The Guardian
UK considers tax on single-use plastics to tackle ocean pollution
Chancellor to announce call for evidence on possible measures to cut use of plastics such as takeaway cartons and packaging
The chancellor, Philip Hammond, will announce in next week’s budget a “call for evidence” on how taxes or other charges on single-use plastics such as takeaway cartons and packaging could reduce the impact of discarded waste on marine and bird life, the Treasury has said.
The commitment was welcomed by environmental and wildlife groups, though they stressed that any eventual measures would need to be ambitious and coordinated.
Continue reading...The Guardian view on climate talks: Brexit’s heavy weather | Editorial
The tragedy of climate change, as the governor of the Bank of England has put it, is one of the horizon. The catastrophic impacts of altering the atmosphere impose an enormous cost on future generations that the current generation creates but has no incentive to fix. To focus the minds of today’s decision-makers the 2015 Paris agreement sent a clear signal that the era of fossil-fuel-powered growth was coming to an end. The signatories agreed to limit global warming to no more than a two-degree celsius rise, the threshold of safety, beyond which climate change is likely to become irreversible. The real genius of Paris is not that it is rooted in science but its timing and its structure. While the 2C target was binding, the national targets agreed by each nation were not. Those non-binding targets do not add up to a 2C world – they would, if followed to the letter, lead us to a 3C one, unthinkable in terms of the devastation it would cause. So upping them was part of the point of this year’s UN climate meeting in Bonn, which closed on Friday, and will be the main issue at next year’s, and the year after next.
The US under Donald Trump reneged on the deal before this year’s talks began. There is some solace in the fact that Washington cannot formally withdraw until 4 November 2020, the day after the next presidential election. The rest of the world, rightly, is moving on. Given what is at stake, it is worth pausing to consider where – and how quickly – the globe is going. Backwards – if one considers that China will almost single-handedly cause global emissions of carbon dioxide to grow in 2017. Canada and Britain, meanwhile, began a new 19-nation alliance in Bonn aimed at phasing out the use of coal power by 2030. This sounds like an important move until one realises that members of the “powering past coal alliance” account for less than 3% of coal use worldwide. Germany, which is not a member, held the climate talks an hour’s drive from a village that is being demolished to make way for a coalmine. These green talks, which are fundamentally about ethical concerns, are nevertheless becoming more like discussions about trade. In the case of climate change these involve transitions from one way of producing, distributing and consuming energy to another, cleaner way of doing so. It would be good if this could be seen only as a process of mutual support. However, as the talks in Bonn show, they are also hard-nosed negotiations which revolve around the exchange of concessions.
Continue reading...Raising the alarm over Surrey’s lost insects | Letters
When I moved here 15 years ago, greenfly, dragonflies, hoverflies, bumblebees, honeybees and butterflies among others were common in the garden. There were swallows and martins in the sky in the summer. We had a colony of swifts in the church tower. The swifts, swallows and martins seem to have disappeared. I saw one swallow over the Thames but very few mayflies. I felt that an additional observation might be of interest. In doing a bit of housework, I realised that I’d not had to sweep for cobwebs for a long time and I found none, even after a search. The magpies, crows and jackdaws seem to be thriving, as do the foxes, so there seems to have been a specific change to spiders and insects and the birds that depend on them for food. I’ve no idea if neonicotinoids are responsible (Letters, 16 November) but something seems to be happening.
David Marjot
Weybridge, Surrey
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Continue reading...Climate summit makes slow but steady progress as King Coal looms
Little drama in Bonn other than some star turns and a pantomime villain. All eyes are now on Poland, the next summit host
For an issue that often seems to lurch from crisis to catastrophe, the steady but vital progress at the UN’s global climate change talks in Bonn was reassuring. But there remains a very long way to go before the world gets on track to avoid catastrophic levels of global warming.
