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Climate
Parts of Oregon, Washington and Idaho Under Extreme Heat Warning
Ver ‘Tornados’ es muy entretenido. Hasta que una tormenta real golpea tu ciudad
Where Kamala Harris Stands on the Issues: Abortion, Immigration and More
The Guardian view on GB Energy: a good idea turns up just in time | Editorial
Ed Miliband has won the argument that his party must go big to cut carbon emissions. But he will need to go bigger still
Sir Keir Starmer’s legislative plan to green Britain has arrived not a moment too soon. Last week, the government’s advisers warned that only a third of the carbon reductions required by law would be met under existing plans. The Climate Change Committee said that, for the first time since setting itself carbon-reduction targets, the UK is not on track to meet its goal. It is supposed to reduce emissions in 2030 by 68% compared with 1990 levels, to meet net zero by 2050.
The UK should, says the committee, now be in a phase of rapid investment and delivery. But the Tories’ turn against net zero policies has meant little progress on the rollout of low-carbon technology. That is why Labour’s king’s speech, which put the environment at the centre of policymaking, was so welcome. Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, won the argument that the urgency of the climate emergency needed a bigger, more interventionist state.
Continue reading...Luxury ute tax loophole costs Australians $250m a year, researchers say
The Australia Institute says tax exemption on ‘commercial vehicles’ with no testing requirement is incentivising people to buy utes instead of EVs
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A loophole in Australia’s tax law is in effect subsidising the price of luxury utes such as Ram and Chevrolet SUVs, costing taxpayers more than $250m a year in forgone revenue, an analysis has found.
The research from the Australia Institute centres on the Luxury Car Tax (LCT) – introduced in 2000 for imported cars partly to protect the domestic industry that existed at the time – and an exemption that applies to certain utes.
Continue reading...Could robot weedkillers replace the need for pesticides?
The robotic services allow farmers to rely less on chemicals. ‘This solves a lot of problems,’ workers say
On a sweltering summer day in central Kansas, farm fields shimmer in the heat as Clint Brauer watches a team of bright yellow robots churn up and down the rows, tirelessly slicing away any weeds that stand in their way while avoiding the growing crops.
The battery-powered machines, 4ft (1.2 metres) long and 2ft (0.6 metres) wide, pick their way through the fields with precision, without any human hand to guide them.
Continue reading...‘It affects everything’: why is Hollywood so scared to tackle the climate crisis?
Twisters is the latest in a long line of movies that fail to address the environmental emergency – experts say it’s a missed opportunity
A rodeo crowd waves cowboy hats as a man rides a bucking horse. Then comes a shower of leaves, a chorus of mobile phone rings and a wail of klaxons. Horses run wild and cars collide. One vehicle is whipped into the air by what a weatherman calls a once-in-a-generation tornado outbreak.
This is a scene from Twisters, starring Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones, in which rivals come together to try to predict and possibly tame ferocious storms in central Oklahoma. A sequel to the hit disaster movie Twister from 1996, it is a Hollywood summer blockbuster designed to entertain – but also a lost opportunity to raise awareness of the climate crisis.
Continue reading...Cop29 host Azerbaijan seeks $1bn from fossil fuel producers for climate fund
Countries and companies involved in oil and gas extraction to be asked to join scheme aimed at tackling global heating
Fossil-fuel producing countries and companies are being asked to pay into a new international fund to help poor countries cope with the effects of the climate crisis.
The climate investment fund is being set up by the Azerbaijan government, host country of the Cop29 UN climate summit in November.
Continue reading...Cultivated food: from lab grown burgers to medicinal berries
An array of biologically engineered food and drink could help to solve ethical and environmental concerns
Dogs and cats in the UK are expected to become the first in Europe to be given cultivated meat, a product grown from chicken cells in the laboratory. The pet food promises to alleviate some of the ethical and environmental dilemmas faced by animal lovers. An array of lab-grown dishes, from “cell coffee” to lab-grown oyster meat, could be coming to human plates in the near future.
Continue reading...The week around the world in 20 pictures
Donald Trump after the Pennsylvania rally shooting, the global IT outage, Rwanda’s general election and England’s Harry Kane at Euro 2024: the last seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists
Continue reading...The White House Has a Plan to Slash Plastic Use in the U.S.
