Unexplored caves can be scary, home to crocodiles, huge eels or tarantulas, but we can also find incredible new life in thereThere is no darkness like being in a cave. I love turning off my headlamp to experience that. It probably sounds horrifying and disconcerting, but caves also have a peaceful quality to them - at least for me. It's like Earth giving me a little hug. I'm weirdly calm when I'm in a cave.As a professor and curator of fishes at Louisiana State University, I explore hidden corners of the world and find new species, which means going to places few people have been before. Continue reading...

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Shadow energy minister Ted O'Brien says report examines costs through an investment lens rather than a consumer lens, but Chris Bowen says nuclear crusade not viable

Blue Marine Foundation is challenging government for ignoring scientific advice on limits and giving a green light to overfishingThe UK government's decision to set catch limits for fish populations above those recommended by scientific advice is to be challenged in the courts by marine conservationists who accuse ministers of breaking their own post-Brexit rules.The legal challenge, expected to start in January, will argue that the government is illegally squandering" a public asset and going against laws aimed at improving sustainable fishing. Continue reading...

Estimates show small modular nuclear reactors would provide most expensive power and will not be available until 2030

Indigenous campaigners, human rights defenders and climate activists say they are being silenced by fear of reprisalsIncidents of harassment, surveillance, threats and intimidation are creating a climate of fear at UN events including the recent Cop28 climate conference in Dubai, experts have said.Indigenous campaigners, human rights defenders and environmental activists say they are increasingly afraid to speak out on urgent issues because of concerns about reprisals from governments or fossil fuel industries. Continue reading...

Phenomenon whereby moisture condenses around particles of pollution was noticed near Heathrow in JanuaryA rare phenomenon known as industrial snowfall" appears to have occurred near Heathrow airport earlier this year, according to a study.Satellite imagery shows three large, white bands on the ground in parts of Surrey despite relatively dry conditions in the area at the time. The snow, which was recorded on 23 January, was distributed near industrial facilities south-east of Heathrow airport. Continue reading...

The world has looked to offsetting schemes to protect forests, fund conservation and fight the climate crisis - but many fail to fulfil their promises. Here are five ways to keep our forests standingKeeping the world's remaining forests standing is one of the most important environmental challenges of the 21st century. Humanity will not limit global heating to safe levels or stem the ongoing loss of wildlife without them. From the boreal forest that stretches around northern Europe, Siberia and Canada, to the Amazon, Earth's forests are some of the most biodiverse places on the planet, home to species found nowhere else.Yet all too often, forests are worth more money dead than alive - despite promises from global leaders to halt deforestation. Their exploitation has pushed many plants, animals and fungi to the brink of extinction, while slowly degrading their ability to generate rainfall, sequester carbon and cool the planet. Continue reading...

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Regulators approve rules to let agencies recycle wastewater into drinking water for homes, schools and businessesWhen a toilet is flushed in California, the water can end up in a lot of places: an ice-skating rink in Ontario, ski slopes around Lake Tahoe, farmland in the central valley.And - coming soon - kitchen faucets. Continue reading...

Washington, Oregon and California have stringent laws to combat fossil fuel, but the approval of GTN Xpress could upend thatConstruction could start before the new year on a gas pipeline expansion through the Pacific north-west that state officials say will undermine the region's renewable transition and further fuel climate emergencies.The region is suffering from annual wildfires, deadly heat domes and drought. Lawmakers in Washington, Oregon and California have passed some of the country's most stringent laws to move away from fossil fuels, but they say the federal commission that greenlit the project threatens to undermine that progress. Continue reading...

Move aims to protect millions of old-growth trees, which are better at storing carbon, but its outcome depends on 2024 electionJoe Biden's administration on Tuesday announced a new proposal aimed at banning logging in old-growth forests, a move meant to protect millions of trees that play a key role in fighting the climate crisis.The proposal comes from an executive order signed by the president on Earth Day in 2022 that directed the US Forest Service and the land management bureau to conduct an inventory of old-growth and mature forest groves as well as to develop policies that protect them. Continue reading...

Marlena Fontes co-founded Climate Families NYC with six other mothers to create a space for families to take actionNew Yorker Marlena Fontes was working as a labor organizer and newly pregnant with her first child when a conversation with a co-worker about the climate crisis stirred something in her that would change her life.It was 2018 and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had recently released a report warning that world leaders had only until 2030 to make the sort of dramatic emission cuts that would prevent mass harm around the globe. Continue reading...

Modelling shows huge area' in which waves and flood waters could have destroyed coral colonies

The Environmental Defenders Office says proposed legal changes will water down' protections against subsidence caused by gas wells

Tribunal found developers were paying into fund five times faster than the Biodiversity Conservation Trust was able to find required offsets

Eruption comes a month after nearly 4,000 inhabitants of the fishing town of Grindavik were evacuated when the area was hit by a 'seismic swarm' of more than 1,000 earthquakes in 24 hours.The Reykjanes peninsula in recent years has seen several eruptions in unpopulated areas, but the latest outbreak could pose a risk to Grindavik, authorities say.

