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We asked you to tell us about the time you crossed from one side of the debate to the other
I first thought it was fake as I used to watch Fox News with my family. In 2015 I met my partner Stephen who knew that the facts of climate change couldn’t be ignored. He took it upon himself to try to convince me. We started watching documentaries on the subject on Netflix. The first documentary that caught my attention was Cowspiracy directed by Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn. This documentary really hit home and I even wrote an essay on it. Then came What the Health by the same directors. After we watched the movie Stephen and I turned to an all plant-based diet. We have our ups and downs on staying true to our new lifestyle change, but we always keep in mind that for every burger we don’t eat that is 660 gallons of water that we are saving for others in need. I was lucky enough that Stephen took the time and saw that if I could see the issues I would see that the facts are true.
Continue reading...Hit by record droughts and rainfall and wildfires, California leads the way in tackling global warming
In 1988 – the same year Nasa’s James Hansen warned Congress about the threats posed by human-caused global warming – water expert Peter Gleick wrote about the wet and dry extremes that it would create for California:
California will get the worst of all possible worlds – more flooding in the winter, less available water in the summer.
most of California will likely experience a 100 – 200% increase in the frequency of very wet November-March “rainy seasons” … California will likely experience an increase of anywhere from 50% to 150% (highest in the south) in the frequency of very dry November-March periods … Since California is so dependent on precipitation during its relatively brief winter rainy season, even a single dry winter can quickly lead to adverse drought impacts upon agriculture and the environment.
The most dramatic impacts include wildfires that are larger and more frequent, and the most severe drought since recordkeeping began. Underlying these events is a long-term warming trend that has accelerated since the mid-1970s. In addition, spring snowmelt runoff is decreasing, sea levels are rising, glaciers are shrinking, lakes and ocean waters are warming, and plants and animals are migrating.
Continue reading...LNG was major contributor to 1.5% rise in year to December 2017, government data shows
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Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions continue to soar, increasing for the third consecutive year according to new data published by the Department of Environment and Energy.
The Turnbull government published new quarterly emissions data late on Friday which reveals Australia’s climate pollution increased by 1.5% in the year to December 2017.
Related: Emissions increases approved by regulator may wipe out $260m of Direct Action cuts
Related: Clean energy financier invests $150m in infrastructure fund to lower emissions
Continue reading...Fed up with waiting for the older generation to sort out its problems, a growing number of teenage activists are taking matters into their own hands. Here, six motivated people reveal why they’ve decided to fight for a better world
In a political climate where most adults are inert with despair, a growing number of teenagers are responding with action. After 14 children and three adults were massacred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, it was students – not parents, teachers or political representatives – who organised themselves to campaign for changes to US gun laws. The March for Our Lives demonstration in Washington, DC on 24 March was accompanied by sister marches around the world: millions of young people supporting each other and demanding policy reform. Lead campaigner Emma González, a high-school student who now has more than 1.5m Twitter followers, made a call to arms for her peers to: “Fight for your lives before it’s someone else’s job.”
González is one of many teenagers shattering the stereotypes of the lazy, entitled, self-obsessed millennial. More and more teenagers are noisily questioning the world they’re inheriting and demanding things work differently. Here, we meet some of the young activists whose voices are increasingly impossible to dismiss.
Continue reading...A former Tory cabinet minister is backing efforts to force through tough green laws after Brexit, amid anger over plans that would weaken environmental protections once Britain leaves the European Union.
Four former environment and climate change secretaries from three parties told the Observer they had concerns about “toothless” plans announced by the government last week, which suggested the new post-Brexit green watchdog would lack the power to take the government to court.
Gove’s watchdog is a toothless mutt
Related: Campaigners attack plan for new watchdog to protect environment after Brexit
Continue reading...Gore says pipeline expansion in Canada ‘would be a step backward in our efforts to solve the climate crisis’
Al Gore has thrown his support behind opponents of a contentious Canadian pipeline project and condemned the planned expansion as federal officials in Canada scramble to ensure it goes ahead.
“The Kinder Morgan pipeline carrying dirty tar sands oil would be a step backward in our efforts to solve the climate crisis,” Gore tweeted on Thursday.
Related: 'Our land is our home': Canadians build tiny homes in bid to thwart pipeline
Continue reading...In our next We Need to Talk About podcast, we’ll consider the key questions in adopting a plant-based lifestyle. What are your views?
Supporters’ voices are essential to our monthly podcast, We Need to Talk About…, whether our subject matter is Brexit, nationalism or the environment. In our next podcast, we’ll consider the rise of veganism as a lifestyle choice – why are so many are opting to go vegan, and what are the implications for society?
Since Guardian columnist Decca Aitkenhead wrote about her own vegan experiment, and we published a long read on the topic, we have had a huge number of responses – from readers, academics, experts and others. Defying naysayers’ predictions that it was yet another hipster food fad, adopting a plant-based lifestyle is becoming a popular choice for people for many different reasons. We’ve invited Decca into the studio to host our next podcast and we’d love you, the Guardian’s supporters, to pose questions to her for the discussion.
Continue reading...The initial forecasts of an above-average season for hurricanes, beginning on 1 June, follow a punishing spate of storms last year
The US may have to brace itself for another harrowing spate of hurricanes this year, with forecasts of an active 2018 season coming amid new research that shows powerful Atlantic storms are intensifying far more rapidly than they did 30 years ago.
Related: 'We've been forgotten': Hurricane Harvey and the long path to recovery
Related: Hurricanes and heatwaves: stark signs of climate change 'new normal'
Continue reading...Development could transform how one of the world’s most common materials is made
Technology has been unveiled that could drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions from aluminium production, in a development that could transform the way one of the world’s most common materials is made.
Aluminium is used to make cars, construction materials, industrial machinery, electrical products, drinks cans, foil packaging and much more. But its production relies on processes that have changed little since the 1880s when the first smelting processes were pioneered.
Related: How dangerous is your deodorant?
Continue reading...Warming oceans melting Antarctic ice shelves could accelerate sea level rise
We all know intuitively that in a warmer world there will be less ice. And, since the North and South Pole regions contain lots of ice, anyone who wants to see evidence of climate change can look there.
But beyond this simplistic view, things can get pretty complex. First, it’s important to recognize that the Arctic and the Antarctic are very different places. In the Arctic, almost all the ice is floating on water – there is very little land. So, we talk about ‘sea ice’ in the north, formed from frozen sea water. On the other hand, Antarctica is a massive land mass that is covered by ice formed from snowfall (called an ‘ice sheet’). There is some floating ice around the perimeter of the land, but the vast majority of Antarctic ice is on land.
We found that freshwater from melting ice shelves is already enough to stop formation of cold and salty waters in some locations around Antarctica. This process causes warming and freshening of Antarctic waters. Ocean warming increases melting of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, causing sea level to rise. Freshening of Antarctic waters weakens the currents that trap heat and carbon dioxide in the ocean, affecting the global climate. In this way local changes in Antarctica can have global implications. Multiple sources of evidence exist now to show that these changes are happening. However, what will happen in Antarctica in the next decades and centuries remains unclear and needs to be understood.
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