TransCanada seeks Keystone XL delay, taking decision off Obama's hands
Company asks to suspend permit application with US authorities due to dispute in Nebraska – pushing pipeline issue into next president’s term The company behind the Keystone XL pipeline has asked for its US permit application to be put on hold – a move that would leave the final decision on the controversial tar sands […]
Disrupting fog likely to return for a third day, say forecasters
The extreme weather conditions – which caused 10% of flights from Heathrow to be cancelled on Monday – are expected to clear by Tuesday afternoon Forecasters have warned that the thick fog which has been causing disruption at UK airports is likely to return for a third day on Tuesday. A total of 129 flights […]
Amnesty report accuses Shell of failing to clean up Niger delta oil spills
After examining four oil polluted sites in the Niger delta, the human rights group says they remain ‘visibly contaminated’, though Shell says it has cleaned them Four oil spill sites in Nigeria identified by the UN, which Shell has claimed to have had cleaned up by contractors since 2011, are still polluted, says a report […]
Q&A: Australia is 'destroying its life support systems’, says ecologist – video
Speaking on ABC’s Q&A program on Monday, the doomsday ecologist Paul Ehrlich says Australia is waging a ‘very successful war on the environment’ and is destroying its life support systems. The academic tells the audience that the country is working towards becoming a third world nation due to its reliance on coal exports Read the […]
Melting ice in west Antarctica could raise seas by 3m, warns study
Nasa research finds ice in the region has gone into ‘irreversible retreat’ and claims effect is ‘unstoppable’ A key area of ice in west Antarctica may already be unstable enough to cause global sea levels to rise by 3m, scientists said on Monday. The study follows research published last year, led by Nasa glaciologist Eric […]
Gas companies treated staff at industry regulator to cocktail parties and ballet
Gasfields Commission Queensland, which works to improve relations between gas companies and farmers, also declared plane flights and private dinners Gas companies and lobbyists treated senior figures from the Queensland industry regulator to tickets to the Australian ballet, corporate boxes at football games and cocktail parties as part of thousands of dollars in hospitality. Staff […]
French weatherman fired for promoting book sceptical of climate change
Philippe Verdier of state-owned channel France 2 was taken off air in October for his book attacking ‘complete hype on the climate’ A weather forecaster for French state television has been fired after releasing and promoting a book criticising politicians, scientists and others for what he calls an exaggerated view of climate change. Philippe Verdier’s […]
Q&A: mining will turn Australia into a third-world country, says ecologist Paul Ehrlich
Ehrlich warns ‘you are destroying your life support systems here’ and says his prediction of a 90% chance civilisation will collapse in 50 years is based on ‘gut feeling’ Australia is “working to become a third-world country” through its economic dependence on mining natural resources for export and reliance on coalmining, according to doomsday ecologist […]
Potent greenhouse gases should have no place in our air conditioning units | Gina McCarthy
Chemicals in cooling and refrigeration systems can be far more destructive to the environment than carbon dioxide. It’s time to phase them out Our planet’s fragile ozone layer is on a path toward full restoration by about 2050. But there’s a hitch: the success has hinged largely on replacing ozone-depleting substances with hydrofluorocarbon (HFCs) – […]
Germany's planned nuclear switch-off drives energy innovation
While Britain visualises a nuclear future, Angela Merkel’s aim of replacing it with renewables by 2022 is well under way Hinkley Point will be the first nuclear power plant to be built in Europe since the meltdown of Japan’s Fukushima reactor in 2011. But while the British government sees nuclear energy as a safe and […]