Since 2015, Canadian companies have provided $2.4 billion in combat vehicles, weapons, surveillance technology, pilot training relied on by the oil-rich SaudisEach time she learns Saudi bombs are falling on Yemen, Shireen Al-Adeimi rushes to her cell-phone.Living an ocean-away in the United States, the Yemeni-Canadian anxiously scrolls through her WhatsApp chats to make sure her friends and family back home are safe. Continue reading...

Aurelia Skipwith, who worked as a lawyer and in research at Monsanto, will be nominated to run the Fish and Wildlife ServiceDonald Trump is nominating a former executive of agrochemical company Monsanto to run the US Fish and Wildlife Service.Aurelia Skipwith has been the deputy assistant secretary of fish, wildlife and parks for the interior department since April 2017. She is a lawyer and was in research for six years at Monsanto, where she led a team that brought new agricultural products to market, and then was in corporate affairs, according to her self-reported work history. Continue reading...

Exclusive interview: Angus Taylor will look at overcoming financing problems new generation projects faceThe energy minister, Angus Taylor, has signalled the Australian government could indemnify new power generation projects against the future risk of a carbon price, and says it could also support the retrofitting of existing coal plants.In an interview with Guardian Australia, the man dubbed the “minister for getting power prices down” by the prime minister, Scott Morrison, has also committed to keeping current subsidies for households and businesses to install renewable energy technology like solar panels until 2030, and insists Australia’s electricity sector will reduce emissions by 26% on 2005 levels in “the early 2020s”. Continue reading...

As the Coalition announces new measures to reduce power bills, Taylor talks to political editor Katharine MurphyInterview with the energy minister Angus Taylor and Guardian Australia political editor Katharine Murphy. The discussion follows government announcements on measures to reduce power prices, including a “last resort” divestiture power to break up power companies, and mechanisms to boost investment in new electricity generation.I’ll get on to today’s announcements [about measures to lower power prices and increase investment in generation] in a second, but first, what are you doing with small-scale renewable energy scheme (SRES)? Labor has now said it stays until 2030. Continue reading...

Climate breakdown is an imminent threat to humanity. But an international treaty could avert calamityHow did government respond to the recent scientific conclusion that only “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society” can deliver the globally agreed target for stopping climate breakdown? In the UK, fracking for fossil fuels was given the green light, plans were announced for a huge new road in the south-east, incentives for electric vehicles withered, the expansion of Heathrow airport is still going ahead and Gatwick airport is trying to expand too by bringing a back-up runway into use. It’s like seeing a sign that says “Danger: vertical cliff drop” and pulling on your best running shoes to take a flying leap.Something isn’t working. The head of the oil company Shell responded to the new climate science warming by clarifying that “Shell’s core business is, and will be for the foreseeable future, very much in oil and gas.” BP announced new North Sea oil projects. Immediate choices are being made with blank disregard to avoiding climate breakdown. Continue reading...

New plastic-to-fuel technology means there is a growing case for stockpiling our plastic waste, argues Patrick Cosgrove. David Reed says it’s time to start burning all household rubbish to generate powerIn August, exchequer secretary Robert Jenrick said: “Tackling the scandal of plastic pollution is one of our top priorities.” But it’s now confirmed what many have long suspected, that the UK recycling industry is riven with corruption (Report, 19 October) and only now is government dimly aware of the problem. Taxing coffee mugs and plastic straws, and placing a charge on plastic bags are commendable actions, but in the face of ever-increasing plastic production, single-use or not, are minuscule and potentially token. In addition to stamping out the illegal export of waste and reducing single use plastic at source, a radical upheaval of domestic recycling is required. Local authorities pay waste management companies to collect, sort and, hopefully, recycle domestic plastic waste. Yet they only recycle a proportion of it and ship the rest abroad. Much ends in landfill or in the oceans. The council tax we pay for these destructive processes could be better deployed.With rapid progress now being made on carbon capture, home and industrial-based pyrolysis (waste to energy), and other plastic-to-fuel processes, there is a strong case to stockpile plastic that is difficult to recycle or contaminated. In compacted or granulated form at 10% of its previous volume, it can be stored for future use as feedstock for negative emission energy production and other innovative uses. We used to have grain mountains and wine lakes. Why not temporary plastic mountains?

There’s a 97% expert consensus on human-caused global warming, but most Americans are unaware

Australian Maritime Safety Authority report says food waste and grey water spill occurred on 26 August

Charities tackling hunger could save Britain £500m a year if they had capacity, finds reportThe collection and redistribution of edible food by the UK’s largest charity tackling hunger – and that would otherwise go to waste – saves the UK economy some £51m every year, according to an independent report published on Monday.If FareShare and other charities in the sector were able to scale up their capacity in order to handle half of the surplus food available in the UK supply chain, the value back to the state could be as much as £500m per year, it claims. Continue reading...

