Member states of the UN environment assembly are meeting this week in Busan, South Korea to discuss the details of a global plastics treaty for the fifth, and hopefully final, time. Negotiations can be difficult, monotonous, and often go around in circles. The talks can go on for more than 14 hours a day. Those attending complain of meeting fatigue.

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On March 2 2022, delegates to the UN environment assembly adopted an ambitious resolution to develop the text of a new treaty by the end of 2024 to end plastic pollution. With 24 days of formal negotiation between almost 200 countries completed, spread over meetings in Peru, France, Kenya and Canada, the fifth and final negotiation meeting is about to take place in Busan, South Korea. This is crunch time. Agreement must be found or the opportunity to take global action to tackle plastic pollution might be lost.

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The environmental impact of a ChatGPT search versus a Google search varies significantly due to differences in underlying technologies and computational requirements. Here’s a breakdown:

Energy Usage Per Query
ChatGPT
Estimated Energy Per Query: Around 500–1,000 Wh (watt-hours) per query, depending on model size and server efficiency. This equates to ~200–400 g of CO₂e per query. Google Search
Optimized for Efficiency: Google searches rely on highly optimized search algorithms and infrastructure. Estimated Energy Per Query: Around 0.3–2 Wh per search depending on the complexity and features like personalized results. This is equivalent to ~0.2–1 g of CO₂e per query.

Reasons for the Difference
Model Complexity: ChatGPT involves processing millions of parameters for each query, whereas Google Search retrieves indexed results using pre-processed algorithms. Infrastructure Optimization: Google has highly efficient data centers focused on minimizing energy use, while AI queries like ChatGPT require more raw computing power, particularly for language generation.

Comparative Impact
A ChatGPT query could use up to 500x more energy than a simple Google search. For context: ChatGPT: Equivalent to running an energy-intensive task like streaming a high-definition video for several minutes. Google: Comparable to boiling water for a cup of tea or a few seconds of video streaming.

Perspective
To put 400 g of CO₂e (carbon dioxide equivalent) into perspective, here are some activities and items with comparable carbon footprints:

Everyday Activities
1. Driving a Gasoline Car: About 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) driven in a typical petrol car (~250 g CO₂e per km).
2. Using a Clothes Dryer: Running a clothes dryer for 5–6 minutes emits around 400 g CO₂e.
3. Streaming Video: Streaming a 30-minute HD video on platforms like Netflix (depends on server location and energy source).

Food and Drink
4. A Cheeseburger: Producing one cheeseburger emits ~2.5 kg CO₂e, so 400 g CO₂e is roughly one-sixth of a cheeseburger's footprint.
5. A Cup of Coffee: A latte with milk emits 200–400 g CO₂e, depending on milk type (higher for dairy, lower for plant-based alternatives).

Household Energy
6. Electricity Use: Running a 100-watt light bulb for 4 hours, assuming an average energy grid mix (~100 g CO₂e per kWh).
7. Charging Devices: Fully charging a smartphone 50 times (8 g CO₂e per charge on average).

Other Comparisons
8. Plastic Bag: Manufacturing a plastic grocery bag emits about 50 g CO₂e, so 400 g CO₂e is equivalent to 8 plastic bags.
9. Taking a Flight: Flying 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) emits around 400 g CO₂e per passenger.

‘Travesty of justice’ Cop29’s controversial deal
The Guardian - Science Weekly
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'Too little, too late' Activists and poorer nations criticise $300bn COP29 deal
BBC
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Cop29 climate finance deal criticised as ‘travesty of justice’ and ‘stage-managed’
Guardian
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Huge deal struck but is it enough? 5 takeaways from a dramatic COP29
BBC
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Intense rainfall in eastern Spain produced deadly and destructive flash floods in the province of Valencia. On October 29, 2024, more than 300 millimeters (12 inches) of rain fell in parts of the province, reported Spain’s meteorological agency, AEMET. In the town of Chiva, nearly 500 millimeters (20 inches) fell in 8 hours.

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Every view, every share, every reaction makes the message harder for Dove to ignore. Let’s work together to spread this video around the world.

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Vegetation cover across the Antarctic Peninsula has increased more than tenfold over the last four decades, new research shows.

The Antarctic Peninsula, like many polar regions, is warming faster than the global average, with extreme heat events in Antarctica becoming more common.

The new study – by the universities of Exeter and Hertfordshire, and the British Antarctic Survey – used satellite data to assess how much the Antarctic Peninsula has been “greening” in response to climate change.

