Environment

Recent blazes scorched 90% of the federally protected Santa Monica Mountains – destroying a 1950s Hollywood set and affecting biodiversity. But life is slowly coming back

The fire came quickly. Fueled by dry, blustering winds, officials were unable to contain the Woolsey fire before it scorched the canyons of Ventura and Los Angeles counties, taking close to 97,000 acres and 1,500 properties with it.

One of the great casualties was the Santa Monica Mountains national recreation area. Nearly 90% of the federally owned land burned in the November 2018 blaze. The park is home to popular hiking trails, a rich ecosystem of plant and wildlife, including mountain lions and coyotes, as well as famous spots such as the Paramount Ranch’s “Western Town” (a well-known Hollywood set location), the historic 1927 Peter Strauss Ranch house, a research field station and ranger residences. Nearly all of them burned to the ground.

The Senate overwhelmingly passed a sweeping public lands bill that protects millions of acres of land and reauthorizes a major conservation program. Supporters say conservation is a unifier.

The chemicals, which are linked to health problems, have contaminated drinking water and soil in many parts of the United States. Critics say the EPA is not acting fast enough to limit them.

(Image credit: Matt Rourke/AP)

The red tide algae bloom that has plagued coastal communities in Florida since 2017 is starting to dissipate, much to the relief of local communities and tourism officials.

(Image credit: Greg Allen/NPR)

Deliveries ‘almost always’ use more energy than buying ingredients from supermarket

Home delivery meal kits can slash food waste by more than two-thirds, but suppliers need to switch to reusable packaging to make them environmentally friendly, researchers say.

Tailor-made meal kits save waste by providing people with precise amounts of fresh ingredients for chosen recipes, meaning leftovers are minimised and less food goes off before people have a chance to use it.

Despite pressure from President Trump and other Republicans, the Tennessee Valley Authority voted Thursday to close a coal plant in Kentucky. A major Trump backer supplies the plant with coal.

(Image credit: Dylan Lovan/AP)

Focus for year ahead will be on ‘providing drought refuges and avoiding irreversible loss of species’

The outlook for the environment in the Murray-Darling Basin, particularly in the north, is extremely challenging and there will be almost no scope for environmental flows for the remainder of the 2018-19 year unless it rains, the Murray-Darling Basin Authority has warned.

It says the focus will be “on providing drought refuges and avoiding irreversible loss of species”.

EPA to spend at least another year considering whether to restrict toxic chemicals found in drinking water

Environment advocates have condemned Trump administration plans to spend at least another year considering whether to restrict toxic chemicals increasingly found in drinking water across the country.

The chemicals – known as PFOS and PFOA – are found in nonstick pots and pans, food packaging, and firefighting foam sprayed in drills on military bases. They seep into soil and groundwater in areas where they are manufactured and used.

Study says evidence ‘supports link’ between exposure to glyphosate and increased risk

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A broad new scientific analysis of the cancer-causing potential of glyphosate herbicides, the most widely used weedkilling products in the world, has found that people with high exposures to the popular pesticides have a 41% increased risk of developing a type of cancer called non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

The evidence “supports a compelling link” between exposures to glyphosate-based herbicides and increased risk for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), the authors concluded, though they said the specific numerical risk estimates should be interpreted with caution.

Annual energy forecast predicts record surge in wind, solar and other renewables

Renewable energy sources will be the world’s main source of power within two decades and are establishing a foothold in the global energy system faster than any fuel in history, according to BP.

The UK-based oil company said wind, solar and other renewables will account for about 30% of the world’s electricity supplies by 2040, up from 25% in BP’s 2040 estimates last year, and about 10% today.

Environment groups oppose licence for Corallian Energy extractions along protected coastline running to March

An oil company drilling off the Dorset coastline is attempting to extend its licence into the spring, challenging the conditions imposed to protect the sea’s many sensitive wildlife species.

Corallian Energy has set up a rig visible from the protected coastline and in close proximity to 58 marine and coastal protected areas. Sensitive and protected species offshore include bottlenose dolphins, seahorses, rays and breeding populations of seabirds including sandwich terns and little terns.

Co-leader will take part in mayoral election in capital for second time in a row

The Green party co-leader Siân Berry is to stand again as its candidate in the 2020 London mayoral election.

Berry, a London assembly member and councillor, took over the joint leadership alongside Jonathan Bartley in September. She was the Greens’ candidate at the 2016 mayoral election, finishing third behind Labour’s Sadiq Khan and Zac Goldsmith of the Conservatives.

Satellite images show the amount of green vegetation on Earth increasing, despite deforestation. But some of the added greenery has a downside.

(Image credit: Eye Ubiquitous/UIG via Getty Images)

Global study sets out how industry could make waste reduction pay, using data taken from across 12 countries

Restaurants can make a profit of £7 for every £1 they invest in cutting food waste, a global report reveals today, in findings that are hailed as proving the business case for stopping edible food from being binned.

The study is based on research for Champions 12.3, a group of political, business, NGO and farmers’ leaders from across the world who have united to tackle waste, using data taken from 114 restaurant sites across 12 countries.

The LiveWire, Harley's first electric bike, was first announced more than four years ago. It's finally hitting the streets this summer — for a hefty price. But will Harley fans be along for the ride?

(Image credit: Josh Kurpius/Harley-Davidson)

Exclusive: Lock the Gate accuses state government of placing interests of mining sector over those of taxpayers

New South Wales taxpayers could be shortchanged up to $500m by a state government “accounting trick” that allows mining companies to dodge paying appropriate contingency costs for site rehabilitation.

A 2017 report by the NSW auditor general found that security deposits paid by miners for future rehabilitation were inadequate and made several recommendations, including that the “contingency” costs be increased.

Urging political action on pesticide use is another way to help stem ‘collapse of nature’

Buying organic food is among the actions people can take to curb the global decline in insects, according to leading scientists. Urging political action to slash pesticide use on conventional farms is another, say environmentalists.

Related: Plummeting insect numbers 'threaten collapse of nature'

The center says government officials have already cut down trees on its private property in anticipation of a border wall. The planned wall would split its property in two.

(Image credit: Claire Harbage/NPR)

Bill sets aside more than 1m acres of new wilderness and conservation areas including rivers in California and Utah

Joshua Tree and Death Valley national parks are to be enlarged, and stunning river landscapes in California and Utah will be protected, under new legislation that passed the US Senate on Tuesday.

In all the public lands package sets aside more than a million acres of new wilderness and conservation areas in western states.

The birds are severely at risk, but there is little public awareness or sympathy for their plight

Squawking, chip-stealing seagulls are under threat in New Zealand, with some colonies experiencing “unbelievable declines”, and others disappearing altogether over the past few decades.

New Zealand is home to three species of seagull but the native red-billed seagull – the beady-eyed interloper who makes an appearance at every beach picnic up and down the country – is the most common.