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Watchdog has faced intense criticism over sewage spills, shareholder payouts and ballooning debts
England and Wales’ embattled water regulator will be abolished under recommendations from a government-commissioned review due out on Monday, the Guardian understands.
Ministers will announce next week a consultation into creating a new regulator, to coincide with the results of a review into the water industry directed by former Bank of England deputy governor Sir Jon Cunliffe.
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World’s fourth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases pays lip service to tackling climate crisis and, with fossil fuels central to regime’s legitimacy, it seems happier with status quo
Source of figures at top: World Economic Outlook
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Head gardeners try out more diverse and drought-resistant plants from around the world, with fascinating results
Rare succulents, palm and monkey puzzle trees, beaked yucca and oriental hornbeams are just some of the new features in the historic gardens of England, as head gardeners get to grips with the changing climate this summer.
In the historic Grade I-listed landscape at Sheffield Park and Garden in Sussex, designed in the 18th century by Capability Brown and Humphry Repton and famed for its rhododendrons and azaleas, the National Trust has planted a “more resilient” garden. It features drought-resistant flowers and trees from South America, Australasia and the Mediterranean.
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Rules to prevent ‘enormous waste’ of fuel are seen as weak and poorly enforced and firms have little incentive to stop
The fossil fuel industry pumped an extra 389m tonnes of carbon pollution into the atmosphere last year by needlessly flaring gas, a World Bank report has found, in an “enormous waste” of fuel that heats the planet by about as much as the country of France.
Flaring is a way to get rid of gases such as methane that arise when pumping oil out of the ground. While it can sometimes keep workers safe by relieving buildups of pressure, the practice is routine in many countries because it is often cheaper to burn gas than to capture, transport, process and sell it.
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Big Butterfly Count asks volunteers to spend 15 minutes in local green space with big recovery expected after 2024’s dramatic decline
People are being urged to help measure the scale of Britain’s butterfly bounceback after last summer’s dramatic decline with this year’s launch of the world’s biggest insect survey.
The Big Butterfly Count asks volunteers to spend 15 minutes in a local green space counting the butterflies and day-flying moths they see. Results of the survey, which takes place from 18 July to 10 August, can be logged on the Butterfly Conservation charity’s website or via its free app.
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Temperature on lee side of mountain can be several degrees higher, which benefits farmers but also brings perils
One benefit of living on the lee side of a mountain – the side that is sheltered from the prevailing wind – is a micro-climate caused by the Foehn effect. Cold air pushed up one side of a mountain condenses and releases its moisture and then, as this air descends on the other side, it expands and warms. In Scotland the temperature can be 10C higher on one side of a mountain than the other and much drier.
Anywhere that has mountains will experience the Foehn effect, and the higher the mountains the greater the warming. In the Alps and North America, where mountain ranges are covered in glaciers and snow, this sudden rise in temperature can trigger avalanches, especially in the spring. The Foehn effect’s advantage, where there is a fairly consistent prevailing wind, is that farmers get an earlier and longer growing season on the lee side of the mountain range. The simple rule is that whichever way the wind is blowing from, it is going to be warmer on the other side of the hill.
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Initial £15.5m will go to schemes such as launch of large regional park to improving green spaces along canals
A coalition of environmental and heritage bodies has launched a billion-pound mission to bring nature into the heart of urban areas in the UK.
The first phase of the NatureTowns and Cities initiative will involve £15.5m being invested in 40 towns and cities across the four nations.
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Curbing waste, eating a plant-rich diet and limiting ultra-processed food (and sadly, coffee and chocolate) will dramatically reduce your carbon footprint
Food production globally accounts for nearly 30% of greenhouse gas emissions, with the average Australian diet contributing more than 3kg of Co2 per person per day. And what’s worse, we waste about 35% of the food we bring home. If we keep this up, it has been estimated the already unsustainable environmental cost of the food system will nearly double by 2050.
Calculating the precise impact your individual food choices have on the environment isn’t simple, but research suggests the actions we can take to bring that impact down are – and they aren’t just better for the environment, they’re better for our health too.
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Piles of waste line the streets of Manshiyet Nasr, turning it into a no-go zone for many. But a new generation see themselves as agents of change in the fight against plastic pollution
When Mina Nedi graduated with a nursing degree last year, his friends and family expected him to start working in one of Egypt’s overstretched hospitals. Instead, the 25-year-old decided to join his father’s recycling business in Manshiyet Nasr, a neighbourhood on Cairo’s eastern outskirts known as Garbage City.
Every day, he sorts through thousands of plastic bottles, collected by a team of men who roam the city at night to pick up rubbish, separating them by colour and compressing them into large bundles with the help of a machine, ready to be sold for recycling and reuse.
Mina Nedi, 25, has been working as a plastic collector for five years and funded his university education with it
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The bulk of global greenhouse gas emissions come from countries that are not democratic, and many big oil and gas exporters are also authoritarian
When it comes to the climate crisis, how do you negotiate with an autocracy?
It is the case today, and it is almost certain to remain so for the dwindling number of years in which we can hope to stave off the worst of climate breakdown, that the bulk of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions come from countries that are not democratic. Add to that, many of the major suppliers of oil and gas – the Gulf petrostates for instance, plus Russia, Venezuela and a few others – are likewise authoritarian.
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