The Tongass national forest is America’s premier temperate rainforest, but Sonny Perdue wants it open for business

Head of Great Barrier Reef Foundation tells Senate inquiry money was offered at meeting with Turnbull and Josh FrydenbergMalcolm Turnbull was at the meeting where $443.8m in funding was offered to a small not-for-profit foundation without a competitive tender process or any application for the money, an inquiry has heard.Anna Marsden, the managing director of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, told a Senate inquiry on Monday the organisation was offered the funding at a meeting in Sydney in April between Turnbull, environment and energy minister Josh Frydenberg, the foundation’s chair John Schubert and environment and energy department secretary Finn Pratt. Continue reading...

Average temperature in past decade is 0.8C hotter and ‘notably wetter’ than the 30 years leading up to 1990Last year was the fifth warmest on record for the UK, showing a clear warming trend above the long-term average, despite a wet summer last year and cold winter.The average temperature over the past decade, since 2008, was 0.8C above the 30 year average to 1990. Summers over that period have also been “notably wetter”, the Met Office said, in its fourth annual State of the UK Climate report on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Safest site should be chosen regardless of location, committee says – but opponents call idea ‘outrageous’Highly radioactive nuclear waste could be permanently buried under national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONBs), under government plans backed by a committee of MPs.Deep geological burial is seen as the only permanent solution for nuclear waste that will remain radioactive for many thousands of years and is currently stored at surface sites across the UK. Ministers’ attempts to choose a site in Cumbria for the £12bn facility were foiled in 2013 when the county council rejected the proposal. Continue reading...

Experts say the state’s increasingly ferocious wildfires are not an aberration – they are the new realityRoger Gray has lived in his suburban subdivision in a quiet California city for 30 years. On Thursday, it was struck by a jaw-dropping geophysical phenomenon.Gray had defied orders to evacuate Redding, in the far north of the state, which was threatened by the fast-growing Carr fire outside town. He and his neighbors wanted to defend their homes. A navy veteran, Gray worked 10 hours preparing his house and was already exhausted when he saw plumes of smoke in the distance. “Then they started to swirl together, and I’m going, ‘Oh, we’re in trouble,’” he said.

One third of all cetacean species are found in the waters off Timor-Leste, but measures are needed to protect themOlive Andrews believes Timor Leste could be one of the best destinations in the world for whale watching. The research scientist with a particular interest in cetaceans drew this conclusion when she joined a survey team assessing the coastal waters north of Timor-Leste in October 2016. “I’ve never seen such a biomass of cetaceans in such a small geography,” she says. “We encountered 2287 cetaceans from 11 species, including superpods of up to 600 individuals.”There are 90 distinct species of cetacean – and at least 30 of them occur in Timor-Leste. These include both local populations like melon-headed whales and spinner dolphins, and migratory species such as humpbacks and pygmy blue whales. Managed properly, whale tourism could generate significant income for Timor-Leste, one of the world’s youngest – and poorest – nations.

‘Turnbull is trying to get us to sign something that hasn’t gone to his own party room – a place full of climate sceptics,’ says Victoria’s energy ministerVictoria is continuing to express “major” concerns about the federal government’s national energy guarantee before make-or-break discussions on the proposal in August.The state’s energy minister Lily D’Ambrosio argues it would be a leap of faith to sign up when the Coalition party room is yet to formally tick off on the emissions reduction component of the Neg, and when federal government MPs are acting like “coal ideologues”. Continue reading...

Independent panel warned state government there was insufficient data to support an approvalThe New South Wales government ignored warnings from its own independent panel that there was insufficient data to approve the expansion of the Dendrobium coalmine near Wollongong,The government is under fire for approving extra longwalls at the mine without waiting for the panel to complete a much broader study of the impact of mining under Sydney’s water catchment. Continue reading...

Police in Manchester say detail of who targeted boy altered in report on extremismThe authors of a report investigating extremism in Greater Manchester after the bombing at Manchester Arena falsely suggested that anti-fracking activists “groomed” a 14-year-old boy featured in a case study, the Guardian understands.The 124-page report by the Greater Manchester preventing hateful extremism and promoting social cohesion commission included the story of a teenager referred to Channel, part of the government’s anti-extremist Prevent programme. Continue reading...

Boy allegedly ‘groomed’ by anti-fracking activists on social media, who were eventually banned from contacting him• After this story was published, misleading claims in the anti-extremism report on which it was based came to light: read the updated news hereA 14-year-old A* student was referred to the UK government’s anti-extremism programme following concerns he was being “groomed” for environmental activism by anti-frackers.Campaigners said that the decision to refer him to the Prevent programme was “incredibly alarming” and “offensive”. Continue reading...

