US attraction Fair Oaks Farms Dairy Adventure accused of animal rights violationsUndercover footage showing young dairy calves being kicked, violently thrown, having their heads stamped into the ground and suffering from heat exposure at a US farm known as the “Disneyland of agricultural tourism” was published this week.“Calves can be seen struggling to breathe and are observed suffering by themselves within their hutches,” according to a report by Animal Recovery Mission (ARM), the campaigners behind the footage. “With temperatures reaching to as high as 110F [43C] in summer, dehydration and malnutrition are also possible factors leading to calves suffering and slowly dying at Fair Oaks Farms.” Continue reading...

Just 63% of Britain’s beaches meet most stringent water quality standardThe UK has one of the lowest proportions of top quality bathing waters in Europe, according to research by the European Environment Agency.Just 63.2% of Britain’s beaches met the most stringent water quality standards needed to be ranked as excellent. Continue reading...

‘Brood management’ trial criticised for failing to tackle persecution of bird of preyHen harrier chicks will be removed from their parents and reared in captivity this summer in a controversial “brood management” scheme to placate grouse moor owners.Removing young hen harriers from nests on grouse moors is designed to prevent concentrations of the bird of prey on grouse shooting estates. Stopping hen harriers from feeding on young grouse is designed to reduce the illegal killing of the species, which is on the brink of extinction as a breeding bird in England. Continue reading...

Quantity of particles hundreds of meters underwater off California is on par with Great Pacific Garbage Patch, study findsAnela Choy, a biological oceanographer, had been noticing something odd while studying the diets of tuna and other deep-diving fish. Though they lived at average depths of 1,000ft, their stomachs routinely contained bottle caps, trash bags, and light sticks. “It was so strange,” says Choy, who works at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. “We were seeing recognizable pieces of human society.”Her concerns about plastic pollution inspired a study of waters off the coast of northern California, conducted by Choy and a team of other scientists. The findings, released today in Nature Scientific Reports, reveal a proliferation of microplastic particles, the tiny fragments left over when larger plastics break down. Most remarkably, the highest concentrations of microplastics were found about 200-300 meters (650-1,000ft) down – four times more plastic than was found in samples at the surface. That’s on par, or higher, with quantities found at the surface of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Continue reading...

Agencies sound the alarm over ‘climate crisis’ after devastation of crops and livestockMore than 2 million people could face starvation by the end of the summer, unless there are urgent efforts to respond to the drought in Somalia.Mark Lowcock, the UN’s humanitarian chief, said the country is facing one of the driest rainy seasons in more than three decades, and a “rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation”. Continue reading...

Data showing 0.7% rise in 2018 published a week late and only after minister discloses it to the AustralianAustralia’s greenhouse gas emissions are still increasing, according to a government report that was withheld for a week in defiance of a Senate order.The environment department published its emissions data for the December 2018 quarter on Thursday morning, but only after the energy and emissions reduction minister, Angus Taylor, first disclosed information from the report in an interview with the Australian. Continue reading...

Council wants NSW government to work with banks on financial products to make divestment easierSydney’s Inner West council says it has 100% divested from fossil fuels after a three-year process that began before the amalgamation of Leichhardt, Marrickville and Ashfield councils.The council is now calling on the New South Wales government to work with the big four banks “to develop financial products that will allow more organisations to follow our lead”. Continue reading...

Experts say region is losing the battle to stop the biggest animal disease outbreak the planet has ever facedSouth-east Asia is battling to contain the spread of highly contagious African swine fever, known as “pig Ebola”, which has already led to the culling of millions of pigs in China and Vietnam.African swine fever, which is harmless to humans but fatal to pigs, was discovered in China in August, where it has caused havoc, leading to more than 1.2m pigs being culled. China is home to almost half of the world’s pigs and the news sent the global price of pork soaring. Continue reading...

Energy department says labeling some waste as low-level at sites in Washington state, Idaho and South Carolina will save $40bnThe US government plans to reclassify some of the nation’s most dangerous radioactive waste to lower its threat level, outraging critics who say the move would make it cheaper and easier to walk away from cleaning up nuclear weapons production sites in Washington state, Idaho and South Carolina.The Department of Energy said on Wednesday that labeling some high-level waste as low level will save $40bn in cleanup costs across the nation’s entire nuclear weapons complex. The material that has languished for decades in the three states would be taken to low-level disposal facilities in Utah or Texas, the agency said. Continue reading...

