Environment

The New York Times magazine blames ‘human nature,’ but fingers have already been pointed at the true culprits

Last week’s issue of the New York Times magazine was devoted to a single story by Nathaniel Rich that explored how close we came to an international climate agreement in 1989, and why we failed. The piece is worth reading – it’s a well-told, mostly accurate, and very informative story about a key decade in climate science and policy history. But sadly, it explicitly excuses the key players responsible for our continued failure.

Exclusive: Figures released after eight-month FOI battle by the Guardian shows clearing spiked sharply in 2015-16

Only two prosecutions for illegal land-clearing were launched in New South Wales in 2015-16, down from 10 the previous year, the long-awaited report card on the state of land-clearing shows.

However, the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) appears to have had more success with cases already under way the year before, with four convictions secured, up from just one in 2014-15.

Jamie Smith has had two vehicles stolen from his farm in Worcestershire in 15 months

Jamie Smith’s Worcestershire farm has been broken into three times in 15 months. On the first two occasions, he had a quad bike stolen. In the most recent burglary, two months ago, his workshop was broken into but fortunately his quad bike was not there.

The 65-year-old, who has been a farmer for 30 years, estimates that over the same 15-month period about 35 quad bikes have been stolen from farms in a 20-mile stretch from Pershore through to Moreton-in-Marsh in Gloucestershire.

Farmers put up earth banks and dry ditches to block criminals who use 4 x 4 vehicles to get on to farm land

Farmers are resorting to medieval methods to combat rural crime which has risen to its highest level in four years, an increase being blamed on organised criminal gangs and policing cuts.

Offences against farmers and other rural businesses cost an estimated £44.5m last year, an increase of 13.4% from 2016, according to insurer NFU (National Farmers Union) Mutual.

NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro speaks with author Vince Beiser about his new book, The World in a Grain. The book tells the story of sand and the crucial role it plays in our lives.

Lump-sum payments of up to $12,000 just the beginning of long-term response, says PM

Farmers will get up to $12,000 in cash payments to help them and their communities fight one of the worst droughts of the past century.

The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, on Sunday returned to a farm at Trangie in central New South Wales to announce the $190m relief package which includes a boost for mental health services.

Shadow environment minister says researchers would be forced to apply to private foundation for taxpayer funds

The shadow environment minister has condemned the “completely unprecedented” grant of $444m to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, claiming the not-for-profit group “doesn’t yet know what it’s going to do with the money”.

Appearing on ABC’s Insiders on Sunday, Tony Burke questioned the appropriateness of conditions on the federal funding, which he said would allow the foundation to lobby the mining industry for sponsorship but force researchers to apply to the private foundation to get taxpayer funds.

The Trump administration has rolled back Obama-era fuel efficiency standards. NPR's Don Gonyea speaks with John McElroy, host of the TV show Autoline, about how car manufacturers are responding.

A European court tightens rules on genetically engineered foods while the U.S. approves a "bleeding" veggie burger that relies on gene editing, sending mixed messages to the industry and consumers.

(Image credit: Gregor Fischer/Getty Images)

Alerts issued in Portugal and Spain as Met Office forecasts 31C for southern England

Much of southern Europe is sweltering in near record-breaking temperatures with the mercury expected to exceed 45C (113F).

A scorching 46C was forecast for Setúbal, near Lisbon, on Saturday, as emergency services in Portugal issued a red alert until Sunday and urged people to avoid picnics and outdoor activities.

Environmentalists say lifting the restriction poses a grave threat to pollinating insects

The Trump administration has rescinded an Obama-era ban on the use of pesticides linked to declining bee populations and the cultivation of genetically modified crops in dozens of national wildlife refuges where farming is permitted.

Environmentalists, who had sued to bring about the two-year-old ban, said on Friday that lifting the restriction poses a grave threat to pollinating insects and other sensitive creatures relying on toxic-free habitats afforded by wildlife refuges.

The water, collected by scientists with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, measured 78.6 degrees Fahrenheit. "It really is weird," a research scientist said. It all started with the blob.

(Image credit: Tim Buss/Flickr)

NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Satchit Balsari, a research fellow at Harvard Medical School and the T.H. Chan School of Public Health about his estimate of Puerto Rico's death toll following Hurricane Maria and recommendations for preparedness.

A quarter of a million roosting gannets in Yorkshire, an orca whale mother keeps her dead calf afloat and Norwegian reindeer seek cool in busy road tunnels – it’s the week in wildlife

Should we concentrate farming in a small area, or spread it out to reduce the environmental impact? It's a dilemma farmers face as they feed a growing planet. A new study weighs in.

(Image credit: Oxbow Farm & Conservation Center)

What happens when our smart toaster and smart fridge tech is scaled up to create entire smart cities – and what are the limits to this expansion?

Subscribe and review: Acast, Apple, Spotify, SoundCloud, AudioBoom,Mixcloud. Join the discussion on Facebook, Twitter or email us at chipspodcast@theguardian.com.

The term “smart city” is widely used and recognised – but there’s some disagreement over what exactly makes a city smart. If you take the core concept of a city that is made more efficient, sustainable, or just more enjoyable based on information gathered, most are cities smart already. When it comes to gathering the data that enables these improvements, what are the limits?

Bank helped create reserve for endangered primates, but has since funded studies used to approve dam that would flood newly created habitat

Less than a year after it helped to create one of the planet’s most important chimpanzee sanctuaries, the World Bank is accused of backing a dam project that could flood the newly protected habitat.

The 6,426 square-kilomet re Moyen-Bafing national park was established by the government of Guinea last November with the support of the International Finance Corporation , the private sector lending arm of the World Bank.

Citizens urged to wage all-out battle to preserve food stocks amid ‘unprecedented’ drought

The North Korean government has called on its people to wage an “all-out battle” against a record heatwave as the country’s already fragile crops face drought and the authorities struggle to respond.

The drought represented an “unprecedented natural disaster”, reported the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the mouthpiece of the ruling Workers’ party. It urged citizens to “join the struggle” to save food production in a country that is no stranger to famine. Temperatures have reached more than 40C (104F) in some regions since late July and there have been sporadic reports of deaths from the heat.

Human carbon pollution is melting the Arctic, but aerosol pollution is slowing it down

The Arctic is one of the “canaries in the coal mine” for climate change. Long ago, scientists predicted it would warm quicker than other parts of the planet, and they were right. Currently, the Arctic is among the fastest-warming places on the planet. Part of the reason is that as the Arctic warms, ice melts and ocean water is uncovered. The ocean is darker than ice so it in turn absorbs more sunlight and increases its warming. This is a feedback loop.

Another reason is that the Arctic doesn’t get that much sunlight so increased energy from the atmosphere has a bigger influence there than it would have elsewhere.

Rachel Martin talks to Margo Oge, who helped develop the Environmental Protection Agency's emission standards, about the Trump administration's decision to weaken efficiency requirements.