Exclusive: Studies show high temperatures and air pollution during pregnancy can cause lifelong health effectsThe climate crisis is damaging the health of foetuses, babies and infants across the world, six new studies have found.Scientists discovered increased heat was linked to fast weight gain in babies, which increases the risk of obesity in later life. Higher temperatures were also linked to premature birth, which can have lifelong health effects, and to increased hospital admissions of young children. Continue reading...

This weekend is the last chance to donate to our 2021 appeal supporting those on the frontline of the climate emergency

Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Paraguay are reeling from a historic heatwave with temperatures as high as 113FCities and towns across southern South America have been setting record high temperatures as the region swelters during a historic heatwave.“Practically all of Argentina and also neighboring countries such as Uruguay, southern Brazil and Paraguay are experiencing the hottest days in history,” said Cindy Fernández, meteorologist at the official National Meteorological Service. Continue reading...

Workers who tested positive to Covid were forced to wear yellow hairnets to identify themselves

Advise people not to drive or light wood burners rather than imposing restrictions on vulnerable, campaigners sayCampaigners have called on the government to urge people not to drive or light wood-burning stoves during toxic air peaks rather than telling the vulnerable not to exercise or go outside.London suffered its worst air pollution since 2018 on Friday, when experts predicted it would reach “band 10”, the highest level on the scale. Continue reading...

British Sugar has applied for ban exemption despite chemicals damaging bees’ ability to forage and navigateThe government has ignored the advice of its scientific advisers to allow sugar beet farmers to deploy a banned bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticide in 2022.British Sugar has successfully applied for an exemption to permit the banned pesticide, known as Cruiser SB, to be used in England this year because of the threat to sugar beet posed by a virus transmitted by aphids. Continue reading...

Companies may have to change how they advertise or face court if in breach of consumer protection lawFashion brands that make misleading claims about their environmental credentials face a crackdown by the competition watchdog as it targets greenwashing.Brands could be forced to change the way they advertise or face court action if they are found to have breached consumer protection law with spurious environmental claims. Continue reading...

About 20 elephants have died in eight years after eating plastic in open landfill siteConservationists and veterinarians have warned that plastic waste in an open landfill in eastern Sri Lanka is killing elephants, after two more were found dead at the site.About 20 elephants have died over the last eight years after consuming plastic in the dump in Pallakkadu village in Ampara district, about 130 miles (210km) east of the capital, Colombo. Continue reading...

Jury decision over 2019 action is the latest acquittal involving a high-profile protestThree activists who targeted London’s public transport network to raise the alarm about the escalating climate crisis have been acquitted by a jury.The three Extinction Rebellion campaigners disrupted rush hour services for more than an hour in east London in 2019, with two of them climbing on top of the train and a third gluing himself to one of the carriages. Continue reading...

Third Energy now has ‘absolutely no interest in fossil gas’ and is targeting renewable energyA high-profile UK fracking company has been taken over by a green energy group and now has an anti-fracking campaigner as a director.Yorkshire-based Third Energy was at the forefront of efforts to produce fossil gas and intended to use high-pressure fluids to fracture shale rocks under the county. But it was hampered by permit delays and fierce local opposition. Continue reading...

Teachers accuse ministers of failing to act after union poll finds third of classrooms monitored have poor ventilation

Cotswolds food producers argue case illustrates disconnect between planners and farmers’ need to make livingHe left the meeting in a right old huff, chuntering that it was a bad day for farming and dismissing one of the planning officials as a comedian, after his scheme to build a hilltop restaurant on his Oxfordshire farm was flatly turned down.But Jeremy Clarkson, petrolhead turned farming reality TV show star, may be heartened by the concern and interest in his case that rippled through the Cotswolds this week. Continue reading...

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including wild goats, a new baby gorilla and a very rare octopus Continue reading...