Thinktank says transition to low-carbon economy could result in ‘local deprivation’As many as 28,000 jobs will be lost in the north of England in the next 12 years under the government’s drive towards a low-carbon economy, a thinktank has warned.The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said in its report that the region could be at the heart of a “clean energy revolution” – with a potential for 46,000 new green jobs – but instead faced economic decline under current plans. Continue reading...

Michael Gove unveils consultation on move to cut pollution and protect oceansPlastic straws, drink stirrers and cotton buds could be banned within a year under government plans to cut pollution, Michael Gove is to announce.Launching a consultation on the proposals on Monday, the environment secretary will cite the success of the 5p charge on single-use plastic bags, which led to an 86% drop in their use at major supermarkets. Continue reading...

Workers on Beatrice project in Scotland have included irregular migrants on under £5 an hourWorkers hired to build the flagship £2.6bn Beatrice offshore windfarm in Scotland have included migrants without proper immigration documents paid a fraction of the UK minimum wage, the Guardian can reveal.Offshore windfarming is one of the UK’s biggest growth industries, hailed by both the Conservatives and Labour as a priority for investment that will create thousands of jobs while also producing clean energy. Continue reading...

Berta Cáceres’s family left without lawyers as legal manoeuvres continue bitter legacy of her protest against the Agua Zarca damThe trial of eight men accused over the murder of Honduran indigenous leader Berta Cáceres has been thrown into disarray after judges ousted the victim’s lawyers from proceedings.The legally suspect ruling in the country’s most high-profile case leaves the verdict vulnerable to appeal. The case is considered a litmus test for the justice system which has received millions of dollars of international aid in recent years Continue reading...

Creature filmed off east Antartica using technology developed by Australian researchersA deep-sea cucumber known as a “headless chicken monster” has been filmed in the Southern Ocean for the first time using camera technology developed by Australian researchers.The creature was filmed off east Antarctica and it is the first time the species has been seen in the area. Continue reading...

‘It’s obvious some of the violence we are observing … is directly linked to climate change,’ says Peter MaurerClimate change is already exacerbating domestic and international conflicts, and governments must take steps to ensure it does not get worse, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross has said.Peter Maurer told Guardian Australia it was already making an impact and humanitarian organisations were having to factor it into their work far earlier than they were expecting. Continue reading...

George Eustice’s boast that government strategy is working called untrue by vets and animal specialistsGovernment claims that the controversial badger cull is reducing tuberculosis rates in cattle have been undermined by a group of leading vets and animal welfare experts who have shared data that, they say, confirms it has made no difference.Last month the farming minister George Eustice said: “Reductions in TB cases in Somerset and Gloucestershire are evidence that our strategy is delivering results.” But the group, which includes Iain McGill, the former government vet who helped expose the BSE cover-up, Adam Grogan, head of wildlife at the RSPCA, and Mark Jones, head of policy at the Born Free Foundation, disagrees. Continue reading...

Treasurer says government does not intend to ‘reduce emissions at the expense of people’s power bills’Josh Frydenberg has played down the need for a significant shift in the Morrison government’s stance on climate change before the next federal election after the strong protest vote in the seat of Wentworth.The treasurer and former energy and environment minister Josh Frydenberg told Sky News on Sunday people in Sydney’s eastern suburbs were concerned about climate change, but he said the government did not intend to “reduce emissions at the expense of people’s power bills”. Continue reading...

Fish eaters advised to ‘Say No’ due to environmental concerns surrounding Tasmania’s salmon farming industryIt’s one of Australia’s – and the world’s – favourite fish but Tasmanian Atlantic salmon should be off the menu for now, according to the Australian Marine Conservation Society, publishers of Australia’s independent sustainable seafood guide.On Wednesday, the AMCS downgraded the farmed fish’s rating from an amber “Think Twice” to a red “Say No” due to ongoing environmental concerns. The previous review was in 2015. Continue reading...

One tremor was magnitude 0.3, the level beyond which experts say fracking has to proceed with cautionA series of small earthquakes have been detected in Lancashire close to the site where fracking operations began this week.The British Geological Survey (BGS), which provides impartial advice on environmental processes, recorded four tremors in the vicinity of the energy firm Cuadrilla’s site on Preston New Road near Blackpool on Friday. Continue reading...

