The Guardian
Ireland becomes world's first country to divest from fossil fuels
Bill passed by parliament means more than €300m shares in coal, oil, peat and gas will be sold ‘as soon as practicable’
The Republic of Ireland will become the world’s first country to sell off its investments in fossil fuel companies, after a bill was passed with all-party support in the lower house of parliament.
The state’s €8bn national investment fund will be required to sell all investments in coal, oil, gas and peat “as soon as is practicable”, which is expected to mean within five years. Norway’s huge $1tn sovereign wealth fund has only partially divested from fossil fuels, targeting some coal companies, and is still considering its oil and gas holdings.
Continue reading...Can Norway help us solve the plastic crisis, one bottle at a time?
A bottle deposit hub on the outskirts of Oslo has had a stream of high-level international visitors. Can its success be replicated worldwide?
Tens of thousands of brightly coloured plastic drinks bottles tumble from the back of a truck on to a conveyor belt before disappearing slowly inside a warehouse on the outskirts of Oslo.
As a workman picks up a few Coke bottles that have escaped, Kjell Olav Maldum looks on. “It is a system that works,” he says as another truck rumbles past. “It could be used in the UK, I think lots of countries could learn from it.”
Continue reading...Rising ocean waters from global warming could cost trillions of dollars | John Abraham
We’ll need to mitigate and adapt to global warming to avoid massive costs from sea level rise
Ocean waters are rising because of global warming. They are rising for two reasons. First, and perhaps most obvious, ice is melting. There is a tremendous amount of ice locked away in Greenland, Antarctica, and in glaciers. As the world warms, that ice melts and the liquid water flows to the oceans.
The other reason why water is rising is that warmer water is less dense – it expands. This expansion causes the surface of the water to rise.
Continue reading...Country diary: soft sounds of sparrow seduction
Sandy, Bedfordshire: The house sparrows are busy caring for their young, but can still find time to mate dozens of times a day
Lolling in the shade under a hazel bush, I had become the inadvertent eavesdropper on a private conversation. Out of the canopy came a whispered “brrr” whirr of wings and then the soft sounds of sparrow seduction, a love song of tenderness that was scarcely imaginable from a bird known for its strident chirps.
Gentle, soothing, piteous peeps drifted down, an intimate dialogue that was both charming and disarming. I caught a glimpse through the sparrows’ bower and saw the female, mouth agape, wings a-flutter. The male rode her for a second or two only. House sparrows may mate up to 40 times a day, but it’s always a quickie.
Continue reading...UK accused of 'green Brexit hypocrisy' over regulation of suspected carcinogen
Exclusive: UK attempted to weaken new EU regulations of a lucrative whitening chemical, Ti02, found in cosmetics and sunscreens
Michael Gove has been accused of “green Brexit hypocrisy” for trying to weaken regulation of a suspected carcinogen found in sun creams, paints and toothpastes, in a proposal seen by the Guardian.
The European commission had proposed mandatory labelling and a cosmetics ban for titanium dioxide (TiO2) – a whitening chemical – after the European Chemicals Agency (Echa) declared it a “suspected carcinogen” last year.
Continue reading...Coal seam gas: NSW licences effectively extended indefinitely due to legal loophole
Gladys Berejiklian’s government accused of allowing companies to conduct ‘production by stealth’
Licences needed for coal seam gas exploration in New South Wales have been effectively extended indefinitely past their expiry date, due to a legal loophole.
Gas exploration – both conventional and coal seam gas – in the state requires a petroleum exploration tenement. Analysis of the NSW government’s tenements database shows 14 titles listed under “current titles” that are past their expiry date.
Heatwave seems to make manmade climate change real for Americans
The record-breaking high temperatures across much of North America appear to be shaping people’s thinking, a survey finds
The warm temperatures that have scorched much of the US appear to be influencing Americans’ acceptance of climate science, with a new poll finding a record level of public confidence that the world is warming due to human activity.
Related: Planet at its hottest in 115,000 years thanks to climate change, experts say
Continue reading...Charles Gimingham obituary
Travel north through the uplands of Britain in August and you enter the world heartland of the purple, heather-quilted landscape known as moorland. Its principal plant, ling heather, known scientifically as Calluna vulgaris, and the fire and grazing management that governs its growth and distinctive appeal, was the subject of Charles Gimingham’s pioneering research and quiet advocacy.
Based at the University of Aberdeen from 1946, first as research assistant, then lecturer, and promoted on to be professor of botany from 1969 until 1988, Charles, who has died aged 95, became the foremost expert on heather and moorland landscapes, and a considerable force for scholarly environmentalism.
Continue reading...UK must adapt to climate change now | Letters
Your editorial warning that extreme events are likely to become a new and dangerous normal (The heatwave in Britain is part of a large and dangerous pattern, 10 July) highlights that what the UK can most effectively do in response is to plan to adapt. While decarbonisation across our economy and society is vital and the UK must improve its commitments on a range of fronts, we are also a highly populated island exposed to diverse and complex weather and climate risks from storms and floods to heatwaves and drought.
Tuesday’s report by the National Infrastructure Commission makes the economic case for early, planned adaptation clear: it is way cheaper than responding to emergencies. This summer the government publishes its latest national adaptation programme. The first programme was spread too thinly and progress against it was hard to quantify. The latest version must establish an ambitious, targeted and measurable plan of action which ensures society is resilient to the worst the weather can throw at us in coming decades.
