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Pregnant people and fetuses not being protected from wildfire risks – report
Researchers say public health officials not doing enough to share warnings and safety information with health workers
Wildfires pose serious risks to pregnant people and their developing fetuses, including low birth weight and preterm birth. But public health officials are not doing nearly enough to keep these vulnerable populations safe, according to a new report.
“While we know that wildfires are continuing to intensify in the US, and we’re increasingly clear on what damages wildfires represent to maternal and newborn health, we’re still not seeing the kind of response from policymakers and public health officials that we need,” said Skye Wheeler, a researcher at Human Rights Watch and one of the report’s authors.
Continue reading...New Study Re-Evaluates ‘Worst Case’ Scenario for Thwaites Glacier
The Guardian view on meat: we need to eat less of it | Editorial
Beef, lamb and dairy products are the most carbon-intensive foods by far. More boldness around dietary changes is needed
The publication of a major study linking habitual eating of processed and red meat to a greater risk of type 2 diabetes is the latest very good reason to think hard about what we consume. Rising obesity rates, food poverty and concerns about the seemingly unstoppable rise of ultra-processed and junk food mean British eating habits are a longstanding source of widespread concern. Many people also recognise that there are environmental reasons to change their diets. Meat and dairy are the most carbon-intensive foods by far. Most of us should eat less of them. But the messaging around this continues to be poor.
Ever since red and processed meat was linked to an increased risk of cancer a decade ago, people have been advised to limit their daily consumption of these to a maximum of 70g. But while the “five a day” fruit and vegetables campaign turns 21 this year, and warnings about excess sugar abound, other government guidelines on food remain vague. While they specify two weekly portions of fish, one of which should be oily, about meat they say only “eat some”. There are no recommendations as to how much white meat should be consumed.
Continue reading...Millions broil as southern US heat dome causes record highs and wildfires
Extreme heat affecting nearly 23m people across US south-west and pushing Texas’s electrical grid to the limit
A heat dome covering the US’s south-west region is affecting nearly 23 million Americans, bringing with it some of the highest temperatures of the summer and putting pressure on the electrical grid in Texas.
The heat dome phenomenon occurs when strong, high pressure traps hot air over a region, preventing cool air from traveling in and causing temperatures to rise on the ground and stay high.
Continue reading...Climate Change Is Not a Key Talking Point for Harris Campaign
Under a Frozen Army Base, He Found Incredible Fossils
For Historic Gardens, Climate Change Offers Particular Challenges
The livestock lobby is waging war on ‘lab-grown meat’. This is why we can’t let them win | George Monbiot
These new proteins could be our best hope of averting catastrophe. But governments are trying to have them banned
For many years, certain car manufacturers sought to obstruct the transition to electric vehicles. It’s not hard to see why: when you have invested heavily in an existing technology, you want to extract every last drop before disinvesting. But devious as in some cases these efforts were, they seem almost innocent in comparison with the concerted programme by a legacy industry and its tame politicians to suppress a far more important switch: the essential transition away from livestock farming.
Animal farming ranks alongside fossil fuel production as one of the two most destructive industries on Earth. It’s not just the vast greenhouse gas emissions and the water and air pollution it causes. Even more important is the amount of land it requires. Land use is a crucial environmental metric, because every hectare we occupy is a hectare that cannot support wild ecosystems.
George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...Can Democrats Make the Case to Climate Voters?
Climate crisis threatens medical blood supply in US amid extreme weather
Turnout at blood drives affected as summers get hotter and extreme weather causes cancellations, Red Cross warns
The climate crisis is threatening the medical blood supply in the US, with this summer’s record heat contributing to an emergency blood shortage, the American Red Cross has warned.
As summers in the US get progressively hotter, blood drives across the country to persuade people to donate are facing challenges. In the month of July alone, when more than 130 million Americans were under heat advisory warnings, the American Red Cross said that turnout at almost 100 of its blood drives was affected by the weather.
Continue reading...Greenpeace Tries a Novel Tactic in Lawsuit Over Dakota Access Pipeline
Climate crisis fuelled storm that sank yacht in Sicily, say experts
Record sea temperatures in the Mediterranean contributed to waterspout that hit Bayesian
Record temperatures in the Mediterranean Sea this summer contributed to the freak storm that sank a superyacht off the coast of Sicily, with similar extreme events expected to increase in frequency and intensity as the climate crisis tightens its grip, Italian scientists have said.
