Judy Hindley says we must increase the price of fossil fuels, and Iain Climie raises the issue of climate change refugeesWhile I appreciate your work in keeping the spotlight on the global heatwave (World on fire: the rise of the 50C city, G2, 13 August), I’m scared by the emphasis of your correspondents and leader writers on “adapting” to climate change (Letters, 11 July). You don’t “adapt” to a raging fire, do you? You have to stop it. And the first thing you need to do is stop pouring fuel on it.Leading scientists worldwide now agree that the main cause of the climate crisis is the burning of fossil fuels, and leading economists agree that the solution is to price fossil fuels out of the market. Until that happens, we will be paying – with our health, our lives and our children’s future. Continue reading...

Those interested in mass of oils and wet wipes can now watch a sample of it sweat and growThose who wish to watch the slow sweating of a disgusting, calcified mass of faeces, fats, oils, wet wipes and sanitary products can now do so at the click of a mouse.The Museum of London announced on Tuesday that it had permanently acquired samples of fatbergs and would livestream them to the world. Continue reading...

Heat now kills more Americans than floods, hurricanes or other natural disasters – but cities are facing it almost entirely aloneOn yet another day of roasting heat in Phoenix, elderly and homeless people scurry between shards of shade in search of respite at the Marcos De Niza Senior Center. Along with several dozen other institutions in the city, it has been set up as a cooling centre: a free public refuge, with air conditioning, chilled bottled water, boardgames and books. Last summer a record 155 people died in Phoenix from excess heat, and the city is straining to avoid a repeat.James Sanders, an 83-year-old who goes by King, has lived in the city for 60 years and considers himself acclimatised to the baking south Arizona sun. “It does seem hotter than it used to be, though,” he says as he picks at his lunch, the temperature having climbed to 42C (107F) outside. “Maybe it’s my age. Maybe the wind isn’t blowing. It can’t get much hotter than this though. Can it?” Continue reading...

The Pacific Island is home to one of the world’s most pristine coral reefs, boasting more than 9,300 marine speciesNew Caledonia has agreed to tougher protections around a huge swathe of some of the world’s last near-pristine coral reefs, in a move conservationists hailed as a major breakthrough.The Pacific nation, a French overseas territory, is home to a rich array of wildlife including 2.5 million seabirds and more than 9,300 marine species such as dugongs and nesting green sea turtles, many of which thrive in and around remote zones off the island nation’s coast. Continue reading...

Culling and loss of moorland in favour of conifer forests blamed for severe decline in wildlifeCulling by grouse moor managers is being blamed for the drastic decline of mountain hares on eastern Scottish moorlands to less than 1% of the level recorded more than 60 years ago.A long-term study by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and the RSPB analysed counts of the animals on moorland managed for red grouse shooting and nearby mountain land. Continue reading...

President vows to curb fuel subsidies to prevent reselling in neighbouring countriesVenezuela’s heavily subsidised domestic fuel prices should rise to international levels to avoid billions of dollars in annual losses as a result of smuggling, Nicolás Maduro has said in a televised address.“Gasoline must be sold at an international price to stop smuggling to Colombia and the Caribbean,” the president said. Continue reading...

London Assembly call for bins to be placed in men’s toilets so items that could cause blockages are not flushed awayMen using public toilets in London may soon be confronted with an unusual new arrival in their cubicles.Sanitary bins, familiar for years in female loos, are poised to be introduced into male conveniences in an attempt to cut down on fatbergs in the capital’s sewers, if Greater London Assembly members have their way. Men use wet wipes too, as well as other products that can clog the sewers if they are flushed, not binned. Continue reading...

US interior secretary Ryan Zinke blames environmentalists for the devastation in California and calls for an increase in loggingThe US interior secretary, Ryan Zinke, has blamed environmentalists for California’s ferocious wildfires and claimed, contrary to scientific research, that climate change had “nothing to do” with them. Instead, he said the fires were worsened because of limits on logging.“America is better than letting these radical groups control the dialogue about climate change,” Zinke told KCRA, a TV station in northern California, on Sunday. “Extreme environmentalists have shut down public access. They talk about habitat and yet they are willing to burn it up.” Continue reading...

