The Guardian
Ten things drivers do that make cyclists feel unsafe – video
The Guardian reporter Peter Walker filmed his usual cycle route to and from work in London and recorded some of the common behaviours by other road users that make cyclists feel less safe. A 2015 study found frightening traffic incidents, even if they did not actually cause harm, were a regular occurrence for cyclists in the UK. This is a particular issue for novice, many of whom have been swiftly put off their new mode of transport
Continue reading...'Swarming' sit-down protests disrupt London traffic
Extinction Rebellion group begins another day of protest by blockading Lambeth Bridge
Climate activists have blocked the southern end of Lambeth Bridge in central London as part of a series of “swarming protests” in the capital on Wednesday.
Around 35 protesters from the Extinction Rebellion group arrived at the bridge just before 8am, chanting and waving banners and placards; leaflets were handed to motorists in the queue of traffic.
Continue reading...Tax 'virgin packaging' to tackle plastics crisis, says report
UK government called on to impose fee on new plastic packaging and offer rebate for recycled products
The government should introduce a new tax on virgin packaging to revolutionise the recycling system in the UK and tackle the plastics crisis, according to a new report.
The study, presented to MPs and industry figures at Westminster on Tuesday evening, calls on ministers to impose a fee on packaging materials and offer a rebate for those products that use more recycled material.
Continue reading...UN shipping agency accused of secrecy over maritime pollution
IMO ‘susceptible to influence from private interests and certain states’ say campaigners
The UN agency responsible for cutting shipping emissions to combat climate change has been accused of operating like a secretive closed shop.
The charity Transparency International has condemned six countries, including the UK and the US, for opposing moves to open the International Maritime Organization to public scrutiny and hampering moves to combat climate change.
Continue reading...UN environment chief resigns after frequent flying revelations
Erik Solheim resigns after audit found travel irregularities and internal rule breaking, leading nations to drop funding
The UN’s environment chief Erik Solheim has resigned following severe criticism over his globetrotting travels and internal rule-breaking which led some nations to withhold their funding.
The Guardian understands Solheim was asked to resign by the UN secretary general António Guterres. Sources at the UN Environment Programme (Unep) said that countries unhappy with Solheim’s conduct were holding back tens of millions of dollars, threatening an imminent financial crisis at the body.
Continue reading...The last Australian whale hunt – in pictures
When anti-whaling activists arrived in Albany, they planned to convince the town that their future was in watching whales, not killing them. Forty years on, they remember the moment commercial whaling ended in Australia
The message came over the radio and was relayed into the engine room of the Cheynes IV whale chaser, where engineer Bob Reeby was at work.
“That was it: ‘Home speed, we’re going home’. That was the end of an era. It was a pretty sad moment,” Reeby recalls.
Continue reading...Dead whale with 1,000 plastic pieces in stomach found in Indonesia - video
A dead whale that washed ashore in eastern Indonesia had a large lump of collected plastic waste in its stomach, including flip-flops and 115 drinking cups, a park official has said, causing concern among environmentalists and government officials in one of the world’s largest plastic-polluting countries
Continue reading...What does Dorset’s 21-inch mega-rat tell us about food and the modern era?
A rat-catcher has caught a giant rat. A photograph of the rodent, stretched out from nose to tail, beside a tape measure shows that it ran to 53cm (21in). Or it did before it ran into the rat-catcher’s manchester terrier.
“There’s a definite increase in rat numbers and a definite increase in size,” says Terry Walker, who caught and measured the creature in Bournemouth, Dorset. (He happened to have a tape measure on him for repairs, not to measure rats.)
Continue reading...Air pollution cuts two years off global average lifespan, says study
Analysis finds toxic air trims lifespans by 1.8 years, making it main threat to human health
Air pollution cuts the average lifespan of people around the globe by almost two years, analysis shows, making it the single greatest threat to human health.
The research looked at the particulate pollution produced by the burning of fossil fuels by vehicles and industry. It found that in many parts of the worst-affected nations – India and China – lifespans were being shortened by six years.
Continue reading...Indonesia: dead whale had 1,000 pieces of plastic in stomach
Sperm whale washed up in Sulawesi had flip-flops, bottles, bags and 115 drinking cups in its stomach
A dead whale that washed ashore in eastern Indonesia had a large lump of plastic waste in its stomach, including flip-flops and 115 drinking cups, a park official has said, causing concern among environmentalists and government officials in one of the world’s largest plastic polluting countries.
Related: 'Sad surprise': Amazon fish contaminated by plastic particles
Continue reading...Surge in marine refuges brings world close to protected areas goal
Reserves cover more than five times area of US, says report, but enforcement is often poor
A record surge in the creation of marine protected areas has taken the international community close to its goal of creating nature refuges on 17% of the world’s land and 10% of seas by 2020, according to a new UN report.
