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From fracking to North Sea drilling, party’s leaders and members give climate solutions the cold shoulder at conference
“Climate change is happening,” said Herbert Crossman, a pensioner from Harrow. “I don’t think we need to bring the country to its knees to stop it, though.”
Twelve thousand people are supposed to be attending Reform UK’s party conference in Birmingham over three days this week (according to Reform at least), and Crossman is one of them. Their leader, Nigel Farage, has said it is “ridiculous” to refer to carbon dioxide as a pollutant and added: “I can’t tell you whether CO2 is leading to warming or not”. The party deputy, Richard Tice, has said it is “absolute garbage” to claim that human activity is the main cause of the climate crisis.
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These wildfires tend to burn in more remote areas and grow larger faster, posing a higher risk to public safety and health
The climate crisis will continue making lightning-sparked wildfires more frequent for decades to come, which could produce cascading effects and worsen public safety and public health, experts and new research suggest.
Lightning-caused fires tend to burn in more remote areas and therefore usually grow into larger fires than human-caused fires. That means a trend toward more lightning-caused fires is also probably making wildfires more deadly by producing more wildfire smoke and helping to drive a surge in air quality issues from coast to coast, especially over the past several years.
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Maureen Gilbert, 83, was discovered drowned in her home after river in Chesterfield overflowed
The son of an 83-year-old woman who died during Storm Babet has called for more money to be invested in protecting homes from flooding.
An inquest at Chesterfield coroner’s court heard on Friday that Maureen Gilbert drowned in her home in Chesterfield after the River Rother overflowed on 21 October 2023 during the storm.
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Parents question if synthetic fabrics, one of the most significant environmental pollutants, are suitable for children
Hugo Keane’s investigation into polyester began at home. He had just started year 7 but, thanks to Covid, he was stuck knocking about at home in Camden, north London.
“It was kind of a family pandemic project,” said his mother, Alexandra Milenov. “He sat down with my husband and did the calculations on the microplastic release of three items of his uniform: the blazer, the PE T-shirt and the shorts.”
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Rather than leave unwanted paint to go to waste, Community RePaint is using it to transform local communities
It’s a rare household that does not have a rusting tin of paint sitting around in a dark cupboard somewhere. About 55m litres of paint go to waste in the UK every year, which is why one organisation is trying to create a circular paint economy by recycling it.
Community RePaint is a UK-wide paint reuse network that collects leftover paint from drop-off points and redistributes it to individuals and groups in the community. They started in 1992 as a research project in Leeds called the Waste Wagon, led by a consortium of waste and recycling organisations and set up in response to concern from the local authority about the high cost of paint disposal and issues around household hazardous waste. The goal was to find out how many homes had paint to dispose of, and how much.
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Survey of eight countries finds 82% of people support 30x30 biodiversity target, as progress stalls on protected areas
Much of the world favours protecting 30% of the world’s land and water for nature by 2030, according to new research that has found overwhelming public support for the goal across eight countries on five continents.
Nearly 200 nations agreed in 2022 to set aside 30% of the world’s land and 30% of marine areas for nature. But just 17.6% of the world’s land and 8.6% of the seas are now under global protection, and more than 100 nations are less than halfway to meeting the target, which was established under the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
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Exclusive: Analysis shows farmers ploughing to the edge of waterways, destroying crucial wildlife ecosystems
Huge tracts of precious riverside habitats for water voles and other wildlife in England are being lost as they are not covered by post-Brexit farming rules, campaigners warn.
New analysis by the Wildlife Trusts found more than 400square km of riverside habitat in England may have been lost since the UK left the EU in 2020.
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Senator Andrew McLachlan is preparing to back an ambitious 2035 emissions target, putting him on a collision course with some Coalition colleagues
A Liberal senator believes the Coalition should not even be debating net zero and says he is prepared to support an ambitious 2035 emissions reduction target, warning that only a “brave soul” would defy whatever number the Climate Change Authority recommends later this month.
Andrew McLachlan, a self-described conservationist from South Australia, also suggests market interventions such as carbon pricing should be considered to force the scale of change needed to rapidly decarbonise the economy.
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After a years-long battle, organic dairy ranches are being expelled from Point Reyes national seashore to revitalize the ecosystem
Rodd Kelsey gazed out on the golden slopes of Point Reyes national seashore sweeping down to the rugged California coastline, pointing to the patches laden with invasive stalks of prickly thistle and browning sod. These are some of the hallmarks of the region’s recent history, he said – but they also showcase the opportunities for its future.
A new chapter is unfolding on the striking landscape located some 70 miles (113km) north of San Francisco. The unique patchwork of wild and pastoral ranges operated by the National Park Service (NPS) has spent decades mired in battles between local ranchers operating on the lands and environmentalists who see their presence as a blight.
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Textile artists are reshaping how the theatre makes its costumes with the aim of replacing harsh synthetic dyes
Squint at the roof of the grey, brutalist National Theatre on London’s South Bank and you might be able to spy a riot of colour spilling from the concrete.
This is the theatre’s new natural dye garden, from which flowers are being picked to create the colours for the costumes worn in the theatre’s plays.
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