Finding has implications for the ways that Australia’s native canid – including the extent to which they are culled – are managed

‘He knew the anguish of the marrow’When I was eight, my mother made me a costume for a Halloween party. Even at eight, this seemed like an important party. The costume was beautiful, as the things my mother made often were: more beautiful than a child’s thing ought to be, more beautiful than what a mother ought to be able to make after work.It was a skeleton costume: a unitard made from stocking fabric, painted with fluorescent paint; I remember the care she took to make the bones accurate, to make them just my size, matching femur to femur. Continue reading...

No one has yet been able to sail an autonomous boat across the Atlantic, but a young couple in Wales hope their craft will revolutionise ocean monitoring of temperatures, wildlife and moreWhen Anahita Laverack and Ciaran Dowds tested their robot boat for the first time off the coast of Wales, it was not smooth sailing. The 23-year-olds, both engineering graduates from Imperial College London, launched their autonomous craft – a 4ft, unmanned vessel – from a sailboat off the coast of Aberystwyth last July.Although the seas were rough, the robot boat “performed beautifully”, says Dowds – but he did not. Continue reading...

Gas company has argued ‘we pay our way’, noting that it contributes billions in tax and royalties

Confectionary with environmentally friendlier packaging will be available at 500 Tesco storesConsumers buying Mars bars at Tesco in the coming days will notice a change: the chocolate bar’s usual plastic wrapper has been swapped for a more environmentally friendly paper one.The confectionery maker Mars Incorporated is trialling recyclable paper packaging for a limited time, with the bars available at 500 Tesco stores from Monday. Continue reading...

A study is under way in the water-scarce region to see if commodity farmers can use the regenerative technique of cover cropping as a way to adapt to rapidly changing weather conditionsIn one of the toughest growing regions in the US, commercial farmers like Frank Machac are experimenting with a style of ancient agriculture more known for soil health than profit.They are perhaps unlikely budding agroecologists. “My number one concern is yield, I’m not worrying about climate change,” said Machac, 60, a ruddy-faced straight talker with 30 years’ farming experience in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV). Continue reading...

Low demand combined with sunny conditions and meltwater lifts hydro and solar productionOver the last week, several European countries had power prices in the wholesale energy market dip into negative values during daylight hours. The decline in prices was mostly driven by the abundance of available energy generated by renewable sources, combined with the relatively low demand for energy for heating or cooling, caused by normal springtime temperatures.Negative prices often occur when there is an excess supply of electricity in the market. This can happen when renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, or hydro produce a large quantity of electricity which exceeds demand and cannot be stored for later use. In such cases, producers may offer negative prices to incentivise wholesale consumers to take the surplus electricity off the grid and avoid overloading the system. This situation occurred due to an area of high pressure dominating across much of central and north-west Europe, providing lots of solar power generation across the area. Meanwhile, Finland experienced an oversupply of hydroelectric power resulting from excessive springtime meltwater which in turn led to negative prices here as well. Continue reading...

Monday’s election is going to be a political nail-biter but neither candidate has discussed a post oil and gas worldRecord-breaking wildfires have charred more than a million hectares of land in Alberta, pushing tens of thousands from their homes and choking the skies in a thick haze of smoke.But on the zigzagging campaign trail of the province’s general election, neither party leader has confronted the realities of climate change and how it will likely dramatically reshape life in the Canadian prairies. Continue reading...

Party says details of how UK can become ‘world leader’ in green energy transition will be announced soonLabour has confirmed it will block all new domestic oil and gas developments if it wins power, proposing instead to invest heavily in renewable sources such as wind and also in nuclear power.The shadow work and pensions secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, said details would be announced soon. Continue reading...

Revelation about war-torn country is ‘terrible indictment’ of UK government, says Ed MilibandUkraine has completed more onshore wind turbines than England since it was occupied by Russian soldiers – despite the UK government’s promise to relax restrictions on onshore windfarms.Only two onshore wind turbines have been installed in England since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year, generating 1 megawatt (MW) of electricity in the Staffordshire village of Keele. Continue reading...

