'The graveyard of the Earth': inside City 40, Russia's deadly nuclear secret
Ozersk, codenamed City 40, was the birthplace of the Soviet nuclear weapons programme. Now it is one of the most contaminated places on the planet – so why do so many residents still view it as a fenced-in paradise? • View the trailer for the documentary City 40 here “Those in paradise were given a […]
Treasury cut to carbon capture will cost UK £30bn, says watchdog
Government says carbon storage technology not cost-efficient, while critics say U-turn will double cost of tackling climate change The government’s cancellation of a pioneering £1bn competition to capture and store carbon emissions may have pushed up the bill for meeting the UK’s climate targets by £30bn, according to a report from the UK’s official spending […]
Hottest ever June marks 14th month of record-breaking temperatures
US agencies Nasa and Noaa say last month was 0.9C hotter than the 20th century average and the hottest June since records began in 1880 As the string of record-breaking global temperatures continues unabated, June 2016 marks the 14th consecutive month of record-breaking heat. According to two US agencies – Nasa and Noaa – June […]
'Mr Coal's' super ministry and the challenges of merging energy with the environment | Dan Cass
Josh Frydenberg has been sworn in as minister for both the environment and energy. Is it a clash of objectives or a brilliant opportunity? Malcolm Turnbull’s decision to merge the environment and energy portfolios could lead to a breakthrough in the toxic climate politics that was unleashed when Tony Abbott rolled him in the December […]
Full of holes: why Australia's mining boom will leave permanent scars
With the coal boom on the wane, mining companies want to escape the cost of rehabilitating their sites. But even if governments effectively restrain them, many of the huge voids in the landscape will never be filled in Australia is teetering on the edge of a massive hole – one left by huge mines that […]
Liberals, celebrities and EU supporters set up progressive movement
The cross-party initiative has the support of Lord Ashdown, Jonathon Porritt and Caroline Criado-Perez, and is looking at fielding candidates in the next general election A new cross-party movement for progressive liberalism that could endorse candidates in favour of the EU and immigration at the next election is being set up by politicians, celebrities and […]
Andrea Leadsom winging it on the environment | Brief letters
Butterflies | AE Housman | Melania Trump | Beards | Wendy Sly It looks like Andrea Leadsom is unconcerned that her children’s children may never see a butterfly unless they climb a mountain (Leadsom’s views make her surprise choice for new role, 15 July), which she sees as a sensible approach to environment planning. Could […]
American farmers are struggling to feed the country's appetite for organic food
Consumer appetite for organic foods reached $13.4bn in the US last year – so why is only 1% of the country’s cropland dedicated to organic farming? Marc Garibaldi, a farmer in California’s Central Valley, no longer uses conventional pesticides and fertilizers because he doesn’t want to work with toxic chemicals at his 40-acre cherry orchard. […]
Philippines won't honour UN climate deal, says president
Duterte says Paris climate pact seeks to dictate to developing countries and limit economic growth, reports Climate Home The Philippines will not honour commitments it made under the Paris climate change deal, president Rodrigo Duterte has said in a speech. “You are trying to stifle us,” Duterte said on Monday in widely reported comments. “That’s […]
England's first stretch of south-eastern national coastal path opens
The 66-mile route takes in Dover’s White Cliffs and Dungeness and is latest section of national coastal route to be completed The first south-eastern stretch of a national trail that will eventually allow people to walk the whole way around England’s coastline has opened. The 66-mile route, which starts in Camber in East Sussex and […]