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Countries consider pact to reduce plastic production by 40% in 15 years
Motion sets out worldwide target in alignment with Paris agreement to limit global heating to 1.5C
Countries are for the first time considering restrictions on the global production of plastic â to reduce it by 40% in 15 years â in an attempt to protect human health and the environment.
As the world attempts to make a treaty to cut plastic waste at UN talks in Ottawa, Canada, two countries have put forward the first concrete proposal to limit production to reduce its harmful effects including the huge carbon emissions from producing it.
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âWater everywhereâ: Shropshire farmers race to salvage harvest after record rain
Some crops completely wiped out and dramatic falls in yields being predicted in county which reflects crisis in rest of UK
With his farm almost entirely surrounded by the banks of the River Severn in north Shropshire, Ed Tate is used to flooding on his land â but this year, the sheer level of rainfall is the worst he has ever seen.
He points to a field where about 20% of wheat crops have failed as they have been covered with rainwater that has pooled in muddy puddles, in areas that would usually be a sea of green by now.
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PFAS increase likelihood of death by cardiovascular disease, study shows
In a first, researchers were able to compare records of people who drank polluted water in Veneto, Italy, with neighbors who did not
For the first time, researchers have formally shown that exposure to toxic PFAS increases the likelihood of death by cardiovascular disease, adding a new level of concern to the controversial chemicalsâ wide use.
The findings are especially significant because proving an association with death by chemical exposure is difficult, but researchers were able to establish it by reviewing death records from northern Italyâs Veneto region, where many residents for decades drank water highly contaminated with PFAS, also called âforever chemicalsâ.
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âWashout winterâ spells price rises for UK shoppers with key crops down by a fifth
Analysts say impact on wheat, barley, oats and oilseed rape harvests means price rises on beer, bread and biscuits and more food imported
UK harvests of important crops could be down by nearly a fifth this year due to the unprecedented wet weather farmers have faced, increasing the likelihood that the prices of bread, beer and biscuits will rise.
Analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) has estimated that the amount of wheat, barley, oats and oilseed rape could drop by 4m tonnes this year, a reduction of 17.5% compared with 2023.
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Taxing big fossil fuel firms âcould raise $900bn in climate finance by 2030â
Levy on oil and gas majors in richest countries would help worst-affected nations tackle climate crisis, says report
A new tax on fossil fuel companies based in the worldâs richest countries could raise hundreds of billions of dollars to help the most vulnerable nations cope with the escalating climate crisis, according to a report.
The Climate Damages Tax report, published on Monday, calculates that an additional tax on fossil fuel majors based in the wealthiest Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries could raise $720bn (ÂŁ580bn) by the end of the decade.
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Country diary: A fine coastline with secrets in the soil | Alex Pearce-Broomhead
Trevone, Cornwall: As our cliff edges erode, long-buried skeletons are being unearthed. How many more sailors might be there beneath the scurvy grass and thrift?
The remains of last yearâs thrift seem to rattle as an offshore wind pushes over the headland. It wonât be long before theyâre superseded by the new flowers, and already, buds of tightly curled pink are beginning to unfurl to greet the spring sunshine. A local folktale says that every thrift flower represents the soul of someone lost at sea, resettled on the coast to remind all seafarers of the perilous ocean they sail. They will be in good company on Trevoneâs coast, mingling with clusters of scurvy grass, kidney vetch, and bursts of lesser celandine.
But the wildflowers belie a darker secret. In 2022, a human skeleton was discovered on this coast path, hidden beneath the earth for centuries until the soil covering it wore away, revealing a snapshot of our past. Archaeological evidence tells us that it probably belonged to an 18th-century sailor â the upper body showing signs of heavy manual labour and wear to the teeth consistent with regularly holding rope in the mouth.
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âA special bond between music and artâ: Bath piano shop turns old parts into palette
From an eagle to Elton John, the Played and Remade project enables artists to âmake something magicalâ from free materials
The task of loading once-loved but now unwanted pianos into a van and carting them off to the recycling centre is a disheartening and melancholy one. So a music shop in Bath that scraps as many as 300 redundant and unfixable pianos a year has launched a project to repurpose the thousands of parts that make up each instrument into pieces of art.
The Piano Shop Bath is inviting artists to take their pick for free from the varied materials that make up each piano â wood, cast iron, brass, felt, copper, steel wires and so on â and turn them into pieces that can then be hung in its showroom.
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âUnlike anything todayâ: Gippsland fossil unlocks secrets of kangaroo that died out 46,000 years ago
Abrupt extinction of short-faced kangaroo a reminder to protect the environment, palaeontologists say
When a caver and Gippsland local, Joshua Van Dyk, stumbled across the fossilised remains of a kangaroo species that had been extinct for about 46,000 years, it seemed as though the macropod was making eye contact with him.
