The federal government, state governments and larger non-profits have had a slower – and, say some residents, insufficient – response
The first thing members of the Pansy Collective, based in Asheville, North Carolina, did following the start of Hurricane Helene was reach out to each other, ensuring that everyone was OK, and helping people who needed to evacuate. As soon as they were able to get down from the Blue Ridge Mountains, where Asheville is nestled, they drove more than 200 miles to Durham to gather supplies and bring them back to Asheville.
The Pansy Collective is just one of several mutual-aid disaster-relief organizations that have mobilized across Florida and the Carolinas since Hurricane Helene made landfall on 26 September.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
10/06/2024 - 07:00
10/06/2024 - 00:00
If you have a sense of adventure and know your squills from your spurges, Cambridge University Botanic Garden may have the job for you
With the promise of travel, adventure and the chance to follow in the footsteps of Charles Darwin, applications have opened for what might be the best job in the natural world: an expedition botanist to go on plant-collecting adventures for Cambridge University Botanic Garden.
It is understood to be the first time such a post has been offered by a British botanic garden in modern history. “It’s very unusual – there was no template for this,” said Samuel Brockington, professor of evolutionary biology and curator at the Cambridge University Botanic Garden (CUBG).
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10/05/2024 - 12:00
As prime minister Justin Trudeau trails in polls, opposition seek to persuade voters environmental policy is a burden
Mass hunger and malnutrition. A looming nuclear winter. An existential threat to the Canadian way of life. For months, the country’s Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has issued dire and increasingly apocalyptic warnings about the future. The culprit? A federal carbon levy meant to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
In the House of Commons this month, the Tory leader said there was only one way to avoid the devastating crisis: embattled prime minister Justin Trudeau must “call a ‘carbon tax’ election”.
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10/05/2024 - 08:00
New scheme to improve recycling rates and tackle pollution was pushed back by Tories after industry complaints
Lobbyists for Britain’s biggest food brands successfully pushed for a £1.7bn packaging tax to be deferred, new documents reveal.
The fees for a new scheme to improve recycling rates and tackle plastic pollution were due to be imposed this month, but were delayed for a year by the last Tory government after the industry complained about the costs in a series of private meetings.
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10/05/2024 - 05:57
Rescuers search for missing after huge volumes of rain fall in area around Jablanica and Konjic, causing sudden flooding
Rescue teams are searching for survivors after flash floods and landslides hit parts of Bosnia, killing at least 16 people and injuring dozens more.
Construction machines worked to remove piles of rocks and debris covering the central town of Jablanica after the rainstorm early on Friday.
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10/05/2024 - 01:00
Exclusive: Farmers still awaiting promised payments for uninsurable damage caused by Storm Henk
Labour may cut financial support for flooded farmers, the Guardian has learned, while money to compensate them for deluges in January has still not hit their pockets.
The previous Conservative government earlier this year promised up to £25,000 in payments for uninsurable damage from flooding caused by Storm Henk. However, the eligibility criteria for these grants has still not been set out, leaving farmers out of pocket. The scheme has been plagued with delays, with some affected farmers not being paid because they live too far from a river.
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10/04/2024 - 10:50
At least 14 people died in floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday and others were missing as torrential rain and landslides destroyed homes, roads and bridges across the centre of the country, officials said. Bosnia's presidency said it had requested military help for the wider Jablanica area, and engineers, rescue units and a helicopter were deployed, including to rescue 17 people from a mental health hospital. Neighbouring Croatia was hit by floods on Friday, though there were no reports of casualties. Authorities issued a severe weather warning for the Adriatic coast and central regions of the country
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10/04/2024 - 09:40
Prime minister suggests there will be more public money made available for new technologies
What is carbon capture, usage and storage?
Keir Starmer has signalled his government will drastically increase its green investment plans in an attempt to avoid a rerun of 1980s-style industrial decline by safeguarding jobs in heartland manufacturing communities.
On a visit to a Merseyside glass factory on Friday to unveil billions of pounds in funding for carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, the prime minister suggested there would be more public money made available for new technologies.
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10/04/2024 - 09:00
Firms such as Smallhold have lessons to be learned on what business can – and can’t – do in transforming agriculture
When Andrew Carter and Adam DeMartino started their business Smallhold in 2017, they set out with a simple vision they thought could have a big impact: feed people mushrooms.
“Mushrooms are one of the most sustainable calories on the planet, in every aspect,” Carter said, whether you’re looking at water, waste, plastic use or greenhouse gas emissions. “We just wanted to get more people eating them.”
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10/04/2024 - 08:33
Recycling is, by its nature, complicated. The imperfections in the process don’t mean the whole system is a con
The process of recycling is, by its nature, complicated. We put our mix of rubbish in the right bins, and from that point onwards hope that those we entrust it to – be it local councils picking up rubbish or supermarket recycling schemes – will do the rest. If this is you, then you may be dismayed to learn that a recent Everyday Plastics report found that most soft plastics collected by two of Britain’s biggest supermarkets are not being recycled and are, instead, incinerated.
Soft plastics are anything flimsy that you can scrunch in your hand: think bread bags, pouches, clingfilm, chocolate wrappers and crisp packets. But as this latest report shows, they aren’t as easily recyclable as you might think. Here’s why.
James Piper is the co-host of the Talking Rubbish podcast and author of The Rubbish Book
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