The Guardian
Judicial review of Heathrow airport third runway decision begins
High court to hear five challenges to plans for UK’s biggest aviation hub
Five judicial reviews challenging the legality of the government’s decision to allow a third runway at Heathrow airport have begun in the high court.
Protesters against the decision by the transport secretary, Chris Grayling, to approve the expansion demonstrated outside the Royal Courts of Justice on Monday before the start of the hearing.
Continue reading...Ban cars from idling near schools, says UK public health agency
Public Health England calls for raft of urgent measures to tackle air pollution
Cars should be banned from idling near schools and congestioncharges imposed across the UK as part of measures recommended by the government public health agency.
In a report on Monday, Public Health England (PHE) will warn that up to 40,000 people are dying each year from air pollution.
Continue reading...'We’ve been forced into this': Australia's school climate strikes to go global
In November, Scott Morrison told the striking students to ‘go to school’ – this time even more of them will strike
Four months on, 17-year-old Doha Khan says the school climate strikers have learned a lot.
On Friday, thousands of primary and high school students are again planning to walk out of class across the country, protesting against the government’s inaction on climate change, and what they see as the destruction of their future.
Continue reading...‘Rubbish police’ check bin bags to drive up recycling rates
A pair of council officers in hi-vis jackets scrutinise a clipboard before approaching a bungalow on a windswept estate on the western outskirts of Swansea. They are looking for residents who have sneaked recyclables into black bin bags destined for landfill sites or incineration plants.
Recycling promotion officer Scott Matthews shakes two bulging, partly ripped bags and listens to the telltale clinks and clanks: “There’s glass and cans in these. There is food too. And there is no recycling out whatsoever.”
Continue reading...Rowan Williams says pupils are right to protest over climate
The former archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has backed pupils who have been taking part in school strikes to protest over climate change and who are planning to join a “climate rebellion” next month, warning that the ecological crisis means “the future of the human race is now at stake”.
Williams, whose stark comments come amid a growing wave of protests over the scale of the ecological crisis, said non-violent civil disobedience should have “wide and deep” support from the public.
Continue reading...The Roundup row: is the world’s most popular weedkiller carcinogenic?
Producer Monsanto is facing thousands of lawsuits from customers who now have cancer. But not all experts are convinced of a link…
As a third-generation cotton farmer in Bakersfield, California, John Barton estimates that he sprayed thousands of gallons of the herbicide Roundup over the course of his 30-year working life.
“My family were farming 1,000 acres of cotton, so we’d be out in the fields spraying it, and we’d get our pants wet, our shoes wet, our socks wet, and if the wind changed it would blow in our face,” Barton tells me. “We did that spring, summer and fall for most of my life. There was really no regulation at the time that we were spraying Roundup; no one was offered any protection. But I didn’t think anything of it, as they kept telling us how safe it was.”
Continue reading...'Was that disruptive?': congressman blasts Trump official with air-horn in committee hearing – video
Joe Cunningham intervened in a House committee hearing on the environmental impact of seismic air-gun testing. The Democrat reached for the 120-decibel device after the official claimed the practise, used to locate underwater oil deposits, would have no effect on marine animals. Cunningham said seismic air guns were 16,000 times louder than his air-horn
Continue reading...First gin made from discarded grapes to hit Tesco's shelves
Hyke gin is part of effort to drive down UK’s annual £20bn food waste bill
A major British fruit supplier and a craft spirits producer have teamed up to find a way to prevent an estimated 166m surplus supermarket grapes from going to waste every year – by turning them into gin.
The new Hyke gin – the first in the UK to be made from grapes grown to be eaten fresh – goes on sale at 300 Tesco branches later this month.
Continue reading...The secret Grand Canyon: 10 hidden gems to escape the crowds
The canyon, which turns 100 this year, sees 6 million annual visitors. An Arizona travel writer reveals how to get off the beaten track
The Grand Canyon is already a pretty famous hole in the ground in Arizona. Now, with Grand Canyon national park celebrating its centennial in 2019, it’s receiving an additional jolt of publicity. Six million people visit each year, and if you happen to be there on a holiday weekend, it feels like you’re stuck behind all of them.
Yet here’s the thing – Grand Canyon is big, an immense tear in the earth’s fabric 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide and a mile deep. So it’s not hard to find privacy if you know where to look. Here are some tips to get you started.
Continue reading...Coalition’s climate policy reboot won’t do much for emissions, investor group warns
IGCC, which represents big funds, says ‘small-scale’ package is unlikely to offer a durable policy framework
Scott Morrison’s recent pivot on climate policy is unlikely to have a positive impact on Australia’s emissions profile because it fails to grapple with the underlying drivers of increased pollution, according to a new analysis by the Investor Group on Climate Change.
