The wilderness of Patagonia – shared by Argentina and Chile – has frequently been threatened by logging and oil industries. But in January, Chile signed a historic act of conservation, creating five protected national parks covering 4m hectares

State reverses decades of importing power, while solar continues to grow nationally and emissions fall, audit showsThe politics may not change much, but Australia’s electricity grid is changing before our very eyes – slowly and inevitably becoming more renewable, more decentralised, and challenging the pre-conceptions of many in the industry.The latest national emissions audit from The Australia Institute, which includes an update on key electricity trends in the national electricity market, notes some interesting developments over the last three months. Continue reading...

Advances in clean energy expected to cause a sudden drop in demand for fossil fuels, leaving companies with trillions in stranded assetsPlunging prices for renewable energy and rapidly increasing investment in low-carbon technologies could leave fossil fuel companies with trillions in stranded assets and spark a global financial crisis, a new study has found.A sudden drop in demand for fossil fuels before 2035 is likely, according to the study, given the current global investments and economic advantages in a low-carbon transition. Continue reading...

As the world moves towards a low-carbon economy, fossil fuel investments worth trillions of dollars, from oil wells to cars, will lose their valueRead more: ‘Carbon bubble’ could spark global financial crisis, study warnsInvestments amounting to trillions of dollars in fossil fuels – coal mines, oil wells, power stations, conventional vehicles – will lose their value when the world moves decisively to a low-carbon economy. Fossil fuel reserves and production facilities will become stranded assets, having absorbed capital but unable to be used to make a profit. This carbon bubble has been estimated at between $1tn and $4tn (£3tn), a large chunk of the global economy’s balance sheet. Continue reading...

Security review to take place after 12 rangers are killed and two Britons are abductedAfrica’s oldest national park will close its gates to visitors until 2019 following the death of a ranger and the abduction of two British tourists by local rebels this year.Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo is home to a world-famous population of mountain gorillas but has been hit by rising instability and violence in the country. Continue reading...

Activists say deal is ‘marriage made in hell’, creating world’s most powerful agribusinessThe Monsanto company name, which has become synonymous with genetically modified food and as a longstanding target of environmental activists, will disappear after the completion of its $63bn (£47bn) sale to the German company Bayer on Thursday.Bayer, a pharmaceuticals and chemicals giant, said on Monday it would immediately retire the 117-year-old Monsanto brand name. “Bayer will remain the company name. Monsanto will no longer be a company name,” it said in a statement. “The acquired products will retain their brand names and become part of the Bayer portfolio.” Continue reading...

The powerful few who benefit from the fossil fuel status quo are exerting their influenceOver the past two weeks, media attacks on solar panels and electric vehicles have been followed by Trump administration policies aimed at boosting their fossil fueled rivals. Continue reading...

Despite the PM’s declaration, it is unclear how current climate policy will ensure Australia reaches its Paris commitmentMalcolm Turnbull, on a tour of drought-stricken areas in New South Wales and Queensland, has declared there is “no doubt that our climate is getting warmer”.

4 June 1918 Most of these foliage-devourers are the larvae of geometer moths of various kinds, sometimes called loopersCaterpillars are doing their best to eat up the woods. On some of the sycamores, elms, and other trees the leaves are already reduced to lacework; on others, oaks in particular, many of the leaves have vanished. Most of these foliage-devourers are the larvae of geometer moths of various kinds; they are sometimes called loopers, on account of their habit of humping up their backs and straightening themselves out for the next reach, as they walk, or they are known as stick caterpillars when, at rest, they apparently pretend to be lifeless twigs. Others are smaller moths, leaf-rollers and miners, and others, again, particularly abundant on the hawthorns but by no means confining their attention to this plant, are the showy little hairy “palmer worms,” the caterpillars of the gold-tailed moth, whose irritating hairs give tender skins a rash.Related: Health warning as toxic hairy caterpillars take over woodlands Continue reading...

Great Ridge, Peak District: Momentum builds like a wave, and in a thrilling, spine-shivering moment, a glittering ribbon sparkles into being along the ridgeI reach the top of Mam Tor, out of breath, as the sun is dropping behind the bulk of Kinder Scout and dying in a great flare of scattered orange.It is quarter past nine on a Tuesday night, but the top of the peak is a throng of activity; dozens of people are milling around the summit and marvelling at the sunset, unfazed by a biting wind. I squint into the east, and can faintly make out the dots of hundreds more people trailing into the distance. Continue reading...

