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Dismantling the Ship That Drilled for the Ocean’s Deepest Secrets
Albanese government accused of trying to ‘bury bad news’ about health of Great Barrier Reef
Major report released at 4pm on Friday with no media release or a press conference from Tanya Plibersek
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A leading conservation group has accused the government of trying to “bury bad news” about the health of the Great Barrier Reef by releasing a major five-yearly outlook report on Friday afternoon.
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s 600-page report said the “window of opportunity to secure a positive future” for the reef was “closing rapidly” and the outlook for the ecosystem was “very poor”.
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Continue reading...UN chief to push for more climate change action at Pacific leaders’ summit
António Guterres to attend Pacific Islands Forum (Pif) in Tonga with climate crisis and unrest in New Caledonia among issues to watch
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, will attend a Pacific leaders’ summit this week in Tonga with a focus on climate change in the region, one of the world’s most vulnerable to rising sea levels and temperature changes.
The annual meeting of leaders is the top political decision-making body of the region. The week-long summit culminates in the leaders’ retreat, where key decisions are made, which may include an endorsement of a regional policing initiative promoted by Australia. The future for New Caledonia is among other big issues to be addressed at the Pacific Islands Forum (Pif) which began in Tonga on Monday.
Continue reading...Police acting as ‘private security’ for Drax power station, say climate activists
Greenpeace among 150 groups expressing outrage after preemptive arrests led to cancellation of protest camp
Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth have accused police of acting as “private security” for the UK’s biggest carbon emitter after dozens of pre-emptive arrests forced the cancellation of a climate protest camp near Drax power station.
In a statement signed by almost 150 groups, they called the operation against activists who had spent months planning the camp near the wood-burning power station “an unreasonable restriction of free speech”.
Continue reading...‘Huge benefits’ in greater debt relief for lower income countries, study finds
Exclusive: Levels of education and sanitation predicted to massively improve if creditors reduced payments
Reducing the debt payments made by poor countries to more sustainable levels could help 5 million more children attend school and provide access to clean drinking water to 17 million people, according to research.
A study by academics at the universities of St Andrews and Leicester said there would be “huge benefits” – including saving the lives of 60,000 children and mothers – from slashing the size of repayments.
Continue reading...The Complex Climate Change Politics for Maine’s Lobstermen
Caribbean islands hope UN court will end ‘debt cycle’ caused by climate crisis
Countries hope big emitters will take more financial responsibility for emergency relief and damage claims
The outcome of an international court case on climate change obligations could strengthen the legal position of Caribbean islands claiming damages from developed countries after natural disasters, lawyers say.
Brought to the international court of justice (ICJ) by the UN general assembly, the case seeks clarification on what states can be held liable for in relation to climate change.
Continue reading...Bacteria helping to extract rare metals from old batteries in boost for green tech
Team at University of Edinburgh using microbes to recycle lithium, cobalt and other expensive minerals
Scientists have formed an unusual new alliance in their fight against climate change. They are using bacteria to help them extract rare metals vital in the development of green technology. Without the help of these microbes, we could run out of raw materials to build turbines, electric cars and solar panels, they say.
The work is being spearheaded by scientists at the University of Edinburgh and aims to use bacteria that can extract lithium, cobalt, manganese and other minerals from old batteries and discarded electronic equipment. These scarce and expensive metals are vital for making electric cars and other devices upon which green technology devices depend, a point stressed by Professor Louise Horsfall, chair of sustainable biotechnology at Edinburgh.
Continue reading...Pacific nations aren’t asking for favours. They just want Australia to meet the moment on climate justice | Tim Flannery
Australia must urgently halt new fossil fuel projects and scale up investment in renewable energies such as solar and wind
My first visit to the Pacific Islands was in 1981 and, for two decades, I spent several months each year carrying out biodiversity surveys and conservation work there. Even in the 1980s, Pacific communities were acutely aware of climate change, experiencing it first-hand through rising seas and intensifying storms. Over time, their understanding of the role that climate pollution plays in worsening these impacts has deepened, leading to a highly organised movement to limit pollution from big coal and gas exporters such as Australia.
As the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) approaches, Australia must urgently align with the position of its Pacific neighbours and take decisive action to reduce climate pollution further and faster.
