Badgers, buzzards, dolphins and bluebells were all targets in the pandemic-hit year, but convictions fellReports of wildlife crimes surged in the pandemic-hit year of 2020, including badger setts being bulldozed by builders and birds of prey being killed near grouse moors, according to a new report by wildlife charities.The illegal taking of fish such as salmon from rivers and disturbance of seals and dolphins by people in boats also rose, the report found. Plants and fungi were also the targets of criminals, who snatched large numbers of mushrooms and bluebells to sell. At the same time, convictions for wildlife crime fell significantly. Continue reading...

Federal and state governments should spend more time trying to improve people’s lives and less time trying to keep them quietFor the past 20 years, human rights experts and lawyers have been sounding the alarm on Australia’s democracy and the increasing tendency among state and federal governments towards suppressing dissent from the community. Even more alarmingly, the criminalisation of protest and increasingly inflammatory rhetoric from police and politicians is accompanied by moves to neuter the legal frameworks established to hold lawmakers accountable.The jailing of a 22-year-old climate change protester is a prime example of this authoritarian tendency. Eric Serge Herbert was sentenced to 12 months in prison for his part in a two-week anti-coal protest under the banner of Blockade Australia. Herbert had blocked a coal train by climbing it in the Hunter region of New South Wales. Perhaps he got off lightly: the NSW police commissioner, Mick Fuller, had threatened to charge protesters who block rail lines with laws designed for those who wilfully seek to harm or kill rail passengers, which carry a maximum sentence of 25 years. Continue reading...

Warning to ‘get your fertilizer now’ as farmers postpone nitrogen purchases, raising threat of rush on supplies before planting seasonA global shortage of nitrogen fertilizer is driving prices to record levels, prompting North America’s farmers to delay purchases and raising the risk of a spring scramble to apply the crop nutrient before planting season.Farmers apply nitrogen to boost yields of corn, canola and wheat, and higher fertilizer costs could translate into higher meat and bread prices. Continue reading...

The company argues gas will do more than other sources of energy to help the world reach net zero – but it’s only comparing it with coal

Sold at auction in western NSW, Marrakesh has orders from his new owners to ‘go forth and multiply’

Analysis: less than 5% of the green power the supplier provided to homes was sourced directly from renewable energy projects last yearThe collapse of Bulb Energy this week follows a steady decline in its promises to customers.Britain’s fastest-growing energy supplier set itself apart as a challenger to legacy energy giants by claiming to offer better service and energy that was cheaper and greener. But was Bulb as green as it claimed to be? Continue reading...

Bulb has become the biggest energy supplier to go under since August. Its collapse brings the crisis to a new climaxThe crisis in the UK’s energy market has been growing in scale and seriousness for months. This week it claimed its latest corporate victim – and reached a tipping point. Bulb is the 23rd energy supplier to fail since August, but, unlike minnows such as Igloo and Neon Reef, it cannot easily be taken over by a rival. With turnover of £1.5bn, it is simply too big.Bulb will instead enter “special administration” and be run on behalf of the government until it can be broken up or sold off. Meanwhile, its 1.7 million customers will remain with the company and get the same corporate branding on their bills, even while taxpayers stump up for any immediate costs. Any final losses will be passed on to households through their fuel bills. Continue reading...

Conservationists hail move as ‘critical breakthrough’ to protect endangered shortfin mako, prized for meat, fins and sportfishingNorth Atlantic fishing nations have pledged to ban catches of the shortfin mako, the world’s fastest shark, in an attempt to save the endangered species.Conservationists, who have for years sought to better protect the mako, said the ban was a “critical breakthrough”. The effort to ensure agreement between fishing nations was led by the UK, Canada and Senegal. Continue reading...

Report shows raw sewage spillages into coastal swimming waters increased by more than 87% in the last 12 monthsWater companies spilled raw sewage into coastal bathing waters used by holidaymakers and families 5,517 times in the last year, an increase of more than 87%, new data reveals.The discharges via storm overflows hit beaches that are supposed to be the cleanest and safest in England and Wales, used by children, tourists, surfers and swimmers. Continue reading...

Hundreds of illegal goldmining dredges converge in search of metal as one activist describes it as a ‘free-for-all’Environmentalists are demanding urgent action to halt an aquatic gold rush along one of the Amazon River’s largest tributaries, where hundreds of illegal goldmining dredges have converged in search of the precious metal.The vast flotilla – so large one local website compared it to a floating neighbourhood – reportedly began forming on the Madeira River earlier this month after rumours that a large gold deposit had been found in the vicinity. Continue reading...