Scheme launched by ethical investment platform Abundance offers 12% interestA “green” investment that pays 12% interest and involves putting your money into a major tidal energy project was launched this week.But that high rate indicates this is a great deal riskier than putting your money into a high street savings account, with no compensation if things go wrong. So this is not one for the risk-averse. Continue reading...

Chinese ban on waste imports is significantly affecting UK councils’ ability to collect and recycle plasticMajor problems in the plastic recycling industry are costing local councils in England up to £500,000 extra a year, as they struggle to deal with the continuing fallout from import bans imposed by countries who are no longer able to take the UK’s waste.A survey by the Local Government Association (LGA) revealed nearly half of councils who responded (52) say China’s ban is having a significant impact on their ability to collect and recycle plastic, due to rising costs. Fourteen councils across the country say their recycling costs have increased by an average of half a million pounds a year, in part because of rising processing charges per tonne. Continue reading...

Council in Kent told that disturbing the whale would breach wildlife lawIt has attracted plenty of spectators during its stay. But Benny the lost beluga whale, who took up residence in the Thames last month, may end up leaving the crowds disappointed after it was announced that a fireworks display would have to be postponed to protect him.About 15,000 people were expected to gather for the annual bonfire night celebrations in Gravesend, Kent, on 2 November to see a display set off from a barge on the river. Continue reading...

President will sign memo directing agencies to review standards that conservatives argue are keeping water from farmersThe Trump administration is wading into California’s “water wars” on behalf of embattled Republicans and agricultural interests weeks before the November midterm elections.Donald Trump signed a memo on Friday directing agencies to review and revise or rescind environmental standards that conservatives argue are keeping water from flowing to farmers in the Central Valley. He is also setting deadlines for biological assessments of regional projects. Continue reading...

Big six firm to focus exclusively on renewables, adding solar power to its windfarmsScottish Power, one of Britain’s biggest energy companies, has said it will invest in solar power for the first time as part of its move away from fossil fuels.The big six firm sold off its last gas-fired power stations to Drax Group this week to focus exclusively on renewables, which today consists of onshore and offshore windfarms. Continue reading...

World body urges Conservative government to ‘step up and show leadership’ on the air pollution crisisThe UK government is putting the health of millions of its citizens at risk by failing to tackle the country’s air pollution crisis, according the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights and the environment.David Boyd said people’s right to breathe clean air was being violated in the UK and warned the crisis was responsible for up to 50,000 deaths – and devastating the lives of “many millions” more in towns and cities across the country. Continue reading...

A 1,000-metre spider web and a hellbender devouring a snake are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

Research forecasts Iowa corn yields could drop in half within the next half-century thanks to extreme weather – yet it’s not part of the political conversationFarmers around here are itching to go after that amber wave of soya beans, but there was that 5in rain a couple of weeks ago and then a 7in rain, and it drives even the retired guys batty.Those beans aren’t worth much at the elevator thanks to a Trump trade war with China, but they’re worth even less getting wet feet in a pond that was a field which the glacier made a prairie bog some 14,000 years ago – until we came along and drained it. Continue reading...

Photographer Christopher Thomond has been documenting protests over fracking in the north of England since 2011After years of protest, hyperbole and delays, fracking has returned to the UK. After seeing off a last-minute legal challenge, shale gas firm Cuadrilla began fracking near Blackpool on Monday.The drive to extract gas from the rocks beneath the UK has catalysed the environmental movement in recent years, uniting concerned local residents and climate campaigners. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Watchdog examining claims plastic waste is not being recycled but left to leak into rivers and oceans

Close passing and dooring are serious concerns but there is more to be done to make our streets safer and cleaner, from funding boosts to road planningThe announcement of a Highway Code review for walking and cycling is a forward step for active travel and road safety. It may not be the millions of pounds of investment needed, but it’s a start.The Department for Transport (DfT) review will cover issues such as how to safely overtake cyclists, guidance on preventing car-dooring of cyclists, and giving pedestrians and cyclists the right of way at side roads. Continue reading...

UK risks falling behind global switch to electric vehicles with ‘unambitious’ target of 2040, says committeeMPs have urged ministers to bring forward their ban on new petrol and diesel car sales by eight years to 2032, to avoid the UK being left “in the passenger seat” in the global switch to electric vehicles.Government plans for a 2040 ban on fossil fuel-powered cars and vans across Britain were unambitious and did not even show leadership within the UK, given Scotland has set itself an earlier target, the business, energy and industrial strategy committee said. Continue reading...

