Land reformists dispute assumptions behind plan to address climate crisis by increasing private funding

Scheduled monument built in 1720s lies on estate bought up by investment company Abrdn for 7.5m in 2021

The beloved orca, born into the L-pod of resident killer whales in the Pacific north-west, was awaiting release into her home watersThe whale who began her life in the cold waters of the Pacific north-west only to end up in a small enclosure at the Miami Seaquarium has died. On Friday afternoon, a social media post announced that Toki - who was also known by her performing name Lolita, and the name the Lummi tribe gave her, Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut - had died. She was believed to be 57.A Facebook post from the Miami Seaquarium reported she died from what was believed to be a renal condition. Toki was an inspiration to all who had the fortune to hear her story and especially to the Lummi nation that considered her family," the Seaquarium post said. Those of us who have had the honor and privilege to spend time with her will forever remember her beautiful spirit." Continue reading...

Analysis of EU and US shows livestock farmers receive about 1,000 times more public funding than plant-based and cultivated meatThe gigantic" power of the meat and dairy industries in the EU and US is blocking the development of the greener alternatives needed to tackle the climate crisis, a study has found.The analysis of lobbying, subsidies and regulations showed that livestock farmers in the EU received 1,200 times more public funding than plant-based meat or cultivated meat groups. In the US, the animal farmers got 800 times more public funding. Continue reading...

Contaminants from the fires could damage marine life, and hardy non-native grasses might grow and kindle the next fireAs the toll from Maui's catastrophic wildfires continues to climb, experts warn the disaster also poses a grave threat to the coral reefs and delicate ocean ecosystems that surround the devastated town of Lahaina.Layers of charred soils and toxic contaminants were left among the wreckage, where thousands of buildings and blackened cars lie in smoldering ruins. The conflagration that claimed more lives than any other US wildfire in the last century burned to the shoreline, littering underwater habitats with scorched boats and debris. The ashen aftermath could end up wreaking more havoc if allowed to slip into the aquatic environment. Continue reading...

Agency plans a case-by-case' approach that allows for flexibility, but critics say this is not a new definition - it is a lack of definition'The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) office responsible for protecting the public from toxic substances has changed how it defines PFAS for a second time since 2021, a move critics say they fear will exclude thousands of forever chemicals" from regulation and largely benefit industry.Instead of using a clear definition of what constitutes a PFAS, the agency's Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics plans to take a case-by-case" approach that allows it to be more flexible in determining which chemicals should be subjected to regulations. Continue reading...

The best of this week's wildlife photographs, including an endangered white-headed duck, a Harrison Ford snake and a sick cat Continue reading...

Australia needs policy changes, more vehicle chargers and a bigger focus on regional areas to catch on low-emissions transport, Solar Citizens says

In 2020, Honolulu officials had sued eight oil and gas companies over the steep costs of abating damages from extreme weatherHawaii's supreme court on Thursday heard attempts by fossil fuel companies to dismiss a climate accountability lawsuit. The hearing came as the deadly fires in Maui capture global headlines.This is the first time the court has been in session since the fires in Maui last week," the Hawaii supreme court chief justice said as the hearing began, before calling for a moment of silence for those who lost their lives in the blazes. Continue reading...

Water of about 26 million is contaminated as new data offers the most robust look into exactly which communities are pollutedDrinking water consumed by millions of Americans from hundreds of communities spread across the United States is contaminated with dangerous levels of toxic chemicals, according to testing data released on Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).The data shows that drinking water systems serving small towns to large cities - from tiny Collegeville, Pennsylvania, to Fresno, California - contain measurable levels of so-called forever chemicals", a family of durable compounds long used in a variety of commercial products but that are now known to be harmful. Continue reading...

South-east Florida's coral reefs are now at highest alert level for bleaching for the first time ever with significant mortality likely'Florida's ailing coral reef system is at the risk of a devastating bleaching outbreak after being engulfed in an unprecedented" heat stress event that stretches throughout the waters of the Caribbean and Central America, US government scientists have warned.South-east Florida's corals are now at the highest alert level for bleaching for the first time ever, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), with significant mortality likely" for its corals amid abnormally hot ocean temperatures. Continue reading...

The pace at which you could theoretically deploy the small modular reactor being advocated would mean sitting on your hands until at least the end of the decade

Labor will have to show that recovering water does not cause any negative social or economic issues in regional communities

Worst wildfires in the Canary Islands in at least 40 years drawing closer to the capital Santa CruzMore than 7,500 people have been evacuated or ordered to stay indoors as the worst wildfire in at least four decades ravages the Canary island of Tenerife, burning through 2,600 hectares (6,425 acres) of land and drawing closer to the capital, Santa Cruz.Fernando Clavijo, the regional president of the Canaries, said more than 250 firefighters - backed by military emergency crews and 17 aircraft - were working to tackle the fire, which broke out in the north-east of the island on Tuesday and which currently has a 32km (20-mile) perimeter. Continue reading...

