NFU members question Labour leader on post-Brexit changes as he proposes major review of party’s farming policiesBadgers, bees and gene-edited livestock are among the key questions Labour will need to address if the party is to make headway in rural constituencies, this year’s National Farmers’ Union conference has shown.Sir Keir Starmer became the first Labour leader in 13 years to speak at the NFU’s annual gathering, a key date in the UK’s farming calendar. His reception was hard to judge, owing to the online nature of the event, but he answered questions from farmers on topics ranging from food standards post-Brexit to nitrate fertilisers. Continue reading...

John Kerry’s comments, including a call for a faster exit from coal power, add to pressure on the Coalition to do moreJoe Biden’s climate envoy, John Kerry, has publicly acknowledged “differences” between the United States and Australia in tackling the climate crisis while calling for a faster exit from coal-fired power.Kerry’s comments highlighted the increased pressure on Australia to commit to do more before this year’s Glasgow climate conference even though the Morrison government maintains it is “playing its part”. Continue reading...

A new report suggests previous estimates understated the amount of cheap solar and wind energy entering the national electricity marketUp to five of Australia’s remaining 16 coal power plants could be financially unviable by 2025 due to a flood of cheap solar and wind energy entering the electricity grid, a new report suggests.An analysis by two groups – the consultants Green Energy Markets and the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (Ieefa) – found previous estimates had understated the amount of renewable energy likely to enter the national electricity market in the next five years, and its ramifications for the ageing coal fleet. Continue reading...

Pilot scheme will use methane from fermenting fruit to create clean power for city water plantIn spring, the air in Seville is sweet with the scent of azahar, orange blossom, but the 5.7m kilos of bitter fruit the city’s 48,000 trees deposit on the streets in winter are a hazard for pedestrians and a headache for the city’s cleaning department.Now a scheme has been launched to produce an entirely different kind of juice from the unwanted oranges: electricity. The southern Spanish city has begun a pilot scheme to use the methane produced as the fruit ferments to generate clean electricity. Continue reading...

Helicopters carried critically endangered great apes deep into forest from rehabilitation centresTen orangutans have been released back into the wild in the Indonesian part of Borneo island, with helicopters used to ferry the critically endangered great apes deep into the forest from rehabilitation centres.The Bornean orangutans had all been in captivity before their rescue. They include Nenuah, a 19-year-old female who had been repatriated from Thailand, according to the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF). Continue reading...

The rodents are often considered ‘nuisance animals’, but they can play a vital role in maintaining healthy landscapesMolly Alves steps down hard on the edge of a heavy wire trap, forcing its sides open with her hands. With care she lays the poised trap, baited with twigs and branches, in a bracingly cold stream. Her target? A beaver.Beavers are often considered “nuisance” animals on the US west coast and, if captured, are destroyed by animal control companies. Continue reading...

Forestry Commission accused of funding non-native plantations that damage peatlands and imperil rare speciesThe natural bowl in the Northumberland hills studded with dumpy young conifers looks innocuous enough. But the English borders are the scene of an increasingly bitter battle as ambitious government tree-planting targets collide with concerns for rare plants and birds.The government is seeking to dramatically increase tree planting to 30,000 hectares of new trees in the UK each year, with plantations sequestering carbon and helping the government reach net zero emissions by 2050. Continue reading...

Nearly £10bn worth of investments including in oil and gas made via pension funds in last financial yearLocal councils that have declared a climate emergency are continuing to pour money into fossil fuels through their staff pension funds, analysis has shown.Nearly £10bn worth of investments in fossil fuels, including oil and gas companies such as BP and Shell, were found in local government pension funds in the last financial year, according to an assessment by the campaign groups Platform and Friends of the Earth. Continue reading...

Zoologist says the animals seen in the Thylacine Awareness Group’s video are most likely pademelonsA wildlife expert has dismissed claims of a sighting of the extinct Tasmanian tiger, declaring the animals photographed were most likely pademelons.Devotees of the extinct Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, were abuzz this week with the potential new discovery that, if confirmed would have brought the animal back from the dead. Continue reading...

