Minister says aim is to ‘safeguard our nation’s heritage’ but campaigners say artificial meat holds promiseThe Italian government has approved a draft law that would ban food grown in laboratories, including artificial meat, as it seeks to “safeguard our nation’s heritage”.Under the ban, which needs to be passed in both houses of parliament, those who produce, export or import food grown from animal cells would face fines of up to €60,000 and risk having their manufacturing plants closed. Continue reading...

EPA’s response to the derailment has drawn intense criticism from East Palestine residents and public health expertsThe US Environmental Protection Agency’s internal watchdog division is opening an investigation into the handling of the East Palestine train wreck which caused a toxic disaster in the small Ohio town.An agency spokesperson declined to comment on why it is launching the investigation, but a public memo from the EPA office of inspector general states that it will “conduct interviews, gather data, and analyze a variety of issues, including hazardous waste disposal, air and water monitoring, soil and sediment sampling, and risk communication”. Continue reading...

At two wildlife centres in the Madre de Dios region, the victims of illegal mining activities embark on a long journey of rehabilitation“She used to fight every time I tried to feed her, but she recognises it’s me now,” says Cinthia Pariguana-Garriazo, a veterinary nurse at Taricaya eco reserve. It is 6am, and she is coaxing a squealing baby spider monkey called Rain into accepting breakfast – a syringe filled with liquefied fruit and medicine.Rain is fed every four hours and requires regular physical contact with Pariguana-Garriazo, her primary carer. Over the next few months, she will be gradually introduced to solid food and to other spider monkeys and her contact with humans will dwindle. From there, it’s a long process of rehabilitation before her release back into the wild. Juveniles can expect to stay at Taricaya for at least three years. Continue reading...

Call comes on eve of revised net zero strategy that allows drilling in North Sea and boosts ‘unproven’ carbon captureHundreds of the UK’s leading scientists have urged the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, to halt the licensing of new oil and gas developments in the UK, ahead of his anticipated launch of a revised net zero and energy security strategy on Thursday.The scientists, who include Chris Rapley, former head of the Science Museum and professor at UCL and Mark Maslin, professor of earth system science at UCL, warn that there must be no new developments of oil and gas, for the world to limit global heating to 1.5C above preindustrial levels. Continue reading...

Government’s official advisers point to ‘lost decade’ in efforts to protect lives and livelihoodsThe UK is “strikingly unprepared” for the impacts of the climate crisis, according to the Climate Change Committee (CCC), which said there had been a “lost decade” in efforts to adapt for the impacts of global heating.The CCC, the government’s official climate adviser, said climate damages will inevitably intensify for decades to come. It has warned repeatedly of poor preparation in the past and said government action was now urgently needed to protect people and their homes and livelihoods. Continue reading...

Exclusive: National Trust concerned at danger to rich mix of ecosystems including lagoon, woodland, salt marsh and reedbedOil from the Perenco pipeline leak in Poole harbour has washed up on the shores of Brownsea Island, an internationally important wetland and marine conservation zone.Nearly 200 barrels of reservoir fluid – a brine mixture that is about 15% oil – leaked into the waters of Ower Bay on Sunday from the pipeline sparking a major incident and urgent clean-up operation. Continue reading...

Bembidion brownorum, named for Jerry Brown, was last seen in 1966, but hadn’t been named until one was collected on his ranchScientists are naming a rare species of beetle in honor of the former California governor Jerry Brown after finding one at his ranch.Bembidion brownorum was last seen in 1966, but it hadn’t been named or described until one was collected near a creek on Brown’s ranch in Colusa county, about an hour’s drive north-west of Sacramento, the University of California, Berkeley announced on Monday. Continue reading...

Cheaper rates could be applied to those who install water butts under plans unveiled by regulatorWater bill discounts could be given to people who do not pave over their front gardens and install water butts, under plans unveiled by the regulator.Customers could also be charged dynamically based on how much water they use, with people who reduce their usage paying less than heavy users, Ofwat announced on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Jacob Rees-Mogg and Chris Grayling express concern at system under which Drax made £617m in 2022The UK government should rethink its subsidies for burning wood for fuel, former Conservative ministers and the net zero tsar have said.The energy company Drax, which burns forest biomass, made £893m in direct government subsidies in 2021. The level of support fell to £617m in 2022 as electricity prices exceeded an agreed “strike price” agreed to encourage renewable investment. Continue reading...

