In a country of more than 17000 islands, seaweed might be the ideal raw material for a bio-plastics revolution.

Wood Buffalo national park also faces danger from oil and gas development and hydroelectric projects, government report saysThe world’s second-largest national park is under threat from a destructive combination of climate change, oil and gas development and hydroelectric projects, according to a new report from the Canadian government.Related: Canada's National Parks: from Hollywood beauties to beautiful beasts – in pictures Continue reading...

A new subsidy would ‘destroy any chance of the government attracting broad support’Labor has warned the government that new subsidies for coal as part of any internal settlement on the national energy guarantee will scuttle the chances of securing peace after 10 years of warring over climate and energy policy.The shadow climate change minister, Mark Butler, told Guardian Australia that the construction of any new coal-fired power stations “will paralyse Australia’s transition to clean energy” and “run against all the advice of industry and business, including Snowy Hydro”. Continue reading...

Ministers’ decision to shelve a pioneering wave power scheme in Swansea Bay is based on evidence – but also ideologyThe UK government’s decision to shelve plans to build the world’s first tidal lagoon off Swansea Bay is a hard blow for Wales. That it comes in the wake of Airbus’s warning that 6,000 jobs at its Broughton factory in Flintshire are being put at risk by continuing uncertainty over Brexit, and on the same day that the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders sounded the alarm over the future of car building in the UK, only serves to increase the pain. Ford employs 1,700 people at its Bridgend plant, while a new Aston Martin factory is due to open in south Wales next year. The tidal lagoon project, had it gone ahead, was expected to create 2,200 jobs, plus more in the supply chain. These are the kinds of jobs that Wales, so damaged by steel and coal closures, needs. But the business secretary, Greg Clark, has decided the country can’t have them because they would be too expensive.It’s true that tidal lagoon power is costly at the moment. The so-called strike price that the government would have to agree for Swansea’s electricity, to get the project off the ground, lay between £92.70 and £150 per megawatt hour (MWh), with the difference accounted for by a Welsh government subsidy, and the duration of the contract. While the UK government’s rejection of the scheme – on which the company says it has spent £35m – was based on the higher figure of £150 over 30 years, the company said that, given a longer contract of 60 years, it could supply electricity at £92.70, the same as Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, the government’s flagship energy project in Somerset (Hinkley Point’s strike price is fixed for 35 years). The Welsh government said that its offer of a £200m subsidy made the Swansea project – meant to be the first of six British tidal lagoons, four of them in Wales – competitive with Hinkley even on a similar time span. Welsh politicians have reacted with understandable fury to Mr Clark’s announcement, which comes almost exactly 12 months after the government abandoned plans to electrify the railway from Cardiff to Swansea, and just a day after MPs voted to press ahead with another expensive infrastructure project: a third runway at Heathrow. Continue reading...

Letters from Dr Robin Russell-Jones, Les Bright and Andrew PapworthThis government’s decision to create more pollution at Heathrow (Report, 26 June) while simultaneously rejecting tidal power in Swansea Bay (Report, 26 June) shows it has no strategy for tackling climate change.Although aviation only contributes about 2% of global emissions of carbon dioxide, it accounts for over 6% of global warming due the effects of other greenhouse gases and vapour trails. The upcoming report by the UK Committee on Climate Change shows that a third runway will increase CO emissions from air travel from 37 to 43 million tonnes per annum. But since our overall carbon budget will have fallen by 2030 to 344 million tonnes, the contribution from aviation will have jumped from 6.5% to 12.5% of the UK’s carbon emissions. In other words, a third runway is incompatible with the UK’s climate commitments, and things will only get worse post-Brexit.

The killdeer, a protected bird that weighs less than five ounces, laid eggs in area where the main stage will be for Ottawa’s BluesfestA diminutive bird known for its shrill, high pitched call is threatening to derail one of Canada’s biggest music festivals after it built a nest in the same location as the main stage was slated to be erected.The first hint of trouble for Ottawa’s Bluesfest, an outdoor festival that draws some 300,000 people each year in the nation’s capital, came last week after workers at the site stumbled across an agitated killdeer, a brown and white bird that weighs less than five ounces. Continue reading...