âIt had fallen behind some rocks ⊠and was looking straight at me,â Joshua recalls of the 2011 discovery he made in a cave near Buchan in east Gippsland.
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Heroism, sacrifice, defeat? The enduring mystery of George Malloryâs final Everest attempt
Itâs almost a century since the 1924 expedition ended in tragedy, yet the question of whether the climbers conquered the summit remains unanswered
On the morning of 6Â June, 1924, George Mallory â one of the worldâs greatest mountaineers â set off with his companion, Sandy Irvine, from a camp on the slopes of Mount Everest and headed for its summit.
A veteran of three British Everest expeditions, Mallory knew the worldâs highest mountain better than any other climber at the time. He had come close to death there on three occasions.
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Alaska has a plan to save its salmon but some Native leaders are wary
A new approach aims to restore fish levels in the Yukon River but some feel it unfairly targets traditional practices while failing to tackle huge losses to industrial fishing in the ocean
Earlier this month Alaska officials announced a new plan they say could revive the Yukon Riverâs struggling salmon population. The 2,000-mile waterway that runs from Canadaâs Yukon Territory to the Bering Sea has seen sharp declines in its Chinook, or king salmon, in recent years.
The new strategy aims to restore the number of fish that reach their northern spawning areas near the Canadian border to 71,000, up from about 15,000 that reached the Canadian border in 2023, by suspending commercial, sport, domestic and personal use fisheries in the Yukon River until 2030. Previously, fishing closures were revisited each year.
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âIt was wet. It was filthy. It was aggressive. I said, Iâll take the racoon. But keeping exotic pets is cruelâ
Lindsay McKennaâs wildlife centre takes in exotic animals when owners canât cope. She and other experts fear the law is failing the very animals it is designed to protect
When Lindsay McKenna went out to buy a piece of furniture from a seller, the last thing she expected was to return with a wild animal.
âSomething moved in the garage when I was in there helping the guy lift [the furniture],â she said. âIt was a racoon in an incredibly small cage, it could hardly turn around. It was wet. It was filthy. It was skinny, aggressive.â
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The world has a chance to end plastic pollution â the petrochemical giants mustnât spoil it | Steve Fletcher
The UN global plastic treaty could be as important as the 2015 Paris accords, if negotiators can stand up to industry lobbyists
Last week, in an enormous convention centre in downtown Ottawa, I joined delegates who have been negotiating over the most important environmental deal since the 2015 Paris agreement on climate change.
The global plastic treaty has a mandate to agree on a legally binding, international agreement to tackle plastic pollution across the entire plastics life cycle, from the initial extraction of fossil fuels for plastics production to the end-of-life disposal of plastic waste. The current meeting is the fourth of five scheduled negotiations and is critically important â without agreement on the objectives, structure and key measures, the prospect of agreeing on the final treaty text by the end of 2024 seems ambitious.
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A cup of tea and a biscuit for the end of the world | First Dog on the Moon
All the trees are dying. Yet we go about our lives
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The EUâs âright to repairâ rule is truly radical â British builders should copy it wholesale | Phineas Harper
The construction sector accounts for 62% of waste: that could be drastically cut if we chose refurbishment over demolition
My first phone was a Nokia 3210, a cute grey brick with just enough computing power to run Snake. Compared with todayâs sleek 5G touchscreen devices it was pretty pants, except in one way: I could repair it. The case, keyboard and battery could, without any special tools, be disassembled and replaced when they cracked or wore out. Unlike iPhones, which arrived on the market as impressive but inscrutable hermetic black boxes â impossible for customers to fix at home â my old Nokia was designed for repair.
Today, however, many manufacturers deliberately discourage mending by making their products hard or confusing to tinker with. This inevitably means more rubbish, with the UN estimating that the volume of electronic waste is rising five times faster than recycling rates. Though on paper, the UK government has set ambitious targets to halve the amount of waste Britons produce by 2042, in practice less mending means more demand for more new products, stimulating consumption and fuelling economic growth. For politicians more anxious about growing GDP than wellbeing, repair has simply not been a priority.
Phineas Harper is a writer and curator
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How to ditch disposable cups - and transform the way you enjoy coffee | Maddie Thomas
These cafes are determined to steer customer habits back away from single-use cups
- Change by Degrees offers life hacks and sustainable living tips each Saturday to help reduce your householdâs carbon footprint
- Got a question or tip for reducing household emissions? Email us at changebydegrees@theguardian.com
Almost everyone has a reusable cup (or three) in their kitchen cupboard, but the convenience of disposable cups often triumphs on the morning coffee run.
In Australia, an estimated 1.8bn single use coffee cups go to waste each year, and the number exceeds 500bn globally.
