The Guardian
Hydrogen-powered transport key to climate targets, says Shell
Oil firm says gas could account for 10% of global energy consumption by end of century
Planes and trucks powered by hydrogen will be a crucial part of efforts to cut carbon emissions to safe levels, according to oil giant Shell.
For the first time, the Anglo Dutch firm, which is facing calls by activist shareholders to take stronger action on global warming, has mapped out how the world could hit the Paris climate deal’s target of keeping temperature rises below 2C.
Continue reading...Land degradation threatens human wellbeing, major report warns
More than 3.2bn people are already affected and the problem will worsen without rapid action, driving migration and conflict
Land degradation is undermining the wellbeing of two-fifths of humanity, raising the risks of migration and conflict, according to the most comprehensive global assessment of the problem to date.
The UN-backed report underscores the urgent need for consumers, companies and governments to rein in excessive consumption – particularly of beef – and for farmers to draw back from conversions of forests and wetlands, according to the authors.
Continue reading...What to do if you hit a pothole while cycling
The UK’s pothole problem is getting worse and cyclists risk serious injury if they hit one. Here’s what to do if you find one and how to claim compensation if needed
The UK’s pothole problem is bad and getting worse, with a recent report by Alarm revealing 24,000 miles of road will need essential maintenance in the next year. While hitting one in a car may mean a trip to the garage, if you are cycling the outcome can be far worse.
A BBC 5 Live questionnaire found half of almost 5,000 cyclists had suffered a pothole-related accident, with 1,516 injured as a result, 207 of those seriously. More than 10% of respondents said they missed work because of a pothole crash, and 31% were put off cycling. This survey was backed up by a mass freedom of information report from Cycling UK, which revealed cycling pothole crash compensation claims to councils in England and Wales are 10 times higher than motoring claims because of the higher risk of personal injury.
Continue reading...Study: wind and solar can power most of the United States | John Abraham
Wind, solar, and storage could meet 90–100% of America’s electricity needs
In order to combat climate change, we need to rapidly move from fossil fuel energy to clean, renewable energy. The two energy sources I am most interested in are wind and solar power; however, there are other sources that have great potential.
Some people doubt how much wind and solar can supply to a country’s electricity grid. This is a particularly challenging question to answer in part because both solar power and wind power fluctuate in both space and time. We all know solar panels work well during the day, when the sun shines – they don’t work so well at night. And wind turbines only send electrons when the wind is blowing.
Yosemite's secretive Starbucks: cafe opens in park, to delight and dismay
A new Starbucks provides convenience and caffeine to visitors, but to many it represents a trend of commercialism and 25,000 people petitioned to stop it from opening
Continue reading...Sadiq Khan accuses ministers of stalling over post-Brexit environment watchdog
Mayor of London and green groups call for swift action after new research suggests government cuts are putting wildlife protections under threat
Sadiq Khan has accused ministers of stalling over the setting up of a new tough environmental watchdog body post Brexit.
The mayor of London spoke out as research by the country’s leading environmental bodies suggested protections to wildlife, water and air quality are under threat because of budget cuts of more than 55% over the last eight years.
Continue reading...Dairy’s ‘dirty secret’: it's still cheaper to kill male calves than to rear them
Dairy farms need female cows to produce milk but with little demand for male calves many farmers can’t afford to keep them beyond birth
The number of male calves being killed straight after birth is on the rise again, despite efforts by the dairy industry to end the practice known as ‘the dirty secret’.
A Guardian analysis shows that it can cost a farmer up to £30 per calf to sell it on for beef or veal, while early disposal costs just £9. A growing number of farmers feel compelled to take the latter option, with 95,000 killed on-farm in the most recent set of figures.
Country diary: the unexpected effects of road-builders' changes to landscape
Carpenter’s Lodge, Lincolnshire: Why was a kestrel so interested in the rising corner of a small rural overpass?
The climbing bend of an overpass, in a frigid easterly wind, early. I’ve come because of an eye-hook bird I’ve often seen hovering here. A kestrel – static in the air as if on a pole, above this corner in precisely the same place. More recently, I’ve seen a red kite showing interest too, wheeling and listing and riding the wind like its namesake. If it was a child’s kite, its line would have been tied to the barrier of this bend.
I’ve seen the kestrel for years, usually at dusk, against the sunset sky like a mad little spatter of dirt on a west-facing window. Wings frantic, head down, tail splayed. Watching.
Continue reading...Exclusive: sawmillers call for access to Victorian parks and water catchments
Sawmillers say industry in ‘wind-down mode’ as state government discusses logging agreements extension
Victoria’s national parks and water catchments should be opened up for sustainable logging, according to a group of six Victorian sawmillers.
The sawmillers – who call themselves the G6 – say the Victorian timber industry is in crisis. They want access to either more timber or exit packages.