A lack of swimming skills among young people, especially girls, stops them working in local industries and getting involved in conservationAzha Abdul Azeez lives in Malé, the capital of the Maldives archipelago, surrounded by the idyllic Indian Ocean. But she “grew up in the house” and the water that makes up so much of Abdul Azeez’s home – a rich habitat including coral reefs, turtles, manta rays and exotic fish – terrifies her because she never learned to swim.“[My parents] were worried that something might happen to me. I think that’s why they didn’t send me [swimming] when I was little,” she says. Continue reading...

Australia Institute analysis tracks 28 proposed developments referred to Tanya Plibersek for approval

More than 100,000 hectares burned in MacDonnell Ranges area, which has been declared a federal priority for threatened species conservation

First analysis of plastics’ hazards over life cycle – from extraction to disposal – also shows ‘deep societal injustices’ of impact

Environment Agency tells supplier to rethink plans to tackle droughts by pumping water from Thames and SevernThames Water has been told by the Environment Agency it needs to do more to fix the 630m litres of water it leaks a day before it starts taking water from the River Thames or from Wales to tackle drought problems.The company has published its ideas for tackling climate crisis-induced droughts across London and the south-east, which include abstracting millions of litres a day from the River Thames and replacing it with treated effluent, to taking 155m litres a day from Wales. Continue reading...

The shadow net zero secretary Ed Miliband to set out how plan will create jobs in clean energyLabour is recasting its green growth plan as the British version of the US’s Inflation Reduction Act to underline its ambition to invest in good, clean energy jobs.Ed Miliband, the shadow net zero secretary, will set out how the party’s green prosperity plan will deliver a multi-billion investment by government and businesses to drive jobs in green industries. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Australian company resurrects flesh of lost species to demonstrate potential of meat grown from cellsA mammoth meatball has been created by a cultivated meat company, resurrecting the flesh of the long-extinct animals.The project aims to demonstrate the potential of meat grown from cells, without the slaughter of animals, and to highlight the link between large-scale livestock production and the destruction of wildlife and the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Pacific nation is sponsoring resolution that will ask ICJ to rule on consequences for climate inactionLast month, twin cyclones tore through Port Vila, the capital of the Pacific nation of Vanuatu. The category-four storms left corrugated iron roofs crumpled like leftover wrapping paper, flooded the streets with waste-ridden mud, cut residents off from water and electricity for several days, and sent many fleeing to hastily established evacuation centres.Devastation of this sort is becoming more common throughout the Pacific, where rising sea levels are leaving shorelines increasingly vulnerable to extreme weather made more intense by climate change. Continue reading...

A Canada Pacific train derailed on Sunday night, affecting 31 of its 70 cars, and spilling petroleum used to make asphaltA train carrying hazardous materials derailed in North Dakota late on Sunday night in the latest toxic railway accident to hit the US.The incident happened less than two months after a train derailed near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, causing a raging fire and leaking cancerous chemicals near the small town of East Palestine. Continue reading...

Extinction Rebellion leads protest and council leader expresses anger over damage done to protected siteEnvironmental activists, biodiversity experts, politicians and nature lovers are demanding answers over an oil leak in Poole harbour, a site internationally recognised for its ecological importance.Nearly 200 barrels of reservoir fluid – a brine mixture that is about 15% oil – leaked into the waters of Owers Bay on Sunday afternoon from a pipeline operated by the energy company Perenco. Continue reading...

