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The Guardian Climate Change
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Developed countries accused of bowing to lobbyists at plastic pollution talks
Campaigners say last-minute compromise plays into the hands of petrostates and industry influences
Campaigners are blaming developed countries for capitulating at the last minute to pressure from fossil fuel and industry lobbyists, and slowing progress towards the first global treaty to cut plastic waste.
Delegates concluded talks in Ottawa, Canada, late on Monday, with no agreement on a proposal for global reductions in the $712bn (£610bn) plastic production industry by 2040 to address twin issues of plastic waste and huge carbon emissions.
Continue reading...‘Husband eaters’: the double loss of Bangladesh’s ostracised tiger widows
After the trauma of losing their spouse and breadwinner to the Sundarbans’ great predator, women are cast out by their superstitious communities. But they are coming together to rebuild their lives
Nobody saw exactly what happened in the minutes leading up to Aziz Murad’s death. But when his friends got back to the boat where they had left him, they found only his severed hand in the fishing net he was untying.
“We were only gone for about five minutes,” says Abu Sufyan, who was first to reach the boat. “When we got back, he was gone and there was blood everywhere.”
Continue reading...How do we define climate responsibility? Woodside has no answer | Adam Morton
So long as oil and gas companies remain wedded to self-interest, the push against them isn’t going away
Australia’s south-west is suffering through a historic dry stretch. Perth had the lowest rainfall on record in the six months to March, and trees in eucalyptus forests and scrubland across a 1,000 kilometre stretch are dying in shocking and spectacular fashion, with spillover effects through the ecosystems that rely on them.
The climate signal – the impact of rising atmospheric greenhouse gases, largely due to the burning of fossil fuels – in this part of the world has been clear for a while. Winter rainfall has fallen up to 20% since the 1970s in what scientists have for years described as one of the earliest examples of the climate crisis having a measurable influence.
Continue reading...‘Water everywhere’: Shropshire farmers race to salvage harvest after record rain
Some crops completely wiped out and dramatic falls in yields being predicted in county which reflects crisis in rest of UK
With his farm almost entirely surrounded by the banks of the River Severn in north Shropshire, Ed Tate is used to flooding on his land – but this year, the sheer level of rainfall is the worst he has ever seen.
He points to a field where about 20% of wheat crops have failed as they have been covered with rainwater that has pooled in muddy puddles, in areas that would usually be a sea of green by now.
Continue reading...The world has a chance to end plastic pollution – the petrochemical giants mustn’t spoil it | Steve Fletcher
The UN global plastic treaty could be as important as the 2015 Paris accords, if negotiators can stand up to industry lobbyists
Last week, in an enormous convention centre in downtown Ottawa, I joined delegates who have been negotiating over the most important environmental deal since the 2015 Paris agreement on climate change.
The global plastic treaty has a mandate to agree on a legally binding, international agreement to tackle plastic pollution across the entire plastics life cycle, from the initial extraction of fossil fuels for plastics production to the end-of-life disposal of plastic waste. The current meeting is the fourth of five scheduled negotiations and is critically important – without agreement on the objectives, structure and key measures, the prospect of agreeing on the final treaty text by the end of 2024 seems ambitious.
Continue reading...First Nations woman one of seven global winners of prestigious Goldman prize for environmental activism
Murrawah Johnson recognised for role in landmark legal case to block coalmine backed by Clive Palmer
For Murrawah Johnson, the impacts of the climate crisis and the destruction of land to mine the fossil fuels that drive it are more than simple questions of atmospheric physics or environmental harm.
“What colonisation hasn’t already done, climate change will do in terms of finalising the assimilation process for First Nations people,” the 29-year-old Wirdi woman from Queensland says.
Continue reading...‘My country would disappear’: climate crisis could force Torres Strait Islanders from homes within 30 years
Large parts of islands could be uninhabitable by 2050, federal court told in first climate class action taken by Australian First Nations people
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Torres Strait Islanders could be forced to leave their homes within the next 30 years if urgent action is not taken on the climate crisis.