Staff at government scientific agency will likely be seconded to help administer funds, documents showThe CSIRO was not aware a $443.8 m grant would be offered to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation and staff at the agency are likely to be seconded to the charity to help administer the funds, according to documents tabled in the Senate.The documents, tabled on Monday, show the agency “didn’t have visibility” before the government announced the grant on 29 April, with correspondence from senior staff noting the prime minister’s office appeared to be involved. Continue reading...

Senate inquiry to visit Port Augusta to investigate mistakes made after the closure of the Northern power plantFor the residents living near the site of South Australia’s demolished coal-fired power plant, the coming months could be their third straight summer of dust.A flawed rehabilitation of an ash dam has led to potentially hazardous particles being blown across Port Augusta and its 14,000 residents for the last two years. Continue reading...

70% of vessels implicated in illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing are registered in tax havens, report findsMoney channelled through secretive tax havens has been used to fuel deforestation in the Amazon and illegal fishing around the world, racking up a heavy environmental toll but leaving few ways for businesses to be held to account.Billions of pounds worth of finance has travelled through countries internationally recognised as tax havens, and has been traced by researchers to activities that contribute to environmental destruction, such as growing soy and beef in deforested areas of the Amazon, and expanding a network of largely unregulated fishing vessels operating under “flags of convenience”. Continue reading...

ÃŽle Saint-Louis residents demand removal of bright-red receptacles with no stallA set of eco-friendly but completely exposed urinals that have been introduced to the streets of Paris are provoking uproar among residents.

Trump is trying to accelerate the key contributor to California’s expanding wildfires – climate change

Under pressure from Labor, minister proffers timeline of grant decision-makingThe environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, says his department conducted two stages of due diligence on the Great Barrier Reef Foundation before he approached the organisation on 9 April to offer $443.8m in funding.Under pressure from Labor in the House of Representatives on Monday, the environment minister proffered a timeline of his decision making. It came after Frydenberg said on Sunday extensive due diligence had been done ahead of awarding the controversial grant, and the managing director of the foundation said on Monday she was unaware of that due diligence process and no one from the government had contacted her. Continue reading...

Foundation’s timeline appears to contradict Josh Frydenberg’s assurance that ‘extensive due diligence’ took place before grantDue diligence the government says it conducted before announcing a $443.8m grant to a not-for-profit group was actually conducted as part of an application for funding for a separate project, the Great Barrier Reef Foundation says.The environment and energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, says “extensive due diligence” took place before awarding the foundation almost half a billion dollars of taxpayer money. Continue reading...

Greenpeace says government should be ‘exercising the precautionary principle’ until more studies conductedGreenpeace has called on the Australian government to suspend the sale of the weedkiller Roundup after a US court ruled it had caused the terminal cancer of an American man.On Friday, the San Francisco superior court of California ruled that Roundup caused school groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma – a fatal blood cell cancer. Continue reading...

Coral Triangle could be key to conserving the world’s reefs as Indonesia corals survive worst coral bleaching event in history.

Researchers say endangered killer whale who lives off the coast of Seattle is back to feeding and frolicking with her podResearchers say an endangered killer whale thatcarried her dead calf on her head for more than two weeks has finally abandoned the calf’s body and is back to feeding and frolicking with her pod.The Center for Whale Research in Washington state says it watched the orca, known as J35, chase a school of salmon in Haro Strait west of San Juan Island, between the US mainland and Vancouver Island, on Saturday afternoon. Continue reading...

Papers show UK environment secretary suggested owners voluntarily end controversial practice of burning heather to head off threat of compulsory banMichael Gove, the environment secretary, has been accused of letting the owners of large grouse moors who are alleged to be damaging the environment off the hook.The accusation from campaigners concerns the owners’ practice of repeatedly burning heather on their moorland estates to help boost the numbers of grouse for shooting. Continue reading...