Warning about conflicts, wars and mass migration is the wrong way to approach thingsThe Australian Senate’s declaration last month that climate change is a “current and existential national security risk” was clearly intended to inject much-needed urgency into the country’s climate policy stalemate. Bringing together the unusual bedfellows of military generals and environmentalists to warn about the dangers of climate change, it has the possibility to break though Australia’s culture wars on the issue. However, by framing climate change as a security matter, it also has significant consequences in shaping how we respond to a warming planet. As the climate crisis unfolds, is the military the institution we want to turn to for solutions?

City has cleared 8,414 trees in last three years – twice as many as any other authorityNewcastle has become the tree-felling capital of the UK after the council chopped down almost twice as many trees as any other local authority.More than 110,000 trees have been cut down by councils across the UK in the last three years, according to figures gathered under the Freedom of Information (FOI) act by the Sunday Times. Some 8,414 were in Newcastle, more than in any other rural or urban local authority. Wiltshire was next, having felled 4,778 in the same period, followed by Edinburgh with 4,435. Continue reading...

Guy Smith says it’s unfair to point the finger at farming as the cause of environmental damage, Iain Climie addresses food wastage and Dr Blake Alcott says the most effective way to reduce your carbon footprint is to not reproduceOne fundamental point has been overlooked by Kevin Rushby in his article about the plight of the countryside due to agriculture (The killing fields, G2, 31 May). There has been no intensification of agriculture in the UK for 25 years.Government statistics show pesticide and fertiliser use has been significantly reduced. There are fewer crops grown and the numbers of pigs, sheep and cattle have fallen. So to point the finger at farming as the cause of environmental degradation through intensification makes no sense, especially when you consider the other changes that have taken place in that time – increased housebuilding, more roads, and more cars on those roads – and the impact they have had on the country’s landscape. Continue reading...

With 32 million visitors expected this year, fears grow that the country cannot copeGreece is braced for another bumper year. The tourists will not stop coming. For every one of its citizens, three foreign visitors – 32 million in total – will arrive this year, more than at any other time since records began.It’s an extraordinary feat for a country that has battled with bankruptcy, at times has been better known for its protests and riots and, only three years ago, narrowly escaped euro ejection. Tourism is the heavy industry that has helped keep catastrophe at bay. Continue reading...

Sustainability is intrinsic and not an afterthought for many designers taking part in this year’s eventThe future of fashion is sustainable if graduate fashion week is anything to go by. The annual four-day event event at London’s Old Truman Brewery comprises installations, catwalk shows and two prize-giving ceremonies and promises to uncover the torchbearers of “considered design”, according to the event’s creative and managing director, Martyn Roberts.Roberts believes that graduates can help existing fashion houses and retailers tap into “what a new generation of consumers want”. As brands from every echelon seek to improve their social, economic and environmental impact, graduate fashion week, says Roberts, is where many companies are looking for creatives for whom sustainability is intrinsic, as opposed to an afterthought, to show them how it’s done. Continue reading...

When a tsunami hit the nuclear plant, thousands fled. Many never returned – but has the radiation risk been exaggerated?Shunichi Yamashita knows a lot of about the health effects of radiation. But he is a pariah in his home country of Japan, because he insists on telling those evacuated after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident that the hazards are much less than they suppose. Could he be right?Yamashita was born in Nagasaki in 1952, seven years after the world’s second atomic weapon obliterated much of the city. “My mother was 16 years old when the bomb dropped and she was two miles away,” he told me at his office in the city, where he still lives with his mother, who is now 88. Continue reading...

Reintroduction programmes of animals driven from their once-natural habits are a cause for optimismIn May, Dutch and Romanian European bison reintroduction programmes were declared successful after several years of conservation efforts. The Dutch project began back in 2007; the wild cattle had been extinct in that region for two centuries. Now, though, both national parks in question are reaping great environmental benefits from the bisons’ grazing, with a consequent flourishing of flora and fauna. Continue reading...

Climate change has caused a catastrophic drop in the numbers of terns, kittiwakes and puffinsSumburgh Head lies at the southern tip of mainland Shetland. This dramatic 100-metre-high rocky spur, crowned with a lighthouse built by Robert Louis Stevenson’s grandfather, has a reputation for being one of the biggest and most accessible seabird colonies in Britain.Thousands of puffins, guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes and fulmars gather there every spring to breed, covering almost every square inch of rock or grass with teeming, screeching birds and their young. Continue reading...

