With the outlook for risk of fire, flood and other disasters increasing, this is not a problem that will go away
As we watch the horror of the Los Angeles fires, Australians are painfully reminded of our own vulnerability to climate change, which continues to exacerbate the impact and frequency of these unnatural disasters.
The images of loss and destruction in LA are particularly painful to those who have experienced such losses first-hand in Australia.
Nicki Hutley is an independent economist and councillor with the Climate Council
Continue reading...
Breaking Waves: Ocean News
01/16/2025 - 17:24
01/16/2025 - 11:00
The fires have been devastating for humans and taken a toll on nature, but many of California’s ecosystems will be able to regenerate
Beth Pratt has spent her career protecting Los Angeles’ mountain lions, which roam an area currently engulfed by wildfires. These apex predators, also known as cougars or pumas, share a scrubby landscape with lavish private homes and a dense network of roads. When major fires take out huge areas of open space, their options are limited.
“This is the LA area – these mountain lions can’t move into the Kardashians’ back yard,” says Pratt, California executive director for the National Wildlife Federation. “My heart is very heavy right now,” she says.
Continue reading...
01/16/2025 - 10:00
After insurers like State Farm dropped policies, to switch to the state’s Fair plan was prohibitively pricey for many
When James Borow realized last Tuesday that his Palisades house was on fire, he was 300 miles away in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show. The power was out at his house but a friend suggested he remotely turn on his Tesla and see if the cameras showed anything.
From the car camera, he watched in a panic as his house burned. As he drove home from Vegas to LA, he called his parents and told them: “You’ll see it on the news tomorrow, but the house is totally gone. I just watched it.”
Continue reading...
01/16/2025 - 09:00
British director of Human Rights Watch attacks ‘dangerous hypocrisy’ of government
Britain’s crackdown on climate protest is setting “a dangerous precedent” around the world and undermining democratic rights, the UK director of Human Rights Watch has said.
Yasmine Ahmed accused the Labour government of hypocrisy over its claims to be committed to human rights and international law.
Continue reading...
01/16/2025 - 08:00
Eaton fire tore through Altadena, burning buildings and killing many. Its residents are only now taking in the scale of devastation
A week after wildfires tore through the community of Altadena, the smell of destruction still hangs in the air. The acrid smoke seeped into the walls of homes that survived the Eaton fire, which burned 7,000 buildings and killed at least 15 people.
On Woodbury Road, where unblemished homes stand in between blackened lots of charred rubble, the devastation overwhelms the senses. The houses that haven’t completely collapsed offer glimpses of life before disaster arrived – pitchers and mugs in a cabinet, all a deep black, a bed still standing, a scorched bicycle and children’s toys.
Continue reading...
01/16/2025 - 08:00
Exclusive: Water industry calls for PFAS ban after analysis of sampling data shows contamination across country
What are PFAS, how toxic are they and how do you become exposed?
The Guardian view on chemical pollution: the UK can’t ignore the risks from PFAS
Raw drinking water sources across England are polluted with toxic forever chemicals, new analysis has revealed, prompting the water sector to demand that ministers ban the substances and polluters pay for the astronomical cleanup costs.
The areas covered by Affinity Water and Anglian Water were found to be particularly badly affected, and experts have said they fear “we are drastically underestimating the size of the problem”.
Continue reading...
01/16/2025 - 06:00
With few exceptions, the news has shied away from showing how the unfolding climate crisis plays a large role in the disaster
Last week, as the Sunset fire was bearing down on her Los Angeles home, Allison Agsten approached a group of television news crews gathering in her neighborhood. Did any of them plan to mention the role of the climate crisis in their reporting?
The question was professional as well as personal for Agsten, who runs a climate journalism center at the University of Southern California and has trained reporters on how to connect the climate crisis to what’s happening in the world. She has lived in her home along Runyon Canyon, near Hollywood, for a decade.
Continue reading...
01/16/2025 - 06:00
Levels of PFAS chemicals found in sludge destined for British land would not be considered safe for allotments
Where are the UK’s ‘forever chemical’ hotspots?
Industry using ‘tobacco playbook’ to fend off ‘forever chemicals’ regulation
The Guardian view: the UK can’t ignore the risks from PFAS
Sewage sludge spread on farmland is contaminating soils, water and potentially the food chain with “forever chemicals”, and whistleblowers from the Environment Agency say the systems in place to prevent such pollution are “not fit for purpose”.
Watershed Investigations and the Guardian obtained samples of treated sewage sludge destined to be spread on land from five different catchments, and found levels of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) forever chemicals that would not be considered safe on allotments, as well as levels of flame-retardant chemicals described by experts as “exceptionally high”.
Continue reading...
01/16/2025 - 02:00
Office for Environmental Protection calls for urgent action after finding government is falling short on most targets
The window to stop the decline of England’s nature is swiftly closing, the environmental watchdog has said, as its latest report finds that the government is falling short on most of its targets to improve the environment.
Some of Labour’s actions, however, including setting up a water commission and writing a new environmental improvement plan, were praised by the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) in its annual review of how the government was meeting the legally binding environment targets.
Continue reading...
01/16/2025 - 01:00
Exclusive: Report by risk experts says previous assessments ignored severe effects of climate crisis
Global economic growth could plummet by 50% between 2070 and 2090 from the catastrophic shocks of climate change unless immediate action by political leaders is taken to decarbonise and restore nature, according to a new report.
The stark warning from risk management experts the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) hugely increases the estimate of risk to global economic wellbeing from climate change impacts such as fires, flooding, droughts, temperature rises and nature breakdown. In a report with scientists at the University of Exeter, published on Thursday, the IFoA, which uses maths and statistics to analyse financial risk for businesses and governments, called for accelerated action by political leaders to tackle the climate crisis.
Continue reading...