World’s Forgotten Fishes report lists pollution, overfishing and climate change as dangersFreshwater fish are under threat, with as many as a third of global populations in danger of extinction, according to an assessment.Populations of migratory freshwater fish have plummeted by 76% since 1970, and large fish – those weighing more than 30kg – have been all but wiped out in most rivers. The global population of megafish down by 94%, and 16 freshwater fish species were declared extinct last year. Continue reading...

About 50 long-finned pilot whales became stuck in the shallow water off Farewell Spit, and about 26 have diedA team of experts and volunteers are racing the tides to save a pod of pilot whales stranded at Farewell Spit at the northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island.Dozens of the roughly 50 long-finned pilot whales have already died since they stranded on Monday, and the remaining animals stayed in the shallows on Tuesday morning despite efforts to move them out to sea. Continue reading...

Address to National Farmers’ Union aims to extend party’s support beyond urban strongholdsSir Keir Starmer will call on farmers and people living in rural areas to take a fresh look at the Labour party, vowing to push for new investment in food and farming and a revision of subsidy payments, in an effort to move beyond the party’s urban strongholds.He will urge people to buy more British food, and for more of the public sector’s £2.4bn food procurement budget to be spent locally, as well as calling for subsidised wages for apprentices to shore up the UK’s ageing farm workforce. Continue reading...

National Farmers Federation and business groups call for pandemic recovery regionalisation strategyRenewable energy zones must be “at the centre of any regionalisation agenda”, the National Farmers Federation has said.In a policy paper released on Tuesday, the NFF makes the call for renewable energy to be part of new investment to address the $3.8bn annual shortfall in infrastructure in regional Australia. Continue reading...

Larch Maxey’s exit leaves four in tunnel, as judge grants possession order to HS2A fifth HS2 protester has voluntarily left the Euston tunnel, leaving four people still in occupation.The decision by Dr Larch Maxey came on the same day that a high court judge granted a possession order to HS2 for the site in London. Continue reading...

Israel is reeling from a disastrous tar slick, while oily sand has been found in southern LebanonAt first sight there are few obvious signs of the oil spill on the Mediterranean beach. Wooden parasols stand solitary in the sand, while a few runners make their way along the waterline, enjoying the winter sun.“The beach looks OK, but it’s all underneath,” says a volunteer, sitting at a water station on the boardwalk. “It’ll take decades to clean.” Continue reading...

As climate impacts intensify, power grids stuffed with ageing fossil fuel infrastructure crumbleClimate change is full of surprises. We were warned about heatwaves, hurricanes and high-intensity firestorms. What we didn’t see coming was a cynical, cyclical economy of blackout bullshit. As climate impacts intensify, power grids stuffed with ageing fossil fuel infrastructure crumble. Those blackouts are usually blamed on wind and solar – and used to extend the lifespan of existing fossil fuel generators. Opportunity costs increase, climate impacts worsen and blackouts intensify. It’s an accelerating death spiral.Last week Texas suffered an outage likely to be the worst on record in the US. Millions of people were without power for days, initially at a scale roughly equivalent to all of eastern Australia going dark at once. A burst of winter weather froze vital components at power stations, gas supplies were limited by frozen pipelines and, consequently, a third of the state’s thermal power stations were offline (mostly gas). An unspecified proportion of wind turbines were disabled due to icing and low-temperature shutoffs, but “gas and coal were actually the biggest culprits in the crisis”, Eric Fell, director of North America gas at Wood Mackenzie, told Bloomberg. Continue reading...

President says the time is finally right for international agreement to tackle biodiversity loss and global heatingWhen it comes to the environment, few countries rival Costa Rica in terms of action and ambition.The tiny Central American nation is aiming for total decarbonisation by 2050, not just a “net zero” target. It has regrown large areas of tropical rainforest after suffering some of the highest rates of deforestation in the world in the 1970s and 1980s. Costa Ricans play a major role in international environmental politics, most notably Christiana Figueres, who helped to corral world leaders into agreeing the Paris accord. Continue reading...

