If you’re running a business, I hope you’re thinking of the future. Not doing so will put you in the same tight spot our farmers faceWhen you drive from Minneapolis to West Okoboji Lake, Iowa – as I did early last summer – you pretty much see just one thing: farmland. And those farms are pretty much just growing one thing too: soybeans. The state of Iowa is the second largest producer of soybeans in the US – and can you guess their biggest customer? An estimated one out of every three rows of soybeans grown there are shipped to China. I didn’t see any pork farms from my car, but I’ve also learned that Iowa is the largest exporter of pork to China as well.Related: The Iowa farmers on the frontline of Trump's trade war with China Continue reading...

Trump in power; the farce of Brexit; dire warnings of power shortages – welcome to dystopia nowFilm reviewers often reach for a clutch of well-thumbed words and phrases to convey a sense of time and place quickly. This is not a criticism. These reviewers are rarely given sufficient space to explore often complicated themes of several films at a time.A familiar locution, understood by all readers, allows them to cut to the action, as it were. “Dystopian nightmare” is one of them and when I see this deployed by my favourite reviewers my interest is piqued. Continue reading...

Coles and Woolworths have prevented an estimated 1.5 billion bags being introduced into the environmentThe ban on single-use plastic bags by Australia’s two largest supermarkets prevented the introduction of an estimated 1.5 billion bags into the environment, and the retail industry is hopeful this is only the beginning.Coles and Woolworths’ decision to stop offering single-use disposable plastic bags midway through the year was initially met with swift public backlash. Continue reading...

Residents insulted by red, sad-face emoji placed on rubbish bins in botched campaignPeterborough city council has apologised for offending residents after thousands of stickers reading “waster” were put on bins as part of a recycling campaign.Dozens of households said they were insulted by the stickers depicting a red sad-face emoji on their black wheelie bins. Continue reading...

Brexit and heatwave drive up prices of sprouts, turkey and Christmas puddingShoppers who scour the high street for the best possible deals will still face the most expensive Christmas dinner in a decade.The UK’s cheapest traditional festive spread will cost nearly 6% more than last year after the hot summer combined with uncertainty about Brexit to drive up the price of turkey, sprouts and Christmas pudding, according to the latest annual survey by Good Housekeeping magazine. Continue reading...

Adani’s plans to get started quickly on a scaled-down version of its Queensland mega-mine still face numerous obstaclesThe Indian mining giant Adani could be left in limbo until September – well after the federal election – before learning whether its controversial Carmichael coal project will be allowed to access the Queensland freight rail network.Adani announced on Thursday it would self-finance the Carmichael mine and that construction would begin “imminently”. But the company still has to gain several regulatory approvals and negotiate access for its coal trains to use the Aurizon network. Continue reading...

Airgun testing in search for oil and gas could harm hundreds of mammals such as dolphins and whales off the Atlantic coastThe Trump administration is to allow marine creatures such as whales and dolphins to be harmed by companies as they search for potential oil and gas reserves off the Atlantic coast.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) has granted five operators permission to “incidentally but not intentionally harass marine mammals” while conducting surveys for fossil fuels in the seabed. Continue reading...

In the final part of our series looking at the climate report Trump tried to bury over Thanksgiving, we examine how regions will experience climate change

This week’s Upside digest on images sent back from Mars, and other scientific breakthroughsAs technology advances at a seemingly exponential rate, it can be hard to keep up – and journalists don’t always get it right.A report from 2017 found that over half of newspaper articles surveyed on scientific studies were factually incorrect. This was mainly due to journalists writing on initial findings without checking back for follow-ups or meta-studies, which could put a new spin on those first results. Continue reading...

‘Strike 4 Climate Action’ brings thousands of students together in defiance of prime minister’s warningThe best banners from the strike dayThousands of schoolchildren across Australia walked out of class on Friday to demand action by the federal government on climate change.The “Strike 4 Climate Action”, inspired by 15-year-old Swedish student Greta Thunberg, brought together children in capital cities and 20 regional centres such as Ballarat, Newcastle, Townsville and Cairns. A large protest was also held in Hobart on Thursday. Continue reading...

