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Plastic bottle battle: members respond to our new environment series
The Guardian’s Bottling It series is shining a light on the problem of what to do with the 1m plastic drinking bottles produced every minute. Your replies were thoughtful and inspiring
We often hear from members about our environment reporting – you tell us that you value it and would like us to increase our focus in this area. So we were interested in hearing your views on our Bottling It series, which asks who is responsible for the world’s plastic binge, and how we might solve the environmental crisis it is creating. Thank you to all who got in touch – your thoughts were informed, passionate and often inspiring, which is why we have published a selection of them below.
The series has been very well read, and this week continues with our reporter Nicola Davis documenting her attempts to avoid buying anything with plastic in it or on it. Do you want to join her? Let us know how you get on using #nomoreplastic on Twitter and Instagram.
Continue reading...Lynx could return to Britain this year after absence of 1,300 years
Six of the secretive cats could be released in Northumberland’s Kielder forest if an application by the Lynx UK Trust is approved
After an absence of 1,300 years, the lynx could be back in UK forests by the end of 2017. The Lynx UK Trust has announced it will apply for a trial reintroduction for six lynx into the Kielder forest, Northumberland, following a two-year consultation process with local stakeholders.
The secretive cat can grow to 1.5m in length and feeds almost exclusively by ambushing deer. Attacks on humans are unknown, but it was hunted to extinction for its fur in the UK. The Kielder forest was chosen by the trust from five possible sites, due to its abundance of deer, large forest area and the absence of major roads.
Continue reading...'Escape from a crazy world': why people value America's public lands
We asked readers to share their experiences and memories from the public lands of America that are, for now, preserved for all Americans
The landscape for America’s public lands is shifting, with Congress looking to transfer large swaths of federal land over to states in a move that could diminish access and result in a sell-off to private interest.
Related: Campaign against Trump’s threat to US national monuments gathers pace
Continue reading...Threatened US national monuments you have to see – in pictures
America the beautiful … it’s a land of dramatic – and protected – scenery but, with 27 national monuments’ status under review, change may be coming. Here, are 22 of the threatened mainland sites
Continue reading...The week in wildlife – in pictures
Hungry robin chicks, a herd of wild donkeys and a tapir are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world
Continue reading...US trying to water down G20 text on lowering emissions, warn charities
Donald Trump wants to remove wording from a draft communique that would commit the US to an agreed international approach on reducing fossil fuel emissions, it has been suggested
Donald Trump is trying to water down the wording of a G20 draft communique about lowering fossil fuel emissions, it has been suggested.
The section, seen by the Guardian, took note of the US decision to withdraw from the Paris agreement on climate change, but added: “The United States affirms its strong commitment to a global approach that lowers emissions while supporting economic growth and improving energy security needs.”
Continue reading...Plastic bottles and waste: share your photos and stories
As global sales of plastic drinking bottles approach half a trillion a year, share your stories and photos of the environmental implications of plastic waste
The world is bingeing on plastic. A million plastic bottles are bought every minute, and that figure is set to increase another 20% by 2021. More than half a trillion will be sold annually by the end of the decade.
Related: A million bottles a minute: world's plastic binge 'as dangerous as climate change'
Continue reading...Stephen Hawking's daughter Lucy: 'You could ask my dad any question'
Puffins of the Inner Hebrides – a photo essay
Photographer Murdo MacLeod travelled on a converted fishing boat to the Treshnish Isles and Staffa in the Inner Hebrides to admire puffin breeding colonies, where the birds nest in burrows on the edge of the cliffs
In Scotland, the much-loved puffin – or Fachach in Gaelic – nests on the Treshnish Isles and Staffa in the Inner Hebrides. Outside of the breeding season they spend most of their lives at sea, resting on the waves when not swimming.
This distinctive seabird, famous for its stout patterned beak, flies thousands of miles in migration, can dive to more than 60 metres and live for more than 40 years.