Rebecca Long-Bailey questions how much authority the government has on issueBoris Johnson has been challenged by Labour to clearly disavow his previous denial of climate science, after several other Conservative leadership hopefuls said they accepted the reality of the climate emergency.A dividing line between the candidates opened up on the issue after Andrea Leadsom, a Brexit-supporting former cabinet minister, Sajid Javid, the home secretary, and Rory Stewart, the international development secretary, told a One Nation group hustings on Tuesday night they would tackle the climate emergency as a global crisis. Continue reading...

Beauty label to sell moisturiser with recyclable refill pod in attempt to cut plastic waste

New policy expected to see larger farms created in deeper water further off Scottish coastScottish salmon farmers will be allowed to create supersized farms in return for accepting much stricter controls on parasites and marine pollution.The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) has said it will no longer restrict the size of salmon farms as long as they meet tougher standards limiting chemical, faecal and organic waste pollution in surrounding seas. Continue reading...

The US jeans brand has been working on the Indigood technology for the past decadeDenim manufacturing doesn’t have a good reputation when it comes to creating excessive levels of waste, but an innovative process spearheaded by the US jeans brand Wrangler may change that.The company has partnered with Texas Tech University (TTU) and the Valencia-based fabric mill Tejidos Royo to create a foam-dyed, water-free process, eliminating the waste generated from the traditional dyeing processes. Continue reading...

Bishop plants idea of using Church of England plots to benefit homeless people and those feeling isolated or lonelyChurches should offer their green spaces as gardening projects for people with mental health problems, a senior Church of England bishop has said.Studies had established the therapeutic benefits of gardening, said James Newcome, the bishop of Carlisle and the C of E’s lead bishop on health issues. Continue reading...

Agency seeking seven men for crimes including ivory smuggling and illegal logging

Labour accuses UK government of ‘actively dismantling’ solar power industry

Partnership between UK and German firms created to lower costs for volume productionJaguar Land Rover is teaming up with BMW in a partnership designed to lower costs and try to get ahead in the race to produce electric cars for the mass market.The UK’s largest car manufacturer and Germany’s BMW said they would work together to develop electric motors, transmissions and power electronics in the latest industry alliance formed to address the challenges posed by electric and driverless cars. Continue reading...

President blames other countries for environmental crisis, in long talk with princePrince Charles spent 75 minutes longer than scheduled trying to convince Donald Trump of the dangers of global heating, but the president still insisted the US was “clean” and blamed other nations for the crisis.Trump told ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Wednesday he had been due to meet the Prince of Wales for 15 minutes during his state visit, but the discussion went on for 90 minutes – during which the prince did “most of the talking”. Continue reading...

More than half a million plastic items reach oceans from waterway network each yearAbandoned plastics now account for 59% of the litter found in canals in England and Wales, according to new research which also reveals that more than half a million plastic items reach the oceans every year from the waterway network.The new findings are from the Canal & River Trust – the charity that looks after 2,000 miles of canals and river navigations – and which says that with the support of local communities both figures could be cut drastically. Continue reading...

5 June 1956: Investment in coal mining should be carried out on a massive scale argues the Organisation for European Economic Co-operationThe OEEC has delighted Mr Aubrey Jones, the Minister of Fuel and Power, with its report on the future of fuel supplies in Europe (summarised on page 4). The main conclusion of the report is that nuclear energy is only going to make a small contribution to the increased supply of energy that will be needed in the next twenty years.Related: The demise of UK deep coal mining: decades of decline Continue reading...

The suit accuses the federal government of violating young people’s constitutional rights by contributing to the climate crisisTwenty-one youth activists faced off with the US government in an Oregon courthouse on Tuesday, where their attorneys petitioned a panel of judges to let their climate case go to trial. Until it does, their attorneys argued, fossil fuel development should be halted on public lands.The case of Juliana v the US charges the federal government with violating the constitutional rights of youth by perpetuating systems that contribute to climate breakdown. Those young people – who range in age from 11 to 23 and hail from all corners of the nation – argue that the constitution gives them and future generations a right to an environment free of climate catastrophe. Continue reading...