I’m six years out of school, nearly graduated from university, and I’ve never seen a protest like thisThe kids couldn’t believe it. The adults couldn’t believe it.

A new group supported by the Canary Wharf Group property company and lorry, coach and taxi drivers is attacking one of the city’s most popular routesEven on a wet, cold November night, London’s flagship cycle superhighway along the Embankment is thronged. Across the whole 24 hours, it is used by 10,329 cyclists, an average of seven a minute. But at this time of day, it is one every three seconds. In the rush hour, the bike track – which takes up one lane of this four-lane road – carries more traffic than the other three lanes put together.It’s an extraordinary success, and it looks like a permanent fixture. But it might not be. Behind the scenes, a powerful property company, Canary Wharf Group, is working with a political lobbying firm and major road organisations on a campaign to get it ripped out. Continue reading...

In the fourth part of our series looking at the climate report Trump tried to bury over Thanksgiving, we examine how sea-level rise will reshape the population

Spider milk containing four times the protein of cow’s milk is secreted by mothers, scientists in China findThe ability of mothers to produce milk for their babies is commonly considered a unique feature of mammals, but now scientists have discovered a species of spider that also nurses its young.Spider mothers were observed feeding a milk-like substance to their spiderlings and continuing to look after them almost into adulthood. Continue reading...

Use of tropical plywood from Malaysia and Indonesia risks destruction of orangutan habitat, say NGOsWood from threatened south-east Asian rainforests has been used to build venues for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, according to complaints filed with organisers.At least 134,000 large sheets of tropical plywood from Malaysia and Indonesia have been used as concrete moulds to build stadiums, causing what campaigners say is irreversible harm to precious biodiversity reserves. Continue reading...

WWF rates Australia a zero due to the absence of biodiversity measures in our Paris climate change commitmentsAustralia has been named as one of the worst performers among a group of 100 nations due to the absence of biodiversity measures in our climate change commitments, according to a new report by WWF.The report, published this week during the conference of parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Egypt, examines whether climate commitments from countries under the Paris agreement also offer benefits for nature and biodiversity. Continue reading...

But many people still don’t agree with the consensus science that shows humans are the dominant cause of climate changeAmericans, including Republicans, are becoming more convinced that climate change is causing extreme weather and sea-level rise, according to a new poll from Monmouth University.Nearly two-thirds of Republicans, 64%, now think climate change is happening, compared to 49% three years ago. And more of the general population, 78% compared to 70% three years ago, acknowledge climate change. Continue reading...

Police have warned people not to approach the snake, which escaped from its owner’s home in BostonA boa constrictor has been reported missing from a house in Lincolnshire.Police have warned the public not to approach the snake, which has a white tail and grey, black and brown spots. Continue reading...

Charity warns against complacency as levels of plastic remain ‘shocking’Record numbers of volunteers turned out this year to help clear litter from the UK’s beaches, in the 25th annual Great British Beach Clean.But the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), which organises the event, warned there were still shocking amounts of plastic litter on UK beaches, despite a 16% decrease compared with last year. It said the average of 16 glass and plastic bottles and drinks cans retrieved on every 100-metre stretch of beach (330ft) surveyed strengthened the case for the urgent introduction of a deposit return system in all parts of the UK. Continue reading...

Designer aiming to make business case for why brands should tackle climate changeStella McCartney is to announce a United Nations fashion industry charter for climate action, which will be launched at next month’s climate talks in Poland.The designer hopes the charter will “ring some alarm bells” while making a business case for sustainable fashion, setting out a path for collective action to enable low-carbon production methods to be scaled up, improving economic viability. Other signatories to the charter, which will be launched in Katowice on 10 December, have yet to be announced but are known to include several major fast fashion brands.

Despite announcement construction is to begin within weeks, regulatory approvals are still neededThe Indian mining giant Adani has announced it will self-finance its controversial Queensland coalmine project and says major works are due to start “imminently”.Adani has made a string of announcements in recent months that indicated the company would scale back its mine, rail and port plans plans, having been unable to find an outside investor. Continue reading...