As solar farms spread across the central agricultural regions of the sunshine state, opponents are becoming increasingly vocalColin Ash has spent a working lifetime in the cane fields near the Pioneer River in central Queensland, out past Marian, where the mill has processed sugar for more than 130 years.“You can’t get sentimental about things,” he says from the front seat of his truck as he drives slowly around the boundary of his property. “You’ve got to pay your bills.” Continue reading...

Pilot whale was found barely alive in Thai canal and vomited up five bags during fruitless rescue attemptsA whale has died in southern Thailand after swallowing more than 80 plastic bags, with rescuers failing to nurse the mammal back to health.

A 10-year fight between a group of residents and the East Gippsland shire council over grey-headed flying foxes is heating up againThe Australian town of Bairnsdale in Victoria – 300km east of Melbourne – is known as the gateway to east Gippsland’s natural wonders. It is also the scene of a 10-year battle between a group of residents and the East Gippsland shire council over a colony of grey-headed flying foxes that roost along the town’s Mitchell River.

Before the latest auction figures, Adam Morton investigates the plan Turnbull once called ‘a recipe for fiscal recklessness’At some point in June, the Australian government will announce it has spent up to $2.3bn over three years on a scheme that the prime minister believes is a reckless waste of public money.Related: Land-clearing wipes out $1bn taxpayer-funded emissions gains Continue reading...

Start Point, Devon: Spider crabs rub pieces of seaweed against the backs of their shells until they stick, creating remarkable camouflageThe combe above the beach echoes with the calls of chiffchaffs, and cock stonechats flick and churr on the wind-stunted hawthorns that line the footpath. Around the twin radio masts – a 20th-century riposte to Start Point’s whitewashed gothic lighthouse – a small flock of swallows cut and swerve.Beneath the sea there are signs of spring too. Common spider crabs (Maja brachydactyla), which have been overwintering in the depths, start to appear close to shore, a sight that has become a feature of my first sea swims of the year. Continue reading...

Environment minister says up to 2,500 wild horses are causing ‘significant damage’ to plant and animal speciesThe Victorian government has signed off on a plan to remove more than 1,200 feral horses from the Alpine national park, saying the impact of the animals on sensitive ecosystems has reached critical levels.Two weeks ago the New South Wales government announced a proposal to protect Kosciuszko national park brumbies, which conservation advocates have labelled a “disaster” for Australia’s environmental heritage. Continue reading...

Energy firm obtains expanded injunction ahead of plans to begin large-scale fracking at Preston New Road siteA major energy firm has secured an expanded injunction against protesters after it took a big step towards starting fracking on a substantial scale.Cuadrilla Resources went to court to obtain the injunction against all campaigners who opposed its drilling operations at its Preston New Road site in Lancashire. The injunction was granted on Friday on a temporary basis amid growing criticism of the corporate use of injunctions to counter protests. At least five companies have chosen to use them as legal weapons in this way. Continue reading...

Christiana Figueres was also scathing of those who say it is inevitable that the global warming limit set out in the Paris agreement will be brokenBusinesses are moving forward faster than ever on climate change despite the intransigence of US president Donald Trump, the former climate chief of the UN has said.“There is a big difference between the economics of climate change and the politics of climate change,” said Christiana Figueres, the former executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention of Climate Change, who oversaw the landmark Paris agreement on climate change. Continue reading...

Blue-throated bee-eaters, a baby anteater and a dehydrated fruitbat are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

Four Greenpeace activists climb down into Total's AGM to protest against the oil company’s plans to drill in the mouth of the Amazon and French Guiana. The abseilers descended as the Total chief executive, Patrick Pouyanné, began his presentation, while many people protested outside the venue

Activists join about 250 others who oppose drilling in Amazon and French GuianaMore than 250 Greenpeace activists hijacked Total’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Paris to protest at the oil company’s plans to drill in the mouth of the Amazon and French Guiana.Four activists descended by ropes from the ceiling above the stage, as the Total chief executive, Patrick Pouyanné, began his presentation, with at least 20 more gaining access to the Palais des Congrès. Some of the activists chained themselves to fixtures in the hall with the proceedings disrupted by chants and the blowing of whistles. The remainder of the 250-strong group protested outside the venue. Continue reading...

Leaked documents reveal discarded proposals to ward off antibiotic resistance through closer scrutiny of drug firmsThe EU has scrapped plans for a clampdown on pharmaceutical pollution that contributes to the spread of deadly superbugs.

