Feed aggregator

How Israel became the focus of so much of contemporary protest politics.

Instead of continuing the environmental legacy they were once known for, Republicans have ceded the fight against climate change to Democrats.

College students started a venture that has diverted glass bottles from landfills and crushed them into sand for coastal restoration efforts.

The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is rolling out two new exhibition halls and making its scientists more accessible. And don’t forget the dinosaurs.

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

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Continue reading...

He has called for increased oil production and said that electric vehicles will result in an ‘assassination’ of jobs.

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...

The polarization of politics means that rules are imposed, gutted and restored with each election. Experts say that’s bad for the economy.

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...

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...

Recommended reading from the Book Review, including titles by Dennis Lehane, Claire Dederer, Chad L. Williams and more.

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...

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

• Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

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.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

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...

As countries negotiate a landmark agreement to reduce plastic pollution, the industry is fighting a battle over regulations and over its image.

The Biden administration has expressed growing alarm that efforts to fight climate change could falter unless the electric grids are quickly expanded.

The administration issued a major climate regulation aimed at virtually eliminating carbon emissions from coal, the dirtiest of the fossil fuels and a driver of global warming.

New regulations could spell the end for plants that burn coal, the fossil fuel that powered the country for more than a century.

The Japanese automaker, which has been slow to sell electric vehicles, said it would invest $11 billion to make batteries and cars in Ontario.

The power-sharing agreement between the Scottish National Party and the Scottish Green Party ended abruptly on Thursday, marking a fresh period of turmoil for the S.N.P.