The Guardian
Business as usual isn’t an option – we only have one planet | Letters
In Larry Elliott’s article (We’re back to 1930s politics: anger and, yes, appeasement, 20 December), it is good to see an economics editor addressing, as Kate Raworth has done so effectively with Doughnut Economics, the fact that the economy is a complete subset of the environment. And Elliott is right to say that the official declaration that came out of Katowice was not nearly enough.
But that wasn’t the only thing that came from the climate talks. There was a newly prominent place for civil society, from teenager Greta Thunberg to nonagenarian David Attenborough, and some companies, and many state and city governments, stepping up to the plate.
Continue reading...Brazil’s leadership on climate change | Letters
Throughout the COP24 climate summit, Brazil urged all parties to work together to enable greater private-sector climate action. Brazil was constantly involved in negotiations to ensure COP24 delivered a workable toolbox to limit global warming. So we warmly welcome the positive outcome of COP24, including the agreement to keep working on a stronger global market mechanism for emission reductions.
Unfortunately, there have been several misrepresentations made about Brazil’s positions (Encouraging signs – but new rifts also exposed by hard-won deal at climate talks, 17 December), which do not help in the work ahead for all countries.
Continue reading...The week in wildlife – in pictures
Bounding blackbucks, a hungry baby bear, an albino orangutan and more
Continue reading...Fowl play: Turkey's national poultry show – in pictures
With feathers preened and claws trimmed, birds vie for top spot in the pecking order at an annual contest in İzmir
Continue reading...Looking for a 2019 resolution to help the planet? Eat less meat, research says
Eating meat has a hefty impact on the environment from fueling climate change to polluting landscapes and waterways
Recycling or taking the bus rather than driving to work has its place, but scientists are increasingly pointing to a deeper lifestyle change that would be the single biggest way to help the planet: eating far less meat.
A swathe of research released over the past year has laid bare the hefty impact that eating meat, especially beef and pork, has upon the environment by fueling climate change and polluting landscapes and waterways.
Continue reading...‘The heatwave was a wake up call’: readers on a year of climate change anxiety
As we look back on a disastrous year readers describe the moments climate change hit home for them – and the action they are taking
This summer’s heatwave was a real wake-up call. I felt we were up against it and it was becoming real. Seeing British lawns the colour of dry hay for weeks, getting a heatstroke when vising Kew Gardens, and lastly the extent and ferocity of the wildfires in California truly scared me. I’ve joined Greenpeace. Catherine Laz, 56, London
Continue reading...Deadly weather: the human cost of 2018's climate disasters – visual guide
Scientists say extreme weather events are getting worse as emissions rise and the planet warms
The UN’s recent alert that the world has at most 12 years to prevent climate catastrophe was a landmark moment. Never before has the threat of irreversible damage been so close.
Continue reading...From spectacular orchids to towering trees – 2018's top new plant discoveries
Around the world, species hunters unearth 128 vascular plants and 44 species of fungi, many already facing extinction
A spectacular orchid sold from a barrow in a Laos market, a flower which may contain cancer-fighting chemicals, and a tall tree found beside an African highway, are among more than 100 plants that were newly discovered by science in 2018. But experts warn it is a “race against time” to discover many new species before they become extinct.
Species hunters scouring the globe for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and its partners, this year found about 128 vascular plants and 44 species of fungi.
Continue reading...Scottish ministers urged to honour pledge to protect beavers
Wildlife groups say delay has allowed some farmers to systematically cull the animals
• Letter: Scotland must commit to helping beavers make a comeback
Wildlife experts have said wild beavers in Scotland are being trapped and shot because ministers have broken promises to make them a protected species.
A group of 17 prominent ecologists and conservation bodies have signed a letter to the Guardian urging the Scottish government to honour its pledge two years ago to legislate to protect more than 400 wild beavers in the southern Highlands and Tayside.
Continue reading...Australia to miss 2030 emissions targets by vast margin, Coalition's projections reveal
Emissions projections report shows Scott Morrison’s claims Australia will meet obligations under Paris agreement are incorrect
Australia will miss its 2030 emissions reduction targets, despite Scott Morrison’s claim the country is on track to meet its obligations “in a canter”, new government projections show.
The government published its 2018 emissions projections report on Friday, just before Christmas, in its now customary style of releasing greenhouse data just before a public holiday.
Continue reading...Pollutionwatch: why cleaning the air is like taking milk out of tea
Scrubbing up the skies is hard – however many filter towers and houseplants are on the job
Among the high-rise apartment blocks of Xi’an, China, there is a 100-metre cylindrical tower. It looks like a chimney, but it has a very different purpose. It is trying to filter the city’s air. Smaller examples of outdoor air filters have been erected in the Netherlands and Poland, and filters have been installed next to roads in Delhi and on buses in Southampton. Other ideas include plants and surfaces that react with the pollution, but cleaning outdoor air is difficult since the pollution is already diluted. It’s like trying to take the milk out of your tea.