Northumberland national park | Solar panels | Care costs | Influencers | HouseworkIt’s not just Wales that is depleted of curlews (New initiative aims to save curlew from extinction in Wales, 22 November). Forty years ago, I regularly walked stretches of Hadrian’s Wall in the Northumberland national park to the constant warbling of curlews, which was almost deafening. This year, I did some of the same walks in total silence. I was deeply saddened by the absence of the beautiful, haunting song of the curlew, which is, ironically, the symbol of the Northumberland national park.

Exclusive: Natural Resources Commission report not released by state government calls for suspension of timber harvesting in three ‘extreme risk’ zones

Australian Energy Market Commission says Queensland and Victoria will enjoy biggest falls by 2024 as new large-scale solar plants join electricity grid

International Maritime Organization lacks urgency needed to tackle climate crisis, say campaignersA decision by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and its member states not to revise its emissions reduction strategy until the spring of 2023 has been criticised as “dangerous” by environmental campaigners.At the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) meeting, convened by the IMO, one of the first global green summits after Cop26, Kitack Lim, the UN body’s secretary general, told delegates: “The world is watching us.” And on Tuesday, the meeting chair, Hideaki Saito, spoke of the “urgency” of all sectors accelerating their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in light of the Glasgow climate pact earlier this month. Continue reading...

Industry leaders say Boris Johnson’s plan risks leaving behind motorists from poorer areasThe prime minister’s plan to mandate electric car chargers across all new homes in England from next year risks making access to charge points “exclusive”, leaving behind motorists from poorer areas, industry leaders have warned.Senior voices in the energy and motoring sectors said the plan for all new homes and buildings to be fitted with car charging infrastructure risks benefiting wealthier areas with space for off-street parking and leaving “blackspots” in areas where homes have less space. Continue reading...

Booming populations are a conservation success story, but not all terrorised residents are happy about itThere’s a violent gang stalking urban America.In New Hampshire a motorcyclist crashed after being assaulted. In New Jersey, a terrified postman rang 911 after a dozen members attacked at once. And in Michigan, one town armed public workers with pepper spray. Continue reading...

John Barilaro uses valedictory to reveal long-running Coalition stoush ends with agreement to reduce brumby numbers to 3,000

Farm animals are being used to prevent bird strikes as numbers of geese boom around Schiphol, one of Europe’s busiest flight hubsA group of animals has been drafted in to combat a hazard in the skies above the runways of Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, the Netherlands’ aviation hub.A six-week pilot project is studying whether a small herd of pigs can deter flocks of geese and other birds attracted to discarded sugar beet on nearby farmland. Continue reading...

National Trust says tree giving growing in popularity but only 7% know best season to plantFor centuries people have said it with flowers but research suggests a new tradition is gaining popularity in the UK – expressing love, thanks, perhaps even regret with the gift of a tree.A third of people said they would consider saying it with a tree rather than a bouquet and more than one in 10 had already done so, according to the research commissioned by the National Trust. Continue reading...

Kashmiri farmers lose half their harvest to early snows for third year, with fears for future of the region’s orchardsThe homegrown apple is in danger of becoming a rarity in India, as farmers have lost up to half their harvest this year, with predictions that the country’s main orchards could soon be all but wiped out.Early snowfalls in Kashmir, where almost 80% of India’s apples are grown, have seen the region’s farmers lose half their crops in the third year of disastrous harvests. Continue reading...

Greens thankful ‘worst elements’ stripped from the bill, which will ensure the protection of the Gardens of Stone

Two giant chimney stacks and aboiler have been demolished at thedefunct Wallerawang power station, near Lithgow on the western edge of the Blue Mountains in NSW. The controlled explosions of the175-metre chimneys at the former coal-fired power station come with plans to repurpose the site into a mixed industrial, residential and tourism development with plans for a giant battery almost complete

The 175-metre chimneys at Wallerawang on the edge of the Blue Mountains collapsed in secondsExplosive engineers have demolished two giant chimney stacks and a boiler at a defunct coal-fired power station west of Sydney as part of efforts to transform the site.The 175-metre chimneys at Wallerawang have loomed large for residents of Lithgow, a town on the western edge of the Blue Mountains that is home to two coal-fired plants and coalmines. Continue reading...

Activists say ad could encourage driving in ecologically sensitive areas and accuse ASA of biasEnvironmental campaigners have accused the UK advertising watchdog of bias for overturning a draft ruling that banned adverts for a mud-splattered Land Rover Defender off-roader after previously saying it encouraged “socially irresponsible” driving that could “cause damage to vulnerable habitats”.The national newspaper ad featured a Defender in a forest with the headline “Life is so much better without restrictions”. Text accompanying the ad said the 4x4 had the “capacity to go almost anywhere and do anything. If you take one for an extended test drive … a whole new world of freedom awaits”. Continue reading...