But experts say damage can be reversed if US and Canada act quickly to stop new plastics from entering lake systemAbout 90% of water samples taken over the last 10 years from the Great Lakes contain microplastic levels that are unsafe for wildlife, a new peer-reviewed paper from the University of Toronto finds.About 20% of those samples are at the highest level of risk, but the study's authors say the damage can be reversed if the US and Canada quickly act. Continue reading...

Mandatory reporting for large and medium-sized businesses would lower prices and help climate, say campaignersThe government has been criticised for binning food waste legislation that campaigners say could have reduced food prices and helped tackle the climate crisis.The policy would have made food waste reporting mandatory for large and medium-sized businesses in England. According to research by the environmental campaign group Feedback, if it led to just a 1% reduction in food waste, food businesses would save an estimated total of at least 24.4m a year. Continue reading...

If cutting continues along its current pace, most of the Moskitia forest - and the way of life it sustains - could be lost by 2050, much sooner for many partsSeveral hours down a clandestine road that slithers through the rotting remains of what was once protected rainforest in north-eastern Honduras, a rusted bulldozer overgrown with vines and a locked gate appeared ahead.A vinyl banner hanging from a wooden fence advertised the sale of cattle for breeding. Behind, a palm tree stood above an empty corral like a watchtower. The driver got out to retrieve a key, a pistol tucked inside his belt. Continue reading...

Wildlife experts fear spread could devastate native bees, which the hornets dismember and eatAsian hornets have been spotted in their greatest numbers yet in the UK, which could have a devastating effect on native bees, which they kill, dismember and eat.There have been 39 Asian hornets and nests seen in the country since the species was first observed in 2016, and this year there have been 16 sightings, data shows.Folkestone, Kent: confirmed 11 August.Folkestone, Kent: confirmed 10 August.Maidstone, Kent: confirmed 7 August and nest destroyed.Portland, Dorset: confirmed 7 August and nest destroyed.Deal, Kent: confirmed 6 August.Folkestone, Kent: confirmed 4 August and nest destroyed.Portland, Dorset: confirmed 4 August and nest destroyed.Whitstable, Kent: confirmed 3 August and nest destroyed.Deal, Kent: confirmed 2 August.Plymouth, Devon: confirmed 27 July and two nests destroyed.Gravesend, Kent: confirmed 24 July and nest destroyed.Shepherdswell, Kent: confirmed 5 July and nest destroyed.Deal, Kent: confirmed 28 June and nest destroyed.Canterbury, Kent: confirmed 31 May and single hornet captured.Ashford, Kent: confirmed 23 May and single hornet captured.Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland: confirmed 11 April and single hornet captured. Continue reading...

Africa has lost about 90% of its vultures over the past 50 years. It's a rapidly growing crisis, and the decline is not down to natural causes. Most of these birds are being poisoned, often unintentionally, by humans. We know the impact that mass vulture death can have on humans, because India suffered the same fate just 20 years ago. Neelam Tailor looks into how humans are accidentally killing millions of vultures, and the deadly impact it has had on people Continue reading...

Exclusive: Company says some may see the bones as ideological provocation' but motivation was avoiding wastePlant-based pork ribs with a twist - edible vegan bones - will soon make their debut on diners' plates, a vegan food company has announced.The idea of the edible bones, produced by Juicy Marbles, began with the manufacturer wanting the bones to be compostable, but then realising they could also be eaten. The first products will be available from the end of August in the UK, EU and US. Continue reading...

A wildfire that broke out in a national park on the Spanish island of Tenerife has spread to 1,800 hectares, prompting authorities to order the evacuation of five villages and cut off access to the forest surrounding the Mount Teide volcano Continue reading...

National conference outlines plans for energy transition, making early childhood education universal and closing gender pay gap

Many weather stations in Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart clocked their highest July temperatures ever as the country's winters get hotter

Analysis finds Treasury rules on new windfarms likely to stifle energy generation and keep bills highNew offshore windfarms will be strangled by government red tape, costing UK billpayers 1.5bn a year, an analysis has found.The latest government auction for new offshore windfarms, due to be completed in September, could result in few projects making it through Treasury rules, according to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), a non-profit organisation. Continue reading...

It's not just the lions that are under pressure, it's biodiversity in general,' warn conservationists, amid a rapidly expanding human populationStanding in a patch of damp forest, a clump of moss in one hand, Siraj Hussein applies the last touches to a camera trap. He explains why his chosen tree is in an ideal spot: it is in a clearing, which gives the sensors a good view, and lion droppings have been found nearby. So far, I haven't captured a lion on my camera, but I'm optimistic," he says.Siraj is gathering data on the behaviour of the lions in the Kafa biosphere reserve, in south-west Ethiopia - one of the country's last few tracts of natural forest - as part of a new project by the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (Nabu), a German environmental group. Continue reading...