Continue reading...How can we save the country’s birds? | Letters
Thank you Jonathan Franzen (Why do birds matter? Where shall I begin? 24 March) for your wonderful paean to birds. They enrich our lives yet we continue to push birds towards oblivion. We may be only a few years from hearing the purring of the last turtle dove in this country, for example. There are many ways in which we harm bird populations, some easier to address than others. The outrageous persecution of birds of prey on some shooting estates could be stopped tomorrow with sufficient goodwill and government commitment. Slowing the general bleaching of wildlife from our countryside is less straightforward and will require creative thinking in order to balance the legitimate need for farmers to make a living and produce food with the need to protect wildlife, water supplies and soils. We must not shirk the challenge or Mr Franzen’s grandchildren will be denied the opportunity of experiencing anything but a fraction of the wonders he has enjoyed.
Jonathan Wallace
Newcastle upon Tyne
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
Continue reading...Good news about renewables: but the heat is still on to cut fossil fuel use
For optimists, it was tempting to view three years of flatlining global carbon emissions, from 2014-16, as the new normal. We now know celebrations should be put on hold. Figures for 2017 published last week show global emissions from energy have jumped back up again, to a historic high.
The data from the International Energy Agency shows we still have much to do when it comes to stopping global warming. Three years ago experts cautioned that 2015’s near standstill in emissions might be only a temporary pause before resuming the upward march as India and China developed. Those warnings were prophetic.
Continue reading...How IVF and stem cell science could save the northern white rhino from extinction
The story of humanity’s interaction with the northern white rhino is one of the conservation movement’s grimmest tales of recent years. “In the 60s there were 2,500 northern whites left in central Africa,” said Paul De Ornellas of the Zoological Society of London. “Poaching brought that down to 30 by the end of the 20th century, and now to the last two.”
Last week the species’ last male, Sudan, had to be put down because of ill health, leaving only two ageing females on the planet as representatives of a creature that once roamed in its tens of thousands across Africa. It is a sad history which, most of the world assumes, is nearing its end.
Continue reading...First of London’s new drinking fountain locations revealed
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has revealed the locations of the first four drinking fountains to be installed in the capital under a new pilot scheme in an effort to combat single-use plastic.
The first fountain was installed last week in Carnaby Street in the West End, while in the coming weeks two will be set up in Liverpool Street station and another in Flat Iron Square in Southwark.
Continue reading...Hemmed in by big coal: 'A bad feeling is constantly hanging over us'
With seven coalmines and a gas company surrounding their cattle property, a Queensland family is battling to stay put
It’s a hot summer’s afternoon at Riverside station, 50km north of the purpose-built mining town Moranbah in the central Queensland highlands. Jeanette and Allan Williams are drinking tea and eating Christmas cake around the kitchen table with three of their six children. Holly and twins Claire and Charles have returned to live and work on the family’s 80,000-hectare cattle enterprise. Running more than 16,000 Brahman cattle, the family breeds and fattens their stock on prime cattle country that grows brigalow trees and buffel grass.
The homestead, which sits on top of the world’s highest-quality coal deposits, has been under threat for more than 15 years. A proposed underground mine at the family’s adjoining property, Red Hill, is likely to cut through to Riverside and under the house.
Continue reading...Going plastics-free is as easy as calico bags and reusable coffee cups
Australians throw away a lot of plastic, often after only one use. Here’s how to give it up
It’s almost everywhere you look – and it’s undeniably destroying our planet.
Over the past half a century, plastic has infiltrated modern life to such an extent that our oceans may have more of the stuff than fish by 2050.
The 'best' outcome? How the marine park plans divided scientists and conservationists
Some say the Coalition’s marine management plans are too compromised; others say some protection is better than none. But how did it come to this?
• Jessica Meeuwig: The government’s marine park plans are diabolical for ocean protection
For those in Australia’s marine science and conservation community, a dream of having a network of marine parks around the continent has been 20 years in the making.
The story is one of heartbreak, near misses and painful compromise and, in the view of some, a false dichotomy of sacrifice between science and economic and political interests.
Continue reading...Mass stranding in Australia claims more than 130 whales – video
More than 130 whales have died after being washed up on a beach in Western Australia. Veterinarians and volunteers are racing to save more than a dozen other short-finned pilot whales. Authorities have warned people to stay away from the beach in Hamelin Bay as the dead and dying animals could attract sharks
Continue reading...Keep off our land, indigenous women tell Ecuador's president
Women’s movement demand an end to unrestricted oil drilling and mining on indigenous lands and action on violence against land defenders in first meeting with president Lenin Moreno
Amazon indigenous women leaders have told Ecuador’s president Lenin Moreno to limit oil drilling and mining in their territories and combat the sexual violence and death threats they claim accompany the industries.
The delegation of women dressed in traditional tunics and with intricately painted faces were granted a meeting with Moreno after nearly 100 of them camped in Quito’s central plaza in front of the Carondelet government palace for five days, earlier this month.
Continue reading...Biodiversity loss, climate litigation and death of a rhino – green news roundup
The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox
Continue reading...The week in wildlife – in pictures
A thirsty wolf, an albatross chick and a family of capybaras are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world
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