-
Proposal that ships pay levy on emissions to fund climate action in poor countries opposed by powerful economies
Poor countries have accused the rich world of “backsliding” and betrayal of their climate commitments, as they desperately tried to keep alive a long-awaited deal to cut carbon from shipping.
Nations from 175 countries have gathered in London this week at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to hammer out the final details of a deal, more than a decade in the making, that could finally deliver a plan to decarbonise shipping over the next 25 years.
Continue reading...
-
UK’s £800m research body backs project that could unlock radical therapies to extend human lifespans
The curious case of the queen bee has long had scientists pondering whether the head of the hive harbours the secret to a long and healthy life.
While queen bees and workers have nearly identical DNA, the queens enjoy what might be regarded as royal privileges. They are larger, fertile throughout life and survive for years compared with workers, who last a few months at best.
Continue reading...
-
Victoria Rance says the ‘1970s technology’ will cause pollution that will damage health for decades, but London mayor and TfL claim it will reduce congestion
A multibillion-pound road tunnel under the River Thames will be out of date the moment it opens, according to campaigners.
The first cars and lorries are due through the Silvertown tunnel in east London on Monday, passing between Greenwich on the south side of the river and Newham in the north.
Continue reading...
-
Abbeydale, Sheffield: With the bees returning, spring has truly arrived, and they’re attracted particularly to our neighbour’s cherry plum
Through the winter I went out every day to get my fix of nature. Now, though, it’s practically breaking into the house. I need only open the bedroom curtains. Beneath me, as happens every spring, the neighbour’s cherry plum is having its moment in the spotlight. Some years, in fact most, this is a fleeting glimpse of pink that disappears in heavy rain, or even hail, but this year it has been a glorious and protracted performance. Blossom extended across its canopy and has stayed there, much to the excitement of the birds and insects. My job is simply to hang out of the window and watch.
Spring is quite the production. The theatre has been vacated for months, but now the actors are returning, taking up their old marks and delivering their familiar lines. The dunnock is front of stage, hopping around under the cherry plum; the wren is in its familiar spot centre-third, firing off its automatic rattle. Upstage is the chorus: coal tits, nuthatches, wood pigeons gathering in the dead alder, and the blackbird outsinging them all with his slow, round melody. Waiting in the wings, I pray, is the song thrush, in recent years an intermittent presence. And it’s the cherry plum that raises the curtain.
Continue reading...
-
Constitutional expert says Tory leader’s break from political consensus over target for greenhouse gasses will require monarch to choose his words carefully
King Charles will have to temper his public support for net zero after Kemi Badenoch broke the political consensus over the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Senior royal sources have conceded that the 76-year-old monarch, who has spent more than half a century highlighting environmental challenges, will have to choose his words more carefully now that the Conservatives under Badenoch have said it will be impossible for the UK to hit net zero by 2050.
Continue reading...
-
Many of the suburbs and cities hit hardest in recent years were caught off-guard, and key stakeholders are racing to understand the dynamics that drive these fires
Communities across the US that were once considered beyond the reach of wildfires are now vulnerable to disaster. As fires increasingly spread deep into neighborhoods, researchers estimate roughly 115 million people – more than a third of the US population – live in areas that could host the next fire catastrophe.
The understanding that many more Americans are at risk of losing their homes to wildfires comes as the climate crisis turns up the dial on extreme weather, drought and heat. But it’s also the result of new research that has exposed deep and dangerous gaps in our understanding of the threat.
Continue reading...
-
Guardian Australia is highlighting the plight of our endangered native species during an election campaign that is ignoring broken environment laws and rapidly declining ecosystems
Less than a lifetime ago, great flocks of Carnaby’s cockatoos cast large shadows over Perth. Now, the long-term clearing of eucalypt forests and banksia woodlands, combined with southern Western Australia’s driest and hottest period on record, is pushing the species towards extinction. Scientists say little is being done to reverse the decline.
Peter Mawson, a research associate at Western Australia’s biodiversity department, is old enough to remember a time when the birds were a common sight. “Sometimes, I see people make comments on social media that they’ve seen a flock of 100 Carnaby’s cockatoos and they’re really chuffed at that, because normally you see them in 10s or 20s,” he said. “But when I was a small boy collecting firewood with my father not far from where I grew up it was not uncommon to see flocks of 3,000 to 5,000 birds fly overhead.
Get Guardian Australia environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as an email
Continue reading...
-
Some of the country’s most loved native species, including the koala and the hairy-nosed wombat, are on the brink. Is this their last chance at survival?
Most parliamentarians might be surprised to learn it, but Australians care about nature. Late last year the not-for-profit Biodiversity Council commissioned a survey of 3,500 Australians – three times the size of the oft-cited Newspoll and representative of the entire population – to gauge what they thought about the environment. The results tell a striking story at odds with the prevailing political and media debate.
A vast majority of people – 96% – said more action was needed to look after Australia’s natural environment. Nearly two-thirds were between moderately and extremely concerned about the loss of plants and animals around where they live.
Get Guardian Australia environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as an email
Continue reading...
-
A wildlife crossing across the 101 freeway will connect two parts of the Santa Monica mountains for animals
Above the whirring of 300,000 cars each day on Los Angeles’s 101 freeway, an ambitious project is taking shape. The Wallis Annenberg wildlife crossing is the largest wildlife bridge in the world at 210ft long and 174ft wide, and this week it’s had help taking shape: soil.
“This is the soul of the project,” says Beth Pratt, the regional executive director, California, at the National Wildlife Federation, who has worked on making the crossing become a reality over the last 13 years. She says she’s seen many milestones, like the 26m pounds of concrete poured to create the structure, but this one is special.
Continue reading...
-
The Guardian joins a pest controller on the city’s streets as residents fear a rise in rodents during bin workers’ strikes
“They’re not fussy,” said Martin Curry, describing the far from epicurean appetites of the scurrying rodents that the residents of Birmingham fear could flood the streets of their city.
“Rats all have their own personal tastes but if food is scarce they’ll eat anything,” he said. Curry, who has been called the “rat king” locally, runs MC Environmental Pest Control. He has been on the frontline of stamping out the rodent threat amid a weeks-long bin strike that has caused bins to pile up on Birmingham’s streets.
Continue reading...