Work crews and police leave Hillingdon site as activists mount Extinction Rebellion-style blockadeFour environmental protesters have stopped work by shackling themselves on a nature reserve where a new phase of construction of the HS2 high-speed rail link had been due to start on Wednesday evening.The group locked themselves to a contraption made of chimney pieces in a field at the Colne Valley nature reserve in Hillingdon where HS2 operatives are currently working on the controversial rail project. Continue reading...

Bureau of Meteorology’s (BoM) forecast for the season warns an El Niño could bring dangerous, dry conditionsSummer temperatures are forecast to soar above their usual average, while the chances of more bushfires and an El Niño developing are on the rise.The Bureau of Meteorology’s latest outlook for summer warns that most of Australia has an 80% chance of higher-than-normal temperatures between December and February. Continue reading...

Deadly heatwaves and spread of diseases affect people’s health today – reportPeople’s health is being damaged today by climate change through effects ranging from deadly heatwaves in Europe to rising dengue fever in the tropics, according to a report.Billions of hours of farmwork has been lost during high temperatures and global warming has damaged the ability to grow crops, it said. Continue reading...

In the third part of our series looking at the climate report Trump tried to bury over Thanksgiving, we look at its alarming projections for our water supplies

Radical overhaul in farming and consumption, with less meat eating, needed to avoid hunger and climate catastropheThe global food system is broken, leaving billions of people either underfed or overweight and driving the planet towards climate catastrophe, according to 130 national academies of science and medicine across the world.Providing a healthy, affordable, and environmentally friendly diet for all people will require a radical transformation of the system, says the report by the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP). This will depend on better farming methods, wealthy nations consuming less meat and countries valuing food which is nutritious rather than cheap. Continue reading...

More than 15,000 buildings were built in coastal areas at significant risk of coastal flooding in the UK between 2005 and 2014, write Tom Spencer and Gerd Masselink. Meanwhile Alastair Edwards says the Irish shouldn’t be bashed too much over their carbon emissions, but Dr John Doherty warns against erecting wind turbines on boglandThe UK Climate Projections 2018 study predicts significant sea level rise around the UK coastline by 2100 (Climate change ‘may force people to quit flood areas’, 27 November) and, in announcing the report, the secretary of state for the environment says “we will be looking at ways we can encourage every local area to strive for greater overall resilience”.Yet only a month ago, the government’s own advisers, the Committee on Climate Change, argued strongly that current methods being used to protect England’s coastal communities are not fit for purpose. Their report showed that between 2005 and 2014, over 15,000 buildings were built in coastal areas at significant risk of coastal flooding and/or erosion. Continue reading...

42.6C temperature in Cairns broke a November record that has stood since 1900 by 5.4CA record-breaking heatwave in north Queensland will further increase above-average marine temperatures, heightening the risk of another coral bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef next year, scientists say.Dozens of record November temperatures have been recorded in the region, most along the reef coastline, this week. Continue reading...

The nuclear disaster site is being marketed as a tourist destination with novelty gas masks, radioactive ice cream and - now - a multimedia art show with the militaryIt is a two-hour drive from the centre of Kiev, following the banks of the Dnieper river into the woods. It is minus six degrees outside. Wild dogs scavenge at the side of the road.Our bus comes to a stop and military men in uniform tell us to disembark and ready our passports. We’re at the main check point of the Chernobyl exclusion zone. From here, signs warn us, everything is contaminated. Continue reading...

Specialist diving group teams up with British conservation charity to lower impact of scuba tourism on threatened reefsThe threat posed to coral reefs by scuba diving in Egypt and Thailand is so serious that officials have banned certain operators or suspended the sport altogether, but now moves are afoot to make diving tourism more sustainable.A partnership between the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (Padi), the world’s largest training group, and the UN-backed Reef-World Foundation, a British conservation charity, will encourage the industry to sign up to the Green Fins scheme, which helps dive centres to reduce their environmental impact and mitigate the damage the burgeoning sport causes to coral reefs worldwide. Continue reading...

