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Fifth of food wasted globally at cost of £1tn a year, says UN report

Wed, 2024-03-27 22:57

UN Food Waste Index report says food wastage is major contributor to climate crisis


More than a billion meals are thrown away every day, in poor countries as well as rich ones, despite more than 730m people living in hunger around the world.

About a fifth of food around the world is wasted, sometimes through profligacy or poor planning, sometimes from a lack of access to refrigeration or storage, according to the UN Food Waste Index Report, published on Wednesday, at a global cost of about $1tn a year.

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Northumberland’s Farne Islands reopen to tourists after bird flu outbreak

Wed, 2024-03-27 22:19

Boats had been barred from landing since July 2022 owing to virus, which has ravaged populations of seabirds

The puffins started arriving two weeks ago – and now there are thousands of them fizzing around in a mad frenzy. They have joined kittiwakes, guillemots, razorbills, fulmars and shags. Soon Arctic terns will arrive after their epic journey across the world from the Antarctic.

This week humans arrived after a two-year ban from the Farne Islands in Northumberland, one of the UK’s most important sanctuaries for breeding seabirds.

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Water companies in England face outrage over record sewage discharges

Wed, 2024-03-27 21:37

Call for environmental emergency to be declared after data reveals 105% rise in raw sewage discharges over past 12 months

Water companies in England have faced a barrage of criticism as data revealed raw sewage was discharged for more than 3.6m hours into rivers and seas last year in a 105% increase on the previous 12 months.

The scale of the discharges of untreated waste made 2023 the worst year for storm water pollution. Early data seen by the Guardian put the scale of discharges at more than 4m hours, but officials said the figures were an early estimate.

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Extreme heat summit to urge leaders to act on threat from rising temperatures

Wed, 2024-03-27 21:37

IFRC and USAid staging conference to draw attention to risks and share best practice in disaster alerts and response

Two of the world’s biggest aid agencies will host an inaugural global summit on extreme heat on Thursday as directors warn that the climate crisis is dramatically increasing the probability of a mass-fatality heat disaster.

The conference will highlight some of the pioneering work being done, from tree-planting projects to the development of reflective roof coverings that reduce indoor temperatures.

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Three of UK’s top five bamboo loo roll brands made from other wood

Wed, 2024-03-27 15:00

Some ‘ecologically sound’ brands contain as little as 2.7% of the eco-friendly paper alternative

In the bathrooms of the ecologically conscious, bamboo toilet paper is the new bottom line – a supposedly green alternative to the bog-standard pulp-based loo roll that requires the chopping down of 1m trees a year, just to be flushed down the pan.

But new findings from consumer watchdog Which? will wipe away that smug feeling: samples of three out of the five of the UK’s top bamboo brands were actually made from other woods, some of them heavily implicated in deforestation.

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‘Tone-deaf’ fossil gas growth in Europe is speeding climate crisis, say activists

Wed, 2024-03-27 09:00

Just 2% of continent’s gas capacity has planned retirement date despite pledges to decarbonise, study shows

Europe’s “tone-deaf” expansion of fossil gas is accelerating climate breakdown and increasing reliance on hostile regimes, campaigners have warned.

Just four of Europe’s gas-fired power plants have a retirement plan and new projects will increase the continent’s gas generation capacity by 27%, according to analysis from the campaign group Beyond Fossil Fuels.

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Australia’s carbon credits system a failure on global scale, study finds

Wed, 2024-03-27 08:21

Researchers find carbon offsets approach, which is supposed to regenerate scrubby outback forests, was not reducing emissions as promised

Australia’s main carbon offsets method is a failure on a global scale and doing little if anything to help address the climate crisis, according to a major new study.

Research by 11 academics found the most popular technique used to create offsets in Australia, known as “human-induced regeneration” and pledged to regenerate scrubby outback forests, had mostly not improved tree cover as promised between about 2015 and 2022.

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Rare fungus to be moved from Scotland to England in hopes to save species

Tue, 2024-03-26 22:00

Exclusive: Fingers of willow gloves, found in only two woodlands, will be rushed to Cumbria and tied to new trees

Fingers of a critically endangered fungus will this week be removed from its last sites in Scotland and fixed to trees in three woodlands in England to save it from extinction.

