The Guardian
Sajid Javid calls for 'full force of law' against Extinction Rebellion protesters
Home secretary asks police to be firm against demonstrators ‘disrupting the lives of others’
Sajid Javid has called on police to use the “full force of the law” against Extinction Rebellion protesters causing disruption in London to draw attention to the issue of climate change.
The home secretary, who is positioning himself for a run at the Conservative party leadership, made a series of tweets condemning “any protesters who are stepping outside the boundaries of the law”.
Continue reading...Extinction Rebellion protests: photos from day four
Guardian picture editors select the best photos from the fourth day of climate protests across London
Continue reading...Climate activists target Heathrow airport as protests continue
Environmental campaigners plan to disrupt airport at start of Easter bank holiday
Environmental campaigners are planning to disrupt Heathrow on Friday as they escalate their protests in an attempt to highlight the climate crisis and demand the government takes urgent action.
Activists, who have successfully blockaded four landmark sites in central London for the past four days, said they will target the airport at the start of the Easter bank holiday.
Continue reading...We are not yet doomed: the carbon cutters determined to save the world
An orchestra, a village, an entire country: the movement to rein in greenhouse gas emissions is growing
We are all doomed, it is said. Carbon dioxide is amassing in the atmosphere at levels not seen for millions of years when there were trees at the South Pole and Florida was under water. We have barely a decade to make amends. Protesters are on the streets.
But huge numbers of people have not given up. Not yet. Call them the carbon cutters. They are companies and cities, niche groups and nations. They are commuters and communes, off-gridders and off-setters, investors and institutions – and countless individuals, cutting their meat intake, installing solar panels, eschewing gas guzzlers and long-haul flights.
Continue reading...Extinction Rebellion: trio charged over train protest in Canary Wharf
Three charged over protest that halted DLR services, as climate action enters fourth day
Three people have been charged over an Extinction Rebellion protest in which activists climbed on the top of a train at Canary Wharf station in east London, British Transport Police have said, as demonstrators held their four roadblock sites in central London for another night.
Cathy Eastburn, 51, from south London, Mark Ovland, 35, from Somerton in Somerset, and Luke Watson, 29, from Manuden in Essex, were charged with obstructing trains or carriages on the railway by an unlawful act, contrary to section 36 of the Malicious Damage Act 1861 over the protest on Wednesday, which halted Docklands Light Railway (DLR) services. They were due to appear at Highbury Corner magistrates court on Thursday.
Continue reading...Trump policy of less safety and more offshore drilling is 'a recipe for disaster'
Nine years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the Trump administration is exacerbating the industry’s ‘systemic failures’, report warns
Offshore oil and gas drilling in the US is plagued by “systemic failures” in oversight that are being worsened by Trump administration attempts to expand drilling and roll back safety requirements, a new report has warned.
The analysis of public documents by the conservation group Oceana found that while some minor improvements have been made since the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010, a system of lax oversight, paltry fines and overstretched inspectors risks further major oil spills.
Continue reading...Australia's top restaurants pledge to serve only sustainable seafood
Chefs won’t use red-listed seafood including farmed Atlantic salmon and east coast wild prawns
Sustainably sourced fish will be top of the menu in some of Australia’s best restaurants after 40 well-known chefs signed up to the Australian Marine Conservation Society’s Good Fish project.
The restaurants have all pledged not to source or serve seafood that is red-listed in the Sustainable Seafood Guide, published by the society.
Continue reading...Arresting the climate change catastrophe | Letters
Our unsustainable lifestyles and commitment to perpetual economic growth have become the major drivers of climate change and loss of biodiversity on Earth (Only rebellion will prevent an ecological apocalypse, 15 April). Our politicians fail to grasp the scale and urgency of the risk humanity faces. The UK signed up to the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) in 2015, but has yet to develop a coherent and rigorous national plan for their domestic and international implementation.
Encouragingly, the SDGs form a new roadmap for our future that in principle aligns the economy with the Earth’s life support systems. Yet, a recent report by the Stockholm Resilience Centre shows that attempting to achieve the socioeconomic goals using conventional growth policies would make it virtually impossible to reduce the speed of global warming and environmental degradation.
Continue reading...Extinction Rebellion climate blockades – day three in pictures
More than 300 were arrested in London as protesters continued to block roads in the capital and across Europe
Continue reading...More than 300 arrested in Extinction Rebellion protests in London
Police cells filling rapidly, with reports of detainees taken to Luton, Brighton and Essex
There have been more than 300 arrests linked to the Extinction Rebellion protests across London and reports suggest that London’s cells are rapidly filling.