Republican ‘trying to out-Trump Trump’ on climate, expert says, as governor says he rejects the ‘politicization of the weather’Ron DeSantis has been accused of a “catastrophic” approach to the climate crisis after he launched his campaign for US president by saying he rejects the “politicization of the weather” and questioning whether hurricanes hitting his home state of Florida have been worsened by climate change.DeSantis, the Republican Florida governor who announced his bid for the White House via a glitch-heavy Twitter stream on Wednesday, has previously dismissed concerns about global heating as “leftwing stuff” and he expanded upon this theme during a Fox News interview following his campaign launch. Continue reading...

Several Dutch celebrities among protesters, including Game of Thrones actor Carice van HoutenMore than 1,500 people were arrested during a protest by the Extinction Rebellion climate group in The Hague on Saturday, Dutch police said.Activists blocked a section of a motorway during the afternoon in protest against Dutch fossil fuel subsidies. Continue reading...

Analysis shows area includes 9,000 hectares where there was already active logging as pressure grows on government to end practice

Gallagher Premiership match between Saracens and Sale delayed after two men throw orange powder during matchJust Stop Oil protesters disrupted the Gallagher Premiership rugby union final at Twickenham on Saturday, two days after a similar protest at the Chelsea flower show.Two men invaded the pitch midway through the first half of the match in south-west London between Saracens and Sale, throwing orange paint powder on to the field resulting in a stoppage in play. Continue reading...

A planned drive-through Starbucks in the Gorbals area is at centre of a storm over the proliferation of outlets encouraging car useAmong the data available on the city of Glasgow is one particularly incongruous pair of findings: it has some of the lowest levels of car ownership in the UK, but the greatest number of drive-through restaurants – almost 50 at the last count.The latter has caused increasing frustration for residents, with at least 10 new applications lodged since 2019 and the vast majority granted. Campaigners have emphasised the apparent contradiction with Scotland’s view of itself as an ambitious climate leader, particularly following its hosting of Cop26 in 2021. Continue reading...

Conservative ministers say Scotland will have to remove glass bottles from its environmental initiativeThe UK government has been accused of trying to “sabotage” Scotland’s deposit return scheme (DRS) after it ruled the environmental initiative could only go ahead if glass bottles were removed from its remit.Lorna Slater, the Scottish government minister responsible for implementing DRS, said ministers at Holyrood would have to “look very seriously at where this leaves the viability of the Scottish scheme”. Continue reading...

A new study uses satellites to predict what California’s famous coastline could look like by 2100California is known for golden sands and endless waves, but much of the state’s famous shoreline could vanish in the future. That’s according to a new study, which found that between 25% and 70% of California beaches might be washed away by the end of the century, leaving only cliffs or coastal infrastructure in their wake.The study used satellite data collected over the past two decades to examine California’s 1,100-mile-long coast. Researchers from the US Geological Survey (USGS) used those satellite images, combined with models of climate crisis-driven sea level rise ranging from 1.6 to 10ft, to estimate the shape and position of the state’s coastline by 2100. The amount of sea level rise will depend on how much carbon is pumped into the atmosphere now and in the future. Continue reading...

Dr Joseph Dituri plans to spend 100 days in his subaquatic compound, as he attempts to document the long-term effects of increased pressure on the bodyMore than 20ft below the surface of a Florida lagoon, one man is on a mission.Having already broken the record for the longest time living underwater, Dr Joseph Dituri is planning to spend 100 days in his subaquatic compound, to research the effects of hyperbaric pressure on the body. Continue reading...

Yellow flower that only grows in York went extinct in 1991 brought back to life by Natural England expertsYork groundsel was a cheerful yellow flower that slipped into global extinction in 1991, thanks to overzealous application of weedkiller in the city of its name.But now the urban plant has been bought back to life in the first ever de-extinction in Britain, and is flowering again in York. Continue reading...

Scheme that began to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s diamond jubilee in 2012 has thrived, project audit findsWildflower meadows planted a decade ago to celebrate 60 years of the late queen’s reign have thrived, with 101 new fields of flowers created since the scheme was launched.King Charles, then the Prince of Wales, worked with Plantlife and the Wildlife Trusts to launch ”coronation meadows”, identifying 60 species-rich meadows from which to take donor seeds – one meadow for each year of the queen’s reign at the time. Continue reading...