Crops are wilting in parched fields, lowering the yields of kitchen staples including meat, wheat, potatoes, onions and milkStaple foods from bread to potatoes, onions, milk and meat may be in shorter supply than usual this year and prices to consumers may have to rise, farmers have said, as they count the cost of the two-month drought and heatwave across the UK.There will be little respite from the hot weather in many areas of the country, even as thunderstorms and heavy rains spread from the east, as farmers have seen their crops wilt, their fields parched and livestock struggle in the extreme conditions. Continue reading...

While we need to leave fossil fuels in the ground, America is giving the fossil fuel industry billions to extract more

Gloucestershire-based League Two club powered by renewable energy and endorsed by Vegan SocietyA British professional football club that is powered by renewable energy and serves vegan food to players, staff and fans has received a prestigious United Nations certification.Forest Green Rovers, which plays in League Two, announced on Monday that it has become the world’s first UN certified carbon-neutral football club. Continue reading...

Which? says people often don’t understand various symbols found on packagingA confusing array of symbols on household packaging is leaving consumers in the dark about what can be recycled, research reveals.Nearly half of respondents to a survey carried out in the UK by consumer group Which? thought that products stamped with the so-called green dot (a circle of two intertwined arrows) were recyclable, when in fact it means only that a manufacturer has paid into a scheme that supports recyclable packaging and systems.

US president’s broken promises have ruined a fragile dune system in AberdeenshireThe spectacular dunes system picked by Donald Trump for his golf resort in Aberdeenshire has been “partially destroyed” as a result of the course’s construction, documents released under the Freedom of Information Act have revealed.Scottish Natural Heritage, which has been under pressure for years to speak out on the issue, now acknowledges that serious damage has been done to the site of special scientific interest (SSSI) at Foveran Links on the Menie estate, north of Aberdeen, since the course opened in 2012, the documents show. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Minister floats proposal to win states’ sign-off on Neg mechanism before a second meeting to discuss emissions targetsJosh Frydenberg has flagged a two-stage process with state and territory ministers in an attempt to maximise the government’s chances of achieving sign-off for the national energy guarantee in August.State sources have told Guardian Australia the commonwealth has floated a proposal where ministers would sign off on the detailed design of the Neg mechanism, including the emissions reduction components, at a meeting of the Council of Australian Governments energy council long scheduled for 10 August. Continue reading...

Millions of tonnes sent to China, and from there to other countries as finished wood products, should be considered ‘high risk’Millions of tonnes of illegally logged timber, felled from forests across Papua New Guinea, are being exported to China and from there to the world as finished wood products, a new report from Global Witness has revealed.Global Witness’s investigation has found that the majority of logging operations in PNG are underpinned by government-issued permits, which are often illegally “extended” and which fail to enforce laws surrounding logging in prohibited and ecologically sensitive areas. Continue reading...

Jeffrey Henderson warns against Chinese state-owned firms playing a decisive part in one of our most strategically important industriesWhile we need to be concerned about China’s growing presence in Britain’s electricity generation (Nuclear power: China’s move into UK hints at scale of its wider ambitions, July 27), we should be asking searching questions of our government. They seem not to understand (or don’t care about) the nature of the companies they are dealing with.Chinese state-owned enterprises are not like EDF or the German, Dutch and French state-owned firms that run our railways. They are dramatically different because China is governed by a Leninist state. Consequently, Chinese state firms are ultimately controlled not by the State Council’s State Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, but by the Communist party. Continue reading...

Firm operating MS Bremen in Svalbard claims ‘self defence’ as critics online condemn killing and wildlife tourismA polar bear has been shot dead after injuring a guard working for cruise ship tourists visiting an Arctic archipelago in Norway.The bear was shot dead by another employee, the cruise company said after the incident on Saturday. Continue reading...

Delay in sale of consortium behind plant leads Toshiba to lay off 100 UK project staffDoubts have been raised over the fate of a new nuclear power station planned for Cumbria after it emerged that most of the project’s 100 UK staff had been laid off.Toshiba has been trying to sell the NuGeneration consortium behind the Moorside plant since it had to write off billions of dollars because of problems with its US nuclear business last year. Continue reading...

