Pollution | The Guardian

Pollutionwatch: not much cheer from online Christmas shopping

Gary Fuller — Sun, 10 Dec 2017 21:30:03 GMT

As more of us shop online, more vans make more deliveries, with competing delivery companies duplicating journeys and causing even more pollution

Vans, up by 71% since 1996, are the fastest growing vehicle type in UK. They are nearly all diesel-powered and share the same nitrogen dioxide exhaust problems as diesel cars.

In 2015, 73% of UK adults did Christmas shopping online and 88% of these used home deliveries, causing concerns about traffic pollution.

The Guardian view on plastic bottles: make water available on tap | Editorial

Editorial — Fri, 08 Dec 2017 19:00:59 GMT

Thankfully the campaign to cut our plastic habit by making free fresh water widely available is gathering momentum

Like a wave building far out at sea, the momentum behind universally available cool fresh water is growing steadily. It is driven by the realisation that the world’s plastic habit must be broken, quickly. It’s reckoned that a million plastic bottles are bought worldwide every minute; the meaning of this number is best expressed in the images of mountains of litter made of this virtually indestructable material piled by the tides on to otherwise deserted beaches in remote corners of the globe. It is an unnecessary disaster. There is no reason why water has to come wrapped in its own environmentally lethal packaging. This week, London’s mayor Sadiq Khan pledged to develop a city-wide network of water fountains and refill stations. A Bristol-based campaign to set up refill stations in city centres and seaside resorts is flooding across Europe. Australian cities such as Melbourne have digital maps showing where drinking fountains are available. There could be so much more – airside refill stations in every international airport to slash the thousands of bottles jettisoned at security would be a good start. A refill station on every platform in every railway station would be even better. The choice between income from retail outlets or a low-cost move to help end plastic pollution is really no choice at all.

David Davis’s ignorance: now that’s what I call health and safety madness | Polly Toynbee

Polly Toynbee — Thu, 07 Dec 2017 12:00:52 GMT

Austerity has already driven a coach and horses through environmental standards – and we haven’t even got to the Brexit cliff edge yet

Are you still reeling from yesterday’s shock revelation that the government has done no Brexit impact assessments on anything – zilch, nothing? That doesn’t mean the information doesn’t exist, only that David Davis has gone out of his way to not ask for it.

Away from Westminster, every anxious industry and professional body is scenario-planning for worst and least-worst outcomes. But it’s not easy when the cabinet, in 18 long months since the referendum vote, has never discussed the destination it is hurtling towards.

Oliver Schmidt jailed for seven years for Volkswagen emissions scam

Dominic Rushe and agencies — Wed, 06 Dec 2017 22:08:28 GMT

Judge in Detroit imposes $400,000 fine on former VW executive
German was arrested trying to return home from holiday in Florida

A senior Volkswagen executive was sentenced to seven years in prison by a US court on Wednesday after being found guilty of concealing software used to evade pollution limits on nearly 600,000 diesel vehicles.

Oliver Schmidt, a German national who was the general manager in charge of VW’s environmental and engineering office in Michigan, had pleaded guilty to his part in the cover-up and argued he was “misused” by VW in its attempts to circumvent US emissions tests.

Air pollution harm to unborn babies may be global health catastrophe, warn doctors

Damian Carrington Environment editor — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 23:30:01 GMT

New UK research links toxic air to low birth weight that can cause lifelong damage to health, raising fears that millions of babies worldwide are being harmed

Air pollution significantly increases the risk of low birth weight in babies, leading to lifelong damage to health, according to a large new study.

The research was conducted in London, UK, but its implications for many millions of women in cities around the world with far worse air pollution are “something approaching a public health catastrophe”, the doctors involved said.

