The Guardian
Electric cars: separating the facts from the propaganda
Electric vehicles have been subject to some wild claims in the Australian election campaign, even before it is called. Here’s the reality
A more pertinent question might be: why weren’t we talking about them earlier? The treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, tried to start a discussion in January 2018, when he was responsible for environment and energy, comparing the expected trajectory of EVs to that of the iPhone. He said changes in battery technology and recharging infrastructure were gaining momentum in Europe, Asia and North America that would inevitably be replicated in Australia, and predicted people that who mocked EVs would one day be driving them.
Continue reading...Pesticides and antibiotics polluting streams across Europe
Wildlife and human health are threatened say scientists as Syngenta accepts ‘undeniable demand’ for change
Pesticides and antibiotics are polluting streams across Europe, a study has found. Scientists say the contamination is dangerous for wildlife and may increase the development of drug-resistant microbes.
More than 100 pesticides and 21 drugs were detected in the 29 waterways analysed in 10 European nations, including the UK. A quarter of the chemicals identified are banned, while half of the streams analysed had at least one pesticide above permitted levels.
Continue reading...The daily carbon count and further steps towards climate consciousness | Letters
At last, a newspaper prepared to publish CO2 emissions on a daily basis, though unfortunately on the weather page (Why our daily weather forecast now includes a carbon dioxide count, 5 April). What is happening to the climate, and the CO2 emissions causing this, are not related to the weather.
The economic section is where CO2 emissions should appear, alongside economic indicators like GDP and stock market prices. This is where the relationship between how we think wealth is generated and the costs of doing so should be made transparent. The thoughtful introduction of a few more headline indicators such as inequality, population numbers for humans/pollinators/dolphins/tigers, forest cover and deaths from air pollution on the same page would make the Guardian a genuinely progressive and even a transformative newspaper.
Sara Parkin
Principal associate, The Sustainability Literacy Project
Londoners support charging 'dirty' drivers, says air pollution study
Survey reveals backing for emissions charging to tackle air pollution and congestion
Almost three-quarters of Londoners support charging drivers of dirty vehicles in an effort to tackle the capital’s air pollution crisis, according to a study.
The survey, released on the day the mayor, Sadiq Khan, launches his ultra low emissions zone (ULEZ), found that 72% of adults in London support emissions charging to tackle both air pollution and congestion.
Continue reading...UK butterfly census 2018: winners and losers – in pictures
Some rare species enjoyed their best year since monitoring began but there were declines for the small tortoiseshell and peacock
Continue reading...Trump administration sabotages major conservation effort, defying Congress
Revealed: federal support to research centers cut off as scientists fear years of successful work will go ‘down the drain’
Scientists and officials around the US have told the Guardian that the Trump administration has withdrawn funding for a large, successful conservation program – in direct contradiction of instructions from Congress.
Unique in scale and ambition, the program comprises 22 research centers that tackle big-picture issues affecting huge swaths of the US, such as climate change, flooding and species extinction. They are known as Landscape Conservation Cooperatives – or were, because 16 of them are now on indefinite hiatus or have dissolved.
Continue reading...Rare UK butterflies enjoy best year since monitoring began
Hot summer of 2018 boosted large blue, and black hairstreak, but small tortoiseshell declined
The golden summer of 2018 saw two of the UK’s rarest butterflies, the large blue and the black hairstreak, enjoy their best years since scientific monitoring began.
More than two-thirds of British butterfly species were seen in higher numbers last year than in 2017, but despite the ideal butterfly weather, it was still only an average season – the 18th best in 43 years of recording.
Continue reading...Adani coalmine: Morrison and Frydenberg play down remaining approvals
Some Queensland MPs push for sign-off before the election, which is likely to amplify activist campaigns against the Coalition
Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg have played down the significance of remaining approvals for the controversial Adani coalmine, characterising the outstanding determinations as “sub-approvals” and “minor” matters, and insisting the government will make decisions based on science.
With some Queensland Liberals and Nationals escalating an internal campaign for the remaining Adani sign-offs to be done this week, before Morrison heads to the polls, Liberals in the southern states are now bracing themselves for the federal approvals to be granted some time this week, even though that timing is inconvenient because it will kickstart third-party activist campaigns against the Coalition.
Continue reading...Toxic air: mother of girl who died from asthma calls on politicians to be braver
As Sadiq Khan launches ultra-low emissions zone in London, Rosamund Kissi-Debrah says it is still not enough
The mother of a schoolgirl who died of an asthma attack linked to air pollution has warned time is running out to save other children from a similar plight and called on politicians to do more to tackle the crisis.
On the day mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, launched the city’s new ultra-low emissions zone (Ulez) to improve deadly air pollution, Rosamund Kissi-Debrah urged others to follow his example and called on him to go even further, faster.
Continue reading...Drinks bottles now biggest plastic menace for waterways – report
Plastic bags only 1% of plastic in freshwater after sustained efforts to reduce their use
Plastic bottles, the detritus of our throwaway water and soft drinks habits, are the most prevalent form of plastic pollution in European waterways, according to a new report.
Food wrappers, including crisp and sweet packets, were the second biggest form of plastic pollution in rivers, followed by cigarette butts. All of these forms of litter can cause problems for wildlife and fish, and are hard to clean up once they have found their way into the water.
