Tag: Environmental

The Observatory issued the No 10 signal at 9.40am as Severe Typhoon Mangkhut buffeted the city with powerful winds. Hong Kong was faced with a total shutdown on Sunday, with flights cancelled, villagers evacuated from low-lying areas, and government departments are activating their emergency response plans. Mangkhut, named after the

A team of scientists and engineers will on Saturday begin an ambitious clean-up of plastics in the Pacific Ocean targeting a stretch of water three times the size of France known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. A 600m-long floating barrier will be launched off the coast of San Francisco and,

The secretive trade of coastal sand to wealthy countries such as China is seriously damaging the wildlife of poorer nations whose resources are being plundered, according to a new study. Sand and gravel are the most extracted groups of materials worldwide after water, with sand used in the concrete and asphalt

A proposal to mechanically dredge kelp forests off the coast of Scotland has led to an outcry from conservationists, who say it would destroy local ecosystems. Ayr-based company Marine Biopolymers has approached Marine Scotland to apply for a licence to use a comb-like device that pulls entire kelp plants from the bed. To inform the

It is known affectionately as Belgium’s answer to St Tropez – a town once frequented by Frank Sinatra and Marlene Dietrich and which has inspired the pop art of Keith Haring and surrealism of René Magritte, who painted the walls of the town’s casino. But now the chic, if slightly

The entire state of NSW is now impacted by drought, official figures show. A drier-than-expected June and July have left many farmers with failing crops, a short supply of water and diminishing livestock feed. According to the NSW Department of Primary Industries, 61% of NSW is either in drought or

The recycling crisis is forcing us all to consider what to do with our waste, but recycling should be the last resort for the global problem of plastic pollution. In her new book Turning the Tide on Plastic, eco-lifestyle expert and regular Guardian contributor Lucy Siegle sets out a better

Throughout the 1950s, the US, the Soviet Union, and others tested thermonuclear weapons in the Earth’s atmosphere. Those tests released vast quantities of radioactive material into the air and triggered fears that the nuclear reactions could ignite deuterium in the oceans, thereby destroying the planet in a catastrophic accidental fireball.

Tens of thousands of brightly coloured plastic drinks bottles tumble from the back of a truck on to a conveyor belt before disappearing slowly inside a warehouse on the outskirts of Oslo. As a workman picks up a few Coke bottles that have escaped, Kjell Olav Maldum looks on. “It

Emily Kavanaugh is standing in her skincare-product shop, Pure Nuff Stuff, on Chapel Street. The narrow lane leads down towards the Jubilee pool, the triangular lido that juts like a ship’s prow into the sea from Penzance. “Here, try one,” Kavanaugh says, handing me a piece of packing material. The

A mysterious surge in emissions of an illegal ozone-destroying chemical has been tracked down to plastic foam manufacturers in China, according to an on-the-ground investigation published on Monday. The chemical, trichlorofluoromethane or CFC-11, has been banned around the world since 2010 and is a potent destroyer of ozone, which protects life

From his balcony above Marseille’s port, Jean-Pierre Eyraud has a prime view of the giant, luxury cruise liners that dock in the city bringing 1.5 million passengers a year. But since Eyraud was diagnosed four years ago with throat cancer – a diagnosis several others in his neighbourhood by the port have

Temperature rises as a result of global warming could eventually be double what has been projected by climate models, according to an international team of researchers from 17 countries. Sea levels could also rise by six metres or more even if the world does meet the 2-degree target of the Paris accord. The

As a boy growing up in Sikkim, the Indian state nestled below the Himalayas, Rajendra Gurung remembers how, before leaving the house to go shopping, his parents would always ask each other: “Have you got the bag?” Back then, no shopkeeper used plastic bags. Families took their own, made of

Smog more toxic than can be measured by monitoring devices has blanketed the Indian capital this week, months before the start of Delhi’s traditional “pollution season.” A thick haze was visible across the city from Tuesday, and some government pollution monitors have recorded concentrations of 999 – the highest they

Ice in the Antarctic is melting at a record-breaking rate, and the subsequent sea rises could have catastrophic consequences for cities around the world, according to two new studies. A report led by scientists in the UK and the US found the rate of melting from the Antarctic ice sheet

With advances in transportation and information technology, even the most remote places on Earth are within reach of the traveller. In fact, tourism is now the world’s largest industry, with nature tourism the fastest growing segment. People want to experience nature and the world, but should try to do so in a way

Overfishing occurs when more fish are caught than the population can replace through natural reproduction. Gathering as many fish as possible may seem like a profitable practice, but overfishing has serious consequences. The results not only affect the balance of life in the oceans, but also the social and economic

Avoiding meat and dairy products is the single biggest way to reduce your environmental impact on the planet, according to the scientists behind the most comprehensive analysis to date of the damage farming does to the planet. The new research shows that without meat and dairy consumption, global farmland use

Beijing is slowly shedding its image as the world’s most polluted city. In 2013, it ranked as the 40th worst city for the particulate PM2.5 in the World Health Organisation global database. Four years on, thanks in part to a crackdown on polluters, it stands in 187th place. Air pollution in the 62

A census of the biomass on Earth is key for understanding the structure and dynamics of the biosphere. However, a global, quantitative view of how the biomass of different taxa compares with one another is still lacking. In The Biomass Distribution on Earth by Yinon M. Bar-On, Rob Phillips, and Ron Milo,

One third of the world’s protected lands are being degraded by human activities and are not fit for purpose, according to a new study. Six million sq km of forests, parks and conservation areas are under “intense human pressure” from mining, logging and farming. Countries rich and poor, are quick

CFCs have been outlawed for years, but researchers have detected new production somewhere in East Asia. A sharp and mysterious rise in emissions of a key ozone-destroying chemical has been detected by scientists, despite its production being banned around the world. Unless the culprit is found and stopped, the recovery

Living next to an erratic, nuclear-armed North Korea is not the most distressing aspect of life in South Korea, according to a new study. That distinction goes to air pollution, ranked number one in a national survey. The spectre of North Korea’s nuclear programme ranked fifth, after economic stagnation, the South’s