Britain won’t be unscathed by global warming. You can’t run from climate change and you can’t hideOver the course of Britain’s sweltering summer, the landlord of the building inhabited by the Observer periodically informs us that our air conditioning is undergoing an “automated controlled shutdown” because the weather has become so hot and humid that the system is at risk of damaging itself. So just when you really need cooling air, you can’t have it. One to be filed under: you couldn’t make it up.This is not uncommon. The offices, factories, homes, roads and railways of Britain were designed on the assumption that it is a country of blessedly temperate conditions, immune to extremes of heat and cold. When people say that Britain is not built to withstand a sizzling summer, this is more literally true than they may know. Continue reading...

As more of the world logs on, the company is nearing saturation: so now it is spending on rebuilding its reputationWhat’s bad for Facebook’s market cap might be good for society. That, at least, is what the company would like investors to take away from its disastrous second-quarter results, which triggered a fall in its stock-market valuation of almost $120bn (£92bn), the largest single loss of value in Wall Street history.At its core, the collapse is due to three negative trends: a stagnant user base, shrinking revenues and growing costs. The first, Facebook argues, has been visible for years; the second is a blip as advertisers get used to new formats; and the third is a reflection of the significant sums the company is spending to fix the problems that have plagued it in the press over the past year. Continue reading...

Oil company criticised for its findings on animals and plants at planned Narrabri coal seam gas projectConservationists have said the oil company Santos has not addressed questions about how its proposed 850-well Narrabri coal seam gas project in New South Wales would affect threatened species.Two new reports, including one by a former ecologist for the NSW environment and heritage office, say the company had not adequately responded to submissions which raise concerns about animal and plant surveys Santos conducted for its environmental impact statement.

Farmers’ representatives and government officials meet to tackle impact of the prolonged dry weatherFarmers are to meet with Whitehall officials this week for an emergency drought summit amid fears that the heatwave could have a serious impact on the UK’s food supply.What the National Farmers Union describes as “tinderbox conditions” have severely reduced grass growth and depleted yields for many crops, leading to concerns that there will be a shortage of feed for livestock and dairy farmers later in the year. Concerns about the fragility of the UK’s food chain come at a sensitive time after the Brexit secretary, Dominic Raab, admitted last week that the government was taking steps to ensure that there were “adequate” supplies for Britain in the event of a no-deal departure from the European Union. The revelation led to speculation that the UK might be forced to start stockpiling food. Continue reading...

As technology finds innovative ways to recycle, waste products are being used in an unlikely range of goods in high street storesFirst it was “bags for life”, chunky doormats and, more recently, clothing such as fleeces, swimwear and pack-away macs. Now towels made from recycled plastic bottles are to go on sale in the UK for the first time in August – the latest initiative in the war against single-use plastics and the result of a technological breakthrough that has produced a fabric deemed soft and fluffy enough to use on human skin.The new range of eco-friendly bath towels will go on sale online and at 18 branches of John Lewis in the last week of August, after nearly two years of extensive testing and work with suppliers. The polyester from the recycled plastic bottles accounts for 35% of their content, while the rest is regenerated cotton. Continue reading...

Killer whale is one of just 75 in an endangered group off the coast of Washington state and CanadaA grieving mother orca near Vancouver Island has been carrying her dead calf for four days, after refusing to leave her baby behind when the rest of her pod left.The mother killer whale, named J35 by researchers, gave birth Tuesday in what was initially a hopeful moment. Mother and female calf were seen swimming together that morning near Victoria, British Columbia, according to the Washington state-based Center for Whale Research. Continue reading...

At least three dead and thousands evacuated as officials worry potentially devastating fire season has only just begunAt least three people have died and thousands have been evacuated in California as eight active wildfires continue to burn across the state. More than 3,000 firefighters have been deployed to contain the flames, and the destruction is expected to worsen throughout the weekend as high temperatures and dry conditions inhibit efforts.The state governor, Jerry Brown, has declared a state of emergency in northern California’s Shasta county, and in southern California’s Riverside county, to help provide local fire crews with the resources they need to battle the blazes. Donald Trump has not yet commented on the fires. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Prof Michael Mann declares the impacts of global warming are now ‘playing out in real-time’• Heatwave made more than twice as likely by climate change, scientists findThe extreme heatwaves and wildfires wreaking havoc around the globe are “the face of climate change,” one of the world’s leading climate scientists has declared, with the impacts of global warming now “playing out in real time.”Climate change has long been predicted to increase extreme weather incidents, and scientists are now confident these predictions are coming true. Scientists say the global warming has contributed to the scorching temperatures that have baked the UK and northern Europe for weeks. Continue reading...