Data also shows only one prosecution and follow-ups on one-third of 10,000 complaints made since January 2022There has been just one prosecution and three fines handed out for people using banned wood-burning stoves in England, data has revealed.Despite more than 10,000 complaints about wood being burned in populated areas since January 2022, local councils have not been enforcing the government's tough new restrictions" on stoves. Two-thirds of these complaints were not followed up, and only a handful led to any action. Continue reading...

Extra cash values firm at nearly $8bn, as it says it has greater share of home electricity market than British Gas

South African court dismisses huge class-action lawsuit over toxic legacy of mining at Broken Hill in Zambia between 1925 and 1974A South African court has thrown out a case brought against the multinational mining company Anglo American on behalf of 140,000 Zambian women and children, who allege they have suffered lead poisoning from one of its mines.The lawsuit, one of Africa's largest class-action cases, was filed in October 2020, accused Anglo American of negligence over its alleged failure to prevent widespread lead poisoning in the Zambian town of Kabwe, where its South African subsidiary is alleged to have played a key role in running a large mine from 1925 until 1974. Continue reading...

It was supposed to be a run-of-the-mill category two - but flooded streets and cut-off communities show an intensity that nobody saw comingA lifelong resident of Machans Beach, just outside Cairns, Euan Williams had seen plenty of cyclones before. Once ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper passed over the community on Wednesday last week as a category-two storm, that confirmed it. It wouldn't amount to much.Being locals, a cat two's sort of like a run of the mill cyclone," he said. Continue reading...

The next generation of wildlife photographers are showcased in the RSPCA Young Photographer awards 2023. Here's a selection of the winning entries, capturing the natural world around them Continue reading...

Finding out the percentage from consumer bills used to service debt is tricky. We worked with industry experts to shed light on the issue

Rain is finally easing, but emergency alerts remain for parts of the state's far north, with communities from Cooktown to Innisfail cut off by record flood waters

On the steep slope of a glacier jutting through the Hunza valley in Pakistan's mountainous far north, Tariq Jamil measures the ice's movement and takes photos. Later, he creates a report that includes data from sensors and another camera installed near the Shisper glacier to update his village an hour's hike downstream. His mission: to mobilise his community of 200 families in Hassanabad, in the Karakoram mountains, to fight for a future for their village and way of life, increasingly under threat from unstable lakes formed by melting glacier ice Continue reading...

As Colombia announces it will host the next biodiversity meeting, there is cautious optimism about the progress made since Cop15Governments risk another decade of failure on nature loss if they do not implement a landmark agreement in full, the UN's acting biodiversity chief has warned, 12 months after the deal was struck.As anticipation begins for the next summit - which was confirmed last week to be hosted by Colombia - the legacy and implementation of the last, historic agreement remains uncertain. Continue reading...

Animals fight for survival in far north Queensland after ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper brings days of heavy rains, saturating parts of the region. The rain is forecast to continue over the next 24 hours, with some areas already hit with more than a metre and water levels expected to break 1977 recordsSubscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube

The North Queensland Aboriginal community of Wujal Wujal also reports crocodiles swimming through flood waters in the town's main street

Heavy rain has continued to fall across far north Queensland in the aftermath of ex-tropical Cyclone Jasper. Continue reading...

Santos marks key regulatory win for its $5.8bn Timor Sea Barossa project, but other court battles threaten to derail project

Culling aims to reduce population in fragile ecosystems from about 22,500 to 3,000 by mid-2027

Attempts to rescue those trapped on hospital roof being thwarted by continuous rain that is stopping helicopters attending

Roughly a third of global greenhouse gas emissions are due to food systems, but Cop had avoided agreements until nowFood systems - what we eat; how we grow, ship and cook it; and how we dispose of (and sometimes waste) it - are responsible for roughly a third of global greenhouse gas emissions. But for the better part of three decades, the final agreements that emerge from the UN's yearly climate summits have left out the impact food systems have on our climate.That changed this year in Dubai. The conference opened with a declaration on sustainable agriculture signed by more than 130 countries. For the first time ever, it featured a whole day devoted to food and agriculture and saw a food systems road map laid out by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Perhaps most strikingly, the final agreement document that was revealed at the end of the conference acknowledged sustainable agriculture as a part of responding appropriately to climate change. Continue reading...

Exclusive: the plan is more than a year behind schedule, with peak bodies saying there is no viable alternative' to the material

Footage emerging from far north Queensland shows flooded homes, bridges and roads - and an animal being rescued from the Barron River, north of Cairns. One resident, Bazz Goes, documents his walk across the Barron Bridge in Karunda, noting that the water is at the level of the bridge, normally high above the river. 'The police and SES [state emergency service] are over here, and people are actually doing a cow rescue,' Goes says. Authorities on Sunday afternoon warned residents to expect continuous heavy rainfall for at least another day in what they called a 'life-threatening event'

Floods exceeding 1977 levels expected, Steven Miles says, as heavy rain leaves 10,500 homes without power

Major flood warnings for state's far north as storm system moves towards Northern Territory

UK lender is a major European funder of oil and gas projects and university has said it does not want to back fossil fuel expansionCambridge University could cut ties with Barclays after more than 200 years over the bank's refusal to stop financing new oil and gas projects, according to the Financial Times.It reported that Cambridge is looking for an institution with robust climate policies to manage several hundred million pounds" in cash and money market funds - a mandate expected to cover more than 200m in assets and generate about 10m in fees a year. Continue reading...