The deforestation it causes is decimating species such as orangutans and tigers - but the alternatives could be worse, finds authoritative reportIt is consumed daily by billions of people but palm oil is “disastrous” for wildlife such as orangutans and tigers, according to an authoritative new report. However, the analysis warns that alternatives are likely to drive biodiversity losses elsewhere, rather than halt them.The analysis, from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), found that rainforest destruction caused by palm oil plantations damages more than 190 threatened species on the IUCN’s red list, particularly in Indonesia and Malaysia. It also found that palm oil certified as “sustainable” is, so far, only marginally better in terms of preventing deforestation. Continue reading...

Sea level rises are not some distant threat; for many Americans they are very real. In an extract from her chilling new book, Rising, Elizabeth Rush details how the US coastline will be radically transformed in the coming yearsIn 1890, just over six thousand people lived in the damp lowlands of south Florida. Since then the wetlands that covered half the state have been largely drained, strip malls have replaced Seminole camps, and the population has increased a thousandfold. Over roughly the same amount of time the number of black college degree holders in the United States also increased a thousandfold, as did the speed at which we fly, the combined carbon emissions of the Middle East, and the entire population of Thailand.About 60 of the region’s more than 6 million residents have gathered in the Cox Science Building at the University of Miami on a sunny Saturday morning in 2016 to hear Harold Wanless, or Hal, chair of the geology department, speak about sea level rise. “Only 7% of the heat being trapped by greenhouse gases is stored in the atmosphere,” Hal begins. “Do you know where the other 93% lives?” Continue reading...

Calls for compulsory water safety lessons in schools after incidents in Nutfield and StokePolice have issued warnings about the dangers of swimming in open water in the hot weather after a boy went missing at a lake in Stoke-on-Trent and the body of a man was recovered from a lake in Surrey.The incidents have prompted renewed calls for compulsory water safety lessons in schools. Continue reading...

A national container deposit scheme should be established in response to the recycling crisis, the report saysA Senate inquiry into Australia’s recycling crisis has recommended that all single-use plastics – which could potentially include takeaway containers, chip packets and coffee cups with plastic linings – be banned by 2023.The wide-ranging report also recommends the establishment of a national container deposit scheme as a response to an unfolding crisis in Australian recycling that forced some councils to tip their recycling into landfill. Continue reading...

Bradford-based chain becomes fastest-growing of the UK’s big four supermarketsBooming sales of “wonky” fruit and vegetables have helped Morrisons secure its position as the fastest-growing of the UK’s big four supermarkets.The Bradford-based chain increased sales by 1.9% in the three months to 17 June, as sales of misshapen or smaller vegetables – which the chain sells at a lower price as a way of cutting down waste – more than tripled, according to Kantar Worldpanel, a consultant. Continue reading...

ABC News says story should have included Malcolm Turnbull’s denial, live9.07am BSTAnd on that note, we will leave you there.Labor has a new policy, Tony Abbott didn’t get the support he wanted but is still threatening to cross the floor, and Scott Morrison has given us the snake of envy.9.04am BSTWHAT pic.twitter.com/APDFiT8VxR Continue reading...

First formal study into their impact finds that boroughs with the schemes have boosted walking and cycling ratesThe so-called mini-Holland schemes – much-debated changes to boost cycling and walking in outer London boroughs – have done precisely that, according to the first formal study into their impact.The research found that after one year, people living in parts of such boroughs were, on average, walking and cycling for 41 minutes a week more than those living in comparable areas. Continue reading...

Four councils back move, claiming proposal will not survive ‘independent, lawful and rational’ scrutinyThe transport secretary, Chris Grayling, is facing a fresh headache over Heathrow as a group of councils confirmed they were planning legal action against expansion, just hours after MPs voted overwhelmingly to back a third runway.In an embarrassing blow for Theresa May, Conservative-run Windsor and Maidenhead, the prime minister’s own local council, suggested after Monday night’s vote that it was seriously considering joining the judicial review. Continue reading...

After a mysterious ‘mass mortality event’ turned ochre stars to goo, experts say rapid evolution may have saved the creaturesFive years after a mysterious virus wiped out millions of starfish off the western coast of North America, causing them to lose legs, dissolve into fleshy goo and taking various species to the brink of disappearance, scientists have announced a remarkable reversal. Continue reading...