Adam Bandt says deal puts ‘significant hurdles’ in the way of new coal and gas but Chris Bowen insists it will not kill off new investment

Australian Council of Trade Unions chief, Michele O’Neil, will argue for retraining, redeployment and compensation programs

A sailor in Poole in Dorset posted a video on social media on Sunday showing an oily substance he had noticed leaking into the water in the harbour. He collected some of the 'horrible, oil kind of sludge' in a plastic bottle. The public is being urged to avoid using the water and beaches within Poole after the harbour regulator said a leak occurred at a pipeline operated by gas company Perenco. The incident, which took place at Wytch Farm oilfield, resulted in approximately 200 barrels of 'reservoir fluid' being released from the UK’s largest onshore field

Residents show skepticism to officials insisting tap water is uncontaminated after chemical spill in the Delaware RiverResidents in Philadelphia and nearby areas have been buying bottled water after a chemical spill upstream in the Delaware River in neighboring Bucks county, despite officials’ latest advisory insisting tap water was safe to drink at least up to midnight Monday.The concerns came after a leak late Friday evening at the Trinseo Altuglas chemical facility in Bristol Township spilled between 8,100 and 12,000 gallons of a water-based latex finishing solution into the river, Bucks county health officials said Sunday. Continue reading...

The agreement delivers important changes to the safeguard mechanism. But there is still a lot of work to do

Students at Princeton describe unease that Exxon employee had an office on campus, while dozens of universities have big oil linksThe lecturer looked, and sounded, the part. Sporting a pale blue shirt and Princeton University ID badge, he had his own office on campus, a short stroll from the room where several dozen students were gathered to hear him confidently talk about the challenges in moving away from fossil fuels.Tim Barckholtz is not a Princeton professor, however. He is a senior scientific adviser at ExxonMobil, the oil giant that has done so much to both perpetuate and downplay the climate crisis. Barckholtz, an affable figure who has fronted adverts for Exxon touting its emissions reduction research, spent around six months sitting in and contributing to lectures and research groups, based in his own office space at the elite university. Continue reading...

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Population likely to peak sooner and lower than expected with beneficial results – but environment is priorityThe long-feared “population bomb” may not go off, according to the authors of a new report that estimates that human numbers will peak lower and sooner than previously forecast.The study, commissioned by the Club of Rome, projects that on current trends the world population will reach a high of 8.8 billion before the middle of the century, then decline rapidly. The peak could come earlier still if governments take progressive steps to raise average incomes and education levels. Continue reading...

About 200 barrels of reservoir fluid leak into the Dorset harbour, a site of special scientific interestThe public is being urged to avoid using the water and beaches within Poole harbour in Dorset, south-west England, after an oil leak caused a major incident to be declared.Poole Harbour Commissioners (PHC), the harbour regulator, said a leak occurred at a pipeline operated by gas company Perenco, under Owers Bay on Sunday. Continue reading...

National Infrastructure Commission accuses ministers of ‘prevarication’ over installation of heat pumpsMinisters have made negligible progress in improving the energy efficiency of the UK’s homes even as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has underscored the need to cut the reliance on gas for home heating, according to the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC).The independent infrastructure tsars’ annual report warned that the progress towards improving the UK’s infrastructure “stuttered further” last year, despite the need for increased investment to meet its economic and climate goals. Continue reading...

Attack on archaeologist in Athens is thought to be linked to developers’ ‘out-of-control’ clamour to exploit islandUnder cover of darkness in an Athens side street earlier this month, Manolis Psarros, an archaeologist, was attacked as he walked toward his car. It was 8.30pm, later than usual for the state employee to return home from his office in a neo-classical culture ministry building beneath the Acropolis.“There was a general strike the next day and I needed to get through my files on Mykonos,” said Psarros, who has oversight of the Cycladic isle. “I can remember approaching the car but after that it’s a blur,” he told the Observer. “All I know is that I was struck on the head from behind with such force I lost consciousness.” Continue reading...

Attack on archaeologist in Athens is thought to be linked to developers’ ‘out-of-control’ clamour to exploit islandUnder cover of darkness in an Athens side street earlier this month, Manolis Psarros, an archaeologist, was attacked as he walked toward his car. It was 8.30pm, later than usual for the state employee to return home from his office in a neo-classical culture ministry building beneath the Acropolis.“There was a general strike the next day and I needed to get through my files on Mykonos,” said Psarros, who has oversight of the Cycladic isle. “I can remember approaching the car but after that it’s a blur,” he told the Observer. “All I know is that I was struck on the head from behind with such force I lost consciousness.” Continue reading...

