Environment | The Guardian

Barclays’ meeting dominated by campaigners and complaints about chief executiveClimate change protesters have disrupted Barclays’ annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday and were forcibly removed during an often fractious event, where the chief executive, Jes Staley, was accused of being “irrevocably tarnished” by his attempt to unmask a whistleblower.Campaigners from the student group People & Planet said they were behind the protest, which lasted several minutes and brought the meeting at the QEII conference centre in London to a temporary halt. Continue reading...

All England Lawn Tennis Club ditches plastic straws for this year’s championshipsWimbledon would not be the same without a thirst-quenching Pimm’s, but this year visitors to the annual tennis championships will be served the beverage without the customary plastic straw.

Opponents of cull say cost of £1,000 per animal killed means it is wasteful as well as cruelThe cost of policing the controversial badger cull in just one of the 21 zones last autumn approached the £1m mark – the equivalent of more than £1,000 for every animal killed there.Objectors to the cull described the bill for Cheshire as a horrendous waste of public money and called for the policy to be scrapped on economic as well as animal cruelty grounds. Continue reading...

British energy giant also boosted by rising levels of oil and gas productionBP’s profits jumped 71% during the first three months of the year, in the latest sign that the British oil company is back on the path to growth.The continued increase in crude and gas prices combined with a 6% rise in production to push profit up to $2.6bn (£1.9bn), the firm’s highest since 2014. Continue reading...

Political editor Andrew Probyn’s statement violated impartiality standards, watchdog rules• Sign up to receive the top stories in Australia every day at noon A statement by the ABC’s political editor in a TV news report that Tony Abbott was “the most destructive politician of his generation” breached the ABC code for impartiality, the broadcasting watchdog has ruled.The Australian Communications and Media Authority found that Andrew Probyn’s piece to camera on a 7pm news bulletin last October was “problematic” and “incongruent” with the rest of his news report. Continue reading...

Waste Not drinks join growing market aimed at preventing huge amounts of misshapen food from being needlessly thrown away‘Wonky’ fruit and vegetables that would have been thrown away are now being used to make a new range of juices, in one of a number of assaults on food waste.One of the UK’s largest fresh produce growers has teamed up with a Spanish fruit supplier to create a new product, Waste Not, which will stop edible but visually ‘imperfect’ ingredients such as fresh celery, beetroot and oranges from being dug back into the soil, or used for animal feed. The new juices will go on sale in branches of Tesco. Continue reading...

After a photographer lost an award for allegedly using a taxidermy anteater, colleagues describe cases of glued insects and trained tigersThe Brazilian photographer Marcio Cabral was stripped of a prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year award last week after judges noticed that the anteater at the foot of a glowing termite mound in his picture looked an awful lot like the taxidermy anteater found at the entrance to the national park where he captured the shot.If Cabral did use a stuffed creature in his photograph – a charge he strongly denies – it would be a new low for those claiming to document “wild” animals, and emblematic of a murky underbelly in the field. Among the tricks regularly used without disclosure to get magazine-worthy natural history images are the hiring of trained animals, the gluing or freezing of insects into position and the use of bait to lure subjects closer to the camera. Continue reading...

Titchwell Marsh, Norfolk: Isn’t this a kind of cathedral, an endlessly renewed scene of biodiversity and beauty made by sunlight and fashioned from stardust?It was wonderful as well as instructive to sit with my younger daughter at the edge of the wetland scrape that is the showcase of the Titchwell Marsh RSPB reserve. Continue reading...

Insect lovers are going to extraordinary lengths to give injured butterflies an extra few weeks of lifeNew Zealand’s love affair with the monarch butterfly has reached bizarre new heights, with some devotees performing wing transplants on the insects to give them a few extra weeks of life.Although the butterflies are not classified as threatened or endangered, some lepidopterists have carried out the unusual surgery using techniques picked up from YouTube. Continue reading...

Labor is poised to finally pass the reforms but farmers say the changes will harm the state’s agricultural sector• Sign up to receive the top stories in Australia every day at noonThe Queensland government is expected to pass new land-clearing laws on Tuesday amid fierce protests by farmers on the steps of the state parliament.The laws are an attempt to rein in soaring clearing rates and restore environmental protections that were scrapped in 2013. The Climate Council estimates bushland more than seven times the size of Brisbane – about 1m hectares – was cleared between 2012 and 2016. Continue reading...

Environmental campaigner and founder of 350.org says the financial sector has picked up on the future of energy much quicker than politicians

Water supplies in western US will become more precarious amid warming climateLos Angeles should not exist. The explorer John Wesley Powell warned the US Congress 140 years ago that the American west was a harsh arid land and settlements should be limited to conserve scarce water supplies. The politicians rejected his advice and launched a massive programme of dam and canal construction for irrigation and settlements.

