaths linked to dirty air in the UK falling by half between 1970 and 2010.
But toxic air remains the number one environmental health hazard, with one in 20 deaths still attributable to small particle pollution alone. The researchers said urgent action was needed to deal with a public health emergency that caused harm comparable to alcohol.
Continue reading...Super funds and investors with $34tn urge leaders to speed up climate action
Fund managers call on world leaders to bring in carbon pricing and phase out coal power ahead of G20
Superannuation funds and investors representing US$34tn in assets – nearly half of the total under management across the globe – have called on world leaders to bring in carbon pricing and phase out coal power to limit global heating to 1.5C.
Released ahead of a G20 leaders meeting in Osaka, Japan, the statement by 477 institutional investors urges world leaders to accelerate their response to the climate crisis to ensure the goals of the 2015 Paris climate deal can be met.
Continue reading...Young protesters at DNC headquarters demand debate on climate crisis
DNC has declined to hold a climate-specific debate even as Democratic voters rank rising temperatures as a top priority
Dozens of young climate protesters crowded outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington DC on Tuesday, demanding a debate focused on the crisis as presidential candidates prepare to face off this week over two nights in Florida.
The DNC has declined to hold a climate-specific debate, even as Democratic voters rank rising temperatures – and the worse disasters and economic instability they bring – as a top priority.
Continue reading...Big step forward in effort to save whales | Letters
June has been a good month for those of us who have long campaigned against whales and dolphins being held captive in small tanks for human entertainment (Two whales flown from Shanghai aquarium to sanctuary in Iceland, theguardian.com, 20 June). Canada has passed legislation making it an “offence to keep captive, breed, import, or export any whale, dolphin, or porpoise”. Russia has said it will close the loophole used by traffickers capturing cetaceans for “educational and cultural purposes”. President Putin has bowed to pressure to shut the “whale jail” in Russia’s far east and release 10 orcas and more than 80 beluga whales back to the wild.
And in the past week, the Sea Life Trust, working with Whale and Dolphin Conservation, has transported two beluga whales from Shanghai to a sanctuary in Iceland – a world-first project that provides a model for ending this cruel industry. With over 3,000 whales and dolphins still in intolerable conditions there is much work to do. But events this month give us hope.
Chris Butler-Stroud
Chief executive, Whale and Dolphin Conservation
UK waste firm exported 'offensive' materials including used nappies
Biffa Waste Services found guilty of exporting unsorted waste to China it said was paper
One of the UK’s biggest waste firms has been convicted of sending used nappies and other contaminated materials to China illegally.
Biffa Waste Services Ltd was found guilty of exporting unsorted household waste that it said was paper. The company was prosecuted by the Environment Agency after investigators stopped seven 25-tonne containers from leaving Felixstowe over suspicions about the content.
Continue reading...