Sarah Hanson-Young says the Nationals who have raised nuclear energy are ‘lunatic cowboys’The Greens have labelled Coalition MPs pushing for an inquiry into nuclear power as “lunatic cowboys”, pledging to block any move to overturn Australia’s nuclear ban in the Senate.As conservative MPs move to establish a Senate inquiry into nuclear power when parliament returns next month, the Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has invited the former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce to debate her in the “town he thinks it should be built”. Continue reading...

More than €650m worth of new goods destroyed or thrown away each year, says PMFrance’s prime minister has announced a crackdown on the destruction of unsold or returned consumer products, a move that will affect luxury goods brands and online retailers such as Amazon.Edouard Philippe said a ban on destroying non-food goods – including clothes, electrical items, hygiene products and cosmetics – would come into force within the next four years. Continue reading...

Environmentalists fear 2019 will be one of worst years for deforestation in recent memory

Readings from Hawaii observatory bring threshold of 450ppm closer sooner than had been anticipatedThe concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by the second highest annual rise in the past six decades, according to new data.Atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gas were 414.8 parts per million in May, which was 3.5ppm higher than the same time last year, according to readings from the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii, where carbon dioxide has been monitored continuously since 1958. Continue reading...

Finning is still rampant in many countries due to diners’ appetite for the delicacy, despite attempts to shut down the tradeA rising demand for shark fin soup is wiping out more than 73 million sharks every year, fuelling a practice labelled the marine “gold rush”.Finning, when a shark’s fin is sliced off while at sea and the body dumped back into the ocean, is rampant in many regions – fins are one of the most expensive seafood items, ending up mostly in soup. The delicacy had been particularly popular in China but a nationwide conservation campaign saw consumption drop 80% since 2011. Continue reading...

New left-leaning government sets ambitious target as it plans major rise in public spendingFinland’s new left-leaning coalition government has pledged to make the country carbon neutral by 2035 as part of a policy programme that includes a major increase in public spending on welfare and infrastructure.The Social Democratic party leader, Antti Rinne, who formed the five-party alliance of centrist, leftist and Green parties after narrowly beating the nationalist Finns party in an election in April, said it was time to “invest in the future” after years of austerity. Continue reading...

Dutch capital steps its pro-cycling reputation up a gear with new regulations – and not everyone is happyConvoys of mopeds speed down Amsterdam’s bike lanes, beeping their horns and flouting their bare heads. This isn’t some strange Dutch festival, though. These were protests from some of the thousands of furious moped riders ahead of a new city regulation which came into force this week to force them out of bike lanes, on to main roads and into helmets.The cycling city of Amsterdam is stepping up a gear – with plans to ban petrol and diesel vehicles from the centre by 2030, the removal of 10,000 car-parking spaces, a hike in parking charges and a wide range of measures to take from the car and give to pedestrians, cyclists, green space and children. Continue reading...

From ‘painting on’ radiation sickness to making the explosion less ‘Die Hard’, the acclaimed drama has gone to great lengths to evoke the chaos and terror of the Soviet-era disaster

Exclusive: Midnight Oil, Cloud Control, Vance Joy and Regurgitator join FEAT., a new platform encouraging their industry to back sustainabilityIn the spring of 2017, immediately after the release of the Australian band Cloud Control’s third album, Zone, the band’s keyboard player, Heidi Lenffer, was contemplating what their upcoming tour would cost. But this time she wasn’t just thinking about the money; she was thinking about emissions. Independent bands are used to running on a shoestring budget – a carbon-conscious Lenffer wanted Cloud Control to run a more environmentally efficient operation, too.She began asking climate scientists in the field, and connected with Dr Chris Dey from Areté Sustainability. Dey crunched the numbers for Cloud Control’s two-week tour, playing 15 clubs and theatres from Byron Bay to Perth. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Medical experts say exposure to toxic fumigant EDB in fruit fly eradication program ‘likely’ to have caused illnesses• How Queensland government workers paid the price for fruit fly eradicationQueensland government biosecurity workers were exposed to a carcinogenic and gene-altering chemical for an extended period, including for six months after its use was banned amid health and safety concerns.Related: Slow poison: how Queensland government workers paid the price for fruit fly eradication Continue reading...

