The pick of the best flora and fauna photos from around the world, including a howling coyote and a baby alligator Continue reading...

Sharp rise in wholesale pork prices prompts warnings over cost of bratwurst, chorizo and other seasonal fare

Visiting Prague is not just for Christmas – and nor is the act of planting trees

Veteran actor and activist has been arrested four times after being inspired by Greta Thunberg and disgusted by TrumpJane Fonda has unusual plans for her 82nd birthday: she wants to spend the night in jail.The American actor and political activist – who has been protesting about inaction over the climate crisis at the US Capitol every Friday – has been arrested four times and kept overnight once. Her lawyers have helped her avoid serious charges. But she says the acts of civil disobedience have pulled her out of a depression she sunk into after Donald Trump took office. Continue reading...

Key architect of party’s plan for a green industrial revolution says there is no time to wasteLooking up from his cup of tea in a central London cafe, Tom Bailey stops mid-sentence, exasperated. One of the key architects behind Labour’s plan for a green industrial revolution, Bailey wants to make clear that the work to which he and a team of academics, engineers and economists have dedicated their spare time over the past 18 months is “a no-brainer”.“Most of this stuff was already out there,” says the 35-year-old. “If we had written this 10 or 15 years ago it would have looked very similar. The curves on the graphs would be slightly less steep because at that stage we had not wasted a decade or more. Now we just need to get on with it.” Continue reading...

Report finds a third of young adults buy new festive sweater every yearBritons’ love of novelty Christmas jumpers is helping to fuel the world’s plastic pollution crisis, a report has warned.Whether emblazoned with flashing lights or alpine motifs, 12m jumpers are set to be snapped up this year, despite 65m already languishing in UK wardrobes. Continue reading...

Asthma and heart attacks fall rapidly and babies born healthier, review findsCutting air pollution can prevent deaths within weeks, according to scientists. They found the health benefits of clean air were “almost immediate and substantial” and stretched into the long term, saving billions of dollars.The review examined the evidence for the reduction of illness after levels of toxic air were reduced. It showed dramatic reductions in asthma and children missing school, heart attacks and the number of small and premature babies. Continue reading...

Alert comes as Indigenous group issues plea for states to stick with basin plan or risk marginalising vulnerable communities and endangering river healthThe Murray-Darling Basin Authority has warned of more mass fish deaths and blue-green algae events throughout the Murray-Darling River system as the peak group representing First Nations issued a plea for the states to stick with the plan.The MDBA issued a communique on Friday saying the summer outlook from the Bureau of Meteorology was “dire”, and there was a greater than average chance of drier, warmer conditions and an elevated fire danger across the basin. Continue reading...

Miniature schnauzer was killed and its owner suffered a minor cut in attack in Simi ValleyA southern California woman punched a mountain lion and tried to pry its jaws open to save her dog from an attack in her backyard, but the pet was killed, officials said.The woman suffered a minor cut after the mountain lion attacked her miniature schnauzer on Thursday in the city of Simi Valley, the police Sgt Keith Eisenhour told KNBC-TV. Continue reading...

Heavy rain has led to rivers bursting their banks, forcing the closure of shops and restaurantsStreets in the South Island tourist towns of Wanaka and Queenstown were slowly going under water on Friday, after Lake Wanaka and Lake Wakatipu burst their banks earlier in the week, flooding businesses and sewerage systems.Water and large debris closed the main street of Wanaka, a popular spot with Instagrammers thanks to its famous tree that appears to have grown out of the lake. On Friday businesses were sandbagging as heavy rain continued to fall. Continue reading...

Oil and gas firm will buy new shares from startup Lighthouse BP for undisclosed priceBP has increased its stake in the British solar venture Lightsource BP as it prepares to strike a deal to power its offices with renewable energy from next year.The companies announced plans to set up a 50:50 joint venture almost two years after BP made its return to the solar market by snapping up a 43% stake in Lightsource for £200m. Continue reading...

Report also recommends protections for front gardens and rewilding hospital groundsAn hour a day of outdoor learning for primary school children and tighter restrictions on paving over front gardens are two of 80 nature policies proposed in a report commissioned by the Green party.The recommendations set out in A New Deal for Nature are designed to protect wildlife and put biodiversity at the centre of government policy. Other suggestions include turning 20% of Britain into national parks and helping farmers devote 15% of their land to nature. Continue reading...

Pontiff calls on COP 25 leaders to show political will to safeguard healthy planet

Cartel may cut up to 800,000 barrels a day from market as global economy faltersThe Opec oil cartel is considering deeper cuts to production next year to avert a price slump in the market as the global economy falters.Ministers from some of the world’s biggest “petro-nations” are expected to cut an extra 400,000 barrels of oil a day from the global market and may consider even deeper cuts of up to 800,000 barrels, according to reports. Continue reading...

