The Guardian
The Guardian view on public lands: fight the government sell-off
In a divided country, support for US public lands is a rare bridge issue – yet the Republican platform has opened the door to disposing of 640m national acres
At a moment of deep political division, few issues draw as much bipartisan support from the American public as the sanctity of public lands. Yet conservative lawmakers have quietly laid the foundation to give away Americans’ birthright: 640m acres of national land.
Continue reading...Grand Canyon at risk as Arizona officials ask Trump to end uranium mining ban
Exclusive: Powerful regional officials to ask administration to end 20-year ban, saying it is unlawful and inhibits economic opportunity
A coalition of influential officials in Arizona and Utah are urging the Trump administration to consider rolling back Obama-era environmental protections that ban new uranium mining near the Grand Canyon.
Continue reading...A baleful buzz disrupts the valley of Hope
Abney Moor, Derbyshire Despite the proximity to the Peak District’s honeypots, a feeling of remoteness pervades here
Around the musically winding path leading up Bradwell Edge, spring is thickening into its richest texture. The meadows are rampant with cow parsley, the shade is restless with midges and the hawthorn blossom is dense as clotted cream.
At the top of the ridge my friends and I lie on a blanket of grass and look over the Hope Valley. Sunshine swells over the fields and lights up the cement works, while a pair of buzzards drift along the skyline, occasionally stopping still in some unseen updraft with an almost kestrel-like precision. I wonder how it feels to tread air like that, to be your own parachute, senses attuned to the subtlest ebbs and flows of the atmosphere.
Farmers feeling increasingly gloomy about future ahead of Brexit, says NFU
Confidence levels and investment for the near future have both dropped in the wake of the general election and EU referendum result, farmers’ union poll shows
Despite overwhelmingly being in support of leaving the European Union at the Brexit referendum, farmers are increasingly gloomy now that they are staring down the reality of what leaving will entail.
In two years, confidence levels on the outlook for the next three years, as measured by the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), have plummeted to just above zero from a high of 19 points on the positive side, in the wake of the general election being called and Brexit being set.
Continue reading...Stopping food waste in Australia: a ride along with OzHarvest – video
Food wastage is a global problem affecting our economy, society and environment. Australians throw out $8bn to $10bn worth of food every year. OzHarvest is a food rescue organisation that collects excess food from commercial outlets across the country and then delivers it to those in need. Guardian Australia takes a ride with OzHarvest driver Steve Negrine to see first-hand the organisation’s innovative approach to minimising food waste
Continue reading...Nature class for city boys: Country diary 100 years ago
Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 5 June 1917
Upwards of sixty members of a Manchester lads’ club spent Whit-week near Redesmere; two pairs of willow wrens nested in the fields the boys camped and played in. These boys are not slow, and found some nests, but they failed to discover the neat little domed, feather-lined homes of the warblers. Perhaps, however, the presence of so many lively youngsters was too much for one pair, although the nest was in the safest corner of one field, for the birds deserted their spotted eggs about the middle of the week. The other nest was close to a busy roadway to the farm, along which, in addition to the boys, cyclists, vehicles, and motors passed constantly; perhaps this traffic saved the birds, for on Sunday, after the lads had left, one of the pair was sitting undisturbed.
Naturally many city boys know little about nature, though they are sharp enough in other ways. Taking birds’ eggs is forbidden, but rules are sometimes broken, and three juveniles brought me an egg to look at and tell them what bird had laid it; probably that particular egg would never hatch, though it was returned to the nest. Each of the boys was asked to guess what the egg was, and the three birds named were the waterhen, thrush, and wild duck; it was an egg of the reed bunting! It is fair to add that these boys had not attended the classes now held at the Manchester Museum.
Continue reading...UK needs government backing to unlock billions in green business, says industry
Stable policies could expand the green market from 2% to 13% of the UK economy within three decades, says group representing more than 30 low-carbon companies including Ikea, Siemens and M&S
The UK could be a green business powerhouse in the next three decades, but only if given proper support by government, a group representing more than 30 low-carbon companies has said.
The low-carbon economy in the UK employs at least 432,000 people, with a turnover of more than £77bn in 2015. This is larger than industries such as car-making and steelmaking, which are frequently given the spotlight when politicians discuss industry and jobs.
Continue reading...Green business needs strong and stable support from the next UK government | Letters
Despite the US withdrawal from the Paris agreement on climate change (Anger at US as Trump rejects climate accord, 2 June), the global market for low-carbon goods and services is rapidly growing and the UK must make the most of this opportunity. Spurred in particular by major investments in low-carbon technologies by countries such as China, India, Mexico and South Africa, the Paris agreement could open up $23tn (£18tn) worth of opportunities for low-carbon investments in emerging markets between 2016 and 2030. The commitments made by six world leaders at the recent G7 summit and the decision by China and the EU to collaborate more closely on climate change support this trend.
Related: UK needs government backing to unlock billions in green business, says industry
Continue reading...Is deep sea mining vital for a greener future – even if it destroys ecosystems?
A new gold rush is targeting rich ores on the ocean floor containing valuable metals needed for smartphones and green technologies, but also hosting exotic ecosystems
Mining the deep ocean floor for valuable metals is both inevitable and vital, according to the scientists, engineers and industrialists exploring the world’s newest mining frontier.