Allendale, Northumberland: Growing abundantly along motorways, these pristine white flowers with their yellow centres have an endearing simplicity, like a child’s drawingDriving north from Newcastle up the A1 there’s an upside to the slowing traffic. It’s an opportunity to look at the high embankments on either side that are crowded with oxeye daisies, Leucanthemum vulgare. Growing abundantly along motorways, these pristine white flowers with their yellow centres have an endearing simplicity, like a child’s drawing. Mixed among them I can see the yellow of buttercup, mauve of vetch, sharp pink of campion and isolated patches of red clover. Lower down, near the gritty edges of the road, are canary-yellow sprawls of bird’s foot trefoil, colours that have mostly been banished from farmland.I grow all those wildflowers in my garden. All have nectar for bees, butterflies and hoverflies. The golden centre of the daisy head is not one flower but many, a composite of tiny disc florets, each containing food for insects. A grass path curves through my small perennial meadow, where chimney sweeper moths flicker between umbels of pignut and ragged robin. As I pause there in the evening light, there’s a delicacy to the planting with its fine grasses and small bursts of colour. On tall stems, the oxeye daisies glow as the sun drops behind the wood. Continue reading...

A controversial bill, dubbed the ‘poison package’, is set to go to Brazilian CongressA Brazilian Congress commission has approved a controversial bill to lift restrictions on pesticides despite fierce opposition from environmentalists, prosecutors, health and environment ministry bodies, and even United Nations special rapporteurs.

Plan passes with majority of 296 but foreign secretary was flying back from AfghanistanBoris Johnson has faced sharp criticism from fellow Conservative MPs over his decision to miss Monday night’s crunch vote on Heathrow expansion by flying out of the country on an official visit to Afghanistan.The foreign secretary claimed that resigning over his opposition to the £14bn project, which the Commons backed on Monday night by 415 votes to 119 – a majority of 296, would achieve “absolutely nothing” and that he would lobby against it privately instead. Continue reading...

Ministers say project is too expensive but decision sparks widespread criticismThe government has rejected plans for a £1.3bn tidal lagoon in Swansea Bay, dashing industry hopes of Britain leading development of a new source of renewable energy and sparking widespread criticism.Ministers said the project, which would have been subsidised through household energy bills for decades, was too expensive compared with alternatives such as offshore windfarms and nuclear power. Continue reading...

China’s limits on contamination levels have sparked a recycling industry crisis. What are local and state governments doing to solve the problem?“Did you put the recycling out?”

Josh Frydenberg sends the positive signal about coal before Tuesday’s internal government deliberationsEnergy minister Josh Frydenberg has declared he would welcome the construction of a new coal-fired power plant in Australia ahead of meetings on Tuesday where internal critics of his electricity plan are expected to voice their objections.Frydenberg used an interview with News Corp to send the positive signal about coal before Tuesday’s internal deliberations, with some Nationals still on the war path about the government either subsidising new coal plants or bankrolling the refurbishment of existing assets.

Disappearing butterflies | Patriarchy and religion | Protesting Trump | Getaways in a Morris Minor | IkeaI don’t know whether to be happy or sad. No cabbage white butterfly caterpillars chomping through my veg is great, but where have all the butterflies gone (Letters, passim)? Not only have I not seen a single cabbage white butterfly this year but no red admirals, no peacocks and no tortoiseshells. Very worrying.

A team of six scientists has descended on Rum, a small island in the Inner Hebrides on the west coast of Scotland, to catch red deer calves. During the month-long initiative, overseen by the Isle of Rum Red Deer Project, newborns will be tagged so data can be gathered on them over the course of their lifetimes. The island is home to hundreds of deer and about only 30 people, all of whom live in Kinloch village on the east coast Continue reading...

Production and disposal of paper bags has greater climate impact than plastic, says Environment AgencyExperts have criticised Morrisons’ decision to switch from plastic to paper bags for fruit and vegetables, branding it a retrograde step for efforts to tackle climate change.This week the supermarket ditched transparent plastic bags in favour of recyclable paper ones, in a move it said was prompted by customers’ worries over pollution. But the step is likely to have unintended consequences and trade one environmental challenge for another. Continue reading...

