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.
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08/19/2024 - 21:09
08/19/2024 - 12:36
Environmental charity fears ‘the aquatic ecosystem will have been devastated or lost’ after chemical spill last week
About 90kg (200lbs) of dead fish have been removed from a canal after a sodium cyanide leak in Walsall that experts fear could have “devastated the aquatic ecosystem” in the area.
A 1km stretch of the waterway remains closed to the public after the chemical spill from a metal finishing company, Anochrome. The spill was declared a major incident last week.
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08/19/2024 - 12:07
Researchers report that deforestation during the last two decades induced a higher warming and cloud level rise than that caused by climate change, which threatens biodiversity and water supply in African montane forests.
08/19/2024 - 12:07
Biologists have discovered a new species of tarantula from the Madrean Sky Island biodiversity hotspot in southeastern Arizona. This remarkable new species is endemic to the Chiricahua Mountains and is predominately distributed in mid- to high-elevation forests, which are increasingly threatened due to climate change.
08/19/2024 - 12:00
Study finds ‘statistically significant association’ between exposure to fine particles in coalmine fire smoke and aging of lungs, equal to 4.7 years
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Retired secondary school teacher Howard Williams remembers watching “a gumtree literally explode from the heat”.
It was the beginning of the Hazelwood coalmine fire, which broke out on 9 February 2014 in the middle of a hot, dry summer.
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08/19/2024 - 11:48
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.
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08/19/2024 - 10:00
They threaten our drinking water and refuse to budge. But non-lethal methods are the only advisable ways to deal with the infestation
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There are eight pigeons living on my shed roof. That itself is a small victory: it has taken two years, 60 metres of anti-bird mesh, daily patrolling for and disposing of eggs and countless hours running around waving a rake to get them out of the shed. They nested in our hay, ruining the top row of bales. They pooed on everything. When we purchased this property, we inherited piles of guano half a foot deep. We haven’t yet relaxed enough to remove the drop cloths.
Now the pigeons are sitting on the eaves, clogging up the gutters (which also supply our drinking water) with poo, and pooing in the stock troughs. When my horse was hospitalised with gastroenteritis, I blamed the pigeons until my vet said that while they do carry salmonella (wonderful!), Mickey would likely be much sicker if he’d caught something from them.
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08/19/2024 - 10:00
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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08/19/2024 - 08:55
Exclusive: Environment watchdog advised in 2021 the material ‘should not be used broadly’, before backing away from proposals to tighten regulations
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The New South Wales environment watchdog warned the former Coalition state government that a widely used recycled landscaping product posed “potential unacceptable risks to the environment and the community”.
Guardian Australia revealed in January that the Environment Protection Authority had known for more than a decade that producers of soil fill made from construction and demolition waste – known as recovered fines – were failing to comply with rules to limit the spread of contaminants.
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08/19/2024 - 04:00
With the climate changing, many species are marching towards cooler climes – but trees are being outpaced. Some ecologists say assisted movement is the answer
At the top of an ancient oak at Knepp estate in West Sussex, a white stork has made a scruffy nest. The birds made headlines in 2020 when, after an absence of centuries in the UK, the first chick hatched. Alongside bison, beavers and white-tailed eagles, the storks are one of many species reintroduced to Britain in recent decades in an effort to restore animals to ecosystems where they had been wiped out. The oak tree, by contrast, has been here continuously for 12,000 years.
But ecologist Charlie Gardner is worried one of them may not have a future here – and it’s the oak. By 2050, London’s weather could resemble that of Barcelona, with long stretches of summer drought. These ancient trees were not designed to thrive in such conditions. “More and more individual trees will die and reproductive success will fall,” says Gardner. Around the world, millions of creatures facing unprecedented temperatures and habitat loss are on the move. The climate crisis is causing a vast array of species – from algae to butterflies, woodlice to birds – to shift northwards. Species are travelling north at a median rate of 17km a decade, according to 2011 research. That average equates to 20cm an hour – two to three times faster than previous estimates.
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