This would mean a loss of country, sacred sites and culture, the federal court has been told.
Continue reading...A cup of tea and a biscuit for the end of the world | First Dog on the Moon
All the trees are dying. Yet we go about our lives
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‘Washout winter’ spells price rises for UK shoppers with key crops down by a fifth
Analysts say impact on wheat, barley, oats and oilseed rape harvests means price rises on beer, bread and biscuits and more food imported
UK harvests of important crops could be down by nearly a fifth this year due to the unprecedented wet weather farmers have faced, increasing the likelihood that the prices of bread, beer and biscuits will rise.
Analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) has estimated that the amount of wheat, barley, oats and oilseed rape could drop by 4m tonnes this year, a reduction of 17.5% compared with 2023.
Continue reading...Taxing big fossil fuel firms ‘could raise $900bn in climate finance by 2030’
Levy on oil and gas majors in richest countries would help worst-affected nations tackle climate crisis, says report
A new tax on fossil fuel companies based in the world’s richest countries could raise hundreds of billions of dollars to help the most vulnerable nations cope with the escalating climate crisis, according to a report.
The Climate Damages Tax report, published on Monday, calculates that an additional tax on fossil fuel majors based in the wealthiest Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries could raise $720bn (£580bn) by the end of the decade.
Continue reading...The Guardian view on the price of chocolate: cocoa producers face bitter truths | Editorial
Farmers, even more than consumers, need a stable and predictable global food system
The small indulgence of chocolate is becoming a more costly one. Soaring prices for cocoa beans recently hit a record $12,000 a tonne: roughly four times last year’s price. Many think they will go higher. That means smaller or more expensive bars and reformulated recipes for many consumers, and may put out of business small specialist producers. Yet it is bringing little reward to struggling growers.
The immediate culprit is a bad harvest in west Africa – which produces 70% of the world’s beans – reflecting El Niño-linked weather patterns and disease. Major processing plants in Ghana and Ivory Coast, the main growers, have halted or reduced operations because they cannot afford the beans. But underlying the crisis are longer-term issues including the climate crisis and the inability of farmers to invest in production due to their low incomes. Big companies have long claimed that it simply wasn’t viable to pay more for beans. Now they are suddenly finding that they can, in fact, manage to do so when the market demands it. Cocoa amounts for only around a tenth of the costs of producing a bar.
Continue reading...Heroism, sacrifice, defeat? The enduring mystery of George Mallory’s final Everest attempt
It’s almost a century since the 1924 expedition ended in tragedy, yet the question of whether the climbers conquered the summit remains unanswered
On the morning of 6 June, 1924, George Mallory – one of the world’s greatest mountaineers – set off with his companion, Sandy Irvine, from a camp on the slopes of Mount Everest and headed for its summit.
A veteran of three British Everest expeditions, Mallory knew the world’s highest mountain better than any other climber at the time. He had come close to death there on three occasions.
Continue reading...‘Woke’ isn’t dead – it’s entered the mainstream. No wonder the right is furious | Gaby Hinsliff
When even the Met police and National Trust scones are apparently ‘peak wokerati’, it’s become the establishment norm
Is woke dead? Is it over? Has it “peaked”, run its course before we’ve even properly agreed on what this endlessly controversial but somehow never quite defined social justice movement actually was? Though American rightwingers have been hopefully pronouncing its last rites for a while now, until very recently rumours of its death seemed exaggerated in Britain.
Sure, some vegan restaurants have gone bust lately, but sadly so have plenty of other restaurants in the face of a cost of living crisis. And yes, oat milk sales are down. But is that because it has been toxified by political association, or because it has fallen out of favour with the wellness lobby, or just because it’s expensive? Even reports of a YouTube-fuelled anti-feminist backlash among some young men, or of young women lapping up the original (not very woke) Sex and the City series on Netflix didn’t feel like much of a tipping point. But then came the paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass’s landmark review on treating transgender children, which found that medical interventions have been underpinned by “remarkably weak evidence” and made clear treatment should be holistic, seeking a full understanding of everything going on in children’s lives.
Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist
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Continue reading...UN-led panel aims to tackle abuses linked to mining for ‘critical minerals’
Panel of nearly 100 countries to draw up guidelines for industries that mine raw materials used in low-carbon technology
A UN-led panel of nearly 100 countries is to draw up new guidelines to prevent some of the environmental damage and human rights abuses associated with mining for “critical minerals”.
Mining for some of the key raw materials used in low-carbon technology, such as solar panels and electric vehicles, has been associated with human rights abuses, child labour and violence, as well as grave environmental damage.
Continue reading...Barclays accused of greenwashing over financing for Italian oil company
Exclusive: Environmental groups say bank is misleading public over ‘sustainable’ financing for Eni as company vastly expands fossil fuel production
Barclays is being accused by environmental groups of greenwashing after helping to arrange €4bn (£3.4bn) in financing for the Italian oil company Eni in a way that allows them to qualify towards its $1tn sustainable financing goal.
Environmental groups have said the London-based bank is deliberately misleading the public by labelling the financial instruments as “sustainable” at the same time that Eni is in the midst of a multibillion-pound fossil fuel expansion drive designed to increase production.
Continue reading...Trump will dismantle key US weather and science agency, climate experts fear
Plan to break up Noaa claims its research is ‘climate alarmism’ and calls for commercializing forecasts, weakening forecasts
Climate experts fear Donald Trump will follow a blueprint created by his allies to gut the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), disbanding its work on climate science and tailoring its operations to business interests.
Joe Biden’s presidency has increased the profile of the science-based federal agency but its future has been put in doubt if Trump wins a second term and at a time when climate impacts continue to worsen.
Continue reading...New EU nature law will fail without farmers, scientists warn
Open letter calls for green policies that empower farmers, after months of protests jeopardise future of flagship biodiversity deal
The EU’s nature restoration law will only work if it is enacted in partnership with farmers, a group of leading scientists has said, after months of protests have pushed the proposals to the brink of collapse.
In an open letter, leading biodiversity researchers from across the world said that efforts to restore nature are vital for guaranteeing food supplies – but farmers must be empowered to help make agriculture more environmentally friendly if the measures are to succeed.
Continue reading...‘Climate denial’ ad pulled from The Australian after regulator deems it ‘deceptive’ | Weekly Beast
Advertisement from IPA-linked Climate Study Group claimed fossil fuel use would not damage the environment. Plus: Janet Albrechtsen holds forth on the importance of not taking sides
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For almost a decade, the Australian has been running “climate science denial” ads from the Climate Study Group (CSG) that claim burning fossil fuels is hunky dory and even necessary for life on Earth.
But the latest ad has been “discontinued” after Ad Standards found it contained misleading or deceptive environmental information.
Continue reading...Weatherwatch comedy climate change 260424
Video series launched in which comics translate climate science into down-to-earth language
Scientists can struggle to get their message across about the climate crisis to the wider public, so now comedians have been brought in to help cut through the science jargon and get widespread attention. In a series of videos, titled Climate Science Translated, scientists are paired up with various comedians who express climate science in down-to-earth language that pulls no punches.
In one of the videos, Prof Mark Maslin, of University College London, explains: “The climate crisis is progressing faster much faster than anticipated.” This is translated by the comedian Jo Brand as: “We’re still going to hell, but we’re getting there faster.”
Continue reading...New rule compels US coal-fired power plants to capture emissions – or shut down
New EPA directive will cut pollution equivalent to the emissions of 328m cars, but industry group decries it as a ‘reckless plan’
Coal-fired power plants would be forced to capture smokestack emissions or shut down under a rule issued on Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
New limits on greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-fired electric plants are the Biden administration’s most ambitious effort yet to roll back planet-warming pollution from the power sector, the nation’s second-largest contributor to the climate crisis. The rules are a key part of Joe Biden’s pledge to eliminate carbon pollution from the electricity sector by 2035 and economy-wide by 2050.
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