CBI, Energy UK and others tell chancellor cutting scheme will risk target of net zero emissions by 2050Business groups are urging the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to keep funding home insulation and other low-carbon measures under the green homes grant, which is under threat from cuts.They warned that moves to reduce the amount of money paid out under the scheme, or abandon it altogether, would make it harder to reach the government’s target of net zero emissions by 2050, and damage the UK’s credibility as host nation of this year’s Cop26 UN climate summit and president of the G7 group of rich nations. Continue reading...

Health department finds sharp increase in levels of lead among children in the town – home to one of world’s largest lead refineriesLead in the blood of children living in the South Australian town of Port Pirie has reached the highest level in a decade, with a sharp uptick in concentrations recorded during 2020.The town of 15,000 people is home to one of the world’s largest primary lead refineries, which has been in continuous operation since 1889 and serves as the town’s main employer. Continue reading...

Pilot for First Group this autumn part of EV maker’s rapid expansion before New York IPOElectric buses built by Arrival, the UK-based manufacturer, will be tested on British roads for the first time later this year in a trial with the transport company First Group.The tests will begin in the autumn of this year, starting with four of the first production vehicles produced at Arrival’s research and development facility in Banbury, Oxfordshire. Discussions are under way about further trials with other companies. Continue reading...

Volunteers gather to remove clumps of tar in cleanup effort that could take months or years, officials sayIsraeli authorities are trying to find the ship responsible for an oil spill that drenched much of its Mediterranean shoreline with tar, an environmental blow that will take months or years to clean up, officials said.Thousands of volunteers gathered on Sunday to remove clumps of sticky black refuse from the pale beaches. Israel’s military said it was deploying thousands of soldiers to help with the effort. Authorities warned members of the public to keep their distance until further notice. Continue reading...

Ingestion of lead shotgun pellets from bed of Larnaca Salt Lake blamed for rise in deaths of migrating flamingosConservationists in Cyprus are urging authorities to expand a hunting ban throughout a coastal salt lake network, amid concerns that migrating flamingos could swallow lethal quantities of lead shotgun pellets.Martin Hellicar, the director of Birdlife Cyprus, said flamingos were at risk of ingesting the tiny pellets lying on the lakebed as they fed. Like other birds, flamingos swallow small pebbles to aid digestion but cannot distinguish between pebbles and the lead pellets. Continue reading...

The Lone Star State is aptly named. If you’re not part of the Republican oil elite with Cruz and Abbott, you’re on your ownTexas has long represented a wild west individualism that elevates personal freedom – this week, the freedom to freeze – above all else.Related: Why the cold weather caused huge Texas blackouts – a visual explainer Continue reading...

Selenicereus wittii bloomed in a live stream from Cambridge University’s Botanic Garden on SaturdayA rare Amazonian cactus called the moonflower has bloomed for what botanists believe is the first time in the UK.Experts at Cambridge University’s Botanic Garden kept a night watch throughout the week so that they did not miss the flowering of Selenicereus wittii – an event which usually begins at sunset and is over by sunrise. Continue reading...

Tribes across the US are buying back land lost during and after the colonization period on the open marketMore than six decades after a 1,705-acre patchwork of meadows, wetlands and timberland in southern Oregon was taken from the Klamath Tribes, the Native American community has found its way back to the territory – by way of the real estate market.

Exclusive: Prof Sir Robert Watson says backing of Cumbrian mine refutes claims of climate leadershipOne of the UK’s most eminent environmental scientists has called the government’s failure to block a new coalmine in Cumbria “absolutely ridiculous”.Prof Sir Robert Watson said the UK’s commitment to net zero emissions by 2050 to tackle the climate crisis was “wonderful”, but that there had to be a focus on immediate actions. The UK is hosting a UN climate summit, Cop26, in November and Boris Johnson has pledged to lead a green industrial revolution. Continue reading...