Transport secretary claims strong support across political spectrum for third runwayThe government is “cautiously optimistic” about winning a key parliamentary vote on the expansion of Heathrow airport, the transport secretary, Chris Grayling, has said, defending the controversial idea as being good for the whole of the UK.The Conservatives, who have a three-line whip in place for their MPs, are likely to get significant Labour support in the vote on Monday after Unite called for Labour MPs to back the third runway. Continue reading...

Indian city to fine or jail residents caught using single-use plasticsMumbai has the become the largest Indian city to ban single-use plastics, with residents caught using plastic bags, cups or bottles to face penalties of up to 25,000 rupees (£276) and three months in jail from Monday.

Koch paychecks seem to be strong motivators to lie30 years ago, James Hansen testified to Congress about the dangers of human-caused climate change. In his testimony, Hansen showed the results of his 1988 study using a climate model to project future global warming under three possible scenarios, ranging from ‘business as usual’ heavy pollution in his Scenario A to ‘draconian emissions cuts’ in Scenario C, with a moderate Scenario B in between.Changes in the human effects that influence Earth’s global energy imbalance (a.k.a. ‘anthropogenic radiative forcings’) have in reality been closest to Hansen’s Scenario B, but about 20–30% weaker thanks to the success of the Montreal Protocol in phasing out chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Hansen’s climate model projected that under Scenario B, global surface air temperatures would warm about 0.84°C between 1988 and 2017. But with a global energy imbalance 20–30% lower, it would have predicted a global surface warming closer to 0.6–0.7°C by this year. Continue reading...

Supermarket chains begins UK rollout of paper bags for loose fruit and vegetablesMorrisons is reviving traditional brown paper bags for loose fresh fruit and vegetables, in a move it says will prevent 150m small plastic bags from being used every year.The paper bags are being rolled out from Monday and will be in all of the supermarket chain’s 493 stores by the end of the summer. Made from 100% recyclable paper, they have a see-though paper strip to help shoppers and staff identify the produce inside. Continue reading...

Annual carbon emissions, excluding unreliable data, higher than ever, report saysAustralia’s emissions over the past year were again the highest on record when unreliable data from land use and forestry sectors are excluded, according to new data from NDEVR Environmental.If the country’s greenhouse gas emissions continue on their current trajectory, Australia will miss its Paris target by a billion tonnes of CO2, which is equal to about two years of Australia’s entire national emissions.

25 June 1918 Without apparent effort they dash with incredible speed to one side or the other, or even backwards or forwardsSlim-bodied, brilliantly blue dragonflies dart above the waterside vegetation, then suddenly stop themselves and cling to an upright stem, wings extended wide, long legs clasping with angled “elbows.” They do not dash themselves against the plant they aim for. Poised in the air as if suspended are the buzzing hover-flies, their wings moving so rapidly that we only see a blur. Without apparent effort they dash with incredible speed to one side or the other, or even backwards or forwards; we see a line flash across our field of vision, and there the insect is, hovering again five yards away, or maybe back in the same spot from which it suddenly vanished.Related: Photographing dragonflies is easier than you think | Mike Averill Continue reading...

Craig Kelly wants meeting for business leaders to be open to all MPs ahead of expected party-room protestsThe energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, is being lobbied to open a private meeting of the government’s backbench energy committee to all comers ahead of more protests about the national energy guarantee expected in the Coalition party room on Tuesday.Frydenberg has organised a delegation of business leaders to address a special meeting of the Coalition backbench committee on energy and the environment early Tuesday morning, ahead of the regular gathering of the Coalition party room, in an effort to keep a lid on the internal debate. Continue reading...

Initiative aims to reduce dumping of ‘waste’ and sell it at prices set by buyersIn a bright, airy Toronto market, the shelves are laden with everything from organic produce to pre-made meals and pet food. What shoppers won’t find, however, is price tags. In what is believed to be a North American first, everything in this grocery store is pay-what-you-can.The new store aims to tackle food insecurity and wastage by pitting the two issues against each other, said Jagger Gordon, the Toronto chef who launched the venture earlier this month. Continue reading...

