The Guardian
Fiddler’s Ferry: SSE closes last coal-power station after 50 years
Shutdown of Warrington plant comes before UK’s ban on coal-fired power from 2025
Energy giant SSE has drawn a line on coal-fired power generation by closing the Fiddler’s Ferry Power Station in Warrington, Cheshire, after almost 50 years.
The power plant began generating enough electricity to power 2m homes in 1973 and will officially close on Tuesday ahead of the government’s ban on coal-fired power from 2025.
Continue reading...UK faces cardboard shortage due to coronavirus crisis
Recycling Association warns of serious impact on supplies of food and medicine packaging
The UK could be hit by a national cardboard shortage as more and more local councils suspend their regular recycling collections owing to pressures caused by the coronavirus outbreak, the industry’s trade body has warned.
The Recycling Association said it has huge concerns about a looming European and even worldwide shortage of fibre – used paper and cardboard – which is used to manufacture millions of cardboard boxes essential for food and medical supplies distribution.
Continue reading...Fears for water quality after NSW allows coalmining extension under Sydney's Worona reservoir
Berejiklian government gives green light to Peabody Energy to extract coal beneath reservoir for its Metropolitan mine
The New South Wales government has approved the extension of coalmining under one of Greater Sydney’s reservoirs in a move that environment groups say could affect the quality of water in the drinking catchment.
The Department of Planning, Industry and Environment has granted approval to Peabody Energy for three new longwalls that will extract coal as part of its Metropolitan mine.
Continue reading...Climate-killing products should come with smoking-style warnings
Graphic imagery should be used on petrol pumps and air tickets, experts say
Cigarette packets with grisly warnings of the consequences of smoking are intended to deter smokers. Now a group of public health experts says similar warnings should appear on high-carbon products, from airline tickets and energy bills to petrol pumps, to show consumers the health impacts of the climate crisis.
Warning labels would be a cheap but potentially highly effective intervention that would make consumers aware of the impact of their purchases on climate breakdown, according to the experts.
Continue reading...Report reveals ‘massive plastic pollution footprint’ of drinks firms
Report says plastic from Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestlé and Unilever products could cover 83 football pitches every day
Four global drinks giants are responsible for more than half a million tonnes of plastic pollution in six developing countries each year, enough to cover 83 football pitches every day, according to a report.
The NGO Tearfund has calculated the greenhouse gas emissions from the open burning of plastic bottles, sachets and cartons produced by Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestlé and Unilever in developing nations, where waste can be mismanaged because people do not have access to collections.
Continue reading...Campaigners attack Japan's 'shameful' climate plans release
Proposals criticised amid fears countries may use coronavirus crisis to rein in commitments
Japan has laid out its plans to tackle greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris agreement in the run-up to UN climate talks this year, becoming the first large economy to do so.
But its proposals were criticised by campaigners as grossly inadequate, amid fears the Covid-19 crisis could prompt countries to try to water down their climate commitments.
Continue reading...Builder aims to help UK construction industry kick its plastic habit
Neal Maxwell wants trade to go from 50,000 tonnes of plastic waste each year to zero by 2040
A builder from Merseyside has launched a project that aims to remove plastic from the British construction industry within two decades.
Neal Maxwell, who has worked in the trade for more than 30 years, co-founded the non-profit organisation Changing Streams after a trip to the Arctic.
Continue reading...Bolsonaro government thanked Johnson for Amazon fire support
UK prime minister’s refusal to criticise Amazon fires and sharp rise in deforestation praised by Brazilian ambassador
Boris Johnson was personally thanked by the Brazilian government for refusing to support European action over the Amazon fires, according to documents obtained by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
As the rainforest burned last summer – fuelled by a sharp rise in deforestation that critics blame partly on President Jair Bolsonaro’s agenda – Johnson criticised a threat by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, to block the EU’s Mercosur trade deal with Brazil.
Continue reading...Giant leap for toadkind after Yorkshire fell runs are cancelled
Activists say hundreds have been trampled by previous cross-country races near pond
The cancellation of a series of cross-country running races in West Yorkshire because of coronavirus has apparently saved hundreds of migrating toads from being squashed underfoot.
A toad protection group said hundreds of the amphibians have been trampled by fell runners in previous years.
Continue reading...'Probably the worst year in a century': the environmental toll of 2019
The annual Australia’s Environment report finds last year’s heat and drought caused unprecedented damage
Record heat and drought across Australia delivered the worst environmental conditions across the country since at least 2000, with river flows, tree cover and wildlife being hit on an “unprecedented scale”, according to a new report.
The index of environmental conditions in Australia scored 2019 at 0.8 out of 10 – the worst result across all the years analysed from 2000.
Continue reading...Endangered sea turtles hatch on Brazil's deserted beaches
Coronavirus keeps crowds that usually greet hatching of hawksbill turtles away
Nearly 100 critically endangered sea turtles have hatched on a deserted beach in Brazil, their first steps going almost unnoticed because of coronavirus restrictions that prohibit people from gathering on the region’s sands.
The 97 hawksbill sea turtles, or tartarugas-de-pente as they are known in Brazil, were born last Sunday in Paulista, a town in the north-eastern state of Pernambuco.