An SES volunteer collapsed and died while attending a job in the Illawarra, and another person died in a crash at ThornleighA second person has died during the Sydney storms which have lashed the city and surrounding regions on Wednesday, delivering a month’s worth of rain in two hours.On Wednesday afternoon a State Emergency Services volunteer collapsed and died while attending a job in the Illawarra. Continue reading...

Migratory shorebirds populations down by average of 70% from 1985 to 2015Populations of threatened bird species in Australia halved in the past 30 years, according to a new national Threatened Bird Index.The index is the first part of a large data consolidation project being undertaken by the Threatened Species Recovery Hub, along with the University of Queensland and Birdlife Australia. Continue reading...

Analysis suggests 116m tonnes of dairy products are wasted globally, with almost half lost before they even reach a storeOne in six pints of milk produced around the world is lost or wasted, according to research conducted at Edinburgh University for the Guardian.Sixteen percent of dairy products – 116m tonnes – is lost or discarded globally each year, according to Prof Peter Alexander, a member of the newly formed Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Security. He calculated that retailers, distributors and consumers are responsible for half of this waste, throwing away roughly 60m tonnes of dairy a year. Continue reading...

Government scrapped £1bn plan in 2015 but now aims to build project within a decadeThe UK wants to build its first project to capture and store carbon emissions from industry within the next decade, as part of a rebooted push by ministers to support the technology.The government scrapped a £1bn carbon capture and storage (CCS) competition in 2015, with the then-chancellor George Osborne saying it was too costly. Earlier efforts had also collapsed. Continue reading...

Interior secretary Ryan Zinke says he hopes new laws will end environmental reviews and allow ‘thinning’ of forestsThe Trump administration has been accused of using the deadly wildfires in California to push for weakened environmental rules in forests, opening them up for more logging.Ryan Zinke, the interior secretary, said that he hoped new legislation would allow for the “thinning” of forests to help prevent wildfires. He said he was confident Congress would soon pass a new farm bill that would remove environmental reviews for the removal of trees and brush, as well as the building of roads through federal forests. Continue reading...

Students miss school to call on MPs to take emergency action ‘because this is our future’School students protesting climate change have arrived in Canberra after the prime minister told them to be less activist and go back to school.Hundreds of students lined up outside Parliament House on Wednesday wanting to speak to Scott Morrison and government ministers about taking emergency action against climate change. Continue reading...

Management of UK rail lines fails to take environmental best practice into accountAn independent review into the scale of tree felling by Network Rail is calling for a complete cultural change by the company to focus on valuing nature and the environment.The review, published on Wednesday, was sparked after Guardian articles highlighted a threat to millions of line-side trees from Network Rail’s approach to managing the environment around its tracks and the scale of tree felling taking place in nesting season. Continue reading...

Chemical cocktail suppresses periwinkles’ ability to avoid crabs and disrupts food chainToxins leaching from microplastics leave shellfish at the mercy of predators, research has found. The chemicals completely suppress the ability of the periwinkles to detect and avoid the crabs that eat them.Microplastics plague the world’s rivers and oceans and absorb poisonous chemicals from the water. Previous work has shown mussels are harmed by these toxins when they eat microplastics, but the latest study is the first to show disruption of the relationship between predator and prey. This is likely to disrupt the entire food chain, researchers say. Continue reading...

Humpback whale and 27 pilot whales among those beached in Croajingolong national parkA humpback whale and 27 pilot whales have stranded themselves on a remote beach in a Victorian national park.Most of the beached animals have died, according to authorities. Continue reading...

Court ruled in favor of landowners seeking to limit power to designate private land as protected habitat for speciesThe US supreme court on Tuesday decided against the interests of a warty amphibian and handed a victory to a timber company and other landowners in the first major move on the environment from the bench this term.The court ruled in favor of the commercial interests seeking to limit the federal government’s power to designate private land as protected habitat for endangered species, in a property rights case involving the dusky gopher frog. Continue reading...