Campaign by local angling club to free fishes’ migratory routes is part of move across Europe to create free-flowing riversA dam that has blocked the Tromsa River in Norway for more than 100 years was blown up with dynamite this week, freeing migratory routes for fish.“It’s a big step,” said Tore Solbakken of Norwegian angling club Gudbrandsdal Sportsfiskeforening, who has campaigned for five years to have the old hydropower plant dam removed. “I’m very happy. It’s all about restoring healthy rivers and fish populations.” Continue reading...

Indian author says pillaging of lands and killing of indigenous people laid foundation for climate emergencyAmitav Ghosh can clearly remember his first interaction with the climate crisis. It was the early 2000s, and Ghosh, now one of India’s most celebrated authors and winner of its highest literary prize, was researching a novel set in the Sundarbans, a network of islands around the mouth of the Ganges Delta in the Bay of Bengal, which is home to the world’s largest mangrove forest.Climate change had barely entered into public consciousness back then, but Ghosh clearly remembers “visible signs that something wasn’t right”. Continue reading...

International Energy Agency says pollution from power generation will worsen until alternatives are foundThe global surge in demand for energy could spark another three years of market volatility and record power plant pollution unless countries make major changes to how they generate electricity, the world’s energy watchdog has warned.The International Energy Agency recorded the steepest ever increase in electricity demand last year, which triggered blackouts in major economies and led to historic energy price highs and record emissions. Continue reading...

Government accused of hypocrisy as company uses permit predating ban to begin operation off coast of TaranakiThe arrival of a new offshore drilling rig in New Zealand, a year after the country declared a climate emergency, has prompted a fresh wave of anger at the government’s alleged “hypocrisy” and “cynical politics” on climate change.Keeping fossil fuels in the ground was the most basic element of tackling climate change, Greenpeace said, while #SchoolStrike4Climate movement activist Sophie Handford said allowing more oil and gas extraction was “immoral”. Continue reading...

Workers at nearly 80 grocery stores accuse corporation of making big profits during pandemic while not paying employees enoughMore than 8,000 workers at nearly 80 Kroger-owned King Soopers grocery stores around Colorado started a three-week strike on Wednesday as new union contract negotiations stalled.The dispute is the latest in which workers have accused a corporation of making big profits during the pandemic while not paying high enough wages. Continue reading...

Heating and habitat loss drive birds and mammals to cooler areas where plants can not follow, study showsThe decline of seed-dispersing animals is damaging plants’ ability to adapt to climate breakdown, a study has found.Almost half of all plant species depend on animals to spread their seeds, but scientists fear these plants may be at risk of extinction when animals are driven to migrate to cooler areas, as plants cannot easily follow. Continue reading...

Government advises older people and those with lung or heart issues to avoid strenuous activity altogetherLondoners should avoid strenuous physical activity on Friday due to “very high” levels of pollution, experts have warned.The poor air quality is the result of an intense area of high pressure covering western Europe. The associated lack of air movement means emissions from vehicles and other pollutants are not blown away as they usually would be. Continue reading...

Delaying introduction of charges for some vehicles that breach standards would be ‘serious blow’ for health, critics sayClean air campaigners have warned leaders in Greater Manchester that pausing plans to charge polluting vehicles in the region “would be a serious blow for people’s health”.Greater Manchester authorities announced plans on Thursday to ask the government to partially delay the rollout of the biggest clean air zone in the UK, citing evidence that global supply chain issues could increase the costs and reduce the availability of cleaner vehicles. Continue reading...

Proposed ban on trophy hunting imports ignores African perspectives and could reverse conservation gains, says open letterA proposed UK ban on trophy hunting imports risks undermining the conservation of rhinos, elephants and other endangered wildlife, according to a group of leading scientists and conservationists who said African perspectives have been ignored by the government.On Friday, MPs will vote on a private member’s bill to ban trophy hunting imports while, separately, the government is preparing legislation to ban hunting trophies from thousands of species, including lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants and polar bears. Continue reading...