Nuclear could provide cheap energy but would only be competitive with gas and coal if carbon pollution is priced, nuclear association saysAustralia would need to adopt a carbon price for nuclear power to be economically viable, a peak lobby group for the sector says, as it welcomes a push by the Nationals for a fresh Senate inquiry into the idea.The Australian Nuclear Association, which advocates for nuclear science and technology, said nuclear power could provide cheap, reliable, carbon-free energy in Australia, but it would only be cost competitive with gas and coal generation if pollution was priced. Continue reading...

National academies say effects include spread of diseases and worse mental healthA report by experts from 27 national science academies has set out the widespread damage global heating is already causing to people’s health and the increasingly serious impacts expected in future.Scorching heatwaves and floods will claim more victims as extreme weather increases but there are serious indirect effects too, from spreading mosquito-borne diseases to worsening mental health. Continue reading...

Researchers spotted newborn off the west coast of British Columbia on 31 May as the last successful calving occurred in 2016A pod of endangered killer whales on Canada’s west coast has produced its first calf in three years, a promising sign for the ailing orcas.Researchers spotted the newborn calf off the west coast of British Columbia on 31 May as it swam with other members a handful of other whales. Continue reading...

Environment groups demand up to date figures to show ‘the full impact’ of the weaker lawsLand clearing in New South Wales rose by more than 50% in 2016-17, the year before the introduction of native vegetation laws that make deforestation easier.Environment groups are now demanding the government publish up to date figures on the extent of habitat clearing in the state “so the public understands the full impact” of the weakening of land clearing laws in 2017. Continue reading...

As relentless rain wreaks havoc in the farm belt, many struggle to copeEven with half of the houses on her street underwater, Dina Barker looked at the numbers and calculated that it was worth holding out.The rate at which water was pouring out of the rain-swollen Keystone dam less than 10 miles up the Arkansas River had been enough to submerge most of Barker’s neighbourhood in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, last week. But her house sits on a small rise just feet from the pop-up lake that rose in hours as the surging river broke the town’s flood walls. Continue reading...

Call for support for schemes moving people’s money from fossil fuels into renewablesPension schemes should be supported for moving people’s money out of fossil fuels and into renewables because the financial risks from the climate crisis are “too important to ignore”, a government minister will say on Monday.The pensions minister, Guy Opperman, is due to tell a conference that pension and investment managers must “do the right thing” and take their environmental and social responsibilities seriously to help combat the climate emergency. Continue reading...

A total of 272 whales were spotted last year, compared with five in 2011, thanks to legislation mopping up pollution, experts sayFor most New Yorkers, wildlife spotting is confined to squirrels, the odd raccoon and anguished encounters with rats. But in the waters surrounding the city a very different animal experience is quietly booming: sightings of whales.A total of 272 whales were spotted in New York City waters last year, according to the citizen science group Gotham Whale. That is an extraordinary leap from 2011, when just five of the huge cetaceans were witnessed frolicking near the most populated urban area in the US. Continue reading...

Greens warn the new emissions reduction minister could be in contempt of parliamentLabor and the Greens have demanded the government immediately release national greenhouse emissions data, and have warned the new emissions reduction minister could be in contempt of parliament for missing the deadline to publish the figures.Angus Taylor’s first act in his new role was to miss a Senate-set deadline on Friday for the publication of Australia’s emissions data for the December 2018 quarter. Continue reading...

Unfortunately, much scientific knowledge produced for climate policymaking is conservative and reticentThe second Morrison ministry contains no one with nominal responsibility for “climate” in any sense, despite the fact that it is the greatest threat facing the country. Angus Taylor, who spent much of his pre-parliamentary career fighting windfarms, claiming repeatedly that there is “too much wind and solar” in the system, is now minister for energy and emissions reduction. No mention of climate here, despite the fact that climate is what it is all about, or should be.Sussan Ley has been made the environment minister, but more intriguing, David Littleproud is minister for water resources, drought, rural finance, natural disaster and emergency management. Let’s take another look at this: water (or lack thereof) … drought … disaster … emergency management. Continue reading...

Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle tells US she would be more open to its interests in UN roleEurope’s candidate to run the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which guides policymakers around the world, has promised the US she will “not defend the EU position” in resisting the global spread of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).In a bid for US support, Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle told senior US officials at a meeting in Washington on 15 May that under her leadership the FAO would be more open to American interests and accepting of GMOs and gene editing, according to a US official record of the meeting seen by the Guardian. Continue reading...