The move has sparked backlash from the $88m industry even as incidents of whales getting trapped in fishing gear have increasedThose hoping to snag a Dungeness crab for their Thanksgiving table may find them in short supply this year, after the commercial crabbing season was delayed again in parts of California over concerns for the endangered humpback whales that share their waters.Humpback entanglements in the heavy ropes used by commercial crabbers have been on the rise in recent years, resulting in deaths and injuries to dozens of the imperiled whales. The delay marks the second time state officials have pushed back the commercial crabbing season this year in an effort to reduce entanglements. Continue reading...

Jessie Greengrass’s novel The High House, set in a flood-devastated Suffolk, was one of several of the nominees to focus on global heating, said judgesJessie Greengrass’s vision of a near-future Britain drowned by an apocalyptic flood, part of the expanding genre of climate-change fiction, is among the books shortlisted for the 2021 Costa book awards.Greengrass’s The High House follows Caro and her little brother Pauly as they try to survive in a flooded Suffolk, in a refuge created by Caro’s climate scientist stepmother. “Crisis slid from distant threat to imminent probability and we tuned it out like static,” writes Greengrass, in a novel that judges described as a “powerful book that makes you consider the privilege of being saved and the reality of survival”. Continue reading...

Annual event at Rutland Water cites carbon footprint concerns over international attendeesThe “Glastonbury of birdwatching”, Birdfair, has been scrapped, to the dismay of conservationists across Britain.The annual event, held since 1989, took place at Rutland Water nature reserve and featured talks and fundraising events. Celebrities such as Chris Packham, Bill Oddie and Deborah Meaden were among those the festival attracted. Continue reading...

Nathaniel Rich responds to claims about Losing Earth, his 2018 article for the New York Times, later published as a bookIn his article (Neoliberalism wrecked our chance to fix the climate crisis – and leftwing statements of faith have changed nothing, 17 November), Jeff Sparrow repeats Naomi Klein’s simplistic claim that, in Losing Earth, I “attribute” the missed opportunity on climate change during the critical decade between 1979 and 1989 to “human nature”. Anyone who reads Losing Earth will see that I do no such thing.The failure can be attributed to various causes. Among them are: the fecklessness of bureaucrats tasked with developing legislative solutions to a global problem; a generation of influential US scientists’ blind faith in American exceptionalism; the anti-environmental blitzkrieg launched by the Reagan administration on taking office; the failure of journalists, scientists and policymakers to explain the severity of the threat to a disinterested public; the refusal by the major environmental organisations to embrace climate change as a cause worthy of their attention; the machinations of George HW Bush’s chief of staff, John Sununu; and ultimately the mobilisation of the oil and gas industry around a massive disinformation campaign, the origin story of which I reported for the first time. Continue reading...

Population of northern bettongs in Queensland thought to number 1,000 found to be no more than 50, researchers say

The cost of petrol is re-emerging as a political touchstone thanks to a recovery in demand and some Covid-linked supply snafus

Insurers bracing for flurry of claims as warm ocean temperatures provide extra fuel for tropical cyclones

Alok Sharma says shared goals must be steered to safety by ensuring countries deliver on their promises

Campaigners say if copper mine gets go-ahead in cloud forest, the longnose harlequin, once thought to be extinct, will be threatened againReports of the longnose harlequin frog’s death appear to have been greatly exaggerated – or, at least, premature. The Mark Twain of the frog world is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as extinct, which may come as a surprise to those alive and well in the cloud forests of Ecuador’s tropical Andes.Known for its pointed snout, the longnose harlequin frog (Atelopus longirostris) is about to play a central role in a legal battle to stop a mining project in the Intag valley in Imbabura province, which campaigners say would be a disaster for the highly biodiverse cloud forests. Continue reading...

Chief executive Meg O’Neill says gas from Scarborough project will help customers in Asia transition away from coal

Eric Serge Herbert stopped a Newcastle coal train by ‘climbing on top of it’

Study shows reduced reproduction and other negative impacts on performance of speciesIt may take bees multiple generations to recover from being exposed to insecticides even just once, research shows.Although studies have long shown the damaging effects of pesticides for the biodiverse environment, little is known about how much they affect insects in the long term. Continue reading...

Research shows introduced pest plants and animals are costing the country $25bn a year

Most of the models the Bureau of Meteorology uses tip cool and wet conditions will last until at least January 2022

Research also shows 25% of diet-related emissions are from ‘optional’ food and drinks, such as coffee, alcohol and cakeMen’s meaty diets are responsible for 40% more climate-heating emissions than those of women, according to a UK study.The research also found a quarter of diet-related emissions were from “optional” food and drink, such as coffee, alcohol, cakes and sweets. The scientists said policies to encourage sustainable diets should focus on plant-based foods but switching drinks and cutting down on sweet snacks presented further opportunities. Continue reading...