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New research has found methane emissions from slurry stores on dairy farms may be up to five times greater than official statistics suggest - and highlights the huge potential for turning them into a renewable energy source.

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Central Europe's devastating floods were made much worse by climate change and offer a stark glimpse of the future for the world's fastest-warming continent, scientists say.

Storm Boris has ravaged countries including Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Austria and Italy, leading to at least 24 deaths and billions of pounds of damage.

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Zero Hour is the campaign for the Climate and Nature Bill, formerly the CE Bill and CEE Bill, a plan for a new UK law that addresses climate change, global warming, and the nature crisis in line with the most up-to-date science. The Bill is the only proposed legislation before the UK Parliament that ensures a comprehensive and joined-up approach to the emergency.

Let's tackle climate change and nature decline together.

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Just before Britain’s last coal-fired power station, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, powered down for the final time, Madeleine Finlay travelled to Nottinghamshire with energy correspondent Jillian Ambrose for a last tour of the site.
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UK to finish with coal power after 142 years
BBC

The UK is about to stop producing any electricity from burning coal - ending its 142-year reliance on the fossil fuel.

The country's last coal power station, at Ratcliffe-on-Soar, finishes operations on Monday after running since 1967.
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Power is flowing from the Shetland Isles to mainland Britain for the first time as the UK's most productive onshore windfarm comes on stream.

SSE says its 103-turbine project, known as Viking, can generate 443 megawatts (MW) of electricity, enough to power nearly 500,000 homes.

Shetland is the windiest part of the UK, which means it will be rare for the blades, which reach a massive 155m at their tip, not to be spinning.

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Emissions of a super-strong greenhouse gas could be substantially reduced if factories would properly implement existing “destruction technology” in certain industrial production processes. If operated properly, emissions of this greenhouse gas could be cut by at least 85% – that’s equivalent to 17% of carbon dioxide emissions from global aviation.

Our research, published today in the journal Nature, scrutinises emissions of one of the most potent hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) greenhouse gases, called trifluoromethane (HFC-23). One gram of HFC-23 in the atmosphere contributes as much to the greenhouse effect as 12kg of carbon dioxide.

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The bright blue blood of the horseshoe crab is used around the world to detect bacterial contamination in vaccines. Synonymous with luxury, sturgeon caviar has been patented as an antidote to impotency in China. Rhino horn is used in traditional Asian medicine to treat various ailments, and is also an ingredient in 50 different recipes for snuff.

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When a severe drought hit the Indian city of Kozhikode, also known as Calicut, in 2016, residents including student Swapnil Shrivastav had access to a limited amount of water each day.

“We were rationed to two buckets of water a day, which we collected from water tanks,” he says.

While he says it’s not uncommon for water supply issues to impact parts of India, it was a tough month for Mr Shrivastav and others in the region. “It was a very humid area; it was unmanageable.”

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Tens of thousands of demonstrators have been marching through London, joining more than 350 charities, businesses and direct action groups on the Restore Nature Now march.

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To reduce its emissions in line with national and global targets, the UK must overhaul how it produces, uses and distributes electricity.

Millions of heat pumps, electric vehicles (EVs) and solar panels are planned in the UK. These can reduce emissions and lower household bills. However, they will also substantially raise the amount of power neighbourhoods need over coming decades, particularly during peak demand periods like early evening. At other times, when the Sun is shining and electricity use is low, solar panels on homes and businesses could allow neighbourhoods to export electricity to the network.

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A group of volunteers are helping to refresh the Old Market Square by placing 500 plants across the space.

Local businesses and eco-friendly charities have donated more than £1000 to purchase the plants and make the area greener.

People started planting at the Green Hustle event earlier this month, and planted another batch of shrubs this week.

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Over the last century, nearly all of the UK’s wildflower meadows have been destroyed by expanding farms, towns and cities. This loss of habitat has driven nature’s decline, according to research led by birds and nature conservation charity the RSPB.

As meadows and other wild spaces have disappeared in the UK and further afield, massive population crashes have followed: Europe has lost over 600 million birds since 1980, while insects have seen a 76% decline.

If you have a lawn, then you have a chance to help reverse this trend. No Mow May, a campaign led by plant conservation charity Plantlife, asks people to refrain from mowing the grass during May. With over 20 million gardens, the UK has an enormous resource with which to benefit wildlife.

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A small woodland and grassland reserve at the side of the busy Mansfield Road.