Willow gloves, which resembles the fingers of washing-up gloves and grows on dead trees, is found only in two woodlands, and the vast majority is living on just one fallen tree.

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Calls for international criminal court to end ‘impunity’ for environmental crimes

Tue, 2024-03-26 20:37

Campaigners say activities leading to severe environmental harm usually also violate human rights

The international criminal court (ICC) has been urged to start investigating and prosecuting individuals who harm the environment.

Academics, lawyers and campaigners from around the world have sent expert opinions to the court outlining what they call its current regime of “impunity” for serious environmental crimes.

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Albanese government manages to unite automotive industry on fuel standards – almost

Tue, 2024-03-26 18:23

Although forced to water down its original settings, the revised model will help Australia reach its decarbonisation targets

In bringing together a fiercely divided auto industry, the Albanese government appears to have struck a consensus model for a vehicle efficiency standard that will meaningfully bring down emissions – and Australian motorists will reap the rewards.

While the government ultimately had to buckle to industry pressure and water down the preferred settings it had unveiled in February – the most significant concessions being the easing of rules for certain large SUVs and a six-month delay to the credit and penalty system – the fact targets were ambitious to begin with meant that even environmental and electric vehicle bodies back the compromise deal.

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‘Cautious optimism’ as penguins test positive for bird flu but show no symptoms

Tue, 2024-03-26 17:00

Asymptomatic cases may seem reassuring for the penguins, but scientists fear they could act as ‘Trojan horses’ for other species

Adélie penguins in Antarctica are testing positive for bird flu without showing outward signs of disease, according to researchers who travelled around 13 remote breeding sites on an ice-breaking cruise ship.

Since bird flu arrived in the region this year, there have been concerns about the virus reaching the Antarctic’s fragile penguin populations. In November last year, researchers warned in a pre-print research paper that if the virus caused mass mortality in these colonies, “it could signal one of the largest ecological disasters of modern times”.

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Starmer: Labour plan for state-backed offshore windfarms a ‘gamechanger’

Tue, 2024-03-26 03:46

Plan follows slashing of £28bn green pledge, which Ed Miliband denies having considered resigning over

Labour’s plan for state-backed offshore windfarms will be a “gamechanger”, Keir Starmer has said, as the party seeks to regain the initiative on green policy after the slow-motion ditching of its £28bn investment pledge.

Speaking to broadcasters after a visit to Holyhead port in north Wales alongside Vaughan Gething, the country’s new first minister, Starmer insisted that a transition to sustainable power was still “one of my central missions”.

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Why is the right at war with cyclists? We’re not ‘wokerati’ – we’re just trying to get around | Zoe Williams

Tue, 2024-03-26 03:08

Riding a bike is not a political act, yet cyclists have become the bete noire for the anti-woke, anti-green, anti-liberal crowd

Getting my bike nicked was like losing a pet. I didn’t want a new one; I wanted to go back in time and not lose my old one. But, in the end, an inanimate object is not infinitely grievable and I need wheels. This is how I fetched up with a Liv bike, my precious first born putting the seat up for me. I said how proud and heart-filled I was, watching him do a little job that I didn’t want to do myself for the first time, and he said: “I’ve been showing you how to use a remote control since I was six years old,” and I thought: OK, fair, but, more to the point, look at my lovely bike.

Freshly re-enamoured of the world of two wheels, I have plunged straight back into the cycling discourse, the perfect microcosm of the wokeness split in all its forms. Take the ex-footballer Joey Barton, who is being sued by Jeremy Vine for calling the broadcaster a “bike nonce”. Meanwhile, the socials are full of people furiously agreeing that aggressive cyclists pose more danger to them than articulated lorries. The fervent attacks on low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) and low-emission zones such as Ulez in London are really just a full-throttle loathing of people on bikes, aggrandised by acronyms and libertarian bat signals.

