Green MP tells home secretary sending Just Stop Oil activist to prison is unjust and waste of resources
A 20-month prison sentence handed to a 77-year-old woman for a climate protest on the M25 is disproportionate, unjust and a waste of resources, the Green MP Carla Denyer has said.
In a letter to Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, Denyer called the jailing of Gaie Delap three weeks ago “an example of an ongoing and serious problem with disproportionate sentencing for climate activists”.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
08/22/2024 - 09:11
08/22/2024 - 09:00
With the largest US fossil fuel lobby group at the Democratic convention, some urge VP to prioritize crisis in her speech
As Donald Trump accuses Kamala Harris of waging “war on American energy”, some advocates are pressing the vice-president to embrace a bold climate message at the Democratic national convention this week.
Harris will have a major opportunity to lay out her key platform as she accepts the Democratic party’s presidential nomination on Thursday evening. Some are hoping climate features heavily in her speech.
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08/22/2024 - 08:53
Just cutting carbon emissions will not prevent climate breakdown, says Susana Muhamad before Cop16 in Colombia
Humanity risks catastrophic global heating if it focuses only on decarbonisation at the expense of restoring the natural world, Colombia’s environment minister has said in the lead-up to the world’s key nature summit later this year.
Susana Muhamad, who will be president of the UN biodiversity Cop16 summit in Cali in October, said that a singular focus on cutting carbon emissions while failing to restore and protect natural ecosystems would be “dangerous for humanity” and risk societal collapse.
Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow the biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on X for all the latest news and features
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08/22/2024 - 07:00
A quarter of all incidents, such as destruction of dams, pipelines and treatment plants, seen in Gaza Strip and West Bank
Israeli attacks on Palestinian water supplies in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip accounted for a quarter of all water-related violence in 2023, as armed conflicts over dwindling resources surged globally, according to new research.
Almost 350 water conflicts were documented worldwide in 2023, a 50% rise on 2022, which was also a record year, according to the Pacific Institute, a California-based non partisan thinktank tracking water violence. The violence included attacks on dams, pipelines, wells, treatment plants and workers, as well as public unrest and disputes over access to water, and the use of water as a weapon of war.
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08/22/2024 - 02:00
I’ve relearned the meaning of seasonality – and how fragile the natural systems that sustain us really are
A few months ago, when I received an email about an available allotment in my area, I struggled to remember when I had signed up for one. It turns out I had done so two years ago, fuelled by my envy for those with gardens during lockdown. Back then, all I wanted was a small bit of outdoor space that felt like my own, to plant flowers, herbs and, at a push, some chillies. A place where I could read and write in the sun, safe from distractions.
Now I was being presented a half plot of available land (125 square metres!) with an established apple tree in the middle – which I mistook for a cherry because of its pink blossom. “You’ll have to have a trial period, to see how you get on,” the woman showing me around said. She meant business. The plot, which was bigger than I could dream of, was beautiful but overgrown – getting it started would require proper graft. I wasn’t sure I had it in me.
Diyora Shadijanova is a journalist and writer
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08/22/2024 - 01:00
Permits for coal-fired power plants drop by 83% despite leading world in construction as focus turns to renewables
Coal-fired power is still enjoying a construction boom in China, but a marked slowdown in the permitting of future plants has given experts hope that the world’s biggest emitter may be turning a corner.
China led the world in the construction of new coal-fired power plants in the first half of 2024, with work beginning on more than 41GW of new generation capacity, data published on Thursday showed.
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08/22/2024 - 00:18
Sea Life Sydney Aquarium keeper describes the unique and ‘very beautiful’ singing scene that unfolded as Sphen’s partner, Magic, and the gentoo colony were taken to see Sphen
There wasn’t a dry eye among staff at Sydney’s Sea Life Aquarium as Magic and his fellow gentoo penguins cried out, mourning the loss of Sphen in an emotional scene never before witnessed by employees.
Sphen, whose same-sex love story with Magic made the couple globally famous, appeared to die of natural causes as he approached his 12th birthday, the aquarium confirmed on Thursday morning.
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08/22/2024 - 00:00
An associate professor in marine biology explains her fascination with the surprisingly diverse animals – and how they could help to address the climate crisis
Read more in this series
I found my first encounter with sea worms a little terrifying. I got into studying them because I was fascinated by a question: how can something as simple as a worm living in the mud in an estuary in Newcastle know exactly what day of the year it is, so that the whole population is able to reproduce on the same day?
So in the first days of my PhD, I visited a worm farm in Newcastle where they were growing worms to sell as fishing bait.
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08/21/2024 - 23:00
Satellite image analysis shows 329 hectares of forest cleared during development of factory in Germany
The development of a Tesla gigafactory near Berlin has resulted in about 500,000 trees being felled, according to satellite analysis.
The building of the German factory has been highly controversial and attracted significant protests, as well as prompting a debate about the trade-offs involved in developing a green economy.
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08/21/2024 - 23:00
How the five-year real-life friendship between a retired Brazilian fisher and Magellanic penguin became a movie
The film My Penguin Friend has two main characters – one played by a Hollywood star and the other by a newcomer – but there was no doubt on set about who should be the most pampered.
The first-timer had a “trailer” with a natural saltwater pool and only worked until 3pm. To keep the star from being bitten by a mosquito from the tropical Brazilian beach, a flamethrower would clear the path before and after each scene.
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