Friends and colleagues pay tribute after the recent deaths of these groundbreaking naturalists, who shifted our understanding of the world and our futureOver Christmas and the new year, three of the world’s leading naturalists died. Thomas Lovejoy, a conservation biologist credited with popularising the term “biodiversity” and a passionate defender of the Amazon, died on 25 December. A day later, Edward O Wilson, known to many as the “modern-day Darwin”, died in Burlington, Massachusetts. On 2 January, Richard Leakey, a world-renowned Kenyan conservationist who helped establish Africa as the birthplace of humankind, died at his home in Nairobi.From presidents to undergraduate students, thousands have paid tribute to the three men, whose achievements range from developing theories on forest and island ecosystems to reforming the Kenyan civil service and devising proposals to protect half the planet for nature. Alongside grand accomplishments, which were sometimes controversial, their passing has been a chance to reflect on the small and the mundane: fleeting interactions that inspired careers, kind words that propelled research projects, and generosity of spirit that has helped amplify the voices of those that practise and produce science. Continue reading...

New report finds ‘alarmed’ group doubled in size over five years, while only two in 10 Americans are ‘doubtful’ or ‘dismissive’A new report has revealed that a record number of Americans are now alarmed about the climate crisis.The study, published by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, found that Americans overall are becoming increasingly worried about global heating, more engaged with the issue and more supportive of finding solutions to the issue. Continue reading...

Activists mourn deaths in Amazon state of Pará as bodies of José Gomes, Márcia Nunes Lisboa and their daughter found by sonPolice in the Brazilian Amazon state of Pará are investigating the killing of three members of the same family who were shot dead at the riverside home where they bred turtles.The deaths happened on the island of Cachoeira da Mucura, on the banks of the Xingu River, in São Félix do Xingu and regional media named the victims as José Gomes, his wife Márcia Nunes Lisboa and her teenage daughter, Joane Nunes Lisboa. Continue reading...

Human rights report slams Australian treatment of refugees as in previous years, and addresses climate for the first time

Justice groups say bill will undermine right to protest at critical time in fight to avoid climate catastrophe

Water companies should each designate one area as fit for use by 2025, says environmental audit committee in highly critical reportWater companies in England should each designate a stretch of river as bathing water by 2025 to drive the cleanup of a chemical cocktail of sewage, agricultural waste and plastic pollution that is suffocating biodiversity and risking public health, MPs have said.In a report published on Thursday, MPs on the environmental audit committee said they wanted more assertive regulation and enforcement from Ofwat and the Environment Agency to restore rivers to good ecological health, protect biodiversity and adapt to a changing climate. They also called for Ofwat to act to limit bonuses paid to water company bosses who continue to oversee the dumping of raw sewage into England’s rivers. Continue reading...

‘Seeing one in real life is indescribable,’ says marine biologist of the technicolour marine mollusc she spotted off QueenslandOnly a handful of people have spotted the dazzling blanket octopus in the wild, making it one of the rarest sights in the marine world.The technicolour marine mollusc was spotted last week by reef guide and marine biologist Jacinta Shackleton, off the coast of Lady Elliot Island in the Great Barrier Reef . Continue reading...

Gas extraction could generate up to 199m tonnes of C02-equivalent a year, expert warns

Ruptured line operated by Collins Pipeline Co was highly corroded but repairs were delayedA severely corroded pipeline ruptured and spilled more than 300,000 gallons of diesel fuel just outside New Orleans late last month, according to federal records.The spill from the 16in-diameter line operated by Collins Pipeline Co was discovered on 27 December near a levee in St Bernard parish, just east of New Orleans, according to documents from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Continue reading...

Fatih Birol says low gas flows to continent coincide with escalating rift over UkraineThe head of the International Energy Agency has accused Russia of orchestrating Europe’s deepening energy crisis at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions by withholding up to a third of its gas exports.Fatih Birol, the executive director of the IEA, directly blamed Russia’s behaviour for the record-high energy market prices in Europe this winter that threaten to upend large parts of the European economy and plunge millions into a cost of living crisis. Continue reading...