The Keeping it Wild team carry out conservation maintenance work on the reserve.

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Surveys show that most of us are really worried about climate change and we want something to be done. But what?

This series, we've explored many ways in which nature is changing in response to human activity and the dangers posed to people and planet as a result.

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A more sustainable future lies within reach. One where human societies are powered by wind and solar energy, leaving behind dirty, climate-changing fossil fuels in the past. Sounds good right?

But with many tonnes of rare earth metals needed to manufacture just one wind turbine, switching to this greener way of life likely means more mining – and lots of it – at least in the short term. But where and how could we get these metals while causing the least possible harm to people and planet?

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The European Court of Human Rights has issued a groundbreaking ruling in a case between a group of Swiss women and their government. It found that Switzerland is in violation of the European convention on human rights for failing in its duties to combat climate change. The court also set out a path for organisations to bring further cases.

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As one of our Conservation Volunteers you will be working closely with our Ranger Team to create and maintain different habitats across our parks and open spaces for wildlife.

There are a wide range of activities and tasks throughout the year depending on the season, summer tasks can include controlling invasive species such as Himalayan Balsam, planting or cutting wildflower meadows to make hay and in winter tasks can include hedge planting, coppicing trees.

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One stormy evening in February 2024, I heard the sickening sound of trees breaking just beyond my garden in the town of Hastings on England’s south coast. Heading outside to investigate, I soon found cracks opening up in the ground near our property’s border with the Old Roar Gill – a narrow valley containing ancient woodlands, a stream and much wildlife, plants and trees.

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A new study published in Nature Communications has revealed that the interplay between meandering ocean currents and the ocean floor induces upwelling velocity, transporting warm water to shallower depths. This mechanism contributes substantially to the melting of ice shelves in the Amundsen Sea of West Antarctica. These ice shelves are destabilizing rapidly and contributing to sea level rise.

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A scientific review has found almost no research studying the interconnections across three major threats to planetary health, despite UN assessments suggesting one million species are at risk of extinction, a global pandemic that resulted in over six million excess deaths, and a record-breaking year of global temperatures.

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Record-breaking rain over the past few months has left fields of crops under water and livestock's health at risk, adding to pressures on food producers.

The flooding and extreme weather linked to climate change will undermine UK food production unless farmers get more help, the National Farmers Union said.

The NFU is calling on the government to do more to compensate flooded farmers and support domestic food production.

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Europe is at the centre of an illegal wildlife trade operation worth billions of pounds.

Gangs are thought to be smuggling up to 350 million live eels from Europe and shipping them to Asia every single year. Once at their destination, the young eels are farmed to full size and redistributed across the world. But why is the European eel such a valuable commodity? Why has the trade of glass eels been made illegal? And what effect is this having on the species?

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What’s brainless, heartless, eyeless and thrives in a warming ocean? Hint: it’s wobbly and it could be coming to a dinner plate near you.

Tori & Khalil investigate the effects of rising sea temperatures, from changing food sources to the perilous state of coral reefs – home to one quarter of all marine species.

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Electric cars might seem like a no-brainer on a warming planet, but there are plenty of people who remain sceptical about everything from their battery life to their carbon impact and the environmental and human rights costs of their parts. Madeleine Finlay consults Auke Hoekstra, known as the internet’s ‘EV debunker in chief’, to unpick the myths, realities and grey areas surrounding electric cars

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Find the best UK wildlife podcasts and immerse yourself in the great outdoors. From elusive birds to urban wildlife, the secret lives of trees and what plants and animals to look out for this season - we've got it all covered!

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Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have concluded that the methane uptake in dry landscapes exceeds methane emissions from wet areas across the ice-free part of Greenland.

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Trees are struggling to sequester heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2) in warmer, drier climates, meaning that they may no longer serve as a solution for offsetting humanity’s carbon footprint as the planet continues to warm, according to a new study led by Penn State researchers.

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The moment scientists had been dreading arrived late last year, when H5N1, or bird flu, was found for the first time in the Antarctic. Last week a king penguin on the island of South Georgia became the first in the region to be suspected to have died from the disease. The Guardian’s biodiversity reporter, Phoebe Weston, tells Ian Sample why researchers have said the spread of bird flu through the Antarctic’s penguin colonies could signal ‘one of the largest ecological disasters of modern times’.

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The National Trust plans to create vast new areas of temperate rainforest in the south-west of England.

More than 100,000 trees will be planted in north Devon to create swathes of humid woodland that will be home to plants facing extinction.

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