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A tale of two cities: Paris proves that you don’t need skyscrapers to thrive | Rowan Moore
There’s a story that sections of the British commentariat have liked to tell for some time, about the differences between London and Paris. The French capital, it says, is over-regulated and over-taxed, nice to look at, good for weekend mini-breaks, but stagnant, frozen, a museum piece. Its British counterpart, in this reading, is thrusting, dynamic, creative, global, open for business.
The contrast plays out on their respective skylines. Paris, after a flirtation with tall buildings that has led to two or three controversial projects scattered about the edge of its centre, last week reimposed old rules that ban buildings above 37 metres (121ft). London’s planning continues to be a free-for-all, with raucous clusters of towers sprouting not only in the City and around Canary Wharf, but also less-central locations such as Vauxhall, Tottenham and Lewisham, even in commuter towns outside the city limits, such as Woking.
Continue reading...Ignoring the science: we do it at our peril – over Covid and the environment | Observer letters
Why wasn’t the science followed during Covid-19 (Editorial)? For the same reason we aren’t following the science to tackle the existential crises we are facing – short-term economic and political considerations. We are literally destroying our home, yet industrial farming – a leading driver of both climate and biodiversity crises – is being ignored.
We’ve had flailing attempts to address these challenges, with a timid attempt at reforming farming subsidies, a disowned national food strategy, and trade agreements that are willing to sell out our own farmers for low-welfare, climate-wrecking imports. At international summits, the role of industrial farming in the climate crisis has been given woefully limited attention.
Continue reading...Risk of hot summer in UK is more than twice normal figure, forecasters warn
There are no signs yet that last year’s 40C will be breached again, but meteorologists predict such peaks could become the norm
Temperatures have soared above 30C for the first time this year – and meteorologists forecast the chance of Britain experiencing a hot summer is now 45% – 2.3 times the normal figure.
The warning leaves the nation braced for a possible repeat of last year’s record-breaking heatwave which triggered wildfires, disrupted rail transport, closed schools, led to thousands of premature deaths and saw temperatures break the 40C record in the UK for the first time.
Continue reading...Concern over Loch Ness low water levels amid UK dry spell
Fishery board reports shrinkage in size of River Ness as water scarcity alert issued for parts of Scotland
Concern has been raised about the water levels of Loch Ness and the River Ness amid the protracted dry spell affecting Scotland and the rest of the UK.
Brian Shaw, the director of Ness District Salmon Fishery Board, said there had been a dramatic shrinkage in the size of the River Ness. He told the BBC: “These conditions are not normally good for angling.
Continue reading...EPA sued over pesticide-coated seeds’ ‘devastating impacts’ on US wildlife
Environmental groups’ lawsuit seeks to force tighter regulation of neonicotinoids on seeds that pollute soil, water and air
Environmental groups are suing the US Environmental Protection Agency over pesticide-coated seeds they say have “devastating environmental impacts” and are spread largely without regulatory oversight.
The suit alleges the neonicotinoid seeds are now spread on about 150m acres (61m hectares) of US farmland and up to 95% of the pesticide on the seed sheds, polluting nearby soil, water and air. The seeds are so dangerous to wildlife that just one can kill a bird, the groups note.
Continue reading...Greta Thunberg takes part in her last school strike for climate
As activist graduates from school, she says she will still protest on Fridays as ‘fight has only just begun’
After what began as a solo protest in Sweden five years ago and grew into a movement with millions of children across the world participating, Greta Thunberg has taken part in her last “school strike” protest as she graduates from school.
The protests, which led to many climate activist movements across Europe, the US and Australia, are known as Fridays for Future or School Strike for Climate.
Continue reading...Transparent Project releases world-first standardised natural capital accounting methodology
Ministers warned England set to miss wildlife and biodiversity targets
Exclusive: Natural England chair Tony Juniper says government must work quickly to reconcile farming and nature
England will not meet its biodiversity targets at current rates, the chair of Natural England has said, as he accused ministers of moving too slowly to regenerate nature.
Tony Juniper, who has been in post at the government’s nature quango since 2019, said ministers were not on track to meet species abundance targets, which have been criticised by wildlife charities as “embarrassingly poor”.
Continue reading...CP Daily: Friday June 9, 2023
Smoke in the air as Australia’s fire crews prepare for the return of El Niño
Climate change has lengthened fire seasons and limited chances for hazard reduction burns, leaving authorities racing the clock before risky weather hits
Last week, people living around Darwin and Brisbane could see and smell the smoke in the air. It’s an experience that will be mirrored across the country in the coming weeks as fire authorities and land managers carry out hundreds of controlled burns.
Climate change has already lengthened Australia’s fire seasons, with higher temperatures driving an increase in riskier fire weather.
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Continue reading...*Senior Manager, Climate Policy and Strategy, International Climate Policy, Verra – Remote (Worldwide)
*Senior Program Officer/Program Officer, Climate Policy and Strategy, International Climate Policy, Verra – Remote (Worldwide)
Japanese electronics giant Panasonic to trial internal carbon pricing that targets scope 3 emissions
Speculators slash CCA length, producers favour current California vintage and buy RGAs
UPDATE – Small size of first Washington carbon reserve sale sends allowance prices soaring
One EU member state adjusts free 2023 EUA allocation in past fortnight
The Guardian view on broken Britain: it won’t be fixed with the status quo | Editorial
State-led public investment is needed to repair a decade of cuts. Labour should say so, not cleave to failed orthodoxies
The gap between the political narrative and life as experienced by the average voter is widening dramatically. The United Kingdom faces serious economic, environmental and social crises that will deepen without shifts in policy. Yet there is little sense of impending doom among the country’s politicians.
A decade of upheaval has produced not radical change, but a renewal of a failed consensus. This suits the Conservative party, which, after 13 years in power, offers the dead weight of bankrupt intellectual habits. However, Labour’s U-turn over one of its rare transformational policies, to spend £28bn a year from day one of being in office on green investment, leaves it looking pusillanimous and complacent about its poll lead.
Continue reading...Ghana, South Korea negotiate bilateral carbon trade deal
RGGI Q2 auction maintains bearish trend with another sub-$13 clear
‘Nowhere is safe now’: wildfire smoke brings climate crisis home to Americans
With the Empire State Building and the Lincoln Memorial blotted out, the US is experiencing the climate catastrophe first-hand
The unnerving sight of New York City’s skies turning a dystopian orange from wildfire smoke is just the latest in a barrage of recent distress signals that life in the US is starting to fray under the relentless pressure of the climate crisis, experts have warned.
On Wednesday, New York held the dubious title of having the worst air quality in the world, with Detroit in second place, as plumes of smoke from hundreds of fires in Ontario and Quebec were carried south by a stiff breeze.
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