Brexit is a chance to save our small farms | Letters

Letters — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 19:33:40 GMT

A fifth of English farms have disappeared in the past 10 years. Farm size diversity is key to sustaining rural communities, writes Graeme Willis

Your article (Clean, green New Zealand is a lie – and a warning for Britain’s countryside, 4 December) highlights the huge opportunity Brexit has presented us to create a new agriculture policy that will restore the natural environment, as well as help the farming industry to become more financially resilient and environmentally sustainable. The removal of “subsidies” following the New Zealand model is not the route to achieving this. Public funding is critical to farmers’ livelihoods – without it, roughly half of farming is uneconomic. Those likely to suffer the most are small- to medium-sized farms already struggling in very tough markets. A fifth of English farms have disappeared in the past 10 years, and the rate is fastest amongst the smallest. Almost a third of farms under 50 hectares vanished between 2005 and 2015. Farm size diversity is key to sustaining rural communities through jobs as well as protecting distinctive local character. It is also crucial to maintaining England’s world-renowned landscapes and diversity of food. We are presented with a once in a lifetime opportunity to create a farming policy framework and new funding model that will support all farmers, rural communities and economies if we are to create the diverse, thriving countryside most of us want to see.
Graeme Willis
Senior Rural Policy Campaigner, Campaign to Protect Rural England

• It is unfair of you to reduce Michael Gove’s record as environment secretary to “presentational gimmicks” (Editorial, 5 December). Few environmentalists regarded Mr Gove as a natural soulmate when he was appointed, but his short time in office has been, on the whole, hugely impressive. The UK stands to lose vital environmental protections when we leave the EU. These must be replaced. We need to carry into UK law the environmental principles (polluter pays, the precautionary principle etc) that underpin policy; and we need a strong, independent watchdog to replicate the beneficial role now played by the European Court of Justice and the European Commission in holding governments to account for their environmental practice. There is a long way to go, but Michael Gove gets this, as he gets the need to address the rising tide of plastic pollution and the alarming erosion of soil quality. What we now need is a much stronger green narrative from other parts of government, not least on housing and transport, and an unequivocal commitment to match and then exceed current EU environmental standards.
Shaun Spiers
Executive director, Green Alliance

Penzance wins first plastic-free status award to help clean up beaches

Steven Morris — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 13:49:55 GMT

Surfers Against Sewage charity lauds town after community beach cleans and businesses reduce single-use plastics

A Cornish town has become the first community in the UK to be awarded “plastic-free” status after dozens of residents and business people backed a grassroots scheme aimed at helping clean up oceans and beaches.

As part of a campaign being run by the marine conservation charity Surfers Against Sewage (SAS), Penzance has been given “plastic-free coastlines approved” status.

65 years on from the Great Smog nothing has changed. We're still choking | Andrew Simms

Andrew Simms — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 09:00:12 GMT

The anniversary of Smog Day rings out a grim warning: 18,000 people still die every day from air pollution. Laws must be updated

An estimated 18,000 people die every day worldwide as a result of air pollution. The great majority of the world’s population breathe air that does not meet World Health Organization guidelines. Air pollution has become so bad that it’s said we now have a “fifth season”: this time of year, when lethal smogs envelop some of the most populated parts of the world. Delhi’s atrocious smogs, which caused an international cricket match to be halted on Sunday, follow similar ones last year.

The Guardian view on Delhi’s pollution: when smog stops play | Editorial

Editorial — Sun, 03 Dec 2017 20:10:15 GMT

Cricket is famous for the many things that can interrupt a game. But the halting of a Test match in Delhi because of smog is a wake-up call for India

Cricket isn’t cricket without the occasional “rain stopped play” that has marked – not often enough for English taste – the Ashes test in Adelaide. But rain is not the only reason why cricket matches sometimes have to be halted. Snow, dazzling sunshine and a solar eclipse have all brought games to an early end. So have hedgehogs, pigs, snakes and cars on the pitch. But cricket’s love of the eccentric gave way to a truly disturbing interruption on Sunday when Delhi’s bad air pollution – which was 15 times the WHO’s recommended toxicity maximum – caused stops and starts to a test between India and Sri Lanka. With players forced to leave the game to vomit and Sri Lankans wearing anti-pollution masks on the field, this was a Delhi clean-up call. If India’s favourite sport can’t be played in the nation’s smog-laden capital, cricket in Delhi should be no-balled.