Lamorna has an extraordinary heritage, but locals fear it may be squandered after the site was put up for saleIt is one of the most stunning beauty spots in Cornwall and one of the places that first attracted artists to the far south-west of England. More than 100 painters, sculptors, etchers and potters, as well as writers and poets, are thought to have lived or worked near Lamorna Cove in the first 30 years of the 20th century.But the cove’s future now hangs in the balance after it was put on the market. Local people are anxious about who may buy it, insisting that only a public body would be able to protect the cove and could afford to maintain it. Continue reading...

Roundup was ruled by a Californian jury to have caused Dewayne Johnson’s lymphomaOne of the UK’s largest DIY retailers is reviewing the sale of Roundup weedkiller products amid mounting concerns about their use, after a US jury found that the herbicide had caused a terminally ill man’s cancer.The manufacturer of the weedkiller, Monsanto, has insisted that British consumers are safe to continue using Roundup products, which are widely sold at DIY stores and used by British farmers. But a spokesperson for Homebase said it would be reviewing its product range after the ruling in California. Continue reading...

Proposed offshore island to protect a haunt of Sinatra and Dietrich would be its ruin, says long-time mayorIt is known affectionately as Belgium’s answer to St Tropez – a town once frequented by Frank Sinatra and Marlene Dietrich and which has inspired the pop art of Keith Haring and surrealism of René Magritte, who painted the walls of the town’s casino.But now the chic, if slightly faded, seaside resort of Knokke-Heist is, in the words of its mayor, Count Leopold Lippens, in a “fight for its life”. The Flemish government, in an attempt to limit the damage to the Belgian coast from rising sea levels, has announced plans for an artificial island of 40 hectares (99 acres) 1.2 kilometres from the sandy beach, to act as a bulwark against the waves. Belgium has, until now, been slow to respond to climate change and its coast has suffered severe damage during recent storms. Continue reading...

Families keen on saving money and stopping plastic waste ditch the disposablesIf the idea of cloth nappies conjures images of towelling squares loosely held by a large safety pin, think again. Modern versions have come a long way and are now available in bright colours and a variety of materials, including cotton, bamboo, microfibre and hemp.Growing consumer concern over plastic waste, and a more pragmatic desire to save money, means boom times for the reusable nappy industry. Continue reading...

Emails obtained by New York Times show workers worried that companies could get away with using asbestos in ways the EPA did not listThe Environmental Protection Agency’s own staffers objected to a controversial new US rule governing the use of cancer-causing asbestos, according to internal emails.Related: EPA ordered to ban pesticide linked to learning disabilities Continue reading...

The Carr fire, one of 13 large fires burning in California, was ignited in late July when a trailer tire blew out and created sparks as it ground on the asphalt. It killed seven people and destroyed 1,077 homes in the small city of Redding, in the far north of the state. New photos released by the city show the extent of the damage Continue reading...

A Sumatran orangutan, fireflies mating and a sea lion cooling off in record-breaking Californian heat are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

Reduced yields are putting national dish and ‘symbol of Belgium’ under threatFood vendors in Belgium are praying for rain as the hot weather threatens the supply of the country’s national dish, frites.The Europe-wide heatwave has shrunk Belgium’s early crop of potatoes by about one-third compared with an average year. Without significant rainfall over the next few weeks, the key September and October harvests could be smaller still. Continue reading...

It and the Queensland government were aware polluted water could spill during 2017 cyclone, says Mackay Conservation GroupAdani and the Queensland government were aware that polluted water could be released from the company’s Abbot Point coal terminal during cyclone Debbie in 2017, conservationists say.Adani was granted a temporary emissions licence on 27 March last year, before cyclone Debbie made landfall, to pollute the nearby Caley Valley wetlands in an area referred to as W1. Continue reading...

The summer of heatwaves and forest fires leaves my friends feeling helpless and a little hysterical. And who can blame us?The New York Times has devoted an entire edition of its magazine, some 30,000 words, to a terrifying piece about climate change. With 2C warming – an unlikely best-case scenario at this point, scientists were quoted as saying – the planet faces “long-term disaster”. With 3C warming, we are looking at “the loss of most coastal cities”. The possibility that the Earth might warm by 5C, wrote the author, Nathaniel Rich, had prompted some of the world’s leading scientists to warn of the end of human civilisation.Related: Huge rise of people at risk from wildfires as western US population grows Continue reading...