Biologists found the three-week-old all-female litter in between the Santa Monica and Santa Susana mountain rangesAfter a devastating year for Los Angeles mountain lions, researchers have made a hopeful discovery in the southern California hills: an all-female litter of kittens.Biologists found the three cubs last week in what the National Park Service described as a “dense patch of poison oak nestled among large boulders” in between the Santa Monica and Santa Susana mountain ranges. The kittens, just over three weeks old and known as P-113, P-114 and P-115, are healthy, the NPS said in a statement. Continue reading...

New book details how New York could rid the city of rats and create more parks if it repurposed its 3m parking spotsWhat could New York achieve if it repurposed some of its 3m curbside parking spots?It could get rid of rats by moving trash off the sidewalks and into containers. It could create safe, cool play spaces for the more than 1m New Yorkers without easy park access. It could build bioswales to collect rainwater and prevent flooding during heavy storms.This article originally appeared in Nexus Media News. Continue reading...

High levels of toxic ‘forever chemicals’ found in New Hampshire soil samples raise questions about food and water pollutionBackground levels of toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” in the ground and air may be much higher than previously thought, federal testing of spatially random soil samples from across New Hampshire suggests.The analysis found high levels of PFAS in all 100 shallow soil samples, which were taken from undisturbed land not close to known polluters. The chemicals are thought to largely have gotten there through the air, and the study, along with recent EU research, suggests similar levels of soil and air contamination throughout the world. Continue reading...

Producers accuse government of failing to tackle pollution after ‘very high’ levels of bacteria found“Very high” levels of E coli found in oysters and mussels have led to the closure of 11 shellfish production zones in Cornwall.In an email seen by the Guardian and Watershed Investigations, the Cornwall Port Health Authority (CPHA) told food business operators they “must not collect the affected animals from this area by any method. It is unsuitable for their production for health reasons and has been temporarily closed.” Continue reading...

Only one female remains in the Canadian wilderness, a symbol of the country’s inability to save a species on the verge of destruction as politicians dither and the logging continuesOn a rainy spring morning, huddled under the shelter of an ancient cedar, Jared Hobbs hoots, whoops and squawks. In years past, he could lure curious owls by drawing on his extensive repertoire. Among them are the whoo whoo whoo whooo territorial calls, alarm barks and a simple “helicopter” breeding call that coo coo coo coos into the air.The calls bounce through the thick stand of trees and dissolve into the vast British Columbia rainforest.Species-at-risk expert Jared Hobbs in a rare stand of intact spotted owl habitat in western British Columbia. Photograph: Jesse Winter/The Guardian Continue reading...

Ten of broadcaster’s 31 hosts made on-air statements in 2022 rejecting or challenging scientific consensusAlmost a third of presenters on GB News have used their platform to cast doubt on the scientific consensus on climate breakdown, according to an analysis.Ten of the broadcaster’s 31 presenters made statements on air in 2022 rejecting or challenging widely accepted scientific findings about how humans are affecting the climate, and the role the climate crisis plays in extreme weather events. Continue reading...

Entrepreneur says plan to send renewable energy to Singapore from Northern Territory a ‘nation-building project for Australia’

Wind and rain bring island to a standstill but eye replacement cycle weakens super typhoon temporarilyEarlier this week, Typhoon Mawar whipped up tension in western Micronesia as the category 4 storm came close to landfall on the island of Guam. Starting out as a tropical depression over the weekend, Mawar rapidly deepened and intensified over the following couple of days, almost reaching category 5 by Tuesday evening. Wind gusts peaked at 155mph (250km/h), briefly making Mawar a super typhoon about 100 miles south-east of the US island territory.In a stroke of luck, an eyewall replacement cycle occurred overnight, hours before the super typhoon was due to reach Guam. The cycle involves the slight degradation of the storm’s structure as a new eye develops around the old eye. Consequently, the storm’s intensity weakened temporarily while simultaneously spreading strong winds over a larger area. Mawar’s winds dropped to a sustained speed of 140mph as the typhoon brushed the northern edge of Guam at about 7am local time (2200 BST) Had Mawar made landfall, it would have been the first category 4 typhoon to do so since Typhoon Pamela in 1976. Continue reading...