Insect flies with grass stalks it uses to conceal its nest, which is made of disused snail shellsA bee that seems to be riding a tiny broomstick will be among the creatures to feature in Sir David Attenborough’s Wild Isles BBC series on Sunday.In the third episode of the five-part-series, viewers can take a closer look at grassland habitats and many of its inhabitants, including the mason bee. Continue reading...

In his series Fulu Act, Brussels-based documentary photographer Colin Delfosse captures street artists in Kinshasa, who craft striking costumes out of everyday objects found littering the streets, such as discarded wigs, wires, soda cans and bottle lids, to raise awareness of environmental issues facing the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “The statement behind their costumes is to condemn and inform about overconsumption and its side effects, namely pollution, poverty, lack of reliable investments and so on,” says Delfosse. “By capturing these images, I’m giving an echo to their crucial work.”

Giles Perritt says ‘change is difficult’ as campaigners obtain court order to extend injunction against future fellingAn official behind the controversial felling of 110 trees by Plymouth council has said their removal will be “really good for the city”.Giles Perritt, the council’s assistant chief executive, was speaking after campaigners got a high court order to extend an injunction to stop future felling. Continue reading...

Tensions between residents and revellers have reached boiling point after loosening of serving restrictions during CovidThe sun has barely set when the music starts thumping on Madrid’s Calle Ponzano. As queues start to form outside the already heaving bars, the party spills out on to the pavement, leaving customers jostling for space with an ever-growing cacophony of smokers and passersby.Lost in the fray is the brightly lettered message – pleading with punters to keep the noise down – from banners that flap from balconies above. It is a last ditch effort by those who have found themselves living on the frontline of a battle playing out across Spain as exhausted neighbours face off against raucous drinkers. Continue reading...

Farming Simulator lets customers test out new trailers, balers and other machinery before buying the real thingTractors are commonly sold to farmers at agricultural fairs and announced in the trade press. But machinery makers are falling over themselves to get a slice of a much more unlikely advertising vehicle: the Farming Simulator video game.The developers, Giants Software, now receive hundreds of queries a year from manufacturers of equipment – from tractors and combine harvesters to trailers, balers and seed drills – about how they can feature in the game, where players create their own virtual farm. Continue reading...

After a long hiatus, the epic Ocean Race is back – but this year, as well as dodging icebergs, cracking masts and suffering the occasional ‘hull sandwich failure’, the teams are gathering crucial data from places even research vessels rarely reachThe Southern Ocean is not somewhere most people choose to spend an hour, let alone a month. Circling the icy continent of Antarctica, it is the planet’s wildest and most remote ocean. Point Nemo – just to the north in the South Pacific – is the farthest location from land on Earth, 1,670 miles (2,688km) away from the closest shore. The nearest humans are generally those in the International Space Station when it passes overhead.But on 21 March, four sailing teams came through here – part of a marathon race round the bottom of the Earth, from Cape Town in South Africa to Itajaí in Brazil. Continue reading...

The Georgia activist on why she is leaving campaign politics behind to focus on weaning America off fossil fuelsStacey Abrams has been hailed as a masterly community organizer, after she helped turn out the voters that secured two Senate seats for Democrats in once solidly red Georgia. She has also run twice – unsuccessfully – for state governor. For her next move, she’s not focusing on electoral power so much as power itself.Recently she left the world of campaign politics and took a job as senior counsel for the non-profit Rewiring America. Her role will focus on helping thousands of people across America wean their homes and businesses off fossil fuels and on to electricity, at a moment when scientists have given a “final warning” about the need to curb greenhouse gas emissions and prevent global catastrophe. Continue reading...

Tom Massey promotes natural ‘forest gardens’ with biodiverse planting to create wildlife havensYour garden should have many layers, like a rainforest, to perform for biodiversity and climate, a leading garden designer has said.Tom Massey, an award-winning horticulturist, said most gardens only have a couple of layers, with a mown lawn, some bushes and perhaps a tree. But adding multiple layers, with intermingled planting, helps to mimic what one may find in a biodiverse forest, with each layer giving benefits for wildlife. Continue reading...