Protected regions now cover more than five times the territory of the US, but the authors said this good news was often undermined by poor enforcement. Some reserves are little more than “paper parks” with little value to nature conservation. At least one has been turned into an industrial zone.
Continue reading...Essential reading on climate change | Letters
George Monbiot’s observations (The Earth is in a death spiral. The only hope is radical action, 14 November) are well worth reading and thought-provoking. At one point he writes: “Academics, afraid to upset their funders, have bitten their lips.”
There are exceptions. Keith Kahn-Harris’s book Denial: The Unspeakable Truth ought be compulsory reading for every university student of English, history and moral philosophy. He seems an academic who has definitely not bitten his lip, but sought to penetrate a fog of lies perpetuated by denialists: those who shout down and treat with contempt the historians and scientists who have sought the truth and presented us with their findings.
Continue reading...Importing gas to replace domestic supply could push emissions up 20%, AGL says
Energy company says importing LNG will firm up renewable energy projects but critics say gas is already more expensive than clean alternatives
Controversial plans to import liquefied natural gas into Australia to fill a shortfall as domestic gas is exported to Asia would significantly increase greenhouse gas emissions, AGL has conceded.
Energy companies have proposed four LNG import terminals for the east coast to ensure gas supply and ease high prices. The imported natural gas would effectively replace the two-thirds of gas sold overseas from export plants in Queensland.
Continue reading...Dead fish to power cruise ships
Norwegian company to fuel liners with biogas made from leftovers of fish processing
Waste fish parts will be used to power ships in a new initiative to use green energy for polluting cruise liners.
The leftovers of fish processed for food and mixed with other organic waste will be used to generate biogas, which will then be liquefied and used in place of fossil fuels by the expedition cruise line Hurtigruten.
Continue reading...Rugeley coal plant to be transformed into a sustainable village
Energy firm plans to build 2,000 homes powered by solar panels on the Staffordshire site
An old coal power station is set to be transformed into a “sustainable village” of 2,000 homes powered by solar panels, in the biggest redevelopment yet of a former UK power plant.
French firm Engie said it had decided against selling off the Rugeley site in Staffordshire and would instead build super efficient houses on the 139-hectare site as part of its bid to “move beyond energy”.
Continue reading...Gruesome discovery of Czech tiger farm exposes illegal trade in heart of Europe
Gruesome haul of fresh pelts and rotting remains marks the end of a five-year probe into an international crime ring, that authorities fear points to a wider problem in Europe
The first thing that hit the inspectors was the smell. It was a sweltering midsummer day in Prague, and they had just opened an unplugged freezer filled with the rotting remains of tigers, lions and cougars. Pavla Rihova, the lead environmental inspector on the scene, said she had never seen anything like it.
“I have been working for the inspectorate 25 years … but the situation there was really horrible. If you can imagine: an old freezer, without electricity, full of meat and dead bodies, in the garden for two years. Absolutely incredible.”
Continue reading...Smart meter installations 'need to hit 30 a minute'
Energy firms set to miss government deadline for rollout
Energy suppliers need to triple smart meter installation rates to complete a national rollout by 2020, according to the consumer champion Which?
Large suppliers would have to install 30 meters every minute, every day, for the next two years, to meet the government deadline.
Continue reading...NT teenager bitten on leg and arm in second shark attack in Australia over weekend
Boy mauled while spearfishing off Arnhem Land a day after a man was attacked while learning to surf south of Wollongong
A teenager has been attacked by a shark while spearfishing off the Northern Territory coast.
The 17-year-old was bitten on his arm and leg about 30km offshore from Nhulunbuy in Arnhem Land on Sunday morning, NT police said.
Continue reading...Letters: nuclear energy is key to our future
With demand for electricity set to rocket, the UK cannot rely on renewables alone
Your business leader misses the bigger picture, as indeed do other supporters of renewable energy, such as Greenpeace (“Moorside’s atomic dream was an illusion. Renewables are the way to a clean future”).
The bigger picture is that we can expect to see a substantial and sustained increase in electricity demand over the next 20-30 years due to the electrification of transport and heat. Heat alone, by the most conservative estimates, will add 300GW of peak thermal demand, which would add 100GW to the grid, dwarfing the current 65GW or so of peak UK demand. Yes, renewables backed up with energy storage and smart control can make an impact but a significant baseload method will still be needed. As pointed out in the late David Mackay’s excellent book Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air, the least bad option of meeting this is likely to be nuclear fission.
Chris Underwood, professor emeritus of energy modelling for the built environment
Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne
Air pollution levels ‘forcing families to move out of cities’
An increasing number of parents are shunning good schools because of the local air quality while some are even looking to move out of cities altogether, as fears over the effects of diesel emissions on health mount.
Last week a major study published in the Lancet found that pollution from diesel vehicles was stunting the growth of children’s lungs, leaving them damaged for life.
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