Scientists and conservation professionals predict mosquito-killing fungi and a kelp crisis could be among the trends affecting living things next yearWhat are the biggest emerging opportunities and threats the coming year holds for efforts to conserve biodiversity? Nearly two dozen scientists, conservation professionals and future scanners recently came together to answer that question as part of an annual “horizon scan” led by Cambridge University conservation biologist William Sutherland.The group narrowed a list of 89 issues to 15 emerging or anticipated trends that have a strong potential to benefit or harm living things but are not yet on the radar for most conservationists. Here are their top picks, published in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution. Continue reading...

Port Neches issued voluntary order after elevated levels of chemical butadiene were detected following pair of blastsAuthorities in the Texas city of Port Neches have issued an order encouraging its 50,000 residents to evacuate due to concerns over air quality after a pair of chemical plant explosions occurred last week.Port Neches issued the voluntary evacuation order late on Wednesday after elevated levels of the chemical butadiene were detected. Jefferson county emergency management officials said the elevated levels did not pose a serious health risk, but could cause dizziness, nausea, headaches or irritation to the eyes and throat. Continue reading...

Hybrid and electric models reach 10% market share, while diesel cars account for 23.6%Sales of new cars in the UK continued to fall last month as demand for diesel vehicles declined sharply, while hybrid and electric vehicles reached a new record market share.Weak business and consumer confidence, economic uncertainty and confusion over diesel and clean air zones dragged down demand for new cars, said the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, the industry body. Continue reading...

Michigan’s second-highest court rules in favor of township in case that could damage company’s effort to privatize waterMichigan’s second-highest court has dealt a legal blow to Nestlé’s Ice Mountain water brand, ruling that the company’s commercial water-bottling operation is “not an essential public service” or a public water supply.The court of appeals ruling is a victory for Osceola township, a small mid-Michigan town that blocked Nestlé from building a pumping station that doesn’t comply with its zoning laws. But the case could also throw a wrench in Nestlé’s attempts to privatize water around the country. Continue reading...

Six emergency warnings issued in NSW, while many parts of the state and Queensland remain blanketed in smokeSix emergency warnings have been issued for fires in New South Wales on Thursday, including the 230,000-hectare Gospers Mountain blaze on Sydney’s north-western outskirts, as firefighters battle through a “long and challenging day”.Queensland fire crews are also still battling a large bushfire on the Darling Downs with fears some properties have been lost, as Sydney and large parts of New South Wales continue to struggle with “the longest and the most widespread” period on record of poor air quality and hazardous levels of pollution. Continue reading...

Australia Climate Roundtable says climate goals require ‘deep global emissions reductions’Groups representing business, unions, farmers, investors, the environment and social policy advocates say Australia should adopt climate change policies that can put it on a stable path to net zero national greenhouse gas emissions if it is to play its part in the Paris agreement.Launched to coincide with UN climate talks in Madrid, a joint statement by 10 groups under the Australian Climate Roundtable banner warns that unconstrained climate change would have serious economic, environmental and social impacts in Australia, and avoiding it would bring benefits and opportunities. Continue reading...

Firm ‘squeezing maximum potential’ from clean energy sources to help UK hit net zeroScottish Power plans to squeeze more renewable electricity from its onshore windfarms by covering the ground beside the turbines with photovoltaic panels and batteries.The wind power firm has applied for permission to build its first solar power projects beneath the blades of its existing windfarms in Cornwall, Lancashire and Coldham. Continue reading...

Findings confirm reliability of projections of temperature changes over last 50 yearsClimate models have accurately predicted global heating for the past 50 years, a study has found.The findings confirm that since as early as 1970, climate scientists have had a solid fundamental understanding of the Earth’s climate system and the ability to project how it will respond to continued increases in the greenhouse effect. Since climate models have accurately anticipated global temperature changes so far, we can expect projections of future warming to be reliable as well. Continue reading...

Former Greens leader and four other life members express ‘profound concern’ for 43-year-old organisation after staff sackedA group of Wilderness Society life members led by the former Greens leader Bob Brown are calling for an independent review into the conservation group after it recorded a $1.7m deficit last financial year, forcing it to sack campaign and other staff.In a letter to the organisation’s directors, Brown and four other life members expressed “profound concern” for the 43-year-old organisation, which they say is “one of the world’s most important defenders of wild and natural country”. Continue reading...

Scotland court ruling comes after climate protesters boarded two oil rigs in OctoberGreenpeace has been banned from carrying out climate protests on North Sea oil rigs after the oil giant Shell won a Scottish court order.A judge in Edinburgh granted Shell an interim interdict, similar to an injunction, banning Greenpeace from occupying four of its rigs in the Brent field 85 miles north-east of Shetland, after its activists boarded two decommissioned rigs in October. Continue reading...