Campaign group Trees Not Cars says victory exposes ‘hypocrisy’ of council’s approach to air pollutionA group of women from Manchester have won a legal battle with the city’s council, which wanted to build a 440-space car park next to the city centre’s only primary school.Campaigners said the victory exposed the “hypocrisy” in the local authority’s approach to addressing air pollution and global heating. Continue reading...

Shannon Stevens was treated with first aid kit after incident in which bear face was seen at at toilet seat levelAn Alaska woman had the scare of a lifetime when using an outhouse in the backcountry and she was attacked by a bear, from below.“I got out there and sat down on the toilet and immediately something bit my butt right as I sat down,” Shannon Stevens told the Associated Press. “I jumped up and I screamed when it happened.” Continue reading...

John Kerry made remark as US officially returned to climate agreement on Friday, 107 days after it left under Donald TrumpThe US has marked its return to the Paris agreement by urging countries to do more to confront the climate crisis, with America’s climate envoy, John Kerry, warning that international talks this year are the “last, best hope” of avoiding catastrophic global heating.On Friday, the US officially returned to the Paris climate accord, 107 days after it left at the behest of former president Donald Trump. Joe Biden moved to reverse this on his first day in office and Kerry conceded that the US is returning “with a lot of humility, for the agony of the last four years”. Continue reading...

Public told to watch what they flush after workers take two weeks to free blockage

Curiosity and sociability among traits found, despite dolphins having evolved separately for millions of yearsDolphins have developed a number of similar personality traits to humans, despite having evolved in vastly different environments, researchers have found.A study, published in the Journal of Comparative Psychology, looked at 134 male and female bottlenose dolphins from eight facilities across the world, with each dolphin’s personality being assessed by staff at the facilities. The results of the study found a convergence of certain personality traits, especially curiosity and sociability. Continue reading...

Both states have faced widespread power outages after failing to plan for extreme weatherWhen California saw widespread power blackouts last year during wildfires and a summer “heat storm”, Republican lawmakers from Texas were quick to deride the coastal state’s energy policies. “California is now unable to perform even basic functions of civilization, like having reliable electricity,” tweeted Senator Ted Cruz during the record-breaking heatwave in August. Continue reading...

UK police services to launch national cycle crime partnership while pushing theft preventionBike theft is a perennial problem – and a pandemic-induced cycling boom inevitably means more targets for thieves.However, last year there was a 16.3% drop in cycle theft, according to police data from Opal (the serious organised crime unit), partly because more people and their cycles were at home. Across the transport network theft dropped by 60%. Perversely, the main exception seems to be thefts from key workers such as hospital staff. Continue reading...

The Line 3 route traverses land that Native American pipeline opponents say is protected by US treaties with Ojibwe nationsDressed in a ribbon skirt and mask, Tara Houska gazed down at the trickling waters of the Mississippi near its headwaters. The great American river that eventually flows into the Gulf of Mexico is just a stream in these parts of northern Minnesota.A pipeline will soon burrow underneath this part of the Mississippi and its surrounding wetlands. It is one of hundreds of water crossings, including wild rice fields, that lie in the path of a new stretch of Line 3, a pipeline bringing nearly 1m barrels of tar sands a day from Alberta, Canada, to Superior, Wisconsin. Continue reading...

World leaders expect Washington to prove commitment to accord after four years of inactionThe US is back in the Paris climate accord, just 107 days after it left.While Friday’s return is heavily symbolic, world leaders say they expect the US to prove its seriousness after four years of being mostly absent. They are especially keen to hear an announcement from Washington in the coming months on the US’s goal for cutting emissions of heat-trapping gases by 2030. Continue reading...