Hong Kong scientists design simple filter system to capture the harmful microplastics – but there’s a catchA single tumble dryer could be responsible for releasing 120m micro plastic fibres into the air each year, a study has found.Tumble dryers are one of the main sources of microfibre pollution in the atmosphere, according to research by Prof Kenneth Leung, director of the State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution (SKLMP) and department of chemistry at City University of Hong Kong. Continue reading...

Armed men in pickup trucks rule over vast illicit industry that has transformed rural counties, depleting water and scaring localsChristopher Hall parks his old Toyota on a dirt road that dead-ends in a forest in Oregon’s Illinois Valley. He points out a cluster of greenhouses surrounded by piles of trash, and the hillside above, which has been terraced and entirely stripped of vegetation. Guard dogs run through a small clearing, barking at us.Two men pull up almost instantly in a Honda with busted headlights; the driver asks Hall what he’s doing there. For a bespectacled middle-aged conservationist, Hall is surprisingly reckless. Even though he can see the men are armed, he yells back at them: “Where are you from? We know what you’re doing here is illegal! How many plants are you growing?” One man says they’re from Serbia and claims they have a license to grow as another truck pulls up. Continue reading...

Naturally rewilded landscapes, fungi and a beaver habitat to be showcased alongside manicured gardensWhile many expect to see rows of bright flowers and pillowy blossoms at the Chelsea flower show, this year star gardens will also feature such biodiverse elements as fungi and a beaver habitat.Garden designers at the annual Royal Horticulture Society (RHS) show have been asked to consider the environment when making their entries. Continue reading...

Rapidly warming winters are bad news for biodiversity, water supply and farm yield, experts sayAmerican winters are rapidly warming and December 2021 was no exception.In New York, last month’s average temperature was 43.8F (6.5C) – 4.7F above the 1991-to-2020 average according to a recent analysis by Climate Central. The American south had an especially warm December, with Shreveport, Louisiana (+13.4F), Dallas, Texas (+13.2F), and Memphis, Tennessee (+12.4F), all posting unusually high temperatures. Continue reading...

Research shows planned expansion of conifer woodlands across the UK could have unintended consequencesConifer plantations, which are being expanded around the UK to combat the climate crisis and foster biodiversity, are in danger of hurting one of the key species they were thought to protect: red squirrels.The threatened red squirrels, driven to near-extinction over most of the UK by grey squirrel incursion, were thought to thrive in conifer habitats as the food sources in such forests tend to be limited to small seeded cones, which red squirrels are better at exploiting than the more generalist grey squirrels. That should mean conifer plantations prove better for red squirrels than greys. Continue reading...

ClientEarth and Friends of the Earth say strategy fails to include policies needed to ensure emissions cutsThe UK government is being sued over its net zero climate strategy, which lawyers argue illegally fails to include the policies needed to deliver the promised cuts in emissions.Court papers were filed on Wednesday by ClientEarth (CE) and, separately, by Friends of the Earth (FoE). CE also claims the failure to meet legal carbon budgets would contravene the Human Rights Act by impacting on young people’s right to life and family life. Continue reading...

Experts say we can expect more of the same, with 2021 beating all records since 1909Last year was New Zealand’s hottest year on record, according to the country’s National Institute of Water and Aeronautic Research (NIWA), and seven of the past nine years are among New Zealand’s warmest ever. The country’s steadily rising temperature brings increased risk of major floods, bushfires and storms.According to NIWA, New Zealand’s average temperature in 2021 was 13.56 degrees Celsius. It’s the highest average NIWA has recorded since it began its seven-station annual temperature series in 1909, and breaks the previous record set in 2016 by 0.11 degrees. Continue reading...

Analysts fear government’s commitment to net zero is facing most severe test yet as PM comes under increasing pressureThe government’s climate agenda is under threat as Boris Johnson’s popularity slumps, according to green campaigners who work closely with the Conservative party.As the prime minister faces further lockdown party allegations, and angry Conservative MPs seek answers over energy price rises and the cost of living crisis, analysts fear the government’s commitment to net zero is facing its most severe test yet. Continue reading...