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MPs and activists challenge claim North Sea oil and gas supports 200,000 jobs

Tue, 2024-03-26 02:39

Government has repeatedly used figure to justify more fossil fuel developments despite climate crisis

Are 200,000 jobs really supported by the oil and gas industry in the North Sea? Campaigners and MPs are questioning the longstanding government claim.

Ministers have repeatedly used the 200,000 jobs figure as justification for pushing ahead with more fossil fuel developments despite the escalating climate crisis and widespread opposition from scientists and energy experts.

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Asian hornet may have become established in UK, sighting suggests

Tue, 2024-03-26 01:54

Predatory species, which poses huge danger to bee populations, spotted on 11 March, indicating winter stay

Asian hornets may have become established in the UK after the earliest-ever sighting of the predatory insect was recorded by the government this month.

This is a dangerous development for Britain’s bee population and could have a knock-on effect on agriculture that needs the pollinators, because once hornets are established it is almost impossible to eliminate them.

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Blaming John Howard is easy, but his government helped shape the world we live in – now and for future generations | Grogonomics

Tue, 2024-03-26 00:00

An overheated property market, education taxes and more expensive healthcare – successive governments have left a bitter legacy for millennials

When asking “Who screwed the millennials?” should we just apply Occam’s razor and answer “John Howard”? His government certainly shoulders a lot of blame but so do those who have done nothing to help since he was voted out.

The earliest millennials will be 70 in 2050, meaning almost all will be working when the world is forecast to reach temperatures more than 2C above pre-industry averages unless we do something.

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Changes in Antarctica’s glaciers and ice sheets: in pictures

Mon, 2024-03-25 17:00

Turkey’s 8th National Antarctic Science Expedition is seeking answers to questions about the future of the world with 22 different projects on the continent. Anadolu Agency’s photojournalist Sebnem Coskun is documenting the expedition’s scientific research, climate change impacts and life in the region to share the findings with the world.
The expedition involves uncovering concealed data within the ice, gathered from years of research on crucial topics like sea ice and glacier dynamics.

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Could Labor dissent on energy see Plibersek’s veto on offshore gas projects restored? | Paul Karp

Mon, 2024-03-25 00:00

Internal lobbying has added safeguards to a power for the resources minister to water down consultation requirements

The Albanese government has kept a lid on dissent over changes to the approval process for offshore gas projects, but a late internal push has seen the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, regain a power to prevent consultation rules being watered down.

While the resources minister, Madeleine King, had labelled claims she was taking over environmental approvals a “conspiracy theory”, widespread opposition from the Greens, the crossbench, First Nations activists and environmental groups spurred an informal Labor pro-climate group into action.

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Ernie the owl to retire after 30 years at Warwick Castle

Sun, 2024-03-24 21:48

African Verreaux’s eagle owl to make final flyover during Easter holidays before move to Yorkshire Dales

Any night owl who has spent 30 years of working all day would be dreaming of retirement.

Such is the case for Ernie, an owl with a “big personality”, who will be quitting after delighting guests at Warwick Castle for three decades.

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Which will melt away first, the snow or the arts? | Stewart Lee

Sun, 2024-03-24 20:00

Keir Starmer will need to make it affordable to be an artist, because the value of art is beyond financial metrics

Nineteen years ago now, I was asked to perform my standup high in the Colorado Rockies at the Aspen comedy festival, a trade fair for the American comedy industry patronised by wealthy locals. In super-affluent Aspen, I discovered, to my horror, economically uncompetitive service industry workers were homed in special “employee housing projects”, like castrated catering cyborgs from a Russian science fiction novel, sleeping in pods, dreaming of electric sheep. But today that system seems benign compared with the housing poverty of Sunak island.

In Aspen, the famous comedians were domiciled in luxury hotels. I was in a cheap motel on the edge of town, where I breakfasted daily with a quartet of equally undervalued underground comic book writers, regarded as witless savants nonetheless capable of providing content by the predatory industry vampires. Daniel Clowes told me the contents of his Oscar ceremony goody bag – the film of his Ghost World comic was nominated – were worth more than everything he had earned as a writer to that point.

Stewart Lee’s Basic Lee is at Cambridge Arts theatre 15-16 April

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