Continue reading...The Yamuna, India's most polluted river – video
Guardian India correspondent Michael Safi takes a journey along the Yamuna river. Stretching 855 miles (1,375km) across the north of the country, at its source in the Himalayas its water is crystal clear. However, once it streams through New Delhi, it turns into one of the filthiest rivers in the world. Rapid urbanisation is partly to blame, but so is lax enforcement of laws against illegal dumping
Continue reading...Merkel’s climate mission at the G20
The Wrap: SA battery, Bernardi and G20
The Great Barrier Reef isn't listed as "in danger" – but it's still in big trouble
In a somewhat surprising decision, UNESCO ruled this week that the Great Barrier Reef – one of the Earth’s great natural wonders – should not be listed as “World Heritage in Danger”.
The World Heritage Committee praised the Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan, and the federal minister for the environment, Josh Frydenberg, has called the outcome “a big win for Australia and a big win for the Turnbull government”.
But that doesn’t mean the Reef is out of danger. Afforded World Heritage recognition in 1981, the Reef has been on the warning list for nearly three years. It’s not entirely evident why UNESCO decided not to list the Reef as “in danger” at this year’s meeting, given the many ongoing threats to its health.
However, the World Heritage Committee has made it clear they remain concerned about the future of this remarkable world heritage site.
The reef is still in deep troubleUNESCO’s draft decision (the adopted version is not yet releasesd) cites significant and ongoing threats to the Reef, and emphasises that much more work is needed to get the health of the Reef back on track. Australia must provide a progress report on the Reef in two years’ time – and they want to see our efforts to protect the reef accelerate.
Right now, unprecedented coral bleaching in consecutive years has damaged two-thirds of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. This bleaching, or loss of algae, affects a 1,500km stretch of the reef. The latest damage is concentrated in the middle section, whereas last year’s bleaching hit mainly the north.
Pollution, overfishing and sedimentation are exacerbating the damage. Land clearing in Queensland has accelerated rapidly in the past few years, with about 1 million hectares of native vegetation being cleared in the past five years. That’s an area the size of the Brisbane Cricket Ground being cleared every three minutes.
About 40% of this vegetation clearing is in catchments that drain to the Great Barrier Reef. Land clearing contributes to gully and streambank erosion. This erosion means that soil (and whatever chemical residues are in it) washes into waterways and flows into reef lagoon, reducing water quality and affecting the health of corals and seagrass.
Landclearing also directly contributes to climate change, which is the single biggest threat to the Reef. The recent surge in land clearing in Queensland alone poses a threat to Australia’s ability to meet its 2030 emissions reduction target. Yet attempts by the Queensland Government to control excessive land clearing have failed – a concern highlighted by UNESCO in the draft decision.
Land clearing can lead to serious hillslope gully and sheet erosion, which causes sedimentation and reduced water quality in the Great Barrier Reef lagoon.
Willem van Aken/CSIRO
A time for action, not celebration
The Reef remains on UNESCO’s watch list. Just last month the World Heritage Committee released a report concluding that progress towards achieving water quality targets had been slow, and that it does not expect the immediate water quality targets to be met.
The draft decision still expressed UNESCO’s “serious concern” and “strongly encouraged” Australia to “accelerate efforts to ensure meeting the intermediate and long-term targets of the plan, which are essential to the overall resilience of the property, in particular regarding water quality”.
This means reducing run-off of sediment, nutrients and pollutants from our towns and farmlands. Improving water quality can help recovery of corals, even if it doesn’t prevent mortality during extreme heatwaves.
The Great Barrier Reef is the most biodiverse of all the World Heritage sites, and of “enormous scientific and intrinsic importance” according to the United Nations. A recent report by Deloitte put its value at A$56bn. It contributes an estimated A$6.4bn annually to Australia’s economy and supports 64,000 jobs.
Excessive landclearing in Queensland, which looks like being a core issue in the next state election, has been successfully curbed in the past, and it could be again.
But the reef cannot exist in the long term without international efforts to curb global warming. To address climate change and reduce emissions, we need to act both nationally and globally. Local action on water quality (the focus of the Reef 2050 Plan) does not prevent bleaching, or “buy time” to delay action on emissions.
