Overblown concerns about potential dangers of a common chemical threaten to undermine scientific evidence to the contrary
Because of his job as a dermatologist, Dr Deshan Sebaratnam frequently gets asked questions by friends, family and strangers about skin treatments. But lately, he says, he has been confronted by “a lot of myths around sunscreens”, especially on his social media feed.
Among the most frequent is “that sunscreen can actually cause skin cancer”, says Sebaratnam, a conjoint associate professor at the University of New South Wales.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
11/06/2024 - 09:00
11/06/2024 - 09:00
The Murrumbidgee River had 55% less water in 2018 than it did in 1988, with the Lowbidgee flood plain hardest hit
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A section of one of Australia’s longest rivers, the Murrumbidgee, lost more than half of its water over a 30-year period due to dams and other diversions, according to new research.
Scientists at the University of New South Wales examined the impacts of dam infrastructure and irrigation on natural water flows in the lower Murrumbidgee River since 1890.
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11/06/2024 - 09:00
Millionaire points to Broken Hill’s blackout to attack the energy transition but experts say he should look at South Australia and Europe
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For 15 minutes on Sunday morning, ABC local radio listeners were treated to a rant from Dick Smith as the millionaire attacked Australia’s transition away from fossil fuels, claiming renewables would make electricity unaffordable and cause sweeping blackouts.
“It seems we have been sold a pup and we are not getting the full truth all the time,” responded Ian McNamara, the host of Australia All Over. “There are lots of people who will back you up.”
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11/06/2024 - 08:33
Westminster plan for UK’s biggest heat network could involve parliament warmed by waste and low-carbon heat
About 1,000 London buildings including the Houses of Parliament and the National Gallery could soon be warmed by low-carbon heat sourced from the River Thames, London Underground and sewer networks.
Plans to develop the UK’s biggest heat network to supply decarbonised heat to buildings across Westminster were set out on Wednesday by the government as part of its pledge to back seven heat network zones with more than £5m of public funding.
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11/06/2024 - 06:42
With Trump back in the White House. The impact will be felt in many aspects of American life and across the world
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With Donald Trump returning to the White House for a second term as president, the impact will be felt in many aspects of American life and also across the world.
From abortion, to immigration, the environment, gun laws and LGBTQ+ rights: all are at stake with Trump and his allies back in power.
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11/06/2024 - 06:08
Land reform charities call for better regulation of UK’s carbon market so profits can be shared with public
Nature campaigners have called for taxpayers to take stakes in forest and peatland projects designed to store carbon, to avoid all the profits from carbon credits going to private investors.
A report from the Revive Coalition, an umbrella group for Scottish land reform and conservation charities, says carbon credits also need to be used much more effectively to bolster demand and help the UK meet its net zero targets.
Government-owned banks such as the Scottish National Investment Bank should invest in carbon projects, including on public land.
It becomes mandatory for all large and medium-sized companies to have audited carbon reduction targets to avoid green washing.
All carbon offsetting projects must register with the official schemes, the Woodland carbon code and the Peatland carbon code.
A new land tax is set up that is reduced if the land is managed to protect the climate and promote nature recovery.
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11/06/2024 - 03:00
Courtney Houssos says proposed mine would create 860 jobs over its 15-year life and inject $67m annually into local economy
What’s the fight over McPhillamys goldmine about?
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The New South Wales resources minister rebuked the federal environment minister over her decision to block the McPhillamys goldmine project and declared Indigenous heritage shouldn’t be protected at the expense of critical minerals investment, new documents have revealed.
Correspondence tabled in federal parliament shows NSW minister, Courtney Houssos, wrote to Tanya Plibersek in August, five days after Plibersek announced she had refused Regis Resources’ mining application because of the proposed location of a tailings dam and its possible impact on Indigenous heritage.
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11/06/2024 - 03:00
Earlier this year, families from the Indigenous Guna people on the tiny island of Gardi Sugdub became the first to undergo a climate-related relocation by the Panamanian government because of the threat of rising sea levels. Hundreds of residents moved to Isber Yala, a new town built on the mainland. But many fear that the relocation has put their traditions and culture in peril
Photographs by Euan Wallace
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11/06/2024 - 02:00
The rightwing regional authorities ignored the climate-crisis science and dismissed the weather forecast – the consequences are their responsibility
Juan Bordera is a climate journalist and an independent MP for Compromís in the Valencian parliament
It’s almost impossible to describe what we have experienced in the flooded villages and towns around the city of Valencia. Many of those villages and towns are in ruins, with at least 217 dead and others to be pulled out of the mud. There are many areas that still need urgent help. There are towns without water or electricity that have not been able to clean up. There are still flooded garages, buildings on the verge of collapse, and health problems that may result from the accumulated water.
But what also defies belief is the regional Valencian government’s sheer negligence in its pre- and post-disaster management. Let me try to summarise some of the most serious shortcomings.
Juan Bordera is a climate journalist and an independent MP for Compromís in the Valencian parliament. He has donated his fee for this article to a fundraiser for those affected by the storm
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
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11/06/2024 - 01:00
My mother showed me the importance of Indigenous and Afro-descendant women in protecting the natural world. Yet they continue to face barriers and discrimination in their work
I learned about the importance of women in small communities from my mother. She was a peasant woman – a campesina as we say in Colombia – in the mountains near Cali, where I grew up. She searched the forest for food and cultivated the earth to grow vegetables to feed me and my four siblings. It is women like her that I try to empower with my work supporting the collective rights of Indigenous and Afro-descendant women in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
In an era of environmental crises, people from such communities have an outsized role in preventing the destruction of nature and slowing the climate crisis. Colombia, where the biodiversity Cop16 was held last week, is home to 10% of all life on Earth, stretching from thick mangrove forest of the Pacific coast to the Amazon rainforest. Many of the communities I work with live alongside this rich nature and have made its survival part of their culture, something increasingly recognised in conservation. This is true from the Arctic Circle to the Indonesian forest. My job is to make sure women in these places receive practical support and a fair share of growing financial assistance.
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