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The environment was meant to be ‘back on the priority list’ under Labor. Instead we’ve seen a familiar story | Adam Morton
There have been moments of modest progress but the Albanese government has not lived up to its early rhetoric
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It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Back in the heady new government days of July 2022, Tanya Plibersek told the National Press Club that change was coming for environmental protection in Australia after a decade of disaster and neglect.
Releasing the five-yearly state of the environment report, which the previous Coalition government had received months earlier but put in a drawer until it was turfed from office, the new environment minister said it told a “story of crisis and decline in Australia’s environment”.
Continue reading...Submerged cemeteries and collapsed bridges in drone footage of Europe floods – video
Torrential rain has brought catastrophic flooding to central and eastern Europe. At least six people have died in Romania, five have reportedly died in Poland, one person died in the Czech Republic and three people have died in Austria. Flooding has forced the evacuations of thousands of people from their homes. Extreme rainfall is more frequent across most of the world, as human-caused climate breakdown supercharges extreme weather
Continue reading...The Stakes: how JD Vance's home town has won millions in climate investment that he calls a 'green scam'
Locals called it a ‘miracle’ when the steel plant in JD Vance’s home town got $500m for an upgrade. But Trump’s running mate calls shifting the US to cleaner energy a ‘green scam’
A hulking steel plant in Middletown, Ohio, is the city’s economic heartbeat as well as a keystone origin story of JD Vance, the hometown senator now running to be Donald Trump’s vice-president.
Its future, however, may hinge upon $500m in funding from landmark climate legislation that Vance has called a “scam” and is a Trump target for demolition.
Continue reading...The Green Energy Transition Is Powered by China
Why Have Kids? A Liberal Case for Natalism
Big Energy Issue in Pennsylvania Is Low Natural Gas Prices. Not Fracking.
Did you know climate change made the entire Earth wobble for nine days! What? | First Dog on the Moon
Is there anything climate change cannot do?!
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‘There’s something in the air’: UK airport expansion gears up for takeoff
Lobbyists are increasingly confident about expansion plans as concerns for the economy start to deepen
The younger, tormented minister mulling his position before the Labour government granted Heathrow’s third runway in 2009 might have been greatly relieved to know that, 15 years later, not a shovel would have touched the ground.
But now, returning to power with a revamped energy and climate brief, Ed Miliband again finds himself in a cabinet which, many in aviation hope, may usher in bigger airports and more flights – as well as enough CO2 emissions to outweigh any new solar farms.
Continue reading...How the Last Eight Years Made Young Women More Liberal
Key flood defences in disrepair across England as wet autumn looms, data reveals
Leaked government figures show proportion of assets in adequate condition has fallen ‘significantly below’ target
Thousands of flood defences in England that are supposed to protect properties from serious damage are in a state of disrepair, according to official figures leaked to the Observer before what is expected to be a wetter than usual autumn.
Data from inside the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Environment Agency about the so-called “asset condition” of key flood defences shows the proportion of those regarded as being in adequate condition now stands at just 92.6%, compared with 97.9% in 2018-19. This is the proportion of defences judged to be fit for purpose after rigorous inspection by experts.
Continue reading...Race is on to produce a super-coral to survive world’s warming seas
Widespread bleaching of reefs is devastating delicate ecosystems
It is one of the least understood processes in nature. How do two very different species learn to live with each other and create a bond, known as symbiosis, which can give them a powerful evolutionary advantage?
Coral reefs are the most spectacular manifestations of symbiosis – and understanding the mechanics of this mutual endeavour has become an urgent task as global warming has triggered the widespread collapse of reefs across the planet.
Continue reading...Mother of man accused in California wildfire says ‘he did not light that fire’
Arson charges filed against Justin Wayne Halstenberg in San Bernardino county, which has burned 38,000 acres
The mother of the 34-year-old man accused of starting the Line fire in southern California – which has scorched at least 38,000 acres (15,378 hectares) and destroyed one home – has spoken out in defense of her son, telling the Los Angeles Times on Thursday that “he did not light that fire”.
Arson-related charges have been filed against Justin Wayne Halstenberg, who is accused of starting the San Bernardino county blaze on 5 September. He is due to be arraigned on Monday according to the San Bernardino county district attorney’s office.
Continue reading...After a Record-Hot Summer, Thinking About Climate Peril
New York Home Sales in Flood Zones Are Booming. Why Do Buyers Take the Risk?
U.K. to Fund ‘Small-Scale’ Outdoor Geoengineering Tests
The Hague becomes world’s first city to pass law banning fossil fuel-related ads
Legislation makes it illegal to advertise fossil fuel products and services with a high carbon footprint
The Hague has become the first city in the world to pass a law banning advertisements promoting fossil fuel products and climate-busting services.
Legislation passed on Thursday spells the end of publicly and privately funded advertising for petrol and diesel, aviation and cruise ships in the streets of the Dutch city, including on billboards and bus shelters. It takes effect from the start of next year.
Continue reading...High court blocks Cumbria plan for UK’s first new deep coalmine in 30 years
Court rules against West Cumbria Mining’s fossil fuel development in Whitehaven
The UK’s first new deep coalmine in 30 years will not be allowed to go ahead after a ruling in the high court.
On Friday morning, Justice Holgate ruled that plans to build the facility in Whitehaven, Cumbria, would not proceed, in what campaigners called a “victory for the environment”.
The headline and body text of this article were updated on 13 September 2024 to clarify that the Cumbria development would have been the UK’s first new deep coalmine, rather than its first new coalmine of any kind, in 30 years.
Continue reading...Extreme heat due to climate crisis puts people at greater risk of kidney disease
Researchers are finding heat-related illnesses can also contribute to heart disease and cognitive impairment
At a dialysis center in Atlanta, Lauren Kasper tended to patients resting in hospital beds, some too sick to be transferred to a chair. Many arrived in wheelchairs or walked with canes, their bodies weakened from kidney disease.
As she hooked them up to dialysis machines, Kasper, a nurse practitioner, was struck by how young many of her patients were.
Continue reading...England’s national parks overseen by ‘bloated’, mostly white male boards
Exclusive: Campaigners call for overhaul as Guardian investigation shows nature rarely on agenda
The boards that oversee England’s national parks are bloated, dominated by men and are severely lacking in diversity, a Guardian analysis has found. The analysis also found that farmers outnumber conservation experts by two to one, nature is rarely on the agenda at board meetings and only one national park can account for the ownership of all the land it covers.
Campaigners said a major overhaul of how national parks were governed was “fundamental” to the recovery of nature in the parks and to serving the public, for whom they were set up.
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