We need adequate funding for achieving the Reef 2050 Plan targets for improved water quality, and a plan to reach zero net carbon emissions. Without that action, an “in danger” listing seems inevitable in 2020. But regardless of lists and labels, the evidence is clear. The Great Barrier Reef is dying before our eyes. Unless we do more, and fast, we risk losing it forever.
James Watson receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the National Environmental Science Programme. He is the global Director of the Science and Research Initiative at the Wildlife Conservation Society and President of the Society for Conservation Biology.
Martine Maron receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the National Environmental Science Programme, the Science for Nature and People Partnership, and the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage. She is a Director of BirdLife Australia and a Governor of WWF Australia.
Naomi Klein: 'Trump is more like the schlock doctrine' – video
Naomi Klein tells Owen Jones that Donald Trump’s administration is using a ‘new formula’ for pushing through its agenda. Rather than the disaster capitalism she outlined in her book The Shock Doctrine, Klein says the Republican party is using Donald Trump’s ‘mental instability, out-of-control ego and general man-babyness’ to distract from their policies, which are ‘savaging’ environmental standards and already-inadequate financial regulations
An extended version of this interview is available on Owen Jones’s YouTube channel
Government held back greenhouse gas emission data for more than a month
The quietly released details confirm previous analysis done for the Guardian, which revealed a bigger rise in emissions than projected
Australia’s official greenhouse gas data, showing a continued increase in emissions, was quietly published on a government website on Friday, after internal government correspondence showed it had been held back from release for more than a month.
The figures broadly confirm independent analysis done exclusively for Guardian Australia by consultants at NDEVR Environmental, published last month. Those projections proved about 98% accurate, with emissions rising by even more than was projected.
Continue reading...How climate scepticism turned into something more dangerous
Doubts about the science are being replaced by doubts about the motives of scientists and their political supporters. Once this kind of cynicism takes hold, is there any hope for the truth? By David Runciman
Last month Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord. For his supporters, it provided evidence, at last, that the president is a man of his word. He may not have kept many campaign promises, but he kept this one. For his numerous critics it is just another sign of how little Trump cares about evidence of any kind. His decision to junk the Paris accord confirms Trump as the poster politician for the “post-truth” age.
But this is not just about Trump. The motley array of candidates who ran for the Republican presidential nomination was divided on many things, but not on climate change. None of them was willing to take the issue seriously. In a bitterly contentious election, it was a rare instance of unanimity. The consensus that climate is a non-subject was shared by all the candidates who appeared in the first major Republican debate in August 2015 – Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Chris Christie, John Kasich, Mike Huckabee and Trump. Republican voters were offered 10 shades of denialism.
Continue reading...Musk praises SA’s “gumption” for building global example of energy future
Elon Musk announces Tesla's plan to build world's biggest lithium ion battery in South Australia – video
The billionaire founder of Tesla announces the building of the 129MWh battery to store renewable energy in South Australia, and confirms his pledge to deliver it within 100 days or it will be free. Musk tells reporters the project will not be without technical challenges, given it will be the largest battery installation in the world ‘by a significant margin’
Continue reading...The first butterfly of the day is the rare wood white
Meeth Quarry, Devon I’m prepared for disappointment. Then the sun works its magic, teasing winged life from the undergrowth
The entrance is easy to miss: an understated wooden sign roughly halfway along the main road traversing Devon north to south. From the turning beside an abandoned rail station a quiet lane that once shuddered under the weight of heavy diggers leads to a car park at Meeth Quarry where I join 20 or so Devon Wildlife Trust members for a field trip.
While the others may have come to enjoy the variety of flora and fauna thriving at this relatively new nature reserve, I have one species on my mind – a delicate national rarity that endured here as the land about it was torn apart.
Continue reading...Texas companies penalized in less than 3% of illegal air pollution cases – report
Figure underscores need for federal oversight as the Trump administration seeks to slash the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget and roll back rules
Texas companies involved in illegal air pollution releases were penalized by the state in fewer than 3% of all cases,according to a new report.
The figure underscores the need for strong federal oversight in a period when the Trump administration is seeking to slash the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget and roll back rules, said Ilan Levin, associate director of the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP).
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