‘Not acceptable in a democracy’: UN expert condemns lengthy Just Stop Oil sentences
Michel Forst, UN special rapporteur, joins growing chorus of voices criticising jail terms handed to five defendants
The lengthy multi-year sentences handed to Just Stop Oil activists are “not acceptable in a democracy”, a UN special rapporteur has said, as the government faced growing pressure to reverse the previous administration’s “hardline anti-protest” approach.
Michel Forst, the UN special rapporteur for environmental defenders, joined a growing chorus of voices condemning the sentences handed down to the five defendants for planning non-violent protests on the M25.
Continue reading...You may find Just Stop Oil annoying. You may dislike their tactics. But they do not belong in prison | Chris Packham and Dale Vince
These protesters are shouting ‘fire’ while the world burns. A society that locks them up cannot be called democratic
There’s a crisis in our prisons. Keir Starmer says it is “shocking”. Our jails are so full, police chiefs are warning it may soon be impossible to maintain even the most basic law and order. So here’s a radical proposal. Let’s stop locking up our truth tellers. The people who are shouting “fire” because there’s a fire. When they see we’re not moving fast enough and that the flames are getting higher, they know their responsibility is to shout out the message louder. Because they care. You probably know who we mean.
These people might be annoying. They might give you an earache. We might wish they would tone it down. But in a democratic society, they do not belong in prison. We need to be listening to them, not locking them up.
Chris Packham is a naturalist, environmental and animal welfare campaigner, author and television presenter on BBC Two’s Springwatch
Dale Vince is a green energy industrialist and campaigner and a Labour party donor
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Continue reading...Car camping and fighting wildfires: what are the new US climate jobs?
Thousands have joined American Climate Corps, a new federal program that links young people with jobs in green energy and conservation
Did you ever imagine spending a year restoring paths along the Appalachian Trail? Developing community gardens on a Caribbean island? Or helping neighbors electrify their homes?
This summer, thousands of people in the US joined the American Climate Corps (ACC), a new federal program that connects young people with jobs in conservation, climate adaptation and green energy.
Continue reading...Some climate groups urge Biden to stand down, fearing a Trump win
‘Nominating Biden is a recipe for electing Trump,’ says founder of Climate Defiance, while other groups stay quiet
Some climate campaigners are heaping further pressure on Joe Biden to drop out of the US presidential election, with activists staging a protest outside the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters on Friday to demand the US president stand aside.
Several dozen protesters are planning to blockade the DNC in Washington on Friday morning to call for a freeze on Biden’s nomination, in favor of another candidate who could prevent Donald Trump becoming president and tearing up Biden’s climate policies.
Continue reading...Extreme heat may be crucial factor in human spread of bird flu
As heatwaves hit the US, farm workers struggle to wear PPE. The country now faces its biggest human outbreak
Extreme heat may be a crucial factor behind the biggest bird flu outbreak in humans in the US as officials continue to track the virus’ spread.
A heatwave in Colorado likely caused personal protective equipment not to work correctly for workers culling poultry infected with H5N1, a highly pathogenic bird flu. Four people have tested positive for H5N1 and a fifth is also expected to have their case confirmed as bird flu, officials said this week.
Continue reading...What Presidential Election? So Far, the Stock Market Doesn’t Care.
La IA y su voraz consumo de energía atentan contra los objetivos climáticos
Do you think things are generally getting better or worse? Are you a Pollyanna or a Misery Kevin? | First Dog on the Moon
Does that cloud have a silver lining or is it something else?
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Australia news live: media companies, banks and supermarkets hit by global outage linked to Windows PCs
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- Former NSW premier Dominic Perrottet announces resignation from parliament
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Shorten says last CFMEU Labor donation was over two years ago
Earlier on the Today Show, the NDIS minister, Bill Shorten, was asked about the CFMEU and said that the last donation received by the Labor party from them was more than two years ago.
We’ve said that we’re suspending all donations from the CFMEU. In fact, we’ve suspended the CFMEU from the Labor party … The last donations were over two years ago. We’ve taken the action to stop any financial relations with the CFMEU.
I want to make clear there is zero tolerance for anyone who tried to subvert the demerit and penalty system. This taskforce will help ensure the penalties apply to all road users.
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