Continue reading...UK wildlife enjoys humans' lockdown but concerns raised over conservation
Animals are getting some peace and people are reconnecting with nature, but wildlife crimes may be going unnoticed
Moles are daring to clamber above ground to hunt for worms, oystercatchers are nesting on deserted beaches, and overlooked plants such as ivy-leaved toadflax are gaining new friends.
The shutdown of modern life as we know it is liberating British wildlife to enjoy newly depopulated landscapes. But conservationists say the impact is not all positive, with wildlife crimes going unreported and vital work including monitoring unable to be carried out.
Continue reading...You know change is in the air when the likes of Ashley and Martin back down
Strange things happen in a crisis. For one, it can dawn on Mike Ashley that pretending that a sports shop is an essential public service is absurd. Friday’s apology from the Sports Direct founder seemed to be more about communication – “ill-judged and poorly timed” emails to overworked government ministers – than his original ludicrous attempt to keep his shops open, but it was still an uncharacteristic climbdown.
Even JD Wetherspoon’s Tim Martin, who has never previously appeared to give a damn what anyone thinks, paused to consider he may have made a mistake. Having announced staff would only be paid until the moment the pubs were shut, he then said they would get their wages at the next payroll date provided the government agreed a reimbursement scheme in time.
Continue reading...Fruit and veg ‘will run out’ unless Britain charters planes to fly in farm workers from eastern Europe
UK urgently needs to fill 90,000 positions to pick crops that will otherwise die in the fields, warns charity
Charter flights to bring in agricultural workers from eastern Europe are needed as a matter of urgency, otherwise fruit and vegetables will be left unpicked in Britain’s fields, the government is being warned.
Some large farms have already been chartering planes to bring in labour from eastern Europe. But farming organisations and recruitment agencies say that, in the face of massive disruption to the agricultural sector caused by the spread of the coronavirus, the government needs to step in and help organise more flights.
Continue reading...More than 100,000 badgers slaughtered in discredited cull policy
Badger Trust condemns ‘largest destruction of a protected species in living memory’ as government admits failings and focuses on vaccination
More than 35,000 badgers were killed during last year’s cull, according to long overdue figures slipped out by the government on Friday at the height of the coronavirus crisis.
The total has dismayed animal rights campaigners, who claim that for the first time since the cull was introduced in 2013, more badgers were shot last year than cattle were slaughtered because they have bovine-TB.
Continue reading...Wildlife rescue centres struggle to treat endangered species in coronavirus outbreak
Shortages in funds, medicines and masks threaten charity work around the world
Last Thursday morning Louisa Baillie drove down the five-kilometre dirt track that connects her jungle home in the Amazon rainforest to the main road. At the junction, she parked, hiking the rest of the way into Mera, a town of about 8,000 people.
After filling her backpack with fruit and vegetables from local sellers, she grabbed some leaves and set about plucking termites off trees along the roadside, stuffing them into a bucket containing small fragments of the insects’ nests. Baillie works as a veterinarian at Merazonia, a wildlife rescue centre in Ecuador. The termites were dinner for Andy the anteater, a baby recently confiscated at a police checkpoint.
Continue reading...The week in wildlife – in pictures
The pick of the world’s best flora and fauna photos, including oryx, a slow loris, bears – and a puma on the streets of Santiago, Chile
Continue reading...The Guardian view on empty supermarket shelves: panic is not the problem
The coronavirus pandemic is beginning to expose the fragility of our food system. But will we choose long-term solutions or short-term fixes?
Until a couple of weeks ago, the idea of waiting in an Ocado queue of 73,735 shoppers, or of supermarkets rationing milk and baked beans, would have sounded like satire. For too many people in the UK, food scarcity is the norm, with mothers and fathers going hungry to ensure their children are fed. But others have grown used to an absurd abundance: strawberries and peaches in midwinter, or 20 types of mustard alongside three score of pasta. When such bounty overflows, it seems self-evident that supplies are both plentiful and reliable – until suddenly they aren’t.
In fact, warns Tim Lang in his new book, Feeding Britain, our food system is “stretched, open to disruption and far from resilient”. It is easy to castigate panic buyers for empty shelves. But while shopping responsibly will help others to get the food they need, only a few people are squirrelling away vast stocks. Research firm Kantar says the average spend per supermarket trip has risen by 16% to £22.13 month on month – not surprising when households realised they were likely to need lunches at home, including for children no longer in school, and could have to self-isolate for a fortnight.
Continue reading...Trump administration allows companies to break pollution laws during coronavirus pandemic
Extraordinary move signals to US companies that they will not face any sanctions for polluting the air or water
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has suspended its enforcement of environmental laws during the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, signaling to companies they will not face any sanction for polluting the air or water of Americans.
In an extraordinary move that has stunned former EPA officials, the Trump administration said it will not expect compliance with the routine monitoring and reporting of pollution and won’t pursue penalties for breaking these rules.
Continue reading...Wildlife charity plans to buy UK land to give it back to nature
Heal Rewilding will find lower-grade land and let it recover naturally, rather than planting
A new national wildlife charity called Heal Rewilding is planning to buy ecologically depleted land across Britain and give it back to nature.
The charity, which launches on Monday, is crowdfunding and will seek former farms, green belt or lower-grade land where wildlife can recover. The sites will be within easy reach of large towns and cities to benefit more people.
Continue reading...