Union boss and Corbyn ally urges all Labour MPs to back expansion ahead of third runway voteLen McCluskey has written to all Labour MPs urging them to back Heathrow expansion on Monday, a move that puts the head of the Unite union directly at odds with Jeremy Corbyn.He said they had “the opportunity to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs” by backing the government’s decision to build a third runway. Continue reading...

Decision comes as regulator prepares to impose price cap on energy billsA champion of price caps and a critic of suppliers’ behaviour has been chosen to lead the UK’s energy regulator, Ofgem.In an effort to toughen up the watchdog, which has been criticised for being soft on energy firms, regulatory economist Martin Cave has been selected as the regulator’s new chair just months before it is due to impose a price cap on energy bills. Continue reading...

‘There’s no room for any new long-term fossil fuel developments,’ climate scientists sayA gas boom in the Northern Territory would contribute as much as 6.6% to Australia’s annual emissions, according to data in a report from an inquiry examining the risks associated with fracking.The final report by the inquiry’s committee assessed the emissions from exploration, producing gas from the planned new gasfields and from burning that proportion of the gas destined for the domestic market. Continue reading...

The entire population of tadpoles in Peter Malpass’s pond has been eaten by dragon fly larvaeYour report (21 June) urging gardeners to be frog friendly is, of course, to be welcomed. However, cherishing amphibians raises a dilemma because one of the major threats to frog populations is predation by dragon fly larvae, rapacious creatures up to two inches long and said to be capable of eating anything not bigger than themselves. This year not a single froglet will emerge from my pond, despite the protection given to the frog spawn during the late snow and frost. The entire population of tadpoles has been eaten by dragon fly larvae. The fact that the adult dragon fly is a magnificent creature in its own right, and, like adult frogs and toads, eats creatures we might regard as garden pests, leaves me in a quandary: is it OK to kill dragon flies to protect frogs, or should I leave it to nature to sort itself out?

Tidal Lagoon Power has to cut headcount after delays over decision on £1.3bn projectBritain’s energy minister will have to explain to MPs why no decision has been made on whether to support a tidal lagoon in Swansea – nearly 18 months after an independent government review backed the plan.Claire Perry will face the business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) committee on Monday afternoon to answer questions on the £1.3bn clean energy project, which has been left in limbo. Continue reading...

Backbenchers defy Jeremy Corbyn by working behind the scenes with Tory whipsLabour MPs who disagree with Jeremy Corbyn’s opposition to the expansion of Heathrow airport have been working closely with government ministers and Tory whips to ensure the plans win parliamentary approval on Monday, in an extraordinary show of defiance against their party leader.The extent of behind-the-scenes cooperation with the government on such an important policy issue is believed to be unprecedented and all but guarantees that the third runway plan will be passed, despite Corbyn, his shadow chancellor John McDonnell and the Labour front bench opposing the move. Continue reading...

Environmentalists fear loss of dunes wildlife and warn of ‘flimsy promises’ about jobsOn a stretch of Scotland’s north-east coast, two historic acts of Highland pillage, separated by ages, are linked across golden sands. The village of Embo in Sutherland lies in the shadow of the grander cathedral town of Dornoch but its beach is known globally for the unique ecosystem its dunes support.Now, a planning decision by Highland council has left many of the 1,200 animal and insect species to be found in this corner of Scotland facing an uncertain future. High on Ben Bhraggrie overlooking this place stands the 200ft statue of George Granville Leveson-Gower, the first Duke of Sutherland and the most ruthless perpetrator of the Highland clearances which harrowed this place two centuries ago. Some now fear another harrowing is imminent. Continue reading...

Community projects can slash household bills but the sector has ground to a halt in Britain – in contrast with schemes in EuropeThe number of people generating their own power has almost flatlined, with only one new group formed in the UK last year, according to the body representing grassroots energy organisations.Cuts to subsidies for homeowners to install solar panels and a “hostile planning approach” that has in effect banned new wind turbines are behind the “wholesale decline”, Community Energy England (CEE) said in its 2018 State of the Sector report. Continue reading...