Oil-rich kingdom says money is needed to protect against water scarcity but request sparks strong criticism and fears over the fitness of the public fundBahrain – one of the world’s most oil-rich nations – has applied to the international Green Climate Fund for $9.8m for its National Oil and Gas Authority, raising questions over whether taxpayer-funded assistance for poor countries is reaching its intended targets.The kingdom has requested funding for water conservation work to be carried out by its national oil and gas company, which it says is necessary to protect against water scarcity in future – a problem that is likely to grow worse around the world as a consequence of climate change. Continue reading...

Uncontrolled imports spark ‘garbage dump of the world’ fears and raise fears over how much is ending up in landfillItinerant garbage pickers run down the hilly streets of Istanbul, their trolleys packed with plastic and other waste.Their haul is a boon for the recycling industry in Turkey. “We collect 80% of the waste from the streets,” said Recep Karaman, head of the street waste collectors association. Continue reading...

Trio of activists freed from prison after appeal get hero’s welcome at site of anti-fracking protestOn Thursday morning, the day after being released from prison, three environmental activists who became the first people to be jailed for an anti-fracking protest in the UK returned to the Preston New Road fracking site near Blackpool.Related: I’m out of jail after my fracking protest. But justice has not been done | Simon Roscoe Blevins Continue reading...

Scottish government and beef industry reassure consumers there is no threat to human health or wider impact on farmersA movement ban has been imposed on a beef farm in Aberdeenshire after a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, was found in its herd.The Scottish government and beef industry moved to reassure consumers there was no threat to human health or any wider impact for Scottish farmers after the BSE was found during routine tests on a dead cow. Continue reading...

The injustice of my time in prison is dwarfed by the profound inequities that inspired my action in the first placeThis morning I woke up outside of prison for the first time since 26 September. I was jailed for 16 months after being convicted of causing a public nuisance for a four-day protest on top of a lorry at the UK’s first fracking site. On Wednesday the verdict was quashed by the court of appeal, on grounds that the sentence was, as the lord chief justice, Lord Burnett, put it, “manifestly excessive”.Many people are saying justice has been served – but we know there is still a long way to go before we get there. Continue reading...

London’s second airport hopes to rival Heathrow with 70m passengers a year by 2032Gatwick is proposing to spend £500m to widen its emergency runway and bring it into daily use as a second runway, as part of a plan to bring more than 100,000 additional flights a year to the airport by 2032.The core proposal in an ambitious 15-year masterplan published on Thursday shows that Gatwick, the UK’s second-biggest airport, in south-east England, hopes to serve up to 70 million passengers a year with two runways – almost as many passengers as Heathrow today. Continue reading...

In a confidential document obtained by the Guardian, officials say releasing records could have a ‘chilling effect’ on their deliberationsThe Trump administration is moving to restrict the release of information about its decisions on endangered species, according to a confidential internal document obtained by the Guardian.It comes as wildlife advocates and scientists accuse the government of attempting to weaken protections for wildlife, including wolves, grizzly bears and sage grouse, while boosting domestic energy production and mining in crucial animal habitat. Continue reading...

Scientists work to stay ahead of white nose syndrome, a deadly fungus that has killed millions of bats in the US and CanadaNate Fuller was just starting out as a bat scientist nine years ago when he entered a massive cave in rural Pennsylvania to look for live animals. Instead, he found himself wading through a distressing muck, the decomposing bodies of thousands upon thousands of dead bats.That was in the early years of white nose syndrome, the creeping, lethal fungus that has decimated North America’s bat population, killing millions of bats and sparking frantic research and conservation efforts across the United States and Canada. Continue reading...

Energy minister Claire Perry, who has defended fracking, admits she has ‘not yet had the opportunity’ to visit any siteThe minister spearheading the UK’s renewed push for fracking has admitted she has never been to a shale gas well.In the week that fracking restarted in the UK for the first time in seven years, the energy minister, Claire Perry, revealed to a fellow Conservative MP that she had not yet had the chance to visit a shale site. Continue reading...

Many of the 20 contenders for this year’s prestigious global prize focus on ways to create a more sustainable futureCutlery made from potato peelings and a robotic cleaner that can tackle pollution in rivers, lakes and canals are among the groundbreaking international designs shortlisted for the prestigious annual James Dyson award.Over half the world’s population currently live in cities, according to the United Nations – a proportion expected to rise to seven in 10 people by 2050 – and the projects share a common theme of aiming to redefine urban living through technology to create a more sustainable future. Continue reading...

Australia’s environment minister says encounter was ‘pleasant and light-hearted’Melissa Price has said she can’t “recall the complete conversation” in which three witnesses say she disparaged Pacific nations to the former president of Kiribati but maintains the version provided by Labor’s Pat Dodson is incorrect.Under fire from Labor for misleading the House, the environment minister qualified her remarks that she “100% disagreed” with Dodson by adding in question time on Thursday that she did not recall the entire “very pleasant and light-hearted conversation”. Continue reading...