Battery equipment that can make 600 cones an hour being trialled as concerns over diesel pollution riseThe Mr Whippys of Britain have not had the best start to the year. Ice-cream vans have been facing mounting criticism after campaign groups and parents complained they were delivering their vanilla cones and 99s with a topping of diesel fumes.This weekend, however, they are savouring a double helping of good news: not only have temperatures been soaring, helping to boost custom up and down the country, but an all-new, non-polluting electric ice-cream van may be about to hit the roads. Continue reading...

New road that requires demolition of homes and cultural spaces stirs fury in country where Greens recently surged in pollsThe cement mixer, decorated with disco ball glass, shimmered in the late afternoon sunlight, rotating gently as ravers danced at the foot of a Berlin bridge. Almost a thousand people showed up last weekend for what looked like an impromptu dance party but was actually a protest designed to draw attention to a €560m German government plan to plough a motorway through three Berlin city neighbourhoods.Despite the fact that German voters last week elevated the Green party to second place in the European parliamentary elections, the country’s Social Democrats and Christian Democrat politicians are moving ahead with plans to erect a six-lane highway that would require the demolition of several popular cultural spaces, nightlife venues and apartment blocks, plus part of a park. Continue reading...

Scotland’s whisky-makers reveal they had to halt production in 2018 heatwave because they ran out of waterScotland’s nature conservation agency last week painted an apocalyptic vision of a country devastated by the climate crisis, from polluted rivers to eroded peatlands and forests devoid of birds. Now comes a warning about another part of Scottish culture which could, it is feared, also be hit by global heating: whisky.Scottish distilleries have revealed that during last year’s blistering heatwave, they had to halt production because they ran out of water. In a summer marked by high temperatures and little rainfall, water levels in springs and rivers fell so low that in the Scottish Highlands some whisky makers missed up to a month’s production. Continue reading...

Helping the critically endangered mammal is vital because it’s the last survivor on its branch of the evolutionary treeSolenodons are some of Earth’s strangest creatures. Venomous, nocturnal and insectivorous, they secrete toxins through their front teeth – an unusual habit for a mammal. More to the point, the planet’s two remaining species – the Cuban and the Hispaniolan solenodon, both highly endangered – have endured, virtually unchanged, for the past 76 million years. Other related species have become extinct.And that makes solenodons very important, according to Professor Sam Turvey, of the Zoological Society of London. “They are the last fruits on an entire branch of the tree of evolution,” said Turvey, who was last month awarded one of the most prestigious awards in zoology, the Linnean medal, for his work on evolution and human impacts on wildlife. “There are no close counterparts to solenodons left on Earth, yet they have been on the planet since the time of the dinosaurs.” Continue reading...

Severe weather has spawned multiple tornadoes, flooding and even snow across America’s Midwest and Northeast Continue reading...

UK petrol station loyalty shifts as Nectar card is criticised for encouraging fossil fuel useA major UK consumer loyalty programme has been criticised by environmental campaigners for making Esso – whose parent company ExxonMobil has been under fire for its track record on climate change – its new fuel partner.Petrol company BP has axed its 16-year partnership with the Nectar loyalty card, which means that from Saturday the 20 million holders of the card – owned by Sainsbury’s – will no longer be able to earn points with BP and will instead pick up Nectar points at Esso-branded sites when filling up their tank. Continue reading...

About 70 creatures found washed up on coast of North America but federal agency believes it is a small fraction of total fatalitiesUS government scientists have launched an investigation what has caused the deaths of an unusually high number of gray whales found washed up on the west coast of North America.About 70 whales have been found dead so far this year on the coasts of California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska, the most since 2000. About five more have been discovered on British Columbia beaches. Continue reading...

Young people to hold day of action on Saturday highlighting lawsuit as youth-driven climate movement growsStudents in Austin, Texas, want you to veg out. Kids in Westport, Connecticut will screen a film. And in rural North Carolina, activists will draw on a toxic spill to commemorate the environmental justice movement.All of these rallies will be part of an international campaign on Saturday to spotlight environmental issues. Their message: I Am Juliana. Continue reading...