Retailers given six months to stop providing lightweight plastic bags or face fines of up to NZ$100,000New Zealand will ban single-use plastic bags over the next year, the government has announced.Retailers in the country will be given six months to stop providing lightweight plastic bags, or face fines of up to NZ$100,000 (£51,000). Continue reading...

Helicopters, divers and hundreds of firefighters involved in rescue after torrent swept through campsite in Gard region

A24’s pillars for a better society sound a little like the manifesto of a left-leaning Scandinavian nationWhat would the Australia of your dreams look like? That was the question civil society groups, unions, welfare groups and Indigenous representatives asked themselves nearly three years ago.Faced with competing world views of the US president, Donald Trump, One Nation, the Business Council of Australia, alongside the pragmatic visions of Australia’s major parties, the group – known as A24 – began asking themselves: why do we do what we do? What’s our common vision of society that underpins our daily activism? Continue reading...

Michael Myer says size of grant ‘unheard of’ as Josh Frydenberg refuses to say where idea originated

NGO says it used GPS units to track waste from collection points at Officeworks to Hong Kong and ThailandElectronic waste dropped at government-approved recycling points at Officeworks stores was allegedly exported to developing countries, potentially breaching a global waste treaty, a non-government organisation has said.The US-based Basel Action Network (Ban) – which embeds GPS units inside discarded electronics and monitors them – said in a report to be released on Thursday that two LCD monitors the organisation placed at Officeworks’ “Bring IT Back” drop zones in Brisbane were tracked to an area of Hong Kong’s New Territories known for “e-waste trafficking”. Continue reading...

Comics, including Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah and Kimmel, discussed Paul Manafort’s trial and the threat of climate changeLate-night hosts on Tuesday discussed the trial of former Donald Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and Trump’s approach to climate change.Related: Trevor Noah: 'Trump gets a vacation, but we don't get a vacation from him' Continue reading...

Italian officials and vigilantes tackle tourists taking souvenirs of island’s beachesSardinian authorities are getting tough with tourists who steal sand from the island’s pristine beaches as a souvenir and are issuing fines of up to €3,000 (£2,700).Earlier this week, a 40-year-old Italian who lives in the UK but is originally from Naples, was fined €1,000 after police caught him in possession of a bottle of sand from Gallura beach, on the island’s north coast.

Former prime minister says it’s not true that the Coalition party room has given the policy the green lightTony Abbott has fired a significant broadside ahead of the resumption of federal parliament next week, declaring the party room has not agreed to the national energy guarantee, and should not be forced to “rubber stamp Labor’s policy”.As the energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, attempts to coax his reluctant state counterparts into a deal on the policy, Abbott has thrown down the gauntlet, declaring the Neg “bad policy” and the economic modelling underpinning it “fanciful”. Continue reading...

Distrust in government mingles with fears for cannabis industry while fires spread across hundreds of square milesHaze from the largest fire in California history filled the air near the town of Clearlake on Tuesday as Jim Steele, a local supervisor, drove his pickup truck through a landscape of smoldering hillsides and charred trees to check on the homes of citizens in his district.Related: Largest wildfire in California's history expected to burn for rest of August Continue reading...

The popularity of plant-based diets has created huge demand for the oil-rich seeds, prompting a farm in Essex to plant a cropThe first UK-grown chia seeds go on sale this week, as demand for the plant native to the Americas is fuelled by the explosion in the popularity of plant-based diets.The company Hodmedod, pioneers of British-grown pulses, grains and seeds, has been working with farmers Peter and Andrew Fairs, of Great Tey in Essex, to bring the new British crop to market.