Record low temperatures damaged infrastructure and froze pipes, disrupting services and contaminating supplies for 12 millionMillions of Texans are facing water shortages after the deadly winter storm ravaging the state caused pipes to burst and treatment plants to back up, disrupting services and contaminating supplies.Texas officials ordered 7 million people – a quarter of the population of the nation’s second-largest state – to boil tap water before drinking it following days of record low temperatures that damaged infrastructure and froze pipes. Continue reading...

Rivers are biodiversity hotspots but pollution, dams and invasive species have caused havocRivers in which fish populations have escaped serious damage from human activities make up just 14% of the world’s river basin area, according to the most comprehensive study to date.Scientists found that the biodiversity of more than half of rivers had been profoundly affected, with big fish such as sturgeon replaced by invasive species such as catfish and Asian carp. Pollution, dams, overfishing, farm irrigation and rising temperatures due to the climate crisis are also to blame. Continue reading...

The outages endured by residents result from the state’s political decisions – but all of us need to think more about ensuring resilience

Former Texas governor says winter weather crisis should not be used as an opportunity for Democrats to advance energy policiesRick Perry, the former Texas governor who became Donald Trump’s energy secretary, has said that Texans would willingly endure longer periods of sub-freezing temperatures if it stymied Democrats’ energy policy and efforts to combat the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Morrison government’s inaction is driving away chance to build a new low-emissions economy, industry experts say

From the Komodo’s mouth hang various strands of toxic drool, lightly coated in dust

Edelman Trust Barometer records big gains for attitudes towards government, media and business, but not technologyA new survey has found Australians are more afraid of climate change than catching Covid-19 – and they want government to do something about it.The 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer asked 1,350 Australians questions on a range of topics between October and November 2020. Continue reading...

Six experts say failure to reform climate finance risks undermining trust in Paris agreementTaxes on international transport could provide new flows of finance to developing countries to help them reduce greenhouse gas emissions and cope with the impacts of climate breakdown, a group of climate finance experts have said.Rich countries are failing on their pledge to provide $100bn a year to help poor countries cope with the climate crisis, and the way in which climate finance is organised needs urgent reform, the six academics argue in an article in the journal Nature Climate Change. Continue reading...

UN report offers bedrock for hope for broken planet, says António GuterresHumanity is waging a “senseless and suicidal” war on nature that is causing human suffering and enormous economic losses while accelerating the destruction of life on Earth, the UN secretary-general, António Guterres, has said.Guterres’s starkest warning to date came at the launch of a UN report setting out the triple emergency the world is in: the climate crisis, the devastation of wildlife and nature, and the pollution that causes many millions of early deaths every year. Continue reading...

Increasing land grabs endangering forest communities and wildlife as governments expand mining and agriculture to combat economic impact of Covid

New group has written to Noble Foods near River Wye, where chemical runoffs are said to be causing serious damageThe heads of some of the biggest agricultural suppliers are being targeted in a campaign to stop their activities polluting rivers.River Action, a new group focusing on the state of UK rivers, is launching its first campaign by writing to the chief executive of Noble Foods, one of the biggest egg producers operating around the River Wye, where pollution from increasing numbers of free range poultry farms is said to be seriously damaging the river. Continue reading...

The oil- and gas-rich state is experiencing what officials call a ‘total failure’ of its electricity infrastructureMillions of people in Texas have spent days in below-freezing temperatures without power in what officials have called a “total failure” of the state’s electricity infrastructure. How did oil- and gas-rich Texas – the biggest producer of energy in the US – get here?Related: The Texans facing blackouts and burst pipes: 'Do I wait for the ceiling to cave in?' Continue reading...

Bushy variety of cotoneaster works best in areas of heavy traffic, say researchers, while other plants can cool buildings or reduce floodingBushy, hairy-leafed cotoneaster is a “super plant” that can help soak up pollution on busy roads, horticultural experts have said.Scientists at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) looked at the effectiveness of hedges for soaking up air pollution, comparing different types of shrubs including cotoneaster, hawthorn and western red cedar. Continue reading...