From Eurovision super fans to solar eclipses and star celebrities, here is a selection of the finest work by our photographers Continue reading...

The UN summit's deal heralds the end of coal, oil and gas. The real test is whether producers back it up with action Get our morning and afternoon news emails,free app or daily news podcastFrom the start, Cop28 appeared beyond the reach of satire. About 100,000 politicians, diplomats, lobbyists, business people, investors, activists, scientists, policy wonks and journalists from across the globe registered for a two-week climate summit hosted by an authoritarian oil state in a city, Dubai, known for skyscrapers and extravagant, energy-hungry consumerism.The president of the summit, Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, is the chief executive of the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, which is planning a US$150bn oil and gas expansion. The United Arab Emirates is also investing in renewables - its Noor Energy 1 concentrated solar thermal plant is bigger than 6,000 football fields - but a more prominent sight in central Dubai is the world's biggest gas-fired power plant.Sign up for Guardian Australia's free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Continue reading...

Roy Scholten has been interested in birds ever since he can remember. In his 50 Birds series, the Netherlands-based artist and printmaker has created handmade prints of local species including pied flycatchers, skylarks and blue-headed wagtails. Each print is made using Lego letterpress, combining individual building blocks into stamps to recreate the birds' shapes and patterns, a technique perfected over the past decade by his frequent collaborator, the artist Martijn van der Blom. Birds are daily reminders of the richness of our natural surroundings. They can fly! How cool is that!" says Scholten. Sadly most species are in decline, which makes it all the more worthwhile to really look and appreciate them."

Karen McCormack says regulators at environmental agency are discouraged from speaking up about dangerous chemicalsFederal regulators are discouraged from speaking up about potentially dangerous pesticides, according to a former agency official.Karen McCormack, a retired Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) scientist who spent 40 years with the agency, told Al Jazeera's investigative show Fault Lines that she believed the EPA was not fulfilling its mission to protect the public from harmful chemicals. Continue reading...

Stephen Gingell, 57, thought to be first to receive prison sentence under new Public Order ActA climate activist has been jailed for six months after pleading guilty to taking part in a peaceful slow march protest on a London road.The sentence handed to Stephen Gingell, 57, is thought to be the first jailing under a new law that critics say makes anyone walking in a road liable for prosecution for interference with key national infrastructure". Continue reading...

Exclusive: Sultan Al Jaber says Adnoc has to meet demand for fossil fuels, and hails unprecedented' Cop dealThe president of the Cop28 climate summit will continue with his oil company's record investment in oil and gas production, despite coordinating a global deal to transition away" from fossil fuels.Sultan Al Jaber, who is also the chief executive of the United Arab Emirates' national oil and gas company, Adnoc, told the Guardian the company had to satisfy demand for fossil fuels. Continue reading...

The summit's moves to intermesh nature and climate goals are welcomed by campaigners, but concerns remainConservation groups have hailed the inclusion of biodiversity and a 2030 global deforestation goal in the UAE consensus that emerged from Cop28, along with positive wording on the role of Indigenous communities.Some hope the deal could help to intermesh nature and climate more closely, rather than treating the two as separate subjects. But many expressed concerns that tepid language on fossil fuel emissions would fail to control the global heating responsible for eroding forest resilience to drought, fire and disease, threatening to tip carbon-rich ecosystems into becoming a source of the greenhouse gas emissions that are heating the planet. Continue reading...

Climate experts say lack of unambiguous statement is tragedy for the planet and our future'The failure of Cop28 to call for a phase-out of fossil fuels is devastating" and dangerous" given the urgent need for action to tackle the climate crisis, scientists have said.One called it a tragedy for the planet and our future" while another said it was the dream outcome" for the fossil fuel industry. Continue reading...

Simon Paul and Travis Branson accused of making significant sums of cash' from killing birds in Montana over several yearsTwo men in the US have been charged with illegally killing about 3,600 birds over the course of several years and selling the parts and feathers on the black market.A grand jury in Montana indicted Simon Paul and Travis Branson on charges of conspiracy, violating the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, and illegal trafficking. Continue reading...

Government says insufficient hydrogen production available to replace home gas suppliesA plan to test the use of hydrogen to heat homes in a village in the north-east of England has been abandoned after months of strong opposition from concerned residents.The government said the Redcar hydrogen village" scheme, which had been expected to start in 2025, wouldnot go ahead because of insufficient local hydrogen production for the trial to replace the home gas supplies with the low-carbon alternative. Continue reading...

Leader will refocus climate debate on job creation in rural areas to remove tension between resource-rich regions and urban south-east, sources say

Solar and wind farms will need to triple by 2030 to 57GW and expand seven-fold by 2050 to 126GW