The IGCC, a group that represents institutional investors such as super funds, with total funds under management of about $2tn, has told its members Morrison’s “climate solutions package” won’t change the current trajectory of rising emissions because it is “small scale and unlikely to be a durable policy framework through time”.
Continue reading...The week in wildlife – in pictures
Bison in snow, a wolf puppy and the world’s only alpine parrot in this week’s gallery
Continue reading...Footage of cracks in North Ayrshire nuclear reactor released
EDF Energy says cracks in offline Hunterston B reactor growing faster than expected
Footage has been released of cracks found inside a reactor at a nuclear plant in Scotland.
The unit at Hunterston B in North Ayrshire has not been operating after the cracks were found to be growing faster than expected.
Continue reading...The women farming in disaster zones – in pictures
Across the world, millions of farm animals are owned by women, providing an important source of food, income – and social status. Empowering these farmers means helping them ensure their animals survive
Photos by World Animal Protection
Continue reading...Bean-eating bug gets into top 10 worst garden pests
Experts point to climate change for shift in garden pest and disease rankings
An invasive bug with a taste for beans has jumped into the top 10 list of the worst garden pests as it benefited from the warm summer.
The Royal Horticultural Society said its latest annual list of which pests and diseases were causing the most trouble in gardens revealed the impact of the hot dry weather last summer.
Continue reading...School pupils can make their climate change strike hurt | Letters
A lot of officious adults have been saying that there’s little point in school pupils striking in protest at the lack of action on climate change, as it will have no economic effect. They have a point, and so I would like to put forward a suggestion that may work better.
Schoolchildren have no voice at the ballot box or wealth-creating labour to withdraw, but the pounds in their pockets weigh as heavily in the till as anybody else’s. We are at the beginning of Lent, when Christians traditionally deny themselves the good things in life in order to achieve a higher goal: why don’t our children hold a consumer-spending strike for this period? Buy – or have others buy for you – only life’s essentials: no sweets, makeup, computer games, sparkly unicorn poo slime, cinema tickets; buy clothes and books only if compulsory for school; if you usually buy a pasty or a sandwich at lunchtime, sign up for school dinners instead (I know, I know, but it will be a conspicuous sacrifice…).
Continue reading...Endangered grasslands may be lifeline in face of climate change
Temperate grasslands are home to diverse flora and fauna but they are in decline because of land clearing and our lack of concern
For most people, the south-eastern grasslands look like wastelands, according to the environmental psychologist Kathryn Williams from the University of Melbourne.
“They see an empty paddock that’s potential for a car park or a shopping centre or a housing development,” she says.
Continue reading...Women Fest founder plans training camp for climate rebels
Spring Uprising festival in Bristol will feature bands and civil disobedience instruction
The woman behind the UK’s first female-only festival is setting up a climate activism training camp to instruct hundreds of young people in civil disobedience before a series of environmental protests planned for the coming weeks.
Tiana Jacout is putting on the Spring Uprising festival in Bristol this month for people taking part in the ongoing school strikes and the Extinction Rebellion protests planned for 15 April.
Continue reading...'Falling out of trees': dozens of dead possums blamed on extreme heat stress
Rescuers found 127 ringtail possums along the shoreline and in the water on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula
More than 100 dead and injured ringtail possums have been found by wildlife rescuers along a single stretch of beach in Victoria in what ecologists say is becoming an annual occurrence due to extreme heat.
Rescuers and wildlife carers discovered 127 ringtail possums along the shoreline and in the water at Somers Beach on the Mornington Peninsula on Saturday during a four-day period that saw consistent temperatures in the high 30s, warm nights and bushfires in parts of the state.
Continue reading...Site of planned Hunter coal plant is endangered bird's only NSW breeding area
The regent honeyeater’s plight has blocked previous Hunter Valley development plans in the Hunter economic zone
The site flagged for a 2,000 megawatt coal-fired power plant in the New South Wales Hunter region is the only known breeding site in the state for the regent honeyeater, a critically endangered bird whose plight has blocked previous development plans.
Guardian Australia revealed yesterday that an agreement had been struck between the China Energy Engineering Corporation, Hong Kong-based Kaisun Holdings and a tiny Australian company, Cavcorp, to build a new coal plant.
Continue reading...Government throws its weight behind offshore wind power expansion
Deal with wind sector aims to produce one third of UK’s electricity needs by 2030
The government will throw its weight behind an expansion in the use of offshore wind power in the hope the renewable energy source will provide a third of the UK’s electricity by 2030.
In a deal between the government and the offshore wind sector, industry players have agreed to invest £250m over the next 11 years in exchange for participation in £557m of state subsidies for renewable energy.
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