More than 150 Nobel and World Food prize laureates sign open letter calling for immediate ramping up of food production
More than 150 Nobel and World Food prize laureates have signed an open letter calling for “moonshot” efforts to ramp up food production before an impending world hunger catastrophe.
The coalition of some of the world’s greatest living thinkers called for urgent action to prioritise research and technology to solve the “tragic mismatch of global food supply and demand”.
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01/14/2025 - 01:01
01/14/2025 - 01:00
High court had ruled government was not meeting legal duty to clean up Costa Beck near Pickering
The UK environment secretary, Steve Reed, is pursuing legal action against a group of anglers who are trying to restore the ecosystem of a river.
Lawyers for Reed will argue on Tuesday in the court of appeal that cleaning up individual rivers and streams devastated by pollution is administratively unworkable.
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‘Down but not out’: Queensland farmers end 11-year legal fight against New Acland coalmine expansion
01/14/2025 - 00:15
Oakey Coal Action Alliance says it will still oppose ‘inappropriate’ mining after abandoning court appeal to stop New Hope Group’s project
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A group of Queensland farmers has ended its 11-year legal battle against the expansion of the New Acland coalmine, withdrawing a final court appeal against the mine’s approvals.
Members of Oakey Coal Action Alliance (OCAA) said on Tuesday they were saddened by its decision to abandon their final legal avenue to block the New Hope Group’s thermal coalmine expansion on the Darling Downs.
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01/14/2025 - 00:00
Exclusive: Costs of UK cleanup will reach £9.9bn a year in UK if emissions of ‘forever chemicals’ remain uncontrolled
Industry using ‘tobacco playbook’ to fend off ‘forever chemicals’ regulation
The cost of cleaning up toxic forever chemical pollution could reach more than £1.6tn across the UK and Europe over a 20-year period, an annual bill of £84bn, research has found.
The number of British pollution hotspots is also on the rise. If emissions remain unrestricted and uncontrolled, the costs of cleanup will reach £9.9bn a year in the UK, according to the findings of a year-long investigation by the Forever Lobbying Project, a cross-border investigation involving 46 journalists and 18 experts across 16 countries.
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01/13/2025 - 19:58
Fires have killed at least 24, displaced thousands, destroyed over 12,000 structures as winds predicted until Wednesday
California fires – live updates
Fire crews are trying to get the upper hand on blazes that are tearing through Los Angeles before expected high wind gusts threaten their progress. The fires, which may become the most expensive in US history, have killed at least 24 people, displaced thousands, destroyed more than 12,000 structures and have 100,000 people under evacuation orders.
Sustained winds of up to 40mph (64km/h) and gusts in the mountains reaching 65mph (105km/h) are predicted through Wednesday, forecasters said. Winds picked up on Monday and were expected to strengthen on Tuesday, fire behavior analyst Dennis Burns said.
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01/13/2025 - 19:18
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Tell us about the financial consequences you are facing due to the California fires
Weather forecasters are predicting that the dry season in Los Angeles is likely to get worse in the coming weeks and that the drought which intensified last week across southern California will continue to worsen into March.
Meteorologist Eric Holthaus has written for the Guardian and says the rain forecast for the next three weeks in Los Angeles means the city’s record-dry start to its rainy season will keep getting worse.
This year’s rainy season is running at just 2% of normal for Los Angeles, which has only seen 0.16in of rain so far.
Weather models increasingly indicate that southern California will receive no rain at all during the rest of January, and potentially no rain during the first week or two of February as well.
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01/13/2025 - 17:22
Warning of ‘particularly dangerous situation’ with gusts expected as LA fire chief says: ‘We are not in the clear yet’
Firefighters battling the disastrous wildfires around Los Angeles were prepared for a return of dangerous winds that could again stoke the flames as the death toll in the tragedy has hit at least 24.
Fierce gusts known as Santa Ana winds have been largely blamed for turning the wildfires into devastating infernos that leveled huge tranches of neighborhoods around America’s second-largest city, which has also been hit by drought.
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01/13/2025 - 17:16
Concerns that dangerous fine particle pollution can become embedded in bloodstream and lungs
Los Angeles wildfires: full report
California fires – live updates
The Los Angeles wildfires have claimed the lives of at least 24 people and have burned well over more than 12,000 structures. While the focus is understandably on avoiding the flames, another immediate danger lurks across the county and beyond, one more difficult to escape: smoke.
The most dangerous component of wildfire smoke is fine particle pollution, also known as PM2.5 or soot. These tiny particles, smaller than one 20th the width of a human hair, can, if inhaled, become embedded in the bloodstream and lungs. It is estimated that about one-third of all particulate matter pollution in the US now comes from wildfire smoke.
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01/13/2025 - 14:35
Honolulu officials had filed a lawsuit against the companies for an alleged decades long misinformation campaign
The supreme court has shot down the fossil fuel industry’s attempts to kill a Hawaii lawsuit, which is seeking to hold the sector accountable for an alleged decades-long misinformation campaign.
The Monday decision will allow the closely watched litigation, filed by officials from Honolulu, to proceed toward a trial. It is a procedural victory for the wave of climate accountability lawsuits filed against oil and gas companies in recent years.
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01/13/2025 - 13:24
Rhino ‘unintentionally’ punctured zebra’s stomach in enclosure they shared, zoo says
A male zebra died after a female rhino unintentionally punctured his stomach, a zoo in Essex has said.
The rhino, called Astrid, had been sparring with her son Tayo when she tried to move Ziggy out of the way last Friday. Colchester zoo said Ziggy died of his injuries within minutes.
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