It is only a matter of time before a mountainside is brought down. We need climate adaptation help – and we need it now
Aaron Thierry is an Earth-system scientist and environmental campaigner
It’s “raining old ladies and sticks” is the Welsh equivalent of cats and dogs, and boy did those old ladies mean business when Storm Bert poured out nearly a month’s worth of rain on the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) over Saturday night. By Sunday, the deluge was surging into the River Taff and through the Welsh valleys, forcing the Taff to burst its banks, bringing misery to communities along its length – including mine in Taff’s Well.
Neighbours, who had been devastated by Storm Dennis in February 2020, were shocked to find that everything they had done to rebuild was undone. Replastered front rooms were submerged yet again. New cars were bobbing once more in the streets.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
11/26/2024 - 07:00
11/26/2024 - 06:48
River water quality distinctly worse than that of coastal bathing sites, results from tests for harmful bacteria found
Water quality has been designated as poor in a record number of bathing areas this year after 16 rivers were included in summer testing for harmful bacteria, figures reveal.
The push to clean up England’s rivers has led to an increase in demand for bathing water status at river locations across the country. Rivers suffer from water company sewage pollution and agricultural pollution, and the results show river water quality is distinctly worse than that of coastal bathing sites. The results come after sewage pollution into rivers by water companies reached record levels last year.
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11/26/2024 - 02:00
A new generation is taking to the ocean in growing numbers – and fears over the environmental impact of cruise ships appear not to be denting their popularity
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This summer was the first time 31-year-old Daisie Morrison had been on a cruise when she set sail on a two-week holiday with two friends, also in their early 30s.
“One of my friends suggested it,” she says. “She had seen different influencers on Instagram going on cruises. You go to so many places that we wanted to visit, so we were all quite keen.”
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11/26/2024 - 00:00
Survival International says Hongana Manyawa in Indonesia are at risk but mining company says the people in ‘voluntary’ contact with workers
Uncontacted hunter-gatherers in Indonesia “are facing a severe and immediate threat of genocide” because of mining for minerals on their lands for use in electric vehicles, a report claims.
In their own language, the Indigenous Hongana Manyawa people, of Halmahera island, call themselves “the people of the forest”. But their forest home is being destroyed in a rush for nickel, a crucial component in rechargeable batteries, campaigners say.
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11/25/2024 - 16:30
This study examines the positive correlation between an area's wealth and biodiversity, known as the 'luxury effect.' The authors present an alternative framework for understanding links between socio-economic factors and ecosystem health which emphasizes the agency of less-wealthy communities in promoting healthy ecosystems where they live.
11/25/2024 - 14:56
Deforestation has remained a significant issue globally, with primary forests contributing to 16 per cent of the total tree cover loss in the last two decades, driven by climate change and intensive human activity. This threatens natural resources, biodiversity, and people's quality of life. To protect forests, scientists have developed Forest 4.0, an intelligent forest data processing model integrating blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. The system enables real-time monitoring of forest conditions, sustainable resource accounting, and a more transparent forest governance model.
11/25/2024 - 14:00
Operations at a cold war lab exposed at least 1,073 people to radiation. Risks to the nearby communities persist
Exposed: The Human Radiation Experiments at Hunters Point is a special report by the San Francisco Public Press, an independent non-profit news organization focused on accountability, equity and the environment.
In September 1956, Cpl Eldridge Jones found himself atop a sunbaked roof at an old army camp about an hour outside San Francisco, shoveling radioactive dirt.
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11/25/2024 - 12:49
IFS suggests gifts of land before a certain date could be tax-free so that elderly farmers would not be caught out
Ministers should give farmers an inheritance tax holiday for the next few years, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has said as it warned that government changes to agricultural taxes risked treating some landowners unfairly.
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, announced in her budget last month that farmers with a business worth more than £1m could be subjected to 20% inheritance tax, prompting a tractor protest outside parliament.
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11/25/2024 - 12:22
Experts say financial movements mean poor nations will in effect get billions less in value from £300bn pledge
A failure to factor in inflation means the $300bn (£240bn) climate finance deal agreed at Cop29 is not the tripling of pledges that has been claimed, economists have said.
The international talks in Baku were pulled back from the brink of collapse early on Sunday morning when negotiators struck an agreement in which rich countries promised to raise $300bn a year by 2035. On paper, this is a tripling of the previous climate finance target of $100bn a year by 2020, and has been trumpeted as such by the UN and others.
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11/25/2024 - 11:31
Britain wanted much better outcomes on many issues, but seeing the ambition at the conference gives me hope for the future
The climate crisis is all around us. And the world is not moving nearly fast enough. In that context, the Cop process for climate negotiations feels frustratingly slow. Yet it is the best mechanism for multilateral action we have, so we have to use it to do everything we can to speed up action.
The UK went to Cop29 determined to play its part in a successful negotiation because it is in our national interest. As the prime minister said in Baku earlier this month, there is no national security without climate security. That is so clear from the effects of Storm Bert over the past couple of days. If we do not act, we can expect more and more of these extreme and devastating outcomes.
Ed Milband is secretary of state for energy security and net zero
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