Continue reading...Dutch beach restaurants add sunscreen ‘shots’ to menu in fight against cancer
Hospitality venues across the Netherlands partake in a new scheme to combat high rates of deadly melanoma
Zand Katwijk doesn’t just serve food and drinks – this beachside restaurant offers “shots” of sunscreen too.
It is one of 160 hospitality venues around the Netherlands taking part in a new sunburn prevention scheme. The small, wet and windy country might not be known for its tropical climes, but the Dutch have one of Europe’s highest diagnosis rates for melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.
Continue reading...Mexico’s President Bet Big on Oil. His Successor Will Be Stuck With the Tab.
Global Warming Forces Tennis Officials to Make Changes to the US Open
It’s August 2024 – and our world is at a turning point. Here’s what we should do now | Gordon Brown
I see looming political and environmental threats – and too few willing to address them. Where is the urgency?
The world is on fire. At no time since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 has the world looked so dangerous, nor has an end to its 56 conflicts – the highest number since the second world war – seemed so distant and so difficult to achieve.
Distracted by domestic election campaigns, preoccupied by internal divisions and blindsided by the seismic geopolitical shifts happening beneath our feet, the world is sleepwalking into a “one world, two systems”, “China v America” future. And the cooperation needed to firefight is proving so elusive that even now, an international agreement to prepare for and prevent global pandemics remains beyond our grasp. Nor, even up against the existential problem of climate change (the planet is on course for a temperature increase of 2.7C above pre-industrial levels), can many hold out hopes that Cop29 in Azerbaijan will be equal to the challenge. At a time when global problems urgently need global solutions, the gap between what we need to do and our capacity – or, more accurately, our willingness – to do so is widening by the minute.
We are at a global turning point, not just because crises are multiplying far beyond the very public tragedies of the Ukraine and Israel-Gaza wars, but because in a year when nearly half the world has gone to the polls, few political candidates have been prepared to acknowledge the altered geopolitical landscape. For three seismic shifts that are bringing to an end the unipolar, neoliberal hyperglobalised world of the last 30 years make a total rethink essential.
Gordon Brown is a former UK prime minister; he will give a keynote lecture at the Edinburgh international festival on Sunday 25 August
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Continue reading...Resorts on Spain’s Costa Brava struggle with invasion of jellyfish as seas warm
Stings needing medical attention surge by 41% as rising sea temperatures due to the climate crisis boost reproduction
Costa Brava resorts in Spain’s north-east are struggling to cope with an influx of jellyfish as rising sea temperatures facilitate reproduction and drive species farther north.
Between May and August almost 7,500 people on the Catalan coast sought medical attention for jellyfish stings – a 41% increase on last year. The stings are painful and can have unpleasant consequences for anyone with compromised immunity.
Continue reading...Judge Blocks E.P.A. From Using Civil Rights Law in Pollution Case
The week around the world in 20 pictures
Ukraine’s offensive in Russia, Israeli bombardment in Gaza, the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and wildfires in Turkey: 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...Drinking Water Is at Risk in Parts of Long Island, Study Finds
At D.N.C., Kamala Harris Equated Fighting Climate Change With ‘Freedom’
US delivery workers swelter in record heat – many without AC in their vans
Amid rising temperatures last year, unionized UPS workers made heat an issue – but despite a key contract win, workers say little progress has been made
Seth Pacic works as a United Parcel Service delivery driver in Dallas, Texas. In the summer, he has a second “full-time job”: staying cool.
Each morning, Pacic packs his cooler full of ice, water jugs and hydrating foods such as pickles and grapes. He straps frozen cooling packs to his wrists, hangs another around his neck and ensures he has powdered sports drinks and a battery-operated fan on hand.
Continue reading...Australia’s ski season could melt away early as snowfall drops to nearly half the average
August should mean peak snow depth, Jindabyne worker says, but early blast of spring threatens ‘catastrophic’ premature end to season
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Australia’s snow season has begun to melt away early as unseasonable warmth cuts snowfalls to almost half the average for this time of year, experts say.
A global-heating fuelled early blast of spring weather means the season may have peaked early, with snow fields melted by warm temperatures and washed away by showers.
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