Special system connected to Miguel’s tank enables his naturally occurring shocks to power strands of lights on a nearby tree

Greenpeace calls for fresh monitoring of region where nuclear disaster occurredGreenpeace has said it detected radiation hotspots near the starting point of the upcoming Olympic torch relay in Fukushima.Japan’s environment ministry said the area was generally safe but it was in talks with local communities to survey the region before the 2020 Games, which open on 24 July. Continue reading...

Activist dressed as insect targets battlebus as XR tries to push environment up agendaAn Extinction Rebellion protester dressed as a bee has glued himself to the Liberal Democrats’ battlebus, as the environmental group intervenes in the general election.The group said it was “buzzing around” political parties’ campaign battlebuses on Wednesday “demanding the climate and ecological emergency is top of the agenda this election”. Continue reading...

Coalition denounces call from Labor-Greens dominated Senate committee as ‘party political attack’

Cleveland magistrates court decision described as ‘a Queensland first’ and out of step with other similar casesThree Extinction Rebellion members will remain in custody for more than two weeks, after they were denied bail by a Queensland magistrate.Members of the activist group said they believed the decision in the Cleveland magistrates court to refuse bail was “a Queensland first” and out of step with other similar cases. Continue reading...

Members of WeShutDown stand trial for blockading the Weisweiler plant. Some call it ‘ecoterrorism’, while others label it a masterstroke in the art of protestA group of climate activists who shut down a lignite coal power plant in Germany said they had no regrets and were prepared to repeat the action, as they awaited the conclusion of their trial.The activists from the group WeShutDown blockaded the Weisweiler power plant near Aachen for several hours on 15 November 2017, by halting its coal-carrying conveyor belts and diggers. The energy company RWE, which owns the plant, claims the shutdown cost it €2m. Continue reading...

Europe’s environmental watchdog gives warning as climate crisis continuesPursuing economic growth at the expense of the environment is no longer an option as Europe faces “unprecedented” challenges from climate chaos, pollution, biodiversity loss and the overconsumption of natural resources, according to a report from Europe’s environmental watchdog.Europe was reaching the limits of what could be achieved by gradual means, by making efficiencies and small cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, with “transformational” change now necessary to stave off the impacts of global heating and environmental collapse, warned Hans Bruyninckx, executive director of the European Environment Agency. Continue reading...

James Shaw says environmental factors will be ‘at the forefront of our minds’ when major decisions are made

Funds are needed to prevent Tidal Lagoon Power’s development consent expiring in JuneThe developers of a pioneering tidal power project in Swansea Bay have launched an 11th hour bid to raise over £1m to keep the project afloat.The company has just over three months to raise enough cash to pay for the development costs of the £1.3bn project before its funds risk running dry in March. Continue reading...

Wet Tropics Management Authority offers grim assessment of impacts on region’s biodiversity and economyClimate change is escalating as “the most significant threat” to Australia’s wet tropics world heritage area, with an update to parliament reporting the outlook for the bioregion is a cause of “great concern”.The grim assessment of the critical north Queensland rainforest region is outlined in an annual snapshot of the protected area prepared by the Wet Tropics Management Authority, which urges greater national and international effort to address the causes of climate change. Continue reading...

John McDonnell rejects claim, saying thinktank is taking ‘nakedly ideological stance’Labour’s plan to renationalise large chunks of the economy risks years of disruption that could delay Britain’s transition to a low-carbon economy, a thinktank has said.The Institute for Fiscal Studies warned that taking water, energy companies, the Royal Mail and railways under state control would be costly, complex and risky and said Labour might do better to tighten regulation instead. Continue reading...

Climate activist heading to COP25 in Madrid after crossing Atlantic on family’s yachtThe climate activist Greta Thunberg has arrived in Lisbon after a three-week catamaran voyage across the Atlantic Ocean from the US.The Swedish teenager now plans to head to Spain to attend the UN climate conference in Madrid. Continue reading...

Diverting rangers is a way to direct federal resources to the border without the need for congressional approval

World Meteorological Organization says 2019 is likely to be second or third warmest year everThe last decade has been one of “exceptional” heat around the world, and was almost certainly the hottest on record, while the oceans have also warmed to record levels and grown markedly more acidic, the World Meteorological Organization has said.Temperatures for the years from 2010 to 2019 were about 1.1C above the average for the pre-industrial period, showing how close the world is coming to the 1.5C of warming that scientists say will cause dramatic impacts, extreme weather and the loss of vital ecosystems. Continue reading...

Federal minister David Littleproud responds to mounting pressure with water sharing review by Mick KeeltyThe leader of the New South Wales Nationals, John Barilaro, and the water minister, Melinda Pavey, have demanded a major rewrite of the Murray-Darling Basin plan, including that the state be excused from recovering further water for the environment, or the state will pull out.With a drought wreaking havoc on rural economies, particularly in NSW, the two Nationals ministers have upped the ante and set out a list of demands including that evaporation losses count toward water for the environment. Continue reading...

