Toxic emissions, health risks and leaching pollution – better management of landfill sites is a matter of urgency
Last summer, people living around the perimeter of Pilsworth South landfill in Bury, Greater Manchester, couldn’t open their windows because of the elevated levels of hydrogen sulphide in the air. Referred to as “sewer gas”, its rotten-egg stench can be particularly unbearable at night. Even driving past with the windows closed on the M66, as I do regularly to drop my child at a local play centre, I have gagged at the overpowering smell.
Including Pilsworth, there are 15 odorous landfills across the UK. Hafod landfill in Wrexham is the latest to hit the headlines. Another in Northern Ireland was so noxious before its decommissioning that it was subject to a supreme court ruling and now an appeal. Meanwhile, several others have breached their licences through overtipping, odour issues or poor management, forcing them to undertake engineering solutions to rectify the problems. These remedial works can make things worse in the short term, with smells created when rubbish is disturbed.
Continue reading...
Breaking Waves: Ocean News
10/19/2024 - 05:00
10/18/2024 - 23:00
World Without End topped bestseller lists but was criticised for embracing nuclear power
In 2019, France’s best known climate expert sat down to work with its most feted graphic novelist. The result? Perhaps the most terrifying comic ever drawn.
Part history, part analysis, part vision for the future, World Without End weaves the story of humanity’s rapacious appetite for fossil fuel energy, how it has made possible the society people take for granted, and its disastrous effects on the climate.
Continue reading...
10/18/2024 - 18:39
Residents told to flee as firefighters battle blaze, with two homes burned and several others damaged
A fast-moving fire fed by strong winds burned two homes on Friday and damaged several others in a hillside neighborhood in the city of Oakland, where roughly 500 people were ordered to evacuate, officials said.
Damon Covington, the city’s fire chief, said that at about 1.30pm, calls had come in reporting a fire in front of a home in the Oakland hills. Crews arrived as the inferno quickly grew with winds ranging from calm breezes to 40mph (64km/h) gusts during red-flag conditions.
Continue reading...
10/18/2024 - 17:00
NSW Maritime executive director says balls appear to be made up of fatty acids, chemicals found in cleaning and cosmetic products, and fuel oil
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
A baffling tar ball emergency that closed major beaches in Sydney’s eastern suburbs appears to be over.
The remaining beaches closed to bathers at Coogee, Maroubra and Clovelly have been cleared to reopen on Saturday after Bondi and several others reopened on Friday.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email
Continue reading...
10/18/2024 - 15:25
New research shows how human activities, like fertilizer use and polluting, are impacting nitrogen-fixing plants which are crucial for maintaining healthy ecosystems by adding nitrogen to the soil.
10/18/2024 - 11:00
Democratic presidential nominee has raised alarm about Trump’s plans but has not said much about her own
US politics – live updates
As the US south-east struggles to rebuild after two deadly and climate-fueled hurricanes, some environmental advocates are demanding Kamala Harris flesh out a strong climate plan.
Since Hurricanes Helene and Milton ravaged parts of the country, the vice-president has slammed Donald Trump’s climate record by airing a new campaign ad showing the oft-criticized moment the former president redrew a hurricane’s path with a marker, and taking aim at Trump’s spread of climate misinformation and history of withholding disaster aid.
Continue reading...
10/18/2024 - 09:30
Campaigners point out it is often cheaper to drive or even fly within the UK than take the train
Fuel duty is expected to rise by up to 7p a litre after the budget, with speculation intensifying that the chancellor will restore inflationary rises as well as ending the temporary cut.
Environmental and transport campaigners have urged Rachel Reeves to bring the cost of motoring more in line with other forms of transport, after more than a decade of fuel duty freezes at the pumps and heavy increases in rail fares.
Continue reading...
10/18/2024 - 09:00
Lowering voltage about 5% could lower emissions and save customers on the national electricity market around $110 a year, research shows
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Ever wondered why your trusty toaster abruptly failed or your widescreen TV suddenly went on the fritz, far too early in the life of the appliance?
Excessively high voltage levels might be to blame for their premature demise, energy experts say.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email
Continue reading...
10/18/2024 - 07:00
Ed Miliband seems happy to see the landscape blighted. We value townscape – everywhere else has to fend for itself
Does Labour believe in beauty? The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, celebrated his arrival in office this summer by permitting three of the largest solar panel arrays in Britain. One, a Suffolk array covering nearly 2,800 acres, was described by a county councillor as “the poorest infrastructure application that I have ever dealt with”.
Now Miliband is demanding a procession of pylons filling the glorious Amber Valley in the Derbyshire uplands. Another parade of 420 pylons, each nearly as tall as Nelson’s column, will run down the east of England from Grimsby to Walpole, near King’s Lynn in Norfolk. The government also wants to allow the return of onshore wind turbines, overriding local objections.
Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...
10/18/2024 - 07:00
Government accused of ‘shocking’ choice to dilute protection standards in first animal welfare policy
Labour is using its first animal welfare policy since entering government to dilute standards by legalising the harmful practice of carrying chickens by their legs, charities have said.
European transport regulation 1/2005, which still applies in the UK, prohibits lifting chickens by their legs on farms and during loading and unloading, but the government is going to change the law to permit the widespread but illegal method, according to the Animal Law Foundation.
Continue reading...