Electric cars already cheaper to own and run than petrol or diesel – study

Damian Carrington Environment editor — Fri, 01 Dec 2017 17:00:00 GMT

Exclusive: Pure electric cars cost less over four years than petrol or diesel cars in the UK, US and Japan, researchers say, but China is set to lead the market

Electric cars are already cheaper to own and run than petrol or diesel cars in the UK, US and Japan, new research shows.

The lower cost is a key factor driving the rapid rise in electric car sales now underway, say the researchers. At the moment the cost is partly because of government support, but electric cars are expected to become the cheapest option without subsidies in a few years.

Sicilians take aim at oil 'monster' they blame for children's birth defects

Lorenzo Tondo in Gela — Fri, 01 Dec 2017 05:00:33 GMT

Italy’s biggest oil firm is accused of polluting an area where experts found more toxic substance than water in the sea

Everyone in the Sicilian town of Gela knows someone who has been hit by the health crisis that has gripped the town for decades.

Mortality rates are higher than elsewhere on the island, and the town has an unusually high rate of birth defects, including the highest rate in the world of a rare urethra disorder.

Co-op and Iceland back bottle deposit scheme to reduce plastic pollution

Sandra Laville — Thu, 30 Nov 2017 07:01:01 GMT

Retailers in favour of setting up mandatory system in England and Wales after government sought views on idea

Iceland and the Co-op have become the first supermarkets to support a bottle deposit scheme after the government sought views on the idea to reduce plastic pollution in the oceans.

The retailers came out in favour of setting up a mandatory deposit return scheme (DRS) in England and Wales as the environment secretary, Michael Gove, began to review the results of a seven-week consultation on whether to introduce a system to increase recycling rates of plastic bottles and reduce leakage into the oceans.

Sadiq Khan to tell London councils they should ban fracking

Michael Savage — Sun, 26 Nov 2017 00:01:38 GMT

Health dangers and high water use of shale gas extraction make it unacceptable, says mayor’s draft plan for the capital

Sadiq Khan will in effect ban fracking in London – and warns that extracting shale gas represents a toxic health risk.

In a controversial move, the London mayor will set out in plans to be published this week that councils across the capital should block the exploration, appraisal or production of shale gas via hydraulic fracturing, which sees rocks blasted with water to release the gas.

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a way of extracting natural gas from shale rock formations that are often deep underground. It involves pumping water, chemicals and usually sand underground at high pressure to fracture shale – hence the name – and release the gas trapped within to be collected back at the surface.

If air pollution is deforming sperm, will men finally take it seriously? | Jenny Jones

Jenny Jones — Thu, 23 Nov 2017 13:31:27 GMT

Links between pollution and other conditions are already proven. Maybe the heterosexual men who run the world might pay attention this time

• Jenny Jones is a former chair of the Green party

There is nothing like the image of deformed sperm to grab the attention of male politicians. The tentative link between male fertility and pollution has been put forward by medics in China and in a world where heterosexual men still make most of the decisions, I hope it makes pollution a personal priority for a few of them. It’s only one bit of research, among hundreds of more definitive studies into proven health conditions linked to pollution, but the world may become a slightly better place as a result.

When I was first elected to the London Assembly 17 years ago, we were told that air pollution was yesterday’s issue and the technological solutions were rolling off the production line. I wasn’t convinced and argued that we needed to change our lifestyles by driving less, but very few in the media, or politics, saw this as a priority. That changed as the medical evidence mounted and the technological fix failed to deliver. The number of premature deaths linked to air pollution escalated dramatically, with links to heart disease, dementia, type 2 diabetes, kidney failure, autism, as well as asthma. Air pollution kills, but still we drive.

Why the nights are getting brighter – but not in a good way

Associated Press — Thu, 23 Nov 2017 02:16:37 GMT

Spread of light pollution is bad for the environment, animal life and humans, five-year study concludes

The world’s nights are getting alarmingly brighter – bad news for all sorts of creatures, humans included – as light pollution encroaches on darkness almost everywhere.