Tesco and Asda are among 67 firms and investors who have written to President BolsonaroTesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and the UK’s largest asset manager are among 67 major companies and investors who have written to Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, urging his government to stop further deforestation of the Amazon for soy production.The preservation of the Amazon rainforest, a vital sink for carbon dioxide, is widely considered by scientists and activists to be a priority in responding to the climate crisis. However, the Brazilian soy farmers’ association Aprosoja has mounted a campaign to end a voluntary ban on trading crops harvested from newly cleared land. Continue reading...

More than 10% of forest in NSW national parks destroyed by fire this season, with the damage to Gondwana rainforest a ‘global tragedy’

More than 370 species were gathered during a six-year mission to widen the gene pool and ensure future food securityThe seeds of more than 370 wild crop species have been collected as part of a six-year Indiana Jones-style mission to widen the gene pool of staple crops and ensure future global food security in increasingly unpredictable growing conditions.A hundred scientists from 25 countries travelled by horse, canoe and even elephant to reach remote corners of the world in search of wild species of common agricultural crops such as rice, barley, beans and potatoes that billions of people rely on for basic nutrition. Continue reading...

Special episode of the ABC show featuring Pacific leaders was dominated by climate crisis and Australia’s responseThe former prime minister of Tuvalu, Enele Sopoaga, who hosted Pacific leaders including Scott Morrison and Jacinda Ardern at the Pacific Islands Forum in August has told a special Pacific edition of Q&A he was “taken aback” by Scott Morrison’s behaviour in the diplomatic meetings.“Unfortunately prime minister Scott Morrison of Australia [was] expressing views that completely denies there is climate change happening already in the Pacific. As chairman I was taken a little bit aback,” he said. Continue reading...

People will wonder why there is so much the government wants to conceal, says GreenpeaceThe government has heavily redacted a secret report into the fracking industry after it was forced to comply with a court order for its release.The Whitehall report on the UK shale gas sector emerged on Monday after a years-long battle to uncover the hidden documents – but with three quarters of its pages blacked out. The 48-page report, seen by the Guardian, includes 37 pages that are entirely blacked out and only one – the front cover – that was left uncensored. Continue reading...

Lawyers bring biggest class action of its kind in Britain against carmaker over emissions scandalVolkswagen has employed a range of “progressively more innovative” arguments to claim the software fitted to millions of its vehicles is not a defeat device designed to cheat emissions tests, the high court has heard.Lawyers representing more than 90,000 UK customers are bringing the biggest class action of its kind in Britain against the carmaker over the dieselgate emissions scandal. Continue reading...

Early births are associated with health and developmental concerns, adding to fears over climate crisisHot weather increases the risk of early childbirth, which in turn is linked to worse health and developmental outcomes for children, a major new study has found.The report could have fresh implications for the impact of global heating on human health. Continue reading...

Vended water is many times more expensive than tap water. And there isn’t much evidence to show customers are getting the quality they’re paying forCustomers stream into the parking lot of a San Diego strip mall, lining up behind a windmill-shaped vending machine that fills their jugs for 25 to 35 cents a gallon.“The water that comes from the tap, I don’t trust it, and it doesn’t taste good,” Miguel Martinez said on a recent afternoon, as he filled his bottle from the kiosk. Martinez lives in San Diego’s nearby Shelltown neighborhood, an area located minutes from downtown where many immigrant families have landed. Continue reading...

TCI threatens to dump stakes in firms that do not have plan to reduce emissionsThe activist hedge fund TCI plans to target directors of companies that fail to disclose their carbon emissions, in the latest sign that investors are putting more pressure on boardrooms to step up their disclosure on climate risks.

ALP concerned about repeat of flawed roll-out of government’s regional jobs schemeLabor has raised concerns that a new round of government drought grants could be politically exploited, as parliament’s audit committee agrees to examine the Coalition’s troubled regional jobs and investment scheme.On Monday, the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit announced it had agreed to commence an inquiry into the Regional Jobs and Investment Packages (RJIP) program, along with the Australian Research Council’s administration of the national competitive grants program. Continue reading...

US insurers join retreat from European insurers meaning coal projects cannot be built or operatedThe number of insurers withdrawing cover for coal projects more than doubled this year and for the first time US companies have taken action, leaving Lloyd’s of London and Asian insurers as the “last resort” for fossil fuels, according to a new report.The report, which rates the world’s 35 biggest insurers on their actions on fossil fuels, declares that coal – the biggest single contributor to climate change – “is on the way to becoming uninsurable” as most coal projects cannot be financed, built or operated without insurance. Continue reading...