The Guardian
Why the Guardian is changing the language it uses about the environment
From now, house style guide recommends terms such as ‘climate crisis’ and ‘global heating’
The Guardian has updated its style guide to introduce terms that more accurately describe the environmental crises facing the world.
Instead of “climate change” the preferred terms are “climate emergency, crisis or breakdown” and “global heating” is favoured over “global warming”, although the original terms are not banned.
Continue reading...Revealed: air pollution may be damaging 'every organ in the body'
Exclusive: Comprehensive analysis finds harm from head to toe, including dementia, heart and lung disease, fertility problems and reduced intelligence
Continue reading...Great Australian Bight: parties soften stance as voters protest over drilling
With sitting Liberal MPs along coast under pressure from angry electorate, Coalition promises audit of regulator’s decision
A last-ditch effort to win votes in key seats in South Australia and Victoria has prompted both major parties to make changes to their policies on oil drilling in the Great Australian Bight.
The resources minister Matt Canavan – who has previously said offshore oil exploration should be a national priority – said on Thursday a re-elected Coalition government would commission an independent audit of the oil regulator’s consideration of exploration in the Bight.
Continue reading...414 million pieces of plastic found on remote island group in Indian Ocean
Debris on Cocos (Keeling) Islands was mostly bottles, cutlery, bags and straws, but also included 977,000 shoes, study says
On the beaches of the tiny Cocos (Keeling) Islands, population 600, marine scientists found 977,000 shoes and 373,000 toothbrushes.
Related: ‘Monstrous’: Indigenous rangers’ struggle against the plastic ruining Arnhem Land beaches
Continue reading...‘Extraordinary thinning’ of ice sheets revealed deep inside Antarctica
New research shows affected areas are losing ice five times faster than in the 1990s, with more than 100m of thickness gone in some places
Ice losses are rapidly spreading deep into the interior of the Antarctic, new analysis of satellite data shows.
The warming of the Southern Ocean is resulting in glaciers sliding into the sea increasingly rapidly, with ice now being lost five times faster than in the 1990s. The West Antarctic ice sheet was stable in 1992 but up to a quarter of its expanse is now thinning. More than 100 metres of ice thickness has been lost in the worst-hit places.
Continue reading...Why the vitriol about my bike expenses won't stop me cycling to work – MP
Media criticism has actually kickstarted my drive to get commuters on to two wheels
Over the last few weeks, our schoolchildren have staged climate change strikes, while Extinction Rebellion locked down central London. Nearby, MPs (including myself) listened to Greta Thunberg and held debates on climate change.
So, at a time when most of the country is focused on the threats to our environment, the challenges we face in addressing them and the need for not just behavioural change but a transformation of our economy, what is more newsworthy to Fleet Street?
Continue reading...Parts of Western Australia declared 'water deficient' as emergency supplies trucked in
Farmers in Mallee Hill and Mount Short in the state’s south have run out of water after months of drought
Two areas of Western Australia have been declared “water deficient” and will have supplies trucked in by the state government to keep farm animals alive.
Farmers around the area of Mallee Hill in the shire of Lake Grace and Mount Short in the Ravensthorpe shire have run out of water for their stock and had been driving more than 40km to cart water back to their farms.
Continue reading...Coalition's climate policy has allowed heavy industry to increase emissions by nearly a third
Analysis finds regulator has approved a 32% increase in how much large industrial facilities are allowed to emit each year
Heavy industry companies in Australia have been given the green light to increase their greenhouse gas emissions by nearly a third without penalty under the Coalition’s climate change policy.
An analysis of a scheme known as the “safeguard mechanism”, part of the Coalition’s Direct Action policy, found the government regulator has approved a 32% increase in how much large industrial facilities are allowed to emit each year since the policy was introduced.
Continue reading...Climate change threatens 26 native species in Great Dividing Range, study finds
Australian researchers say governments must step up and protect critical habitats to give wildlife a chance
More than 20 native animals would disappear from the Great Dividing Range before the end of the century if global emissions continue at business as usual rates, according to new analysis by Australian researchers.
The University of Queensland and Australian Conservation Foundation study, published this week in Global Ecology and Conservation, examines native fauna in a part of the country that is home to three-quarters of the population and much of Australia’s biodiversity.
Continue reading...Trump's interior secretary: I haven't 'lost sleep' over record CO2 levels
Last week the Mauna Loa Observatory observed the highest levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere ever documented
Donald Trump’s interior secretary hasn’t “lost sleep over”, the record-breaking levels of pollution heating the planet, he told US lawmakers in an oversight hearing.
The Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii observed carbon dioxide levels of 415 parts per million in the atmosphere on Friday – the highest ever documented.
Continue reading...Heavy metals and harmful chemicals 'poison Europe's seas'
Three-quarters of areas tested show contamination, European Environment Agency says
Heavy metals and a cocktail of dangerous chemicals continue to poison Europe’s seas, with more than three-quarters of areas assessed showing contamination, according to a report.
The sea worst affected was the Baltic, where 96% of the assessed areas showed problematic levels of some harmful substances, according to the European Environment Agency. Similar problems were found in 91% of the Black Sea and 87% of the Mediterranean. In the north-east Atlantic, unsafe levels of chemicals or metals were found in 75% of assessed areas.