The best of this week’s wildlife photographs, including a crab spider, a glass frog and a curious snow leopard Continue reading...

Devon cattle stand in for extinct aurochs in project aimed at protecting precious species such as sand lizardsThe mighty aurochs have gone, as have the tarpan horses and the wild boars, but modern-day substitutes have been drafted in to recreate a large open “savannah” on heathland in Dorset.Instead of aurochs, considered the wild ancestor of domestic cattle, 200 red Devon cattle are to be found roaming the Purbeck Heaths, while Exmoor ponies are stand-ins for the tarpan horses and curly coated Mangalitsa pigs are doing the sort of rooting around that boars used to excel at here. Continue reading...

Ruling by conservative-dominated court shrinks scope of landmark law to protect America’s waterwaysThe scope of a landmark law to protect America’s waterways has been shrunk by the US supreme court, which has sided with an Idaho couple who have waged a long-running legal battle to build a house on wetlands near one of the state’s largest lakes.In a ruling passed down on Thursday, the conservative-dominated court decided that the federal government was wrong to use the Clean Water Act, a key 50-year-old piece of legislation to prevent pollution seeping into rivers, streams and lakes, to prevent the couple building over the wetland beside Priest Lake in Idaho. Continue reading...

Naturalist wins claim over articles on Country Squire Magazine website that accused him of lying about charityChris Packham said he has been vindicated after a judge found that he had been subjected to an online ideological campaign, accusing him of fraud and dishonesty, before awarding him £90,000 in libel damages.The prominent naturalist found his character, speech impediment and Asperger syndrome mocked in articles published on the Country Squire Magazine (CSM) website, which also accused him of lying to raise funds for a charity of which he is a trustee. Continue reading...

Precious manuscripts placed in industrial-sized freezers at -25C to rid them of excess waterAncient books and manuscripts, some dating back to the 16th century, that have been affected by devastating floods in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna are being stored in freezers in an effort to salvage them.Volunteers have been transporting the books and other precious documents, which became submerged in water and mud in flooded libraries in the worst-affected areas, to Cesena, where the items will be placed on shelves in temperatures of -25C in industrial-size freezers provided by Orogel, a company that specialises in frozen food. Continue reading...

A trove of biodiversity has been catalogued by scientists in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, a vast area of the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Mexico, which has been targeted by deep-sea mining companies keen to exploit its mineral wealth Continue reading...

Plan to drastically dilute bodies’ powers would deal severe blow to Lula’s attempt to reverse Bolsonaro’s era of Amazon devastationBrazilian activists have voiced outrage after congress moved to drastically dilute the powers of the environment and Indigenous peoples ministries in what campaigners called a potentially crippling blow to efforts to protect Indigenous communities and the Amazon.Hopes that Brazil could turn the page on Jair Bolsonaro’s era of Amazon devastation were sky-high after the far-right leader lost last year’s presidential election to the leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. During his campaign Lula vowed to stamp out environmental crime and champion Indigenous people, and after taking power in January put the veteran environmentalist Marina Silva in charge of environmental affairs and made the Indigenous activist Sônia Guajajara head of a new ministry for Indigenous peoples. Continue reading...

A wealth of biodiversity has been found in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, an area earmarked for exploitation by mineral firmsScientists have discovered more than 5,000 new species living on the seabed in an untouched area of the Pacific Ocean that has been identified as a future hotspot for deep-sea mining, according to a review of the environmental surveys done in the area.It is the first time the previously unknown biodiversity of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), a mineral-rich area of the ocean floor that spans 1.7m sq miles between Hawaii and Mexico in the Pacific, has been comprehensively documented. The research will be critical to assessing the risk of extinction of the species, given contracts for deep-sea mining in the near-pristine area appear imminent. Continue reading...