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New EU nature law will fail without farmers, scientists warn
Open letter calls for green policies that empower farmers, after months of protests jeopardise future of flagship biodiversity deal
The EUâs nature restoration law will only work if it is enacted in partnership with farmers, a group of leading scientists has said, after months of protests have pushed the proposals to the brink of collapse.
In an open letter, leading biodiversity researchers from across the world said that efforts to restore nature are vital for guaranteeing food supplies â but farmers must be empowered to help make agriculture more environmentally friendly if the measures are to succeed.
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Plant apocalypse: how new diseases are destroying EU trees and crops
From ancient olive groves to root vegetables, foreign pests introduced via the blocâs open import system are causing damage worth billions â and outbreaks are on the rise
The plants slowly choke to death, wither and dry out. They die en masse, leaves dropping and bark turning grey, creating a sea of monochrome. Since scientists first discovered Xylella fastidiosa in 2013 in Puglia, Italy, it has killed a third of the regionâs 60 million olive trees â which once produced almost half of Italyâs olive oil â many of which were centuries old. Farms stopped producing, olive mills went bankrupt and tourists avoided the area. With no known cure, the bacterium has already caused damage costing about âŹ1bn.
âThe greatest part of the territory was completely destroyed,â says Donato Boscia, a plant virologist and head researcher on Xylella at the Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection in Bari.
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âYou canât love something that isnât thereâ: readers on how the sounds of nature have changed around them
Swallows, cuckoos, curlews â so many species have dwindled or disappeared completely, and people are mourning their loss
Read more: World faces âdeathly silenceâ of nature as wildlife disappears, warn experts
The sounds of our natural world are changing dramatically. Earthâs wildlife populations have plunged by 69% in fewer than 50 years. Fading along with them are many of the distinctive soundscapes of nature: the night-time calls of mammals, morning chorus of birds and buzz of insects.
This global story is stitched together by many local stories of loss. We spoke to readers about how natural sounds are changing where they live.
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Orca calf successfully returned to open water after bold rescue in Canada
Two-year-old calf one step closer to reuniting with family group after tragic accident that left her stranded in remote lagoon
An orca calf, trapped for weeks in a remote lagoon in western Canada, has freed herself and is travelling towards open waters, hailed as âincredible newsâ by a growing body of human supporters.
The move puts her one step closer to reuniting with her family one month after a tragic accident left her stranded.
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âCurrents bring life â and plasticsâ: animals of GalĂĄpagos live amid mounds of waste
As diplomats search for a deal to curb the worldâs growing problem of plastic, piles of bottles, buoys, nets and packaging keep building up in what should be a pristine environment
As our small fishing boat slows to a halt in a shallow bay south-east of Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz, in the GalĂĄpagos Islands, a green turtle surfaces next to us, followed by a second, then a third a few metres away. A spotted eagle ray glides underneath the vessel.
The skipper, Don Nelson, steps on to the black volcanic reef, slippery with algae. We follow, past exposed mangrove roots and up on to higher ground. Pelicans swooping into the trees and small birds, perching on branches, ignore our approach.
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Scientistsâ experiment is âbeacon of hopeâ for coral reefs on brink of global collapse
Recordings of healthy fish are being transmitted to attract heat-tolerant larvae back to degraded reefs in the Maldives
An underwater experiment to restore coral reefs using a combination of âcoral IVFâ and recordings of fish noises could offer a âbeacon of hopeâ to scientists who fear the fragile ecosystem is on the brink of collapse.
The experiment â a global collaboration between two teams of scientists who developed their innovative coral-saving techniques independently â has the potential to significantly increase the likelihood that coral will repopulate degraded reefs, they claim.
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Goodbye cod, hello herring: why putting a different fish on your dish will help the planet
In the first of a new series, we look at why people reject so much of the bountiful catches from our seas in favour of the same few species, mostly imported â and how to change that
Perched on a quay in the Cornish port of Falmouth is Pysk fishmongers, where Giles and Sarah Gilbert started out with a dream to supply locally caught seafood to the town. Their catch comes mainly from small boats that deliver a glittering array of local fish: gleaming red mullets, iridescent mackerels, spotted dabs and bright white scallops, still snapping in their shells.
Occasionally, they will get a treasured haul of local common prawns â stripy, smaller and sweeter than the frozen, imported varieties in UK supermarkets. So, when customers come into the shop asking for prawns, Giles Gilbert presents âthese bouncing jack-in-a-boxesâ with a flourish, hoping to tempt buyers with the fresh, live shellfish.
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Elephant seal makes âepicâ trek back after Canadian officials relocate him
Notorious for drawing large crowds, Emerson was removed by officials who were surprised to find him back in Victoria in a week
Last week, gun-wielding conservation officers stuffed a 500lb elephant seal in the back of a van, drove him along a winding highway in western Canada and left him on a remote beach âfar from human habitationâ.
