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‘Losing Noah’s Ark’: Brazil’s plan to turn the Pantanal into waterway threatens world’s biggest wetland
Hidrovia project to dredge Paraguay River and build ports may destroy vast biodiversity and refuge of jaguars, giant otters and armadillos – and an age-old riverine way of life
As the evening sky turns violet, the animals of the Pantanal gather near the water. Capybaras swim in tight formation, roseate spoonbills add smudges of pink to the riverbanks, the rumble of a jaguar pulsates from the forest.
This tropical wetland is the largest on Earth, stretching across Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia, and playing host to some of the greatest gatherings of animals anywhere.
Continue reading...Climate crisis helped drive payouts to seven-year high, say insurers
Weather-related claims hit £144m in second quarter of 2024 and total payouts rose by 5% to £1.4bn
Britain’s largest insurance firms have warned that the climate crisis has contributed to driving up insurance payouts to the highest level in seven years, after a sharp rise in damage to households and businesses from weather events.
Figures from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) show that the amount paid out in the three months to the end of June hit £1.4bn, a 5% increase on the first quarter of the year and the highest figure of any quarter since it started collecting the data in 2017.
Continue reading...Spain Is Thirsty. Here’s How It Gets Water.
Australian fossil fuel exports ranked second only to Russia for climate damage with ‘no plan’ for reduction
Coal and gas exports expected to remain roughly at current level until at least 2035 with 4.5% of emissions linked to Australia, report finds
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Australia’s coal and gas exports cause more climate damage than those from any other country bar Russia, according to a new study that argues the country is undermining a global agreement to transition away from fossil fuels.
The analysis, commissioned by the University of New South Wales’ Australian Human Rights Institute, found Australia was the third biggest fossil fuel exporter on an energy basis in 2021, trailing only Russia and the US.
Continue reading...Startling genome discovery in butterfly project reveals impact of climate change in Europe
Project to study all 11,000 species of butterflies and moths finds ‘two species in the act of being created from one’
The chalkhill blue has some surprising claims to fame. For a start, it is one of the UK’s most beautiful butterflies, as can be seen as they flutter above the grasslands of southern England in summer.
Then there is their close and unusual relationship with ants. Caterpillars of Lysandra coridon – found across Europe – exude a type of honeydew that is milked by ants and provides them with energy. In return, they are given protection in cells below ground especially created for them by the ants. Chalkhill blues thrive as a result, though their numbers are now coming under threat.
Continue reading...Too Much of Our Seafood Has a Dark Secret
An Australian Start-Up Hopes to Slow Climate Change With an Unusual Approach
July was California’s hottest month in history
Some areas see days of temperatures over 100F, drying plants and fueling wildfires as extreme heat creates deadly conditions
California experienced its hottest month on record in July as grueling heat baked the American west for weeks on end.
The state’s average temperature for the month was 81.7F (27.6C), according to the National Centers for Environmental Information, but some areas endured days of temperatures greater than 100F (about 38C). Several cities broke temperature records during a heatwave in early July – Palm Springs hit 124F on 5 July, while Redding in the state’s far north saw a high of 119F on 6 July.
Continue reading...The week around the world in 20 pictures
Riots in the UK, Israeli bombardment in Gaza, wildfires in California and Noah Lyles winning the 100m at the Paris Olympics: the last seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists
• Warning: this gallery contains images that some readers may find distressing
Continue reading...Excess memes and ‘reply all’ emails are bad for climate, researcher warns
Most data stored on power-hungry servers is used once then never looked at again
When “I can has cheezburger?” became one of the first internet memes to blow our minds, it’s unlikely that anyone worried about how much energy it would use up.
But research has now found that the vast majority of data stored in the cloud is “dark data”, meaning it is used once then never visited again. That means that all the memes and jokes and films that we love to share with friends and family – from “All your base are belong to us”, through Ryan Gosling saying “Hey Girl”, to Tim Walz with a piglet – are out there somewhere, sitting in a datacentre, using up energy. By 2030, the National Grid anticipates that datacentres will account for just under 6% of the UK’s total electricity consumption, so tackling junk data is an important part of tackling the climate crisis.
Continue reading...‘Every building sits on a thermal asset’: how networked geothermal power could change cities
The ground is humming with geothermal energy that could heat or cool our homes – and now the big US utilities are starting to take note
Along with earthworms, rocks, and the occasional skeleton, there is a massive battery right under your feet. Unlike a flammable lithium ion battery, though, this one is perfectly stable, free to use, and ripe for sustainable exploitation: the Earth itself.
While temperatures above ground fluctuate throughout the year, the ground stays a stable temperature, meaning that it is humming with geothermal energy that engineers can exploit. “Every building sits on a thermal asset,” said Cameron Best, director of business development at Brightcore Energy in New York, which deploys geothermal systems. “I really don’t think there’s any more efficient or better way to heat and cool our homes.”
Continue reading...Biomass power station produced four times emissions of UK coal plant, says report
Drax received £22bn in subsidies despite being UK’s largest emitter in 2023, though company rejects ‘flawed’ research
The Drax power station was responsible for four times more carbon emissions than the UK’s last remaining coal-fired plant last year, despite taking more than £0.5bn in clean-energy subsidies in 2023, according to a report.
The North Yorkshire power plant, which burns wood pellets imported from North America to generate electricity, was revealed as Britain’s single largest carbon emitter in 2023 by a report from the climate thinktank Ember.
Continue reading...Rising Waters From Tropical Storm Debby Put North Carolina Waste Sites at Risk
NOAA Forecasts Highly Active Hurricane Season Will Continue
July ends 13-month streak of global heat records, but experts warn against relief
Climate scientists say that the world is continuing to warm, despite brief respite in record breaking temperatures
Earth’s string of 13 straight months with a new average heat record came to an end this past July as the natural El Niño climate pattern ebbed, the European climate agency Copernicus announced on Wednesday.
But July 2024’s average heat just missed surpassing last year’s July, and scientists said the end of the record-breaking streak changes nothing about the threat posed by the climate crisis.
Continue reading...Burned Out of Lahaina, Thousands Try to Rebuild Lives Elsewhere
Tropical Storm Debby Highlights the Southeast’s Climate Vulnerabilities
New Data Shows Where Americans Are Taking Advantage of Clean Energy Tax Credits
The Guardian view on wind energy and the UK: Labour plays catch-up | Editorial
The new government has made a fast start in mobilising Britain’s most obvious natural asset, but big challenges remain
In its pomp during the 1970s, Ardersier port near Inverness was a behemoth of Scottish industry. During the North Sea oil and gas boom, thousands worked on one of the largest rig construction sites in the world. Disused since 2001, the port is making a triumphant comeback, to be reconfigured as a giant hub for the turbines that will harness wind power off the Scottish coast. If Sir Keir Starmer’s government is to achieve its goal of fully decarbonising electricity by 2030, this huge investment project in the Highlands will need to be matched by similar ambition elsewhere.
Wind energy is fundamental to meeting Britain’s net zero commitments, generating growth and reducing energy costs. But under Rishi Sunak, the sector suffered a lost year in 2023, when the government failed to award a single offshore wind contract. In July, the Climate Change Committee estimated that by 2030, the number of annual offshore and onshore wind installations needed to at least triple and double, respectively.
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