Andrew Garn is a native New Yorker who grew up surrounded by the city’s ubiquitous pigeons. For over a decade he has photographed, rehabilitated and observed the birds, documenting the entire spectrum of their development from newborn “squeakers” to fully fledged adults. The New York Pigeon: Behind the Feathers by Andrew Garn, with text by Emily S Rueb and Rita McMahon, is published by powerHouse Books and available in the UK at The Guardian Bookshop Continue reading...

It’s not perfect, but the city has ambitious plans for cycling, and the Festival of Cycling offers a chance to celebrate progressIn theory, Edinburgh might not look like the perfect city for cycling. Apart from the weather there are the (in)famous hills, then there’s the … (add your own excuses here.) But things are changing.Currently the city council is committing 10% of its transport budget to cycling, a first for a UK city, as well as introducing 20mph speed limits across a large area. And in September, Edinburgh will finally be getting its own bikeshare scheme, which will include a proportion of e-bikes to help beat the hills.

Bronkham Hill, Dorset: The wind pours larksong over the humps and bumps of a bronze age barrow cemeteryThe sound of chiffchaffs shouting in the woods falls away as I follow the South Dorset Ridgeway upwards to the high chalk. The way is starred with white stitchwort running through clumps of shocking-pink campion and the last of the bluebells. Continue reading...

Cities, states and companies are taking their own steps on behalf of the planet. But their power to minimize Trump’s damage is limitedDonald Trump barely had time to leave a sun-drenched Rose Garden after announcing the US exit from the historic Paris climate change agreement before the backlash began. Continue reading...

Workers say they are taking action in response to vast amount of windfarms being constructed in their watersThe Netherlands may be the land of the windmill, but fishermen are planning a major protest on Saturday against the Dutch government’s latest wind turbine construction in the North Sea, with an armada of fishing boats sailing into Amsterdam.After alighting from at least 15 boats at the back of Amsterdam’s central station, it is understood that hundreds of fishermen will march to the capital’s Damrak canal, where they will upend bags of small fish deemed too small for sale by the EU, and cover them with red dye. Continue reading...

Biggest analysis to date reveals huge footprint of livestock - it provides just 18% of calories but takes up 83% of farmlandAvoiding meat and dairy products is the single biggest way to reduce your environmental impact on the planet, according to the scientists behind the most comprehensive analysis to date of the damage farming does to the planet.The new research shows that without meat and dairy consumption, global farmland use could be reduced by more than 75% – an area equivalent to the US, China, European Union and Australia combined – and still feed the world. Loss of wild areas to agriculture is the leading cause of the current mass extinction of wildlife. Continue reading...

New total represents an increase of 25% since 2010 in its central African heartlandIt is one of the most recognisable animals in the world and one of the most endangered, but a new census reveals the surviving mountain gorilla population has now risen above 1,000.This represents a rise of 25% since 2010 in its heartland of the Virunga Massif in central Africa. It also marks success for intensive conservation work in a region riven by armed conflict, and where six park guards were murdered in April. Continue reading...

Residents use social media to beg holidaymakers to avoid area as supply runs dryResidents of the picturesque Indian hill station Shimla are begging tourists to stay away amid a severe drinking water shortage that is being compared to Cape Town’s water crisis.The Himalayan city was the former summer capital of the British Raj and continues to be popular with Indians fleeing scorching summers on the Gangetic plain. Water supplies have been critically low for at least the past three years but ran out completely on 20 May. Continue reading...

Security forces launch raids linked to deforestation in the Carpathian mountains, home to some of Europe’s last virgin forestRomania’s security forces have mounted a series of raids to break up an alleged €25m illegal logging ring, in what is believed to be the largest operation of its kind yet seen in Europe.

We’d like to hear about – and see pictures of – the small things you are doing to encourage nature where you liveNaturalist Patrick Barkham wrote in the Guardian this week about the principles of rewilding – stepping back and allowing natural processes to occur, and encouraging wild plants and insects.

Melbourne bird survey supports research suggesting native species thrive better if planning includes environmental reserves, rather than backyardsThe outskirts of Melbourne are a maze of newly-paved culs-de-sac. Freestanding homes twist in on each other, filling the footprint of their small street blocks.On the other side of the road, short wooden stakes have been tied with fluorescent tape to mark out the next development. Continue reading...