The plan was to move the young seal far from British Columbiaâs capital city, where over the last year, he has developed a reputation for ending up in âunusual locationsâ, including flower beds, city parks and busy roads.
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âThe anti-livestock people are a pestâ: how UN food body played down role of farming in climate change
Exclusive: ex-officials at the Food and Agriculture Organization say its leadership censored and undermined them when they highlighted how livestock methane is a major greenhouse gas
The night before publication, Henning Steinfeld was halfway across the world dealing with panicked politicians and an outbreak of avian flu. His report, and how it would be received, was frankly the last thing on his mind.
With a small group of officials, Steinfield, head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)âs livestock policy branch, had been working for months on a report analysing the link between the six major species of livestock and climate change, which they all knew could be explosive. âI was very frustrated by the fact that the livestock-environment issue hadnât resonated even though people accepted in private that it was a big issue â for climate change, and also water and biodiversity,â he said. âBut no one was interested in getting into it because I think they were afraid of what it could mean.â
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Ex-officials at UN farming body say work on methane emissions was censored
Exclusive: Pressure from agriculture lobbies led to role of cattle in rising global temperatures being underplayed by FAO, claim sources
Former officials in the UNâs farming wing have said they were censored, sabotaged, undermined and victimised for more than a decade after they wrote about the hugely damaging contribution of methane emissions from livestock to global heating.
Team members at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) tasked with estimating cattleâs contribution to soaring temperatures said that pressure from farm-friendly funding states was felt throughout the FAOâs Rome headquarters and coincided with attempts by FAO leadership to muzzle their work.
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Top grain traders âhelped scupperâ ban on soya from deforested land
Cargill and ADM led push to weaken new protections for threatened ecosystems in South America, report says
Cargill and ADM, two of the worldâs leading livestock feed companies, helped to scupper an attempt to end the trade in soya beans grown on deforested and threatened ecosystem lands in South America, a new report alleges.
Soya is one of the cheapest available types of edible protein, and is in huge demand for feed for animals around the world; as our consumption of meat and dairy has risen globally, the need for soya has soared too.
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Italy culls tens of thousands of pigs to contain African swine fever
Outbreaks in the Lombardy âpork beltâ were extinguished, say experts, but wild boar could act as a reservoir
Huge pig culls took place last week in Italy in an attempt to contain the countryâs largest outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) virus since the 1960s, which threatened the entire pig-farming sector.
ASF is deadly to pigs and poses a serious threat to the global pig industry but is not a danger to humans, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).
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160 pilot whales stranded and 26 confirmed dead in Western Australia â video
Authorities are rushing to save more than 150 whales from a mass stranding at a beach in Western Australiaâs south-west. Four pods have spread across roughly 500 metres at Toby Inlet near Dunsborough and 26 of these have died, Parks and Wildlife Service Western Australia confirmed. Wildlife officers, marine scientists and veterinarians are on site assessing the conditions of the whales that have become stranded
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Drone video shows Western Australiaâs forests dying in heat and drought â video
Video shows trees and shrubs along Western Australia's south-west coastline turning brown after Perth recorded it hottest and driest six months since records began. There were similar scenes in the state's south-west eucalypt forests in 2010 and 2011 â a major die-back event that prompted more than a dozen studies. Drought-hit forests were hit by fire years later
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Week in wildlife â in pictures: a hungry jackal, a cat with webbed feet and a cheeky badger
The best of this weekâs wildlife photographs from around the world
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Aerial video shows mass coral bleaching on Great Barrier Reef amid global heat stress event â video
Scientists have recorded widespread bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef as global heating creates a fourth planet-wide bleaching event. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Coral Reef Watch, 54% of ocean waters containing coral reefs have been experiencing heat stress high enough to cause bleaching
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Exploring why we photograph animals â in pictures
A new collection of wildlife photography aims to help understand why people have photographed animals at different points in history and what it means in the present. Huw Lewis-Jones explores the animal in photography through the work of more than 100 photographers in Why We Photograph Animals, supporting the images with thematic essays to provide historical context
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'Only the beginning': Greta Thunberg reacts to court ruling on Swiss climate inaction â video
Weak government climate policies violate fundamental human rights, the European court of human rights has ruled.
In a landmark decision on one of three major climate cases, the first such ruling by an international court, the ECHR raised judicial pressure on governments to stop filling the atmosphere with gases that make extreme weather more violent.
The courtâs top bench ruled that Switzerland had violated the rights of a group of older Swiss women to family life
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Drone footage captures flooded bridges and roads in rural parts of south-west Queensland â video
Footage captures flooding near the rural township of Charleville following a weekend of heavy rain in parts of southern Queensland and northern New South Wales. Communities across the region have been impacted by flooding, with some isolated by road closures.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, the Warrego River gauge near Bakers Bend, in south-west Queensland, recorded a peak of 10.16m on Monday morning
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