Related: What would a smog-free city look like?
Continue reading...Risks of 'domino effect' of tipping points greater than thought, study says
Scientists warn policymakers not to ignore links, and stress that ‘every action counts’
Policymakers have severely underestimated the risks of ecological tipping points, according to a study that shows 45% of all potential environmental collapses are interrelated and could amplify one another.
The authors said their paper, published in the journal Science, highlights how overstressed and overlapping natural systems are combining to throw up a growing number of unwelcome surprises.
Continue reading...Marine life worse off inside 'protected' areas, analysis reveals
Findings expose ‘big lie’ behind European marine conservation, scientists say
Destructive trawling is more intense inside official marine sanctuaries, while endangered fish are more common outside them, a startling analysis of Europe’s seas has revealed.
It shows that far from conserving sealife, legal marine protection areas (MPAs) are in fact the places most damaged by industrial fishing. The work has exposed “the big lie” behind European marine conservation, experts say, with most MPAs completely open to trawling.
Continue reading...Time to end ‘debate’ on climate change | Letters
The call from Extinction Rebellion for the BBC to make global warming its top editorial priority should be welcomed (Letters, 17 December).
The BBC is journalistically objective when reporting global warming. If a scientist or activist talks on air about the human causes of climate change then someone else, often from one of the denial groups funded by the fossil fuel lobby, is usually invited to provide a “counterargument” (for example, that recent warming is caused by “natural” factors). This leaves many viewers with the erroneous impression that a genuine scientific is debate taking place and weakens social support for strong measures to address climate change, which is precisely what the organised denial lobby wants.
Continue reading...Game changer: is private funding the only way to save national parks?
Private organisations and individuals are stepping in to protect vulnerable habitats but they are increasingly under pressure
In September the former publisher and philanthropist, John B Fairfax, quietly gave $2m to the Nature Conservancy in support of the largest private conservation project ever undertaken in New South Wales: the Gayini Nimmie-Caira project on the Murrumbidgee floodplain.
After spending a night glamping on the 85,000 hectare property near Balranald, Fairfax pulled out his chequebook and helped to make the ambitious project a reality.
Continue reading...Plastic pollution discovered at deepest point of ocean
High levels of contamination in Mariana Trench show how pervasively planet has been contaminated
The deepest point on Earth is heavily polluted with plastic, scientists have discovered, showing how pervasively the world has been contaminated.
The researchers plumbed the depths of the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean, near Challenger Deep, the lowest place on the face of the planet. They found the highest levels of microplastics yet found in the open ocean, compared with surveys from elsewhere in the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic oceans.
Continue reading...Great Pacific garbage patch $20m cleanup fails to collect plastic
Engineers at the Ocean Cleanup project are working on a fix to stop collected debris leaking back out from the 600m barrier
A giant floating barrier launched off the coast of San Francisco as part of a $20m project to cleanup a swirling island of rubbish between California and Hawaii, is failing to collect plastic.
The mastermind behind the Ocean Cleanup, an ambitious plan to clear a swathe of the Pacific twice the size of Texas of floating debris, reported four weeks into testing that while the U-shaped device was scooping up plastic, it was then losing it.
Continue reading...Last day in Paradise: the untold story of how a fire swallowed a town
A bucolic community was reduced to ash by a new kind of wildfire – the deadliest in California’s history. Survivors recall that horrible day
William Goggia awoke to a poisonous orange atmosphere so thick with smoke he couldn’t see the sun.
It was 8am on Thursday, 8 November. He heard the piercing metallic clang of propane tanks exploding in the distance. His sister, who lived nearby, called to ask him to help a relative in the area, but Goggia told her that he couldn’t: chunks of burning wood were falling from the sky.
Continue reading...Land-clearing figures show 314,000 hectares felled in Great Barrier Reef catchment
More than 700,000 hectares cleared over two years, 40% of it in reef catchment, before stricter laws were passed
More than 700,000 hectares of forest and bushland were destroyed in Queensland in the past two years and 40% of it occurred in Great Barrier Reef catchments.
Environment groups have described the level of deforestation as an “environmental disaster” and called for federal intervention to end land-clearing in reef catchments and other nationally significant areas.
Continue reading...Adani ordered to pay almost $12m for work on scrapped Carmichael rail line
Judgment details how ‘payment difficulties’ emerged in contract between AECOM and Adani subsidiary
Adani has been ordered to pay almost $12m owed to engineering firm AECOM for work on a scrapped rail line to the Carmichael coalmine.
A judgment in the Queensland Building and Construction commission details how “payment difficulties” emerged in a contract between AECOM and an Adani subsidiary company. The 1,862-point commission adjudication says Adani had “anticipated” receiving government support that did not materialise, including a $1b federal loan to build the rail link between Carmichael and the Abbot Point port.
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