Robert Habeck has called for nation to act to realise ‘gigantic task’ of creating climate neutral countryGermany’s new economy and climate protection minister has called for the nation to pull together to realise the “gigantic task” of creating a climate neutral country, saying it posed a considerable social and financial challenge as well as a big opportunity.Introducing a broad outline of his ambitious plans to the public for the first time since entering government as part of a three-way coalition last month, the Green party’s Robert Habeck called for a threefold increase in the speed with which carbon dioxide emissions are reduced, arguing Germany faced a race against time and required a “massive national debate” to achieve the goals set out by his ministry. He said the government faced an uphill task to win many people over to the idea of a transition. Continue reading...

Gomeroi traditional custodians seek assurances Liverpool Plains farmland will be accessible to Indigenous people

One of Australia’s biggest landholders takes on gas giant in Northern Territory supreme court

Industry expected to report near-record cashflows thanks to rising gas prices, low wind generation and Chinese demandBumper shareholder payouts, soaring profits, booming asset valuations: the oil and gas industry has bounced back from the depths of the pandemic with a vengeance.After a difficult 2020, when plunging demand led at one point to negative prices, crude recovered in 2021 and wholesale gas prices have soared in Europe and the UK. Gas has risen as much as tenfold to new all-time highs, due to factors including low storage capacity, strong Chinese demand and low wind generation during the summer. Continue reading...

Ocean heating driven by human-caused climate crisis, scientists say, in sixth consecutive year record has been brokenThe world’s oceans have been set to simmer, and the heat is being cranked up. Last year saw the hottest ocean temperatures in recorded history, the sixth consecutive year that this record has been broken, according to new research.The heating up of our oceans is being primarily driven by the human-caused climate crisis, scientists say, and represents a starkly simple indicator of global heating. While the atmosphere’s temperature is also trending sharply upwards, individual years are less likely to be record-breakers compared with the warming of the oceans. Continue reading...

Year was third-costliest extreme weather year on record with affected communities spread from coast to coastThe US was battered by 20 separate billion-dollar climate and weather disasters in 2021, one of the most catastrophic climate years on record which led to at least 688 deaths, according to the annual report of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa).Damage from the year’s 20 most costly disasters, which included thousands of wildfires burning across western states, frigid temperatures and hail storms in Texas, tornadoes in the south-east, and tropical storms saturating the east coast, totaled around $145bn. Continue reading...

‘Do not go into flood waters,’ police warn as dangerous conditions continue after state battered by ex-Tropical Cyclone SethA second person has died during flooding in south-east Queensland, with some communities still isolated three days after more than 50cm of rain fell on the Wide Bay Burnett region.Police say a 52-year-old man’s body was found on Tuesday hours after he disappeared when his boat overturned in flood waters while he was looking for stock with two female family members near Tiaro, south of Gympie.Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading...

Council rejects TV star’s proposal for conversion of lambing shed, accused by barrister of being a ‘Trojan horse’In his old life, Jeremy Clarkson conceded he might have been prepared to pave over the British countryside – but the former petrolhead-in-chief has insisted he is a changed man.As a farmer, he was trying to do his bit to save the countryside by turning his recently built lambing shed into a restaurant serving locally produced food at his Diddly Squat farm in the Cotswolds, he told planning subcommittee officials in the small Oxfordshire town of Witney. Continue reading...

Exclusive: river groups appalled by strategy set out in briefing that says agency has capacity to deal with only most severe casesEngland’s Environment Agency has told its staff to “shut down” and ignore reports of low-impact pollution events because it does not have enough money to investigate them, according to a leaked internal report.The ruling on so-called category 3 and 4 incidents means that events such as farm pollution or hazardous dumps by business may not be properly investigated. The decision has infuriated river groups and NGOs. Continue reading...