One person is confirmed to have died and rescuers are searching for six missing people, including the British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, after the 56-metre Bayesian capsized in the early hours of Monday.
Continue reading...Scottish government under fire as it brings back peak rail fares
Decision to end year-long pilot scheme for financial reasons condemned by trade unions and opposition parties
Scottish ministers will reintroduce peak rail fares across the country after an experiment with flat rate fares failed to significantly increase passenger numbers.
Trade unions and opposition parties condemned the decision, and accused the Scottish government of presiding over a shambolic rail service and of failing to adequately tackle the climate crisis.
Continue reading...NO2 Emissions in Can Undo Some Benefits of City Trees, Study Finds
Tuesday briefing: Why the oceans are on the frontline of the climate crisis
In today’s newsletter: Our Seascapes editor on the dangers our seas and oceans face – and what we can do to help
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Good morning. The oceans are – according to the UN – “the world’s greatest ally against climate change”. While many of us now understand the urgent need to take the climate crisis seriously, the focus is still very much on the land and the air. Oceans cover more than 70% of the surface of the planet, generate 50% of the oxygen we breathe, absorb 25% of all carbon dioxide emissions and capture 90% of the excess heat generated by these emissions.
Perhaps it is time we stopped to think a bit more about our seas, consider the dangers they face and look at what we can do to help. Lisa Bachelor, who edits the Guardian’s Seascape series about the state of our oceans, has – if not all the answers – quite a few of them. She joins us after the headlines.
US politics | Joe Biden took the stage at the Democratic national convention Monday to deliver a reflective and optimistic address, telling the crowd: “I made a lot of mistakes in my career, but I gave my best to you.” Earlier, Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance to thank Biden for his “lifetime of service”.
Italy | UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah were missing, along with Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer and three others, after their yacht sank off the coast of Sicily during a violent storm. The British-flagged Bayesian was carrying 22 people when it was hit by a tornado.
Care workers | The number of foreign social care workers reporting that they are trapped in exploitative contracts has risen sixfold in the last three years, in the latest evidence of widespread abuse of migrants in the British care system.
Israel-Gaza war | The current round of ceasefire talks is “maybe the last opportunity” to broker a truce and a hostage and prisoner swap, the US secretary of state has said during a visit to Israel. After a three-hour one-on-one with Benjamin Netanyahu, Anthony Blinken said that the Israeli prime minister “supports” the ceasefire proposal.
Ukraine | Ukrainian forces destroyed a third bridge over the Seym River in Russia’s Kursk region as part of an apparent attempt to expand what Volodymyr Zelenskiy has described as a military “buffer zone” against attacks. It was the last major crossing on this part of the front.
Continue reading...The Coalition has turned its renewable energy denial into a nuclear roadmap to nowhere. It’s exhausting | Adam Morton
The opposition has still produced nothing to back up its widely disputed claim that Australia could have an operational nuclear industry before the 2040s
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Journalists are obsessed with the new. We cast around every day to tell audiences something they don’t know. That’s the job.
Sometimes, when we get it right, we reveal information that’s substantial and deserves exposure and scrutiny. Sometimes we aim for a different type of revelation – one that comes from picking apart and giving context to claims that are demonstrably not true, but have been repeated so often they have become a regurgitated part of public debate. This fact-checking role can feel repetitive and, frankly, exhausting. But it’s also part of the job.
Continue reading...London City airport expansion given green light by ministers
Climate campaigners criticise decision to allow capacity to increase from 6.5m to 9m passengers a year
Ministers have approved London City airport’s application to expand, in a decision that has disappointed climate campaigners.
The airport submitted a proposal to increase capacity from 6.5 million to 9 million passengers a year by putting on more weekend and early morning flights. Local campaigners and Newham council opposed the move, arguing the air and noise pollution would affect people living nearby and that it could potentially increase carbon emissions.
Continue reading...‘Exceptionally difficult’: grueling wildfires test the resolve of US crews
Thousands of firefighters are deployed as an all time record for acres burned – and it’s only August. Now some worry about the long months ahead
It’s still early in the wildfire season for the American west, but it’s already shaping up to be a tough and, in some cases, record-breaking year.
Oregon has seen more fire than any year on record, with almost 1.5m acres (607,028 hectares) scorched in recent weeks as huge wildfires, primarily caused by lightning strikes, have exploded across the region. Nearly 70 major fires are burning across the US this week alone, primarily in Oregon, Idaho, Washington and California, according to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC).
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