Alastair Chisholm
Director of policy, Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management
End coal mining in the UK, environmentalists urge government
Environmentalists have written to ministers, asking them to reform the planning system so that all future coal mines are automatically refused
Environmentalists have urged the government to kill off new coal mines in the UK, by reforming the planning system to block their development.
Friends of the Earth, along with the RSPB, WWF and a group of academics, said ministers should build on their international climate change leadership against coal by taking stronger action at home.
Continue reading...Country diary: echoes of hard labour in Hardy Country
Portland, Dorset: The gentle greens and yellows of our last visit are now bleached and tarnished, tall grasses faded to blond, wood spurge dried to rust
A stone archway, framing sea and sky. The threshold to another world, a world unsuspected by visitors hurrying over the windswept plateau to the Bill, Portland’s beak-like southern tip.
Under the eye of Rufus Castle, we wander down between spindly ivy-sashed trees and warm, lichened walls bright with valerian, to the cove where shuttered beach huts curve round a bank of big, pale stones. The sense of otherness increases. Earlier this year, we were met by the sight of three pebble minarets silhouetted against the waves. If we hadn’t taken photos, we’d have thought we had dreamed them.
Continue reading...Birdwatch: seasonal flow in a farewell call and dusky drapes
It’s mid-summer yet the cuckoo’s adieu and spotted redshank’s dark plumage hint at autumn
It may be the hottest, driest, summer since 1976 but on the first day of July I said goodbye to spring and greeted the coming of autumn, within a few short hours.
The farewell to spring came in the form of a calling cuckoo at the RSPB’s flagship Ham Wall reserve in Somerset.
Continue reading...Threatened species: nine mammals and mountain mistfrog could join extinction list
Number of extinct species on EPBC fauna list will rise by almost 20% if species added to list
Ten species could soon be added to Australia’s list of extinct fauna, including a Queensland frog that was last seen in 1990.
The federal government’s scientific advisory body is assessing whether to add nine mammals and the mountain mistfrog to its list of native animal species considered extinct under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
Continue reading...Ivory art is elephant in the room for MPs | Letters
Fiona Harvey reports that, despite restrictions in place since 1989, illegal ivory is being sold across Europe (Report, 10 July). Nothing more clearly demonstrates the significance of the widely welcomed ivory bill currently passing though parliament.
However, the impression given in the pages of Hansard suggests that many MPs cannot distinguish between culturally significant works of art created over the millennia, and the knick-knacks sold online (which they often cite)and other popular outlets. The elimination of the market for trinkets is unequivocally supported by campaigners for bona fide, pre-1947 works of art. It is hoped that when the bill becomes law, appropriate consideration will be given to the regulations required to ensure its fair operation.
Continue reading...Air pollution linked to spikes in hospital and GP visits
Study shows poor air quality leads to health problems and ‘should serve as a warning’
Air pollution leads to spikes in health problems and drives up hospital admissions and visits to the GP, according to a new study.
The report proves an “absolutely clear” link between poor air quality and health problems and researchers said it should serve as a warning to politicians about the serious impacts of toxic air on public health.
Continue reading...Illegal ivory found on sale in 10 European countries
Europe must increase efforts to investigate and control the ivory trade, say campaigners
Illegal ivory has been found on sale in 10 European countries, contravening international efforts to cut down on the trade which campaigners say encourages the poaching of elephants.
Continue reading...Country diary: summer breezes across the South Downs
Harting Down, West Sussex: Bees and black-veined marble white butterflies float from flower to flower, as skylarks trill above and a meadow pipit parachutes down into the grass
Continue reading...Nestlé products removed from Melbourne zoos over palm oil
Zoos Victoria made the decision after Nestlé lost its sustainable certification
Products from the food and drink giant Nestlé will no longer be stocked at the stores and food carts at Melbourne and Werribee zoos.
Zoos Victoria made the decision after the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) suspended Nestlé’s membership when the company failed to submit a 2016 progress report, and its 2017 report lacked a timetable for producing or buying certified sustainable palm oil.
Continue reading...Krill fishing firms back Antarctic ocean sanctuary
Creation of the world’s largest marine reserve comes a step closer as major companies add support
The creation of the world’s biggest ocean sanctuary, protecting a huge tract of remote seas around Antarctica, has come a step closer after major fishing companies came out in favour of the plan.
A global campaign – spearheaded by Greenpeace and backed by 1.7 million people – had put massive pressure on the krill fishing industry and retailers amid fears it was endangering one of the world’s last great wildernesses, undermining the global fight against climate change.
Continue reading...Illegal land clearing in NSW may be accelerating, complaints data suggests
Exclusive: Data obtained by the Guardian suggests land clearing may be accelerating under Biodiversity Conservation Act
Complaints about suspected illegal land clearing to a government hotline have increased sharply under the New South Wales government’s new Biodiversity Conservation Act, suggesting the rate of land clearing may be accelerating.
Data obtained by the Guardian under freedom of information laws after an eight month battle with the Department of Environment shows that reports of suspected illegal land clearing have increased by nearly 30% in the months since August last year when the new laws came into force.