Booker prize-winning author predicts climate reality will not be far from scenarios imagined in her post-apocalyptic fictionClimate change will bring a dystopian future reminiscent of one of her “speculative fictions”, with women bearing the brunt of brutal repression, hunger and war, the Booker prize-winning author Margaret Atwood is to warn.“This isn’t climate change – it’s everything change,” she will tell an audience at the British Library this week. “Women will be directly and adversely affected by climate change.” Continue reading...

Green groups welcome decision as a sign of a larger trend away from fossil fuels towards renewables• Sign up to receive the top stories in Australia every day at noon Plans to expand a coal port in Newcastle, New South Wales, have been scrapped by the developer because demand for coal has not increased enough to support the project.Port Waratah Coal Services said on Thursday it would allow its lease for the T4 terminal to lapse when it expired next year because the capacity of existing terminals was likely to be sufficient for future growth in coal exports. Continue reading...

Queensland environment department will investigate but New Hope denies allegations• Sign up to receive the top stories in Australia every day at noon Queensland’s environment department is investigating claims that the mining company New Hope expanded existing operations at its New Acland coalmine without permission.The state environment department confirmed on Thursday it was investigating New Hope’s controversial mine, west of Brisbane, but the company insisted the complaints were part of a campaign against it. Continue reading...

Australia is one of the few countries in the world where hives are free of the debilitating varroa miteThe soaring price of Australian beeswax could be bad news for local beard owners – and good news for scammers – as demand for high-quality beeswax heats up.New uses for the wax – from cosmetics to food wraps – and the comparative health of Australia’s bees have driven the export price of Australian beeswax up in the global marketplace. Continue reading...

With no spectators, no bags of freebies and no medals, the 400km London-Wales-London ride provides a welcome antidote to overblown sportives“Cycling far?” asks a woman in the bakery as a group of us queues for coffee and sausage rolls, as well as an all-important receipt to prove we passed through Tewkesbury.Increasing numbers of cyclists are getting bored with 100-mile sportives and looking for something else Continue reading...

Coalition says phosphate exploration would have had unacceptable impact on endangered seabirdThe Turnbull government has knocked back a controversial phosphate exploration proposal on Christmas Island “because it is likely to have significant and unacceptable impacts on matters protected under national environment law”.Phosphate Resources Limited – the owners of a phosphate mine on Christmas Island – had proposed to clear 6.83ha of land and undertake exploration drilling along 44 survey lines in an effort to determine the extent of the additional phosphate resources on Christmas Island. Continue reading...

Comins Coch, Ceredigion: Meadow grasses and flowers have grown in abundance, but the trees have been slow to greenIn the pasture beside the lane, dandelions have already set seed, their spherical heads intact and waiting for the right gust of wind to break the seeds free and disperse them across the village like invading paratroopers. The meadow grasses and wild flowers have grown rapidly in confused abundance, but the crown of the oak tree across the field remains more defined by the framework of branches than by new foliage. Possibly the sudden drop in temperature that preceded the late snow selectively stalled development.Further uphill the old meadow was marked by fresh molehills among the rushes and the lady’s smock, showing where these stolid hunters have been clearing and extending their shallow runs. The activity of their favoured prey, earthworms, is triggered by rising temperature and an attractive level of soil moisture – conditions that have apparently been satisfied. Continue reading...

There is nothing logical about the Kinder Morgan pipeline – especially not the decision to gut environmental laws for itThe twists and turns in the saga of the Kinder Morgan pipeline just took a turn for the seriously weird today, but the path has never been clear.

Benjamin Mancroft says Labour allowed its prejudice that all hunting people were toffs to blind it to the realities of managing foxes. Plus letters from Andrew Barker, Karen Lloyd, Ian Coghill and Philip MerricksThere is growing anecdotal evidence that the fox population in lowland rural Britain is in sharp decline (Is Britain’s fox population in decline?, Shortcuts, G2, 23 May). This is not because they are short of food, and thus in need of feeding on roadkill by Chris Packham or anybody else.Professor Stephens of Durham University is right that “fox populations appear to have dropped specifically within the past 15 or 20 years”, ie since the enactment of the ban on fox-hunting in 2004. Nor is he wrong when he suggests that “people who were enthusiastic about hunting would often encourage fox populations”. More accurately, this means that they provided habitat (which benefited all wildlife), observed a closed season to allow foxes to breed and rear their cubs in peace, and practised a method of culling that encouraged survival of the fittest and removed the surplus numbers required to maintain a level population. The existence of hunts also acted as a deterrent to those wishing to shoot foxes indiscriminately and all year round with rifles which have significantly increased in accuracy and range over the past 15 years. Continue reading...