There was little drama as the diplomatic sherpas trekked up the mountain of turning the political triumph of the 2015 Paris agreement into a technical reality, with a rulebook that would allow countries to start ramping up action. They got about as far as expected in turning the conceptual into the textual, but no further.
Continue reading...‘Planet at a crossroads’: climate summit makes progress but leaves much to do
The UN negotiations in Bonn lay the groundwork for implementing the landmark Paris deal, but tough decisions lay ahead
The world’s nations were confident they were making important progress in turning continued political commitment into real world action, as the global climate change summit in Bonn was drawing to a close on Friday.
The UN talks were tasked with the vital, if unglamorous, task of converting the unprecedented global agreement sealed in Paris in 2015 from a symbolic moment into a set of rules by which nations can combine to defeat global warming. Currently, the world is on track for at least 3C of global warming – a catastrophic outcome that would lead to severe impacts around the world.
Continue reading...Highlights from Bonn, hunting trophies and newts – 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...Highs and lows of the Bonn climate talks – in pictures
The successes and disappointments this week in Germany, where the world’s nations gathered for the 23rd annual conference of the parties to prevent dangerous global warming
Continue reading...Chester Zoo successfully breeds rare Catalan newt
Twelve Montseny newts – one of world’s rarest amphibians - hatched as part of joint breeding project with Catalan authorities
Conservationists at Chester Zoo have successfully bred one of the world’s rarest amphibians – the Catalan newt – in an attempt to save it from extinction.
The zoo is the first organisation outside Catalonia to become involved in the breeding project for the newt, the rarest amphibian in Europe.
Continue reading...‘We lost a great leader’: Berta Cáceres still inspires as murder case takes fresh twist | Liz Ford
As friends and followers of the late Honduran activist continue her battle for indigenous land rights, their cause has been boosted by a damning legal report
María Santos Domínguez heard about the death of her good friend Berta Cáceres on the radio. She had just given birth to her youngest daughter, so she wasn’t with Cáceres the week she was murdered.
“It was a double blow because we were very close, we worked together in the communities,” said Santos Domínguez, a coordinator for the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organisations of Honduras (Copinh), the organisation Cáceres co-founded 24 years ago to stop the state selling off the country’s ancestral lands to multinational companies.
Continue reading...The week in wildlife – in pictures
Stranded whales, smuggled parrots and a rediscovered salamander are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world
Continue reading...Lentils are so 2013 – an on-trend guide to glitter alternatives
A nursery has banned children from making Christmas decorations using glitter, suggesting the sustainable alternatives of rice and lentils. But what about quinoa?
A nursery chain has identified glitter as a harmful pollutant, and banned children from using it when making Christmas decorations this year. Instead, Tops Day Nurseries is now promoting rice and lentils as substitute festive materials. However, not everyone has access to rice and lentils, so here are some other environmentally friendly glitter alternatives.
Continue reading...Why are cyclists one minority group the BBC feels it's OK to demonise? | Peter Walker
The BBC’s usual standards of impartiality and respect too often fall short when it comes to cyclists, as one show this week – where a pundit labelled them fanatics and even compared them to Nazis – sadly demonstrates
The scene is a BBC talk show. The subject is a particular niche pursuit enjoyed by a very disparate group of people who otherwise have nothing in common. And things aren’t going well.
The presenter – a man known for actively disliking this group – has assembled a seemingly balanced two-person panel, but repeatedly interjects to make it clear he finds the people being discussed annoying and weird.
Continue reading...'We should be on the offensive' – James Hansen calls for wave of climate lawsuits
Veteran climate scientist says litigation campaign against government and fossil fuels companies is essential alongside political mobilisation in fighting ‘growing, mortal threat’ of global warming
One of the fathers of climate science is calling for a wave of lawsuits against governments and fossil fuel companies that are delaying action on what he describes as the growing, mortal threat of global warming.