The special metals found in rich deposits there are critical for smart electronics and crucial green technologies, such as solar power and electric cars. But as the world’s population rises, demand is now outstripping the production from mines on land for some important elements.
Continue reading...The eco guide to tinned tuna
Sustainable fish is the only option if we’re not going to wipe species out. So it’s a big round of applause for new Princes tuna with the all-important blue tick
Whenever a sustainable seafood product reaches the shelves of UK stores I feel like doing a little dance. Step forward tinned tuna from Princes. Prosaic it may be, but it’s the first certified tuna from the Western Pacific wearing the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) blue tick.
It’s time to remove all non-sustainable fish from shelves and menus
Continue reading...Trump 'believes climate is changing', says UN ambassador Nikki Haley
White House has dodged declaring president’s view on climate change, but Haley says leaving Paris accord ‘doesn’t mean we don’t care about the environment’
Donald Trump “believes the climate is changing” partly because of pollution, according to the US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley.
Speaking on the CNN programme State of the Union, due to air on Sunday, Haley was seeking to define the president’s thinking about climate change in the wake of his announcement that the US will leave the Paris climate accord, joining Syria and Nicaragua as one of three non-signatories.
Continue reading...Michael Bloomberg: ‘US will meet its Paris commitments’ – video
Former New York mayor says during surprise trip to Paris on Friday that Americans ‘don’t need Washington to meet our Paris commitments’. Bloomberg, who is the UN’s special envoy for cities and climate change, says cities, states and businesses will instead step in to ensure the targets are met
Continue reading...A sinister bird arrows into the river
Teifi Marshes, Pembrokeshire Bilidowcar the cormorant’s called in Welsh – Billy the Ducker
Bound for hides in the Teifi Marshes reserve, I paused to lean against railings on the riverside path and a cormorant arrowed into view, threw up its broad, webbed feet to brake, and touched down on the water.
Seeing it reminded me of a morning 20 years ago in a fishing boat careening into Roonagh in County Mayo on green combers that were the aftermath of an Easter storm. A cormorant had kept us close, wave-skimming company. I asked the skipper, Jack Heanue, what the folk of Inishturk – an English-speaking island – thought of these weirdly beautiful birds.
Continue reading...Michael Bloomberg: US states and businesses will still meet Paris targets
Former New York mayor, now UN cities and climate ambassador, says Trump may have withdrawn from Paris accord but American people haven’t
The United States will meet its Paris accord greenhouse gas targets despite Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has said.
A decision by President Trump to pull the US out of Parisand seek renegotiated terms “fair” to America has drawn widespread international condemnation.
Continue reading...Great Barrier Reef: Australia must act urgently on water quality, says Unesco
Draft decision says Australia would not, at this rate, meet interim or long-term targets in the Reef 2050 report
Unesco has expressed “serious concern” about the impact of coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef and warned Australia it will not meet the targets of the Reef 2050 report without considerable work to improve water quality.
The criticism was contained in a draft decision published as part of the agenda for the upcoming world heritage committee meeting (pdf), which will take place in Krakow, Poland, in the first two weeks of July.
Continue reading...It's way past time to speak truth to climate arguments this stupid | Lenore Taylor
It’s clearer than ever the economic interests Trump claims to defend can only be served by acting on global warming
For precious decades experts have explained, over and over, that the science of climate change is incontrovertible, the consequences of blindly sticking with fossil fuels catastrophic and the costs of inaction far higher than switching to a low-emissions economy.
But these facts had no impact on the sceptics, who cling to a worldview where they find “alternative facts”, where fossil fuel power is the only path to prosperity and mounting environmental and economic evidence to the contrary is some kind of dastardly leftwing plot.
Continue reading...US has nothing to apologize for on climate change, says defiant EPA chief
- Scott Pruitt insists America retains a seat at the negotiating table
- Pruitt refuses to say whether Trump believes climate change is real
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency has said America has nothing to apologise for on climate change and retains a seat at the negotiating table, claiming: “After all, we’re the United States.”
Related: 'Outmoded, irrelevant vision': Pittsburghers reject Trump's pledge
Continue reading...Late-night hosts on Trump’s climate decision: ‘Even North Korea agreed to this’ – video
Talkshow hosts address Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement. On Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, Trevor Noah describes Trump’s choice to make the announcement in the Rose Garden of the White House ‘a pretty gangster move’, while Jimmy Kimmel points out that the only other countries to shun the deal are Nicaragua and Syria, ‘and they’re doing great’
Continue reading...Aerial footage of the split in the Larsen C ice shelf
Footage taken at the beginning of the year shows the split in an Antarctic ice shelf. A giant section is hanging by a thread and is due to break off at any moment
Continue reading...Need climate hope? Imagine the promise of green left-wing victories in Canada | Martin Lukacs
A NDP-Green coalition in BC, a $15 minimum wage in Ontario, and a surging Quebec Solidaire point toward a winning agenda in the age of climate crisis
For progressive-minded people in Canada, the last few days have presented a rare, strange scenario: almost too much to celebrate.
Months might pass without victories, but this week has given us three. In British Columbia, a coalition struck by the Greens and New Democratic Party is set to replace a Liberal government that has mismanaged the province for a generation. In Quebec, the election of a young ex-student leader has galvanized the Quebec Solidaire party and begun a left-ward shift in popular opinion. And in Ontario, a grassroots campaign has won a $15 minimum wage that will vastly improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of families.
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