Continue reading...If climate change sends us back to the 70s, would that be so very bad? | Letters
Stressed youngsters might well enjoy a less commercial society, writes Clare Hobba. And Alice Munnelly questions the Met Gala’s green credentials
Your article describes Bill Nye, the children’s science presenter, getting justly angry about climate change (Bill Nye: ‘The planet’s on fire, you idiots’, G2, 15 May). But today’s children are not the first generation to have a sharp awakening to our violation of the environment – pollution was a major concern for youngsters of the 1970s.
As a child, my cultural heroes were environmentalists. The Wombles recycled rubbish, singing: “Pick up the pieces and make them into something new / Is what we do.” Bagpuss was an expert in thrift: “We will fix it like new, new, new,” sang the mice. As a teenager, instead of buying new, I embraced the 1970s revival of handicrafts and made my own leather bags, floaty skirts and bead jewellery. Cars were a rarity and I travelled by bus, bike or on foot and got to know my neighbours.
Continue reading...Cooking 'may turn homes into toxic boxes of air pollution'
Fry-ups and woodburners can cause high levels of particle pollution, campaigners warn
Frying food and burning wood may turn homes into “toxic boxes” with high levels of air pollution trapped inside, campaigners have warned.
Case studies commissioned by the environment charity Global Action Plan (GAP) showed that ultrafine particle pollution was higher inside than outside in all four of the properties monitored. Tiny particles are thought to be especially harmful to health as they can enter the bloodstream and flow around the body into vital organs.
Continue reading...EU clean water laws under attack from industry lobbyists
Mining, farming, hydropower and chemical sectors aim to weaken key directives
Industry lobbies are mounting a push to roll back EU clean water regulations, even though less than half of the continent’s rivers, wetlands and lakes are in a healthy state.
The lobby offensive is aimed at weakening the bloc’s floods and water framework directives, which require all states to ensure their waterways are in “good ecological condition” by 2027. Conservation groups say the proposed changes could sound a death knell for several endangered aquatic species.
Continue reading...Jellyfish supper delivered by drone? Radical future predicted for food
Algae milk, insect protein and nutrients consumed through a patch or pill may become norm, report says
The food of the future could come in the form of stick-on patches and pills or be delivered by intravenous drip, according to a report that predicts what and how we could be eating as far ahead as 150 years from now.
Jellyfish suppers washed down with algae milk and bread made from insect protein may eventually become the norm, while shoppers will be able to pick up “lab-grown” meat kits from dedicated supermarket aisles – or get them delivered by drone.
Continue reading...Single-use plastics a serious climate change hazard, study warns
Production must end now, says first ever estimate of plastic’s cradle-to-grave impact
The proliferation of single-use plastic around the world is accelerating climate change and should be urgently halted, a report warns.
Plastic production is expanding worldwide, fuelled in part by the fracking boom in the US. The report says plastic contributes to greenhouse gas emissions at every stage of its lifecycle, from its production to its refining and the way it is managed as a waste product.
Continue reading...Tax carbon, not people: UN chief issues climate plea from Pacific 'frontline'
Antonio Guterres hears from leaders at Fiji summit who warn region is facing ‘an unprecedented global catastrophe’
Governments around the world must introduce carbon taxes, halt plans for new coal plants and accelerate the closure of existing ones if damage to the Pacific from climate change is to be limited, the UN secretary general has told Pacific leaders on his first visit to the region.
Antonio Guterres met leaders of Pacific countries in Fiji, on a trip that will also see him visit Vanuatu, considered one of the countries most vulnerable to natural disasters due to climate change, and Tuvalu, which is at risk of sinking under rising waters.
Continue reading...Australia's biodiversity at breaking point – a picture essay
Land clearing, deforestation, emissions, drought and warming oceans are all worsening the attack on Australia’s threatened species
- Read more of our coverage of the issues in Our wide brown land series
Australia’s biodiversity is in trouble. The UN global assessment report painted a stark picture: the decline of the world’s natural support systems means that human society is in danger. According to the report, nature is being destroyed at a rate tens to hundreds of times higher than the average over the past 10 million years. More than a million species are at risk of extinction, natural ecosystems have declined by about 47% and the biomass of wild mammals has fallen by 82%. All of this is largely because of human activity. And the resulting impacts are likely to worsen unless we take action immediately.
As Guardian Australia has reported, Australia’s natural support systems are at breaking point. Increased land-clearing, warming oceans and a drought exacerbated by climate change are taking their toll on our biodiversity. The country is already experiencing rising oceans, marine heatwaves, longer fire seasons and extreme heat patterns. These are consistent with a changing climate.
Continue reading...Thirty sharks captured on barrier reef and exported to France all died in captivity
Scalloped hammerheads were at the Nausicaá aquarium in the French port of Boulogne, near Calais
Thirty hammerhead sharks captured on the Great Barrier Reef and exported to a French aquarium over an eight-year period have all died in captivity and the federal government says it knows nothing about it.
The deaths, which are the subject of legal action by Sea Shepherd France, could put a spotlight on the trade of threatened sharks caught in Australian waters because of a federal law that allows them to continue to be commercially fished.
Continue reading...Cooperation and force in aid of the environment | Letters
Jonathan Freedland (The secret to stopping Brexit: keep it simple, 11 May) refers to the urgency of climate change and points out, correctly, that this situation “cries out for cooperation with our neighbours”. But his logic is adrift when he links this with his wish for continued British membership of the EU.
Firstly, such cooperation could happen via one of the other Europe-wide bodies of which the UK is a member, or via an intergovernmental group specific to that problem; there is no need for it to happen through the EU specifically or any such top-down supranational body.
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