Concerns over health as sweltering heat set to continue despite storm forecasts

Warning of intolerable conditions as hospitals report rise in number of A&E visitsTrade unions have warned of intolerable working conditions for workers caused by extreme temperatures in Britain this summer, as some NHS hospitals report record numbers of people attending A&E because of the heat.The TUC said action was needed to protect workers from health risks posed by the abnormally high temperatures, as the mercury hit 34.1C in Norfolk on Friday, after Thursday’s year-high of 35C, recorded at Heathrow, west London. Continue reading...

A new species of spider, frolicking hares and migratory sea turtles are among this week’s pick of images from our overheated natural world Continue reading...

The government’s latest National Travel Survey reveals that more parents are using cars for school run amid mounting evidence of health harmsThe proportion of parents who drive their children to school rather than walk or cycle is on the rise despite growing concerns about the impact of air pollution on young people’s health.New figures from the government’s National Travel Survey show that the percentage of primary school children who walk or cycle in England fell from 53% to 51% in 2017. Continue reading...

Fingerprints of global warming clear, they say, after comparing northern Europe’s scorching summer with records and computer models

US interior secretary’s meeting with group in favor of Yosemite valley restoration met with puzzlement from expertsUS interior secretary Ryan Zinke has prompted puzzlement by meeting with a group that seeks to dismantle a dam providing San Francisco’s water, as experts wonder whether he is taking the fringe proposal seriously or trolling the city.Zinke’s Sunday discussion with Restore Hetch Hetchy concerned the dam at Hetch Hetchy reservoir in California’s Yosemite national park. Removing it would restore the valley, which was once so beautiful that the environmentalist John Muir called it “one of nature’s rarest and most precious mountain temples”, to its natural state - and force San Francisco to figure out where else to store 90% of its water supply. Continue reading...

When the free-market case for bike infrastructure is so clear, why won’t Conservative candidates embrace it?Among his many claims to political prominence, both good and bad, Boris Johnson was notable as a Conservative who built a lot of bike lanes fairly quickly (at least in the end).Similarly, much of New York City’s bike renaissance was launched by Michael Bloomberg, the three-term mayor who, as a billionaire media tycoon and Republican, had more in common with most Bond villains than your stereotypical wind-in-the-hair bike advocate. Continue reading...

High Fields, Stoney Middleton, Derbyshire: These exhausted hay meadows, now owned by the National Trust, are on the way to being restoredClimbing up from the top of Coombs Dale, I turn up a rough road known as Black Harry Lane. I don’t know the origins of the name; my hunch would be that it’s related to the region’s distant lead-mining past. There was an 18th-century highwayman called Black Harry, who was gibbeted nearby, but he was named after the packhorse road, not the other way round.On a warm summer’s evening, there is nothing malevolent about the place. The verges are thick with flowers: meadow crane’s-bill, a flower that when I notice it reminds me I’m home, its commonplace purple threaded with the subtler, paler scabious. The track itself has needed heavy repairs in recent years, thanks to off-road enthusiasts, whose local reputation, like that of highwaymen, is mixed. Continue reading...

Ten black rhinos died last month in Tsavo East park due to conservation officers’ negligenceThe only rhino to survive a bungled relocation to a Kenyan wildlife park has been attacked by lions, Kenya’s tourism minister, Najib Balala, has said.Ten out of 11 black rhinos died last month in their new home in Tsavo East national park after being moved by the state wildlife service, prompting protests from conservation groups around the world. Continue reading...

Sudden weather change after weeks of drought could cause flooding and crop damageFarmers across many parts of the UK are bracing themselves for thunderstorms and outbursts of heavy rain after weeks of drought and high temperatures.The sudden change in the weather, expected to affect eastern areas hardest but spreading to the north and Midlands over Friday, is likely to cause problems of flooding and potential crop damage. Continue reading...

Approval of Chinese nuclear technology in the UK would act as a springboard to the rest of the worldChina wants to become a global leader in nuclear power and the UK is crucial to realising its ambitions.While other countries have scaled back on atomic energy in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, state-backed Chinese companies benefit from the fact that China is still relying on nuclear energy to reach the country’s low-carbon goals. Continue reading...

The remaining wilderness areas, mostly in the remote Pacific and at the poles, need urgent protection from fishing and pollution, scientists sayJust 13% of the world’s oceans remain untouched by the damaging impacts of humanity, the first systematic analysis has revealed. Outside the remotest areas of the Pacific and the poles, virtually no ocean is left harbouring naturally high levels of marine wildlife.Huge fishing fleets, global shipping and pollution running off the land are combining with climate change to degrade the oceans, the researchers found. Furthermore, just 5% of the remaining ocean wilderness is within existing marine protection areas. Continue reading...