Barrels of the toxic chemical were dumped along the Pacific coast decades ago. New research shows the material never broke downFor years industrial companies in southern California used the coast as a dumping ground for toxic chemical waste, including DDT. Decades later, scientists have found that the pesticide remains in high concentrations on the ocean floor and has never broken down.Nearly two years after the discovery of tens of thousands of barrels of waste off the coast of Los Angeles, a scientist working on the issue shared this week that the chemical is still spread across a vast stretch of the seafloor, the Los Angeles Times reported. Continue reading...

Australia Museum says 20-year-old collection will help understand and conserve threatened animals, which are sensitive to climate change

Adult fall-run Chinook salmon returned to California’s rivers in near record low numbers in 2022As drought dried up rivers that carry California’s newly hatched Chinook salmon to the ocean, state officials in recent years have resorted to loading up the fish by the millions on to trucks and barges to take them to the Pacific.The surreal and desperate scramble boosted the survival rate of the hatchery-raised fish, but still it was not enough to reverse the declining stocks in the face of added challenges. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Labour decries ‘climate vandalism’ as launch plans signal intention to boost fossil fuel industry

Crown estate leases seabed rights to new projects as oil firms look to replace gas and diesel generatorsThe Scottish government will earn more than £260m after agreeing to lease areas of its seabed to floating offshore wind projects that can power oil and gas rigs.In a world first, Crown Estate Scotland gave the green light for companies to help trim the North Sea’s carbon emissions by developing floating windfarms that can directly supply oil and gas platforms with renewable electricity. Continue reading...

The owner of Paloma salon in Paddington has organised seminars for hairdressers across Sydney to instruct them on how to talk to their clients about climate action. Owner Paloma Rose Garcia started the A Brush with Climate workshops – navigating how to discuss science and solutions with clients – after she 'really understood that there is a unique opportunity that hairdressers have to hold meaningful conversation and assist the community with understanding more about climate and what they can do in their everyday life'► Subscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube Continue reading...

Residents in several low-lying communities told to evacuate after flooding caused by rainfall and snowmeltAt least three people were found dead this week after their vehicles were swept away by floodwaters in Arizona, authorities said.Gila county sheriff’s officials said the bodies of a couple missing after their vehicle was stuck in floodwaters in the Payson area were located on Thursday. They were identified as Phon Sutton, 85, and Dara Sutton, 72, both of Payson, Arizona. Continue reading...

Six KCs among more than 120 mostly English lawyers to sign pledge not to act for fossil fuel interestsLeading barristers have defied bar rules by signing a declaration saying they will not prosecute peaceful climate protesters or act for companies pursuing fossil fuel projects.They are among more than 120 mostly English lawyers who have signed a declaration vowing to “withhold [their] services in respect of supporting new fossil fuel projects and action against climate protesters exercising their right of peaceful protest”. Continue reading...

Test relies on visual inspection of ash to then check soil for toxins, which is ‘unlikely to give a complete picture’ of contaminationA plan to test for toxic dioxins near the site of a February train wreck in East Palestine, Ohio, is flawed and unlikely to find the dangerous substances, independent chemical pollution researchers in the US who reviewed the testing protocol told the Guardian.Initial soil testing already revealed dioxin levels hundreds of times above the threshold that Environmental Protection Agency scientists have found poses a cancer risk, but that sampling was limited in scope.Arcadis will largely rely on visual inspections of the ground to find evidence of dioxins, instead of systematically testing soil samples that may contain the compounds, which is standard protocol.The plan does not say how low the levels of dioxin the company will check for will be.Testing will only be conducted up to two miles from the accident site when ash has been found up to 20 miles away.The testing is limited to soil and does not include food or water. Continue reading...

The best of this week’s wildlife photographs, including a rescued sloth, a baby nutria and a patient frog Continue reading...

Exclusive: Report says 435,000 hectares have been degraded through logging since 2000, affecting 244 threatened species