More than half of countries use censorship, harassment or violence to repress public debate, warns a reportNearly six in 10 countries are seriously restricting people’s freedoms, according to a new report that warns of a growing repression around the world.According to the study, there is little or no space for activism in countries such as Eritrea and Syria, and also worrying signs in countries where democracy is considered well established, such as France, the US, Hungary and India. Continue reading...

Natural cycle has major influence on global weather, bringing droughts and floodsThere is a 75-80% chance of a climate-warming El Niño event by February, according to the latest analysis from the UN’s World Meteorological Organization.The last El Niño event ended in 2016 and helped make that year the hottest ever recorded by adding to the heating caused by humanity’s carbon emissions. The 2019 event is not currently forecast to be as strong as in 2016. Continue reading...

School students plan to go on strike in protest against inaction on climate change. Whether you approve of the strike or not, you were invited to submit questions here to be answered by climate experts and young campaigners. This blog is now closed – thanks for being part of #MyClimateQuestions7.50am GMTThank you everyone, this has been one of the most rewarding, illuminating blogs I’ve had the joy of running.Thanks to our panellists: Bill Hare, Simon Holmes à Court, Amanda McKenzie, Laura Sykes and Piper Albrecht. And thanks to my colleague Lisa Cox.7.33am GMTAnd one last question, from Sunny Adcock:If I am currently 18, do you think that within my lifetime there is hope of preventing climate change? Realistically what is the best and worse case scenario of what may happen within my lifetime?Yes there definitely is hope.The best case is getting onto a 1.5C pathway, in which case, by the time you turn 50 scientists might be saying that global warming peaked in the 2040s. By the time you are 100, it could be 1.3C or lower and on the way down. Continue reading...

Paradise, California, was a slice of heaven for those who lived there – until they lost everything in California's worst wildfire. The Camp fire wiped out the town, killed at least 85 people, and scorched 150,000 acres. But in the face of a dark new reality, shellshocked residents are displaying resilience Continue reading...

Environmental groups call for greater scrutiny of plan to clear Kingvale station in Great Barrier Reef catchmentDraft approvals to bulldoze almost 2,000 hectares of Queensland native forest have been tossed out by the federal court, which ruled the federal government acted unlawfully by applying only minimal scrutiny.The decision leaves plans to clear Kingvale station, in the Great Barrier Reef catchment, in limbo. Continue reading...

Premier Mark McGowan defies protesters, farmers and MPs to allow controversial drilling, which he says will create jobsWestern Australian premier Mark McGowan has lifted a statewide moratorium on fracking amid intense opposition from large parts of the community.The controversial drilling practice, which fractures the ground to release trapped gas, will now be allowed on existing titles and subject to veto by Aboriginal groups and farmers. Continue reading...

Traffic emissions responsible for at least €70bn damage every year, report saysAir pollution from roads causes at least €70bn (£62bn) in health damage every year in the European Union, according to a new report, with diesel fumes responsible for three-quarters of the harm.The research, commissioned by the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA), found the vast majority of the costs were borne by taxpayers through government-funded health services. But these costs could be reduced by 80% by 2030 if ambitious action were taken, the report concluded. Continue reading...

Shift to renewables is too late say campaigners as peatlands will still emit greenhouse gasesWhen the semi-state company that harvests Ireland’s peatlands recently announced the closure of 17 bogs, the news was greeted as the end of an era. Turning the soggy landscape that covers much of Ireland’s midlands into a fuel source had been a great national project, an ambitious undertaking launched by the republic’s founding fathers in the 1930s. Draining and cutting hundreds of thousands of hectares of turf on an industrial scale generated desperately needed jobs and reduced dependence on oil imports for almost a century.So there was some nostalgia last month when Bord na Móna, the peat-harvesting company, announced it was closing 17 of its “active bogs” and would close the remaining 45 within seven years. Nostalgia but also acceptance, given the growing awareness that harvesting peat emits greenhouse gases that worsen climate change, requiring a shift to renewable energy. “Decarbonisation is the biggest challenge facing this planet,” said Tom Donnellan, the company’s chief executive. Continue reading...