Our politicians, under the influence of big business, have failed us. As they take the planet to the brink, it’s time for disruptive, nonviolent disobedienceIt is hard to believe today, but the prevailing ethos among the educated elite was once public service. As the historian Tony Judt documented in Ill Fares the Land, the foremost ambition among graduates in the 1950s and 60s was, through government or the liberal professions, to serve their country. Their approach might have been patrician and often blinkered, but their intentions were mostly public and civic, not private and pecuniary.Today, the notion of public service seems as quaint as a local post office. We expect those who govern us to grab what they can, permitting predatory banks and corporations to fleece the public realm, then collect their reward in the form of lucrative directorships. As the Edelman Corporation’s Trust Barometer survey reveals, trust worldwide has collapsed in all major institutions, and government is less trusted than any other. Continue reading...

Extreme weather thought to have stripped trees of their leaves, which usually secrete hormones to prevent floweringThe arrival of Japan’s famed cherry blossoms is the cue for groups of office workers to eat and drink, cast off their inhibitions and ponder the transient nature of life against a backdrop of pale pink petals falling to the ground.But the nationally observed rite of spring has come early, with reports from hundreds of locations that the country’s beloved sakura are blooming several months ahead of schedule. Continue reading...

Nellie’s Tree - entwined by her husband to form her initial – is among the four winners of this year’s Woodland Trust prizeLovers in Paris have caused havoc and serious damage in recent years by commemorating their relationships with padlocks attached to the city’s famous Pont Neuf bridge.But those seeking a more lasting – and environmentally friendly – symbol might instead consider planting a tree. It worked for a romantic young man from Leeds a century ago, whose tree has just been voted the UK’s favourite. Continue reading...

Cheering supporters greet activists at prison gates after sentences are overturnedThree protesters jailed for blocking access to a fracking site have walked free after the court of appeal quashed their sentences, calling them “manifestly excessive”.Simon Blevins, 26, Richard Roberts, 36, and Rich Loizou, 31, were sent to prison last month after being convicted of causing a public nuisance with a protest outside the Preston New Road site near Blackpool, Lancashire. Blevins and Roberts were sentenced to 16 months and Loizou to 15 months. Continue reading...

The EPA isn’t rescinding the standard as of yet but has finished deciding to reconsider the analysis for the Obama-era ruleThe US Environmental Protection Agency next month will unveil plans to start weakening the economic justification for a rule limiting toxic mercury pollution from coal plants.The EPA isn’t rescinding the standard as of yet but has finished deciding to reconsider the underlying analysis for the 2011 rule, according to the government’s newly published agenda. Continue reading...

Three protesters jailed for blocking access to a fracking site walked free on Wednesday after the court of appeal quashed their sentences, calling them manifestly excessive. Simon Blevins, 26, Richard Roberts, 36, and Rich Loizou, 31, were greeted by cheering supporters after judges ruled that they should be freed immediately

The court of appeal protected the right to protest. If Theresa May persists with this disastrous policy, expect far more direct actionThere were cheers inside court four of the Royal Courts of Justice this afternoon, when after a markedly short recess three appeal court judges returned to give their verdict. Sentenced to lengthy jail sentences last month, three-anti-fracking protesters - Simon Blevins, Richard Roberts, Rich Loizou - had what they had known all along confirmed by the lord chief justice, Sir Ian Burnett: the punishments handed down by the judge in their trial had been “manifestly excessive”. Instead of serving 15 or 16 months in HMP Preston, their release from prison is now imminent. But be in no doubt: they should never have been behind bars in the first place.Related: Court quashes fracking protesters' 'excessive' jail sentences Continue reading...

Report warns that rising temperatures threaten the Everglades, including changing rainfall patterns and accelerating sea-level riseSea water encroaching on the Everglades will hamper decades of work by a government program to reverse manmade damage to the vast, fragile ecosystem at the tip of Florida, according to a new report published on Wednesday.The federal, multibillion-dollar Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, authorized by Congress in 2000, was designed to redirect fresh water, reducing sea water incursion in a long-term effort to bring the tropical wetland ecosystem back to the way it looked in the early 20th century, before influxes of people to southern Florida drained much of it for development. The region, known as the “river of grass”, is less than an hour’s drive from Miami but is home to mangrove forests and cypress swamps housing alligators, orchids, storks and ibises, as well as threatened species such as the Florida panther. But it has long struggled to recover from water diversions for agriculture, swelling communities and other forms of environmental degradation, such as fertilizer runoff. Continue reading...