Centuries-old Ceiba pentandra marked where formerly enslaved people had prayed upon arrival in west AfricaA centuries-old tree that served as a historic symbol in Sierra Leone has been felled during a storm, the government has said.The 70-metre (230ft) Ceiba pentandra – known by Sierra Leoneans as Cotton Tree – lost all of its branches on Wednesday during torrential rains and high winds, with only the base of its enormous trunk still standing. The tree, which was in the capital, Freetown, was about 400 years old. Continue reading...

Animal welfare groups and Conservative campaigners criticise decision to scrap kept animals bill

United Utilities accused of ‘making mockery’ by raising dividend in face of sewage spills and continuing leakagesThe decision by United Utilities to hand more than £300m to shareholders has prompted fresh anger over water companies’ multimillion-pound payouts, at a time when the industry is under pressure to spend more on tackling leaks and stopping sewage pollution.The company, which supplies more than 3m homes and 200,000 businesses across the north-west of England, from Carlisle to Crewe, had the unenviable title of England’s most polluting water company last year, according to Environment Agency data. Continue reading...

Fears biodiversity proposals could be abandoned amid opposition from lobby groups and some countriesMEPs have been accused of whipping up “a culture war against nature” after the fisheries and agriculture committees voted against the EU’s biodiversity restoration law.Last June, the European Commission revealed proposals for legally binding targets for member states to restore wildlife on land, in rivers and the sea. The nature restoration law was announced alongside separate legislation proposing a crackdown on chemical pesticides with the aim of reversing the catastrophic loss of wildlife on the continent. Continue reading...

Lawyer in class action over forever chemicals leaked in waterways calls deal bittersweet as people ‘still dealing with irreparable damage to their land’

International Energy Agency says investment will hit $1.7tn this year, well ahead of fossil fuelsRussia’s invasion of Ukraine has helped ignite a boom in clean energy investment which will significantly outpace spending on fossil fuels, according to the International Energy Agency.A report from the IEA has found that clean energy investment is on track to reach $1.7tn (£1.4tn) this year as investors turn to renewables, electric vehicles, nuclear power, grids, storage and other low-carbon technologies. Continue reading...

Tanya Plibersek confirms regional forestry agreements will be covered by upgraded federal environment laws, hinting government may follow Victoria’s lead

Carbon neutrality of low-cost telco Belong relies almost solely on buying overseas offsets, and how an Institute of Public Affairs fellow misread the Great Barrier Reef

The clean-up begins after catastrophic flooding that has left tens of thousands of people homeless in north-east Italy. Rising waters swallowed houses and landslides isolated hamlets

‘We are not going to allow the lights to go off,’ state energy minister Penny Sharpe vows

Exclusive: ‘Ready-to-be-activated’ roadmap adds pressure to Minns government to follow lead of other states in ending controversial practice

Investor payout comes as company posts small profit increase and forecasts strong earnings growthwhich the company said was in line with its policy of increasing dividends by at least CPIH inflation”?Severn Trent has increased its dividend to more than £260m, despite growing public anger over payments made by water suppliers to their shareholders and executives, as companies come under increasing pressure to tackle leaks and sewage pollution of rivers and seas.The rise in the water company’s investor payout came as it reported a small increase in profit for the past year and forecast strong earnings growth for the coming year. Continue reading...

Firm pledges record-breaking investment over next decade as earnings from gas-fired power plants surge near-fourfoldSSE has set out plans to invest £40bn in clean energy over the next 10 years as it reported a near-doubling of its annual profits compared with the year before thanks in part to its fossil fuel power stations.The Perth-based FTSE 100 company said it would carry out its record-breaking green energy plan by investing “far in excess of its earnings” after making an adjusted pre-tax profit of £2.18bn for the 12 months to the end of March, up from almost £1.16bn the year before. Continue reading...

More than 200 million face more intense and frequent floods due to plastic pollution blocking drainage systems, report findsA devastating 2005 flood that killed 1,000 people in the Indian city of Mumbai was blamed on a tragically simple problem: plastic bags had blocked storm drains, stopping monsoon flood water from draining out of the city.Now a new report, attempting to quantify this problem, estimates that 218 million of the world’s poorest people are at risk from more severe and frequent flooding caused by plastic waste. Continue reading...