Continue reading...Heart charity urges other cities to follow London's ultra-low emission zone
British Heart Foundation says Ulez will help reduce 36,000 annual UK pollution deaths
The ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) across London will help reduce the 36,000 deaths caused in the UK every year by outdoor pollution, the British Heart Foundation said as it welcomed the new vehicle charging zone that will launch on Monday.
According to the leading heart charity, a significant proportion of air pollution-related deaths are in the capital, where pollution levels are often at their highest.
Continue reading...'The perfect storm': Woodside Energy and Siemens invest in Australia's hydrogen economy
With demand set to rise across the world, Australia is set to become a global primary producer of hydrogen
In March, the Queensland University of Technology made history when it achieved the first export of a small quantity of clean, green hydrogen produced in Australia from renewable energy, to Japanese energy giant JXTG – proving that it was in fact possible.
Hydrogen is increasingly being seen as an alternative to LNG and other fossil fuels and Australia has a lot togain from a new export industry, with companies such as Woodside Energy and Siemens already investing.
Continue reading...Skyscrapers are killing up to 1bn birds a year in US, scientists estimate
New report ranks deadliest cities for feathered travelers, who often collide with glass-covered or illuminated buildings
Scientists estimate that at least 100 million and maybe as many as a billion birds die each year in the US when they collide with buildings, especially glass-covered or illuminated skyscrapers. And, in a new report, conservationists now have a better idea which American cities are the deadliest for those on the wing.
Chicago, with its many glass superstructures that spike into what is the busiest US avian airspace during migration, is the most dangerous city for those feathered travelers. More than 5 million birds from at least 250 different species fly through the Windy City’s downtown every fall and spring.
Continue reading...Watch the birdie: Swedish birds pose for the camera – in pictures
British photographer Stephen Gill would often gaze out of a window of his home in Skåne, Sweden, to find a vast yet empty sky. A bird enthusiast from a young age – his first teenage photographic project focused on bird tables – he determined to capture Skåne’s native species and placed a pillar at the end of a field and a camera with a motion sensor opposite. The experiment worked: dozens of birds unwittingly posed for the camera. “Viewing what had taken place often left me stunned,” Gill says. Once, “a white-tailed eagle somehow managed to perch on the 6cm diameter stage”. His study, now a book called The Pillar (out 20 April, Nobody Books, with words by Karl Ove Knausgård), continued for four years: “I simply could not stop as infinite variations kept presenting.”
Continue reading...Ineos accused of 'greenwashing' over Daily Mile sponsorship
Teaching union to debate call for schools to oppose fossil fuel giant’s backing of school fitness event
The UK’s biggest teaching union is to decide whether to object to fossil fuel giant Ineos sponsoring the school Daily Mile initiative over allegations the company is using the event to greenwash its image.
Campaigners accuse Ineos, owned by the UK’s richest man, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, of endangering the wellbeing of future generations through its fracking activities and plastics production.
Continue reading...The week in wildlife – in pictures
A three-toed skink’s unusual birth, a dead whale full of plastic and young elephants stuck in the mud
Continue reading...The butterfly bush thrives in London | Letter
So Adrian Chiles (G2, 4 April) has noticed buddleia bushes growing out of derelict buildings and judges them to signify industrial neglect. He suggests the plant does not grow so much in London because land is too expensive. In fact buddleia grows everywhere in London, sprouting from the tops of many buildings that are not abandoned and forming great thickets along railway lines. It is also a prized garden plant, attracting a great variety of insects, and is commonly called “the butterfly bush”. And though it is from China and was brought to Europe by a Frenchman, Linnaeus named it after the Rev Adam Buddle of Hadleigh rectory, Essex, in honour of observations he had made of local plants. Buddle never saw the butterfly bush, as he died more than a century before it was introduced in the last decade of Victoria’s reign.
Gavin Weightman
London
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Continue reading...Why the Guardian is putting global CO2 levels in the weather forecast
As CO2 levels climb, the carbon count is a daily reminder we must tackle climate change now
The simplest measure of how the mass burning of fossil fuels is disrupting the stable climate in which human civilisation developed is the number of carbon dioxide molecules in the atmosphere.
Today, the CO2 level is the highest it has been for several million years. Back then, temperatures were 3-4C hotter, sea level was 15-20 metres higher and trees grew at the south pole. Worse, billions of tonnes of carbon pollution continues to pour into the air every year and at a rate 10 times faster than for 66m years.
Continue reading...‘Historic breakthrough’: Norway’s giant oil fund dives into renewables
Experts say even nations that got rich on fossil fuels are seeing the future is green
Norway’s $1tn oil fund, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, is to plunge billions of dollars into wind and solar power projects. The decision follows Saudi Arabia’s oil fund selling off its last oil and gas assets.
Other national funds built up from oil profits are also thought to be ramping up their investments in renewables. The moves show that countries that got rich on fossil fuels are diversifying their investments and seeking future profits in the clean energy needed to combat climate change. Analysts say the investments are likely to power faster growth of green energy.
Continue reading...Property developers row back on netting used to stop birds nesting
Some developers are reviewing their policies after protests from environmentalists
A grassroots uprising is forcing builders and councils to remove netting over trees and hedgerows installed to prevent birds nesting and hindering their developments.
Environmentalists have condemned the practice and say it has exploded in scale this spring. The use of netting to prevent birds nesting in hedgerows and trees allows developers to get around the law that prevents the removal and damage of birds nests, and avoid delays to development caused by the nesting season.
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