The Metropolitan police would not release up-to-date figures on its cell capacity but data two years ago showed they had 799 cells available across the capital. With cuts to policing budgetsthis number is likely to have fallen, so reports that cell space is under pressure are credible.
Continue reading...Extinction Rebellion activists halt trains in Canary Wharf
Protesters climb on carriages as others cause disruption at four sites in West End
Climate activists have glued themselves to the top of a train on a London railway line, in an escalation of the civil disobedience protests that have been blocking road junctions in the capital since Monday.
Two activists linked to the Extinction Rebellion group climbed on to carriages at Canary Wharf station on the Docklands Light Railway, bringing services to a halt in the financial hub.
Continue reading...Mark Carney tells global banks they cannot ignore climate change dangers
Financial sector warned it risks losses from extreme weather and its stakes in polluting firms
The global financial system faces an existential threat from climate change and must take urgent steps to reform, the governors of the Bank of England and France’s central bank have warned, writing in the Guardian.
In an article published in the Guardian on Wednesday aimed at the international financial community, Mark Carney, the Bank’s governor, and Villeroy de Galhau, the governor of the Banque de France, said financial regulators, banks and insurers around the world had to “raise the bar” to avoid catastrophe.
Continue reading...Queensland solar projects could become ‘unviable’ due to safety regulations row
Clean Energy Council says requiring electricians to mount commercial solar panels could cost industry up to $390m
Solar projects in Queensland could become “unviable”, the renewable energy industry’s peak body says, thanks to a dispute with the state government about new safety regulations for the installation of solar panels.
The Queensland government announced last week that licensed electricians would be required to mount commercial solar panels from 13 May.
Continue reading...Extinction Rebellion set to disrupt London rail and tube lines
Climate protesters warn they will escalate action after blockading capital landmarks
Climate change protesters, who police say have caused “serious disruption” affecting half a million people in London over the past two days, have said they are planning to escalate their protests to disrupt rail and tube lines.
Thousands or people have taken part in the civil disobedience protests, blockading four landmarks in the capital in an attempt to force the government to take action on the escalating climate crisis.
Continue reading...'I'm terrified': Extinction Rebellion activists on why they are protesting
People taking part in protests in London and Edinburgh explain their reasons for doing so
Nathan, who was into his second day of protest, was sitting in the road in Piccadilly Circus in front of a large “rebel for life” banner laid across the ground. He was wearing boots stained blue with spray chalk.
Continue reading...Plastic technology for natural recycling | Letters
Your article (Plastic plague: tiny particles can reach anywhere on the planet, say scientists, 16 April) says that “about 335m tonnes of plastic is produced each year, and while it degrades extremely slowly it can be broken into smaller and smaller pieces”. It adds that these pieces are now being blown around the world by the wind.
Perhaps one day there will be no plastic, but until then a way must be found to make it become biodegradable much more quickly, so that it can be recycled back into nature by naturally occurring bacteria and fungi.
Continue reading...Greta Thunberg's emotional speech to EU leaders – video
A sometimes tearful Greta Thunberg criticised EU leaders in Strasbourg for not taking the threat posed by climate change seriously enough. The 16-year-old activist said: 'If our house was falling apart our leaders wouldn’t go on like we do today ... if our house was falling apart you wouldn’t hold three emergency Brexit summits and no emergency summit regarding the breakdown of the climate and the environment.'
Continue reading...Forget Brexit and focus on climate change, Greta Thunberg tells EU
Teenager who started school climate strike movement addresses MEPs in Strasbourg
The teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg has chided EU leaders for holding three emergency summits on Brexit and none on the threat posed by climate change.
In a clarion call to Europe’s political leaders ahead of European parliament elections in May, the founder of the school strike movement said if politicians were serious about tackling climate change they would not spend all their time “talking about taxes or Brexit”.
Continue reading...Six-decade plankton study charts rise of ocean plastic waste
Handwritten journals from 50s show how plastic problem has grown to global emergency
A trove of data showing when the Atlantic began choking with plastic has been uncovered in the handwritten logbooks of a little-known but doggedly persistent plankton study dating back to the middle of the last century.
From fishing twine found in the ocean in the 50s, then a first carrier bag in 1965, it reflects how the marine refuse problem grew from small, largely ignored incidents to become a matter of global concern.
Continue reading...James Cook University professor Peter Ridd's sacking ruled unlawful
Physics head dismissed after criticising scientific research about climate change impact on the Great Barrier Reef
James Cook University is considering its legal options after the federal circuit court ruled it had unlawfully sacked a professor who had criticised scientific research about the climate change impact on the Great Barrier Reef.
Peter Ridd, who was the head of the physics department at the institution from 2009 until 2016, took legal action against his dismissal.
Continue reading...