Three scientists explain the unprecedented danger facing the western US and call for new solutions to a growing threatCalifornia is no stranger to fire. The temperate winters and reliably dry summers that make the Golden state such an attractive place to live are the same conditions that make this region among the most flammable places on Earth.But even for a region accustomed to fire, the continuing wildfire siege has proven unprecedented. Although it is only early August, numerous very large, fast-moving, and exceptionally intense fires have already burned vast swaths of land throughout the state – consuming hundreds of thousands of acres and thousands of homes and claiming at least nine lives, including four firefighters. State and national firefighting resources are stretched to their limits; choking smoke inundated the state capital of Sacramento; and much of Yosemite national park is closed indefinitely. Continue reading...

Puerto Rico’s small farms – aided by outside groups such as World Central Kitchen – have seized a post-disaster opportunity to challenge the island’s import-reliant food economyNestled between a chemical factory and sparkling blue ocean sits a wonderland filled with rowdy goats, sturdy passionfruit plants and tiny chive blossom flowers that when bitten, erupt with garlicky flavor 50 times more potent than their size.That this farm in Manatí, Puerto Rico, exists at all is a marvel, considering owners Efrén Robles and Angelie Martínez could not enter the property after Hurricane Maria tore through on 20 September. The couple said the hurricane destroyed 80% of the farm’s infrastructure and leveled its production capacity to zero. Continue reading...

ACT offers compromise on emissions target in bid to end standoff with Turnbull governmentThe Australian Capital Territory has floated a compromise on setting an emissions reduction target in an attempt to break the current impasse on the national energy guarantee, as Victoria toughens its negotiating stance.The Andrews government, after a cabinet deliberation on Monday, has now set four concrete conditions it says it wants met, which if insisted upon, could torpedo the national energy guarantee. Continue reading...

Subsidies similar to those for offshore wind could help meet emissions targets and boost exports, experts sayBritain should offer developers of mini nuclear plants subsidies similar to those made available to the offshore wind industry, an independent review commissioned by the government has recommended.Britain needs to invest in new power-generating capacity to replace ageing coal and nuclear plants that are due to close in the 2020s, and is seeking low-carbon options to help meet its emission reduction targets. Continue reading...

Bar Council say planned new UK watchdog lacks teeth, as it will not be able to take the government to court

Makenzie Noland’s pose with 14ft Big Tex has become an internet sensationMakenzie Noland, a Texas student, poses for her graduation photo in cap, sash and – somewhat unusually – with an alligator.The student shared the image on Facebook and Instagram with the caption “not your typical graduation photo”, and found herself at the centre of the internet’s attention. Continue reading...

Anna Marsden tells ABC’s 7.30 the foundation is ‘uniquely placed’ to deliver government objectivesThe head of the foundation given a $444m grant to protect the Great Barrier Reef said it is uniquely placed to fundraise and deliver environmental projects, in response to criticism from Labor about the grant.Anna Marsden, the managing director of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, conceded the grant came as a “complete surprise” when first proposed by Malcolm Turnbull and the environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, but rejected Labor claims about the foundation’s fundraising record and plans for the money. Continue reading...

As warming temperatures caused by climate change is strengthening hurricanes, leaders in the region plead with Trump to rejoin the Paris climate dealCaribbean states and territories have rounded on the Trump administration for dismantling the US’s response to climate change, warning that greenhouse gas emissions must be sharply cut to avoid hurricanes and sea level rise threatening the future of their island idylls.

Thousands of firefighters battle blaze as it destroys 87 homes and 82 other structures, and forces evacuations

Voracious caterpillar that cost Africa billions of pounds in lost crops now threatens food security across Asia, scientists warnA crop-chomping caterpillar that has devastated food stocks across Africa has now arrived in southern India, and scientists warn the insect could spread throughout Asia to become a major threat to global food security.The voracious fall armyworm, which was first spotted on the African continent two years ago and has since cost billions of pounds in crop losses, is best known for gnawing on maize but eats an additional 186 plant species, including sorghum and soya beans. Continue reading...

Money was awarded at a meeting with Malcolm Turnbull and Josh Frydenberg, with no tender processLabor has called for a $444m government grant to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation to be returned.It comes after the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, defended the decision to award the money to the small private foundation and said it had been subject to “a very thorough process”. Continue reading...