Ukrainian villagers living in the shadow of Europe’s biggest chicken farm are fighting back – not just against the company but the development banks funding itThe locals call this area the Ryaba-land. That’s the name of the chicken brand Nasha Ryaba under which MHP – the largest poultry company in Ukraine and the owners of Vinnytsia farm - sells poultry meat in supermarkets. There are more chicken sheds than houses here. Even the village signs bear the MHP brand.There are, as is so often the case, tensions between the industrial farms and the villagers. But in this case, anger is focussed not just on the company, but on their funders – the big international development banks that hand out public money. Continue reading...

Renting out properties with bad insulation and heating has been prohibited since AprilAre some landlords and agents fiddling new rules that ban them from letting out properties that are poorly insulated and inefficiently heated?Since the start of April, landlords have been prohibited from renting out “sub-standard” houses and flats, which, in this context, means those that don’t meet minimum energy-efficiency requirements. Continue reading...

Kirkham Abbey, North Yorkshire: If the residents of these anthills object to me perching on their home like some mammal Godzilla, they don’t show itI wonder if they’re aware of the colossal creature approaching. Do they sense its lumbering footfalls? Do the walls tremble, or the avenues and galleries of their metropolis deform perceptibly under its weight? Can they sense its extravagant metabolic heat?The mounds that pimple this sloping pasture are silent. The sheep were taken off a week or two back, but there’s been virtually no rain, so the turf tops remain cropped and dry – they look like a crowd of skinheads frowning into the longer grass around, some with tiaras of speedwell. Each tump is tall enough to escape winter waterlogging and, coincidentally, the perfect height for sitting on. If the residents object to me perching on their home like some mammal Godzilla, they don’t show it. Continue reading...

Cutting single-use plastics can be surprisingly challenging but there are easy alternativesMy first Plastic Free July was in 2013. At the time most of my friends were signing up for Dry July, the month where participants go alcohol free and raise funds for cancer support organisations across Australia.Instead, I decided to participate in what was then a relatively unknown challenge to reduce my single-use plastics over a month after watching the eco-documentary The Clean Bin Project. Continue reading...

Readers respond to Patrick Barkham’s article about declining swift numbersReading Patrick Barkham’s piece (Can our swifts fill summer’s skies again? It’s up to us to help, 19 June) reminded me of an experience that made me marvel at the swift’s aeronautical prowess and makes me anticipate their screeching return each May.A few years ago I saw a small black bird fluttering on a roadside. I stopped and on closer inspection realised that the bird was a swift, which once grounded finds it hard to take to the air again. I cradled the bird in my hands and threw it upwards where it unfurled some six or eight feet above me, caught the air and shot away, out of sight in seconds. Continue reading...

Insects racing with flags of the two countries offer prediction for outcome of World Cup tieEngland have been backed to beat Panama on Sunday – by a colony of World Cup-predicting ants.Two of the insects raced along 36 metres of rope carrying Panama and England flags, with the red and white of St George making it back to the queen fastest. Continue reading...

The extraordinary Native American resistance effort may have faded from the headlines but the US government continues to prosecute activists, who say it is destroying livesStanding Rock saved Little Feather’s life. Then the US government took it from him.Little Feather was one of thousands of Native Americans who traveled to North Dakota in 2016 to fight the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline. The 45-year-old member of the Chumash Nation was battling drug addiction at the time, said his wife, Leoyla Cowboy. But the “water protector” movement gave him a sense of purpose, a renewed connection to indigenous elders, and sobriety. Continue reading...

Burkina Faso’s sacred crocodiles, a family of cheetahs and a humpback whale are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

Greater than usual presence of Phalaris grasses this year could be behind the neurological damage in the animalsVeterinarians from the University of Melbourne are investigating whether kangaroos that appear to be “drunken” and “staggering” in central Victoria have suffered neurological damage because of a common pasture crop.Wildlife rescuers have reported a spike in the number of eastern grey kangaroos that appear to have Phalaris “staggers”, a condition commonly seen in ruminants such as sheep and cattle that have been grazing on the new shoots of Phalaris grasses, particularly Phalaris aquatica. Continue reading...