Democratic West Virginia senator calls the Inflation Reduction Act, hailed as biggest step on climate crisis', a radical agenda'The Democratic West Virginia senator Joe Manchin marked the first anniversary of a major US climate crisis law he helped pass by saying he would mount an unrelenting fight against the Biden administration's efforts to implement the IRA as a radical climate agenda".In response, one advocate for climate action accused Manchin, who she called an oily senator", of talk[ing] out of whichever side of his mouth will please the polluting fossil fuel industry". Continue reading...

Named tropical storms and hurricanes, which have become more intense, have caused about 20,000 more deaths from 1988 to 2019Atlantic storms have become deadlier as the planet warms - and are disproportionately killing people of color in the US, a landmark new study has found.About 20,000 excess deaths - the numbers of observed rather than expected deaths - occurred in the immediate aftermath of 179 named storms and hurricanes which struck the US mainland between 1988 and 2019. Continue reading...

Further 41 species on course to be declared critically endangered, complicating Albanese government's zero extinctions target

Failure to heed warnings over unchecked growth meant blaze was a disaster waiting to happen', say scientists and academicsScientists and academics say they have been warning for several years that invasive grasses covering a quarter of the Hawaii islands are a major fire risk.Untamed grassland helped fuel the spread and intensity of last week's deadly fires on the island of Maui, according to experts. The fires, which broke out last Tuesday, have killed at least 106 people and destroyed the island's historic town of Lahaina. Continue reading...

Company breached three-year rolling limit on abstraction licence at Fylde aquifer in 2018United Utilities has been fined 800,000 after illegally abstracting 22bn litres of water in Lancashire, causing damage to an important aquifer that will take years to recover.The illegal removal of water from the Fylde aquifer, which happened during a period of dry weather in 2018, is likely to have negatively affected river flows. Continue reading...

French police stress rules on taking blooms of plants such as edelweiss as drought affects some areas of countryFrench police have warned Alpine hikers they will be fined hundreds of euros if they pick too many blooming plants on their summer walks.Officers confiscated thousands of genepi sprigs and edelweiss flowers during a week-long enforcement operation this month. Continue reading...

Icebreaker would be North America's first ever freshwater offshore wind project - but locals express concerns over wildlife and potential oil leaksWith a surface water area larger than the entire UK, the five Great Lakes might seem like an obvious location for offshore wind. The US Department of Energy says that the lakes collectively boast the potential to provide 700 gigawatts of offshore electricity - enough to power millions of homes.Nonetheless, projects and proposals have failed to get off the ground. Until now. Continue reading...

Twenty-five countries are using 80% of their water supplies each year, research showsTwenty-five countries that are home to a quarter of the world's population are facing extreme water stress, according to research.Data from the World Resources Institute suggests these countries are regularly using 80% of their water supplies each year. Continue reading...

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Bollards and cameras are being deliberately damaged in protest at measures designed to improve air quality and road safetyLondon councils are having to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money repairing vandalised bollards and cameras designed to help improve air pollution and make roads safer.Data obtained by the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act shows more than 850,000 worth of damage has been caused to low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN) infrastructure in the capital since 2020. Continue reading...

Wyatt Kauffman, 13, who parents say will make full recovery', discharged from hospital after surviving 100ft fall from north rimAs he left the hospital and headed for home in North Dakota, a 13-year-old boy who fell 100ft from a ledge at the Grand Canyon said he had been inches away from death".I almost died," Wyatt Kauffman told ABC's Good Morning America, when asked to reflect on the fall that left him with a spinal fracture and other injuries. I want to thank everybody that helped me be able to be alive." Continue reading...

Residents hold on to hope for historic town that represents transformation' as it prepares to rebuildA week after wildfires ripped through western Maui and killed at least 99 people, residents and historians are still processing the full scope of destruction in Lahaina, an 18th-century coastal town that was, for a time, the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom.Designated a national historic landmark in 1962, Lahaina is a place of incalculable importance for Native Hawaiians. In 1810, King Kamehameha I unified all the Hawaiian islands and made the town his royal residence for the next three decades. Continue reading...

Sustainable Timber Tasmania said the giant tree pictured on the truck had been assessed and felled for safety reasons'

Half of regular green tweeters abandoned platform after its sale and cuts to moderation, analysis findsHalf of people regularly tweeting about the climate and nature crises abandoned Twitter after it was taken over by Elon Musk, according to new analysis.The researchers said Twitter, now renamed X, had previously been the leading social media platform for environmental discussion and the decline was troubling". They said the exodus of environmental users on Twitter is an existential threat" to a main way of informing people who want to take climate action. Continue reading...