Former Nasa scientist James Hansen says the litigate-to-mitigate campaign is needed alongside political mobilisation because judges are less likely than politicians to be in the pocket of oil, coal and gas companies.
Nurseries ban glitter in pre-Christmas drive for cleaner seas
Tops Day Nurseries group cracks down amid fears children’s favourite could be as harmful to environment as microbeads
Glitter, as anyone who has ever worn it knows, has a habit of turning up in unexpected places days later, even after a good scrub. However, a new peril has emerged from the sparkly substance: it is adding to the plastic pollution in our seas.
A group of nurseries in southern England has banned the use of glitter among its 2,500 children to reduce the amount of microplastics entering the seas.
Continue reading...Country diary: a feast for birdwatchers – and some of the best views in the Peak District
Bretton, Derbyshire Finches, fieldfares, tits, siskins and bramblings line up for the feeders at this remote cottage
The road between Abney and Bretton had been closed for much of the summer as a landslip was repaired. The ground hereabouts is wormed through with faults and weaknesses, a legacy of shale rocks and local lead mining. It’s a boundary of sorts, between limestone country to the south and dark gritstone moors to the north, a place of geomantic charm and mystery, hidden corners and unexpected angles.
Now the road was open again, offering some of the best views in the Peak District. I stopped at a remote cottage where a rough footpath led down into the head of Bretton Clough.
Continue reading...'Maybe the smog can bring us together': toxic air chokes Pakistan and India
With Lahore suffering from air pollution almost equal to that enveloping Delhi, joint action to tackle the problem is urgently needed, say environmentalists
Parts of Pakistan have been enveloped by deadly smog in recent weeks, with the city of Lahore suffering almost as badly as the Indian capital Delhi.
Pictures and video that show Lahore looking like an apocalyptic landscape have left people in shock. Some residents have said they can’t see beyond their outstretched arm.
Continue reading...Lions next in line of fire as US rolls back curbs on African hunting trophies
The Trump administration’s lifting of restrictions on importing elephant body parts from Zimbabwe and Zambia is not the last gift to hunting interests
Hunting interests have scored a major victory with the Trump administration’s decision to allow Americans to bring home body parts of elephants shot for sport in Africa. Another totemic species now looks set to follow suit – lions.
As the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) was announcing it was lifting a ban on the import of elephant “trophies” from Zimbabwe and Zambia, it also quietly published new guidelines that showed lions shot in the two African countries will also be eligible to adorn American homes.
Continue reading...Fears for Great Barrier Reef as deforestation surges in catchments
Calls grow for the federal government to step in as erosion from intensified land clearing in Queensland threatens coral
A deforestation surge in Queensland, which the latest government data suggests is about to accelerate dramatically, is heavily concentrated in catchments for the Great Barrier Reef, further undermining plans to improve reef water quality.
The finding has renewed calls for the federal government to use its powers to assess the impact of clearing there until the Queensland government is able to pass legislation to halt it itself.
Continue reading...UK government '10 years late' on air quality targets
Report from the National Audit Office finds overall improvement in air quality but does not expect to meet EU targets until 2021
The government will be more than a decade late in meeting EU targets on air quality, a report from the National Audit Office (NAO) has revealed.
The cost of health impacts from air pollution, including fine particulate matter and nitrogen oxides, is estimated at £20bn. Nearly 30,000 deaths were thought to be caused in 2008 by fine particulate matter pollution, some of it caused by diesel cars, according to the report. About 13% of fine particulate matter pollution is thought to come from diesel engines. This is in spite of improving air quality overall.
Continue reading...'Modern air is too clean': the rise of air pollution denial
US sceptics are questioning the science behind air pollution and mortality, a trend that is starting to appear in countries where the air is much more toxic
Despite report after report linking air pollution to deterioration of the lungs, heart and brain, Prof Robert Phalen believes the air is “too clean” for children.
After all, everybody needs a bit of immune-system-boosting dirt in their lungs.
Continue reading...