King’s College London ‘lending appearance of neutrality’ to businessman with energy linksOne of the UK’s most prestigious universities is facing allegations that it is providing a platform for lobbying on behalf of the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline project between Germany and Russia.The German watchdog LobbyControl has accused King’s College London of lending an appearance of neutrality to a former German MP whose company has commercial contracts with Nord Stream 2 and an energy firm which stands to profit from the infrastructure project across the Baltic Sea. Continue reading...

Republican-led changes to the Endangered Species Act put plants and animals across America at risk. Here are the ones you should be most concerned aboutRepublicans in the western United States have been trying to whittle away the Endangered Species Act (ESA) since Donald Trump took office. Under new proposals, wildlife managers would limit protections for species designated as “threatened” (a level below endangered), consider the economic costs prior to defending a species, and de-emphasize long-term threats such as climate change.The proposals follow Republican bills and budget riders that would remove protections for gray wolves in the lower 48 states, exempt the greater sage-grouse from an ESA listing for 10 years, and increase state involvement in conservation decisions. Continue reading...

Parliament’s last day is always one for sneaky, underhand decisions. This year, the government has outdone itselfThey have finally gone away. The prime minister tried to get rid of parliament a few days early, but couldn’t muster the votes. There was so much bad news to bury, it would have been easier to scuttle off sooner: nothing is good news for her these days, so scores of written ministerial statements slipped out in the last couple of days, in the hope that no one would notice.It’s a tradition – a bad one – used by all governments called “take out the trash day”, the last day of the session, with no time for MPs to summon ministers to explain highly controversial decisions. They hope to duck under the radar, or that the opposition will forget in the long six-week break. Continue reading...

There is little government action to ensure homes, hospitals, schools and transport can deal with extreme heat, say MPs, with heat deaths set to triple as climate change bites furtherThe UK is “woefully unprepared” for deadly heatwaves, according to a cross-party committee of MPs, with the government ignoring warnings from its official climate change adviser.Related: A heatwave is the perfect moment to rediscover the joys of being naked | Alice O’Keeffe Continue reading...

Sandy, Bedfordshire: As with mosquitoes, the female is deadlier than the male, seeking a meal of animal blood so that she can grow her eggsMany a fly has landed on my bare limbs this long summer, stretching out its minesweeper mouthparts to dab at my skin for something edible. Not thinking too hard about where those dirty feet have been, I tolerate them pattering about, sucking up, until the tickling sensation gets too much, and I shake them off.What I worry about is the flies that don’t walk. Continue reading...

Authorities install mesh net to hide sight and smell of Sentiong River from athletesThe Jakarta city government has come under fire for buying a giant nylon net to cover up a polluted and foul-smelling river weeks before the Indonesian capital hosts the 2018 Asian Games.The Sentiong River, which twists alongside the athletes’ village in Kemayoran in central Jakarta, is so polluted it is known by locals as kali item or the black river.

Visitors express disappointment but park says choice to empty popular valley was tough but necessary

Researchers say failures allowed logging of 25% of old growth forest despite extinction threatHabitat for the critically endangered swift parrot is being “knowingly destroyed” by logging because of government failures to manage the species’ survival, according to research.Matthew Webb and Dejan Stojanovic, two of the Eureka prize finalists from the Australian National University’s difficult bird research group, say governments have stalled on management plans that would protect known feeding and nesting habitat in Tasmania. Continue reading...

Samantha Harding says Coca-Cola’s rewards-based recycling initiative only fuels more consumption, and Jean Glasberg calls for more water fountainsAs Coca-Cola launches yet another heavily branded rewards-based initiative around recycling (Recyclers get half-price tickets for attractions, 25 July), it’s interesting to note that the global behemoth apparently still wonders whether deposit systems for bottles and cans increase recycling. Not only was it on a government working group that found that they do, but it runs many deposit systems around the world that see recycling rates as high as 98.5%.As reward systems only fuel higher levels of consumption, the question is why would a company promote a solution to waste that actually creates more waste? The answer, predictably, is that the system only benefits itself and other big businesses, rather than being better for taxpayers or the environment. Continue reading...

Christopher Graffius of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation responds to a country diary about a Welsh game shootYour country diary (14 July) on the Llechweddygarth shoot in Powys is wrong. There are no grey partridge on the shoot. The game is not “tossed into the backs of Land Rovers” but hung properly in accordance with the Code of Good Shooting Practice on a purpose-built game cart. The game is not “sent for landfill” but respectfully processed and sold by a local small food business.There is no shooting in the churchyard of Pennant Melangell; the nearest gun is two football fields from the church and birds are driven away from the shrine. Continue reading...