Satellite observations made by researchers during five consecutive Octobers show Earth’s artificially lit outdoor area grew by 2% a year from 2012 to 2016. So did nighttime brightness.

Breathless in Delhi: a taste of environmental Armageddon | Brigid Delaney's diary

Brigid Delaney — Thu, 23 Nov 2017 01:28:32 GMT

Even on the better days in the enveloping smog, the climate-compromised city hurts your lungs and reddens your eyes

It was 2am on Sunday in Delhi and a friend and I were travelling in a rickshaw, heading home from a party. It was a hellscape.

The highway was mostly empty, the air a greasy brown. On the shoulder was a group of men standing around a small fire. Ahead of us were trucks spraying the roads with salted effluent, used to keep the dirt in place so it would not spring up into a toxic cloud.

The pollution had its own character and personality – like a super-villain in a Marvel comic

Too right it's Black Friday: our relentless consumption is trashing the planet | George Monbiot

George Monbiot — Wed, 22 Nov 2017 06:00:12 GMT

Growth must go on – it’s the political imperative everywhere, and it’s destroying the Earth. But there’s no way of greening it, so we need a new system

Everyone wants everything – how is that going to work? The promise of economic growth is that the poor can live like the rich and the rich can live like the oligarchs. But already we are bursting through the physical limits of the planet that sustains us. Climate breakdown, soil loss, the collapse of habitats and species, the sea of plastic, insectageddon: all are driven by rising consumption. The promise of private luxury for everyone cannot be met: neither the physical nor the ecological space exists.

I know people who recycle meticulously, measure the water in their kettles, then take their holidays in the Caribbean

E-bikes: time to saddle up with low-cost energy and no sweat?

Peter Kimpton — Mon, 20 Nov 2017 14:06:34 GMT

E-bikes are well-established in some EU countries, but how about the UK? Old-school cyclist Peter Kimpton tries a new model to see if he’d be tempted to swap

“E-bikes are fantastic. I use them all the time. You can take the kids up mountains. You can arrive in your good clothes at a meeting. It’s so easy.” Who said this?

Surprisingly, it was none other than Fabian Cancellara, perhaps the greatest ever road time-trial rider. He made similar remarks during a Q&A at the recent Rouleur Classic, an event for road bike and race purists, causing good-humoured outrage. But if even the great Cancellara can ride an e-bike, so will I.

A gold star for the nurseries that have stopped being glitter bugs | Jules Howard

Jules Howard — Mon, 20 Nov 2017 10:00:26 GMT

As well as polluting our seas with microplastics, the devilish dandruff turns up all over my house and about my person – I applaud those schools banning it

What will the rocks record about the lives we lead? What might a future palaeontologist, human or otherwise, make of the structures that will come to signify these moments in which you and I live our lives? They will notice extinctions, of course. Fossils of mammals’ tusks and horns will abound in the rocks, only to disappear when we humans turn up. They will come across our mines – enormous trace fossils, perhaps the largest ever to have existed. They will see, by studying fossil pollen, that the climate changed. They will find our discarded KFC bones and they will wonder how the world supported so many chickens. And there, among it all, they will probably find that most awful of human inventions: glitter. Oodles of it – purples, pinks and reds – crushed into rocks the world over. Mineralised madness. Our lowest ebb. What will those future palaeontologists make of it? What will glitter say about us?

Perhaps this is our mark in the geological strata. A post-glitter epoch that all started with a handful of nurseries

'My eyes are burning': Delhi holds half marathon despite pollution warning

Agence France-Presse — Sun, 19 Nov 2017 06:25:37 GMT

Around 35,000 brave runners registered for the race after more than a week of hazardous pollution levels

Tens of thousands of runners Sunday choked through smog for the Delhi half marathon, ignoring dire health warnings from doctors who fought for the controversial race in the heavily polluted capital to be postponed.

More than 30,000 people, some sporting pollution masks, braved a hazy morning to run through the Indian capital despite almost two weeks of hazardous smog that forced schools shut for several days.