London-listed firm says it will ‘vigorously defend’ plan to continue mining gold and silverThe UK metals company Hochschild Mining is to fight plans by Peru’s government to hasten the closure of several mines in the southern Ayacucho region because of concerns over their environmental impact.The London-listed mining company has promised to “vigorously defend” its plan to continue mining gold and silver from two mines – Pallancata and Inmaculada – which it claims operate under the “highest environmental standards”. Continue reading...

The Scarborough field will be one of the biggest fossil fuel developments to be built in Australia in a decadeEnergy giant Woodside will forge ahead on the Scarborough gas project off Western Australia’s northwest coast after it gave the project final approval.The $16.2bn Scarborough project is a joint venture between Woodside and BHP and the announcement posted to the ASX on Monday afternoon also confirms the two companies have agreed to a $40b merger of their petroleum businesses, creating one of the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies.Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading...

Inquiry into more than 2,000 treatment sites prompts calls for transparency from Environment AgencyA legal action group is warning there may be an information blackout on sewage discharges by water companies for years, after the Environment Agency announced an inquiry into more than 2,000 sites.Fish Legal said that in the past, the EA has refused to disclose any information once an investigation is launched. The group said the systemic abuse of the permit conditions under which sewage treatment works have to operate had been brought to light by the public, often using environmental information requests. Continue reading...

Move will ‘turn customers’ stomachs’ after retailer touted its clean energy credentials, critics say

Insurers raise alarm but builders say housing crisis leaves them with no choiceMore than 5,000 new homes in flood-risk areas of England have been granted planning permission so far this year, as local authorities try to tackle the housing shortage.Researchers analysing 16,000 planning applications lodged between January and September discovered about 200 had been approved, for a total of 5,283 new homes, in areas where more than 10% of homes were already at significant risk of flooding. Continue reading...

The climate emergency is a ‘child’s crisis’, say families unhappy about fossil fuel company’s tie-up with learn-to-swim program

Melita pipeline would fuel Delimara power station, which Daphne Caruana Galizia was investigating when she was killedEU energy ministers are pushing to allow public funds to help build a gas pipeline to a power station in Malta co-owned by a businessman who is awaiting trial for the murder of the journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.On Tuesday, officials and MEPs will begin deciding new rules aimed at phasing out EU subsidies for fossil fuel projects. Continue reading...

Council says electrification better for environment and maintenance but some residents oppose moveTwo centuries after the first gas lights appeared on the streets of London, casting a romantic glow through the gloom, a few hundred remain in some of the most historic areas of the capital.But not for much longer. Westminster city council is planning to convert 299 gas lights to electricity, saying LED lights are environmentally better and easier to maintain. Continue reading...

Teams in British Columbia scramble to reinforce dykes as provincial officials forecast up to 150mm of rain in wake of ‘atmospheric river’Crews in British Columbia raced to clear debris from motorways and repair dykes as the Canadian province braced for more downpours on Sunday, just days after record rainfall led to the deaths of four people, brought parts of the province to a standstill and sparked shortages of food and fuel.The western Canadian province declared a state of emergency on Wednesday after parts of the province were pummelled by a phenomenon known as an “atmospheric river”, dumping a month’s worth of rain in two days and causing floods and mudslides that swallowed bridges and stretches of highways, cut off entire towns and forced the evacuation of thousands of people. Continue reading...

The North American species is seeing an exponential increase in California, but the population is far short of normalOn a recent November morning, more than 20,000 western monarch butterflies clustered in a grove of eucalyptus, coating the swaying trees like orange lace. Each year up to 30% of the butterfly’s population meets here in Pismo Beach, California, as the insects migrate thousands of miles west for the winter.Just a year ago, this vibrant spectacle had all but disappeared. The monarch population has plummeted in recent years, as the vibrant invertebrates struggled to adapt to habitat loss, climate crisis, and harmful pesticide-use across their western range. Continue reading...

Campaigners are pushing for a redundant 2½-mile stretch of dual carriageway in Essex to become a country park with cycling facilitiesThere has been traffic here for millennia, from the Roman legionaries who marched from Londinium to Camulodunum to the speedsters who now reportedly race against police cars at night. But part of the A12 in north-east Essex may finally find some peace if plans to transform a 2½-mile stretch into a country park come to fruition.Work is due to start in 2027 on a bypass between the villages of Marks Tey and Kelvedon, west of Colchester, creating a six-lane road linking Ipswich and Harwich to London. Campaigners say the old four-lane road should be rewilded, as happened with a segment of the A2 near Gravesend, which became a Cyclopark in 2012. That site is now used by Olympic gold medallists Beth Shriever – also BMX world champion – and mountain biker Tom Pidcock. Continue reading...