Legislation gives incentives to companies to manufacture EVs without protections for workers, says head of autoworkers unionJoe Biden's landmark climate legislation has been disappointing" and failed to deliver protections to car industry workers confronted by the transition to electric vehicles, according to the head of the US's leading autoworkers union, which has pointedly withheld is endorsement of the president for next year's election.The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed by Biden a year ago this week, has bestowed huge incentives to car companies to manufacture electric vehicles without any accompanying guarantees over worker pay and conditions, Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers (UAW), told the Guardian. Continue reading...

Candidates include an oak in Exeter that survived the blitz and a walnut in a car park in PerthUrban trees that provide vital food and shelter for wildlife in towns and cities take a starring role on the Woodland Trust tree of the year shortlist.They include a holm oak in Exeter that survived the blitz and another oak in Surrey that Queen Elizabeth I reputedly had a picnic under. Continue reading...

Lack of funding and staff limit climate sector's impact on conservation and net zero efforts, say workersStaff shortages, a lack of specialist personnel and low pay are major barriers to achieving net zero, according to workers in the UK environment sector.The trade union Prospect, many members of which work in the climate and environment sector, received more than 500 responses to a survey on workplace trends. Continue reading...

In this special Age of Extinction mini-series from Science Weekly, Guardian biodiversity reporter Phoebe Weston explores the murky world of the illegal killing of birds of prey on grouse moors and asks why it is so difficult to solve these crimes. In episode one, Phoebe hears about the case of Susie, a hen harrier whose chicks were killed while being monitored on camera. As she starts to investigate the case, she hears from conservationist Ruth Tingay about why hen harriers are targeted and finds out about the personal costs of campaigning on this issueThis episode has been updated from an earlier version which quoted RSPB data showing that 108 birds of prey were illegally killed 2021. Their report actually says that there were 108 confirmed incidents of illegal persecution in 2021Read more reporting from the Age of Extinction team here Continue reading...

Number of vessels able to pass through each day limited because lower availability of waterCommercial ships are facing long queues and delays to travel through the Panama Canal as a lengthy drought in the Central American country has led to a cut in the number of vessels able to pass through one of the world's most important trading routes.In a fresh demonstration of the impact of the climate crisis on global business and trade, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), which manages the waterway, introduced restrictions on the number of transiting vessels as a result of the drought. Continue reading...

Sixteen young plaintiffs had alleged the Montana state government had violated their right to a healthy environmentThe judge who heard the US's first constitutional climate trial earlier this year has ruled in favor of a group of young plaintiffs who had accused state officials in Montana of violating their right to a healthy environment.I'm so speechless right now," Eva, a plaintiff who was 14 when the suit was filed, said in a statement. I'm really just excited and elated and thrilled." Continue reading...

Researchers find at least five wolves including adult female descendant of OR-7, first grey wolf identified in state in 90 yearsA new pack of endangered grey wolves have been spotted in a California national forest, as conservationists fight for increased protection of the endangered species.The pack was discovered in the Sequoia national forest in southern California's Tulare county, the state's department of fish and wildlife (CDFW) confirmed. Continue reading...

Meat and masculinity have been bound together in the US for centuries - and that's no accidentIn April 2021, a Daily Mail article claiming that Joe Biden planned to limit beef consumption to 4lb a year per person to meet environmental targets went viral. Though it was totally false, it sparked a chorus among rightwingers that Democrats want to take away your hamburgers".For many on the right, beef is a hot-button issue. Continue reading...

Polymer from black soldier flies seen as promising source as it has no other competing uses such as foodDead flies could be turned into biodegradable plastic, researchers have said.The finding, presented at the autumn meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), could be useful as it is difficult to find sources for biodegradable polymers that do not have other competing uses. Continue reading...

Fresh fruit and vegetables from Europe will be more expensive as drought and wildfires shrink suppliesA healthy diet in the UK will be put at risk by climate breakdown as European droughts shrink fresh fruit and vegetable supplies, experts have said.Fresh produce from the Mediterranean, upon which the UK is reliant, will become more expensive and harder to obtain as extreme heat causes yields to reduce, putting a healthy diet out of reach of the poorest in society, according to a report by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU). Continue reading...

Communities hope good new jobs will come from Biden's historic climate investment in cities like Weirton, West VirginiaA cutting-edge energy storage company is building its main manufacturing plant where a once-thriving West Virginia steel mill once stood in the city of Weirton. According to lawmakers, the much-lauded project was made possible by incentives from 2022's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed by President Biden one year ago this Wednesday.For supporters, it's a sign that climate policies can also breathe life back into deindustrialized coal and steel communities with green jobs. The symbolism is compelling but how much those communities benefit will depend on a wide array of factors. Continue reading...