Tree-felling helped trigger ‘hidden collapse’ of mountain ash forests, ecologists say• Sign up to receive the top stories from Guardian Australia every morningMelbourne’s water supply is at risk because decades of logging and forest loss from large bushfires has triggered the imminent collapse of the mountain ash forests in Victoria’s central highlands, ecologists have said.The Victorian government was warned of the likelihood of ecosystem collapse by Australian National University researches in 2015. New research led by Prof David Lindenmayer of ANU, published in PNAS journal on Tuesday, has found the ecosystem has already begun to undergo a “hidden collapse”. Continue reading...

Turnbull government has applied public pressure on AGL Energy to extend plant’s operating lifeTechnical work undertaken for the Turnbull government’s national energy guarantee assumes the ageing Liddell power plant will be out of the system by 2023 – a development that will help drive the emissions reduction requirements of the Coalition’s new energy policy.

Plan for fund combining taxpayers’ cash and private investment significantly behind schedule, it has emergedA £400m government plan to build electric car charging points looks likely to be significantly delayed, in a blow to car manufacturers and efforts to tackle air pollution in UK cities.The Treasury pledged last year to support the switch to zero-emission vehicles with a £400m fund for charging infrastructure. Half of the money was to come from the taxpayer, with the rest matched by the private sector, according to an announcement in the autumn budget. Continue reading...

We want to hear from those who have seen tree felling along tracks and what they think its affect may be on the environment and wildlife

The Republican Party values polluter wealth over public healthLike Donald Trump and the rest of his administration, Scott Pruitt has been caught up in so many scandals that it becomes impossible to focus on any single act of corruption. It’s difficult to focus on the damage Pruitt is doing to the environment and public health when seemingly every day there’s a new scandal related to his illegal $43,000 phone booth, or use of Safe Water Drinking Act funds to give two staffers a total of $85,000 in raises (and lying about it), or his sweetheart deal on a condo rental from a lobbyist’s wife (and lying about having met with that lobbyist), or wasting taxpayer funds on first class air travel and military jets, and a nearly $3m per year security detail, and bulletproof car seat covers, and a bulletproof desk, and so on.Number of federal investigations into Scott Pruitt has now risen to 11. Reps. Beyer & Lieu say EPA inspector general will take up an inquiry into the $50-a-night condo rental from the wife of an energy lobbyist. Continue reading...

Lab-grown meat and food-tech companies in the US are showing that applying science to what we eat can save the world and make money

The Australian Academy of Science and its New Zealand counterpart, the Royal Society Te Apārangi, are launching a 10-year plan to study and name unknown species, warning that a sound understanding of biodiversity is critical in the face of a global extinction crisis. Broadcaster Sir David Attenborough has gotten behind the study, saying, 'We cannot understand the natural world without the taxonomic system.' He adds, 'I depend on the work of these scientists' Continue reading...

Annual BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine study reports six in 10 people have not seen a hedgehog in their garden this yearSightings of hedgehogs in gardens have fallen again, with almost six in 10 people saying they have not seen one at all this year, a survey has found.

Female trapdoor spider known as Number 16 was sedentary and stayed close to her burrow• Sign up to receive the top stories in Australia every day at noon

Stanley residents fail to stop farmer mining groundwater that is sold on as bottled springwater• Sign up to receive the top stories in Australia every day at noon

Armathwaite, Eden Valley: Their fingertips white with climbing chalk, they are surmounting overhangs and traversing blank-looking wallsJohn Buchan’s hero Richard Hannay crosses my mind as I reach an impasse while walking along the banks of the Eden to Armathwaite crags. A flight of steps descends into Sandy Bay, created from fine-grained sand churned up from the riverbed each flood. Only, while Buchan’s 39 steps descend to sands between white chalk cliffs in Kent, Armathwaite’s stairs are sandwiched between red sandstone precipices. Also, Hannay’s adversaries were international spies; mine are old age and a dodgy hip. Continue reading...

Hong Kong’s Alinta says it has made a nonbinding offer for the plant that is slated to close in 2022

Exclusive: Plan to stop leaves and branches falling on lines has already led to thousands of trees being chopped downMillions of trees are at risk in a secretive nationwide felling operation launched by Network Rail to end the nuisance of leaves and branches falling on the line.

Environmental activists demonstrate against luxury housing project in Chiang MaiOver a thousand people have gathered in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand to protest against the building of a government luxury housing project on forested land, police have said.The gathering on Sunday was one of the largest since Thailand’s junta took power following a 2014 coup. The junta imposed a ban on public gatherings of over five people and has largely curbed freedom of expression through various orders and used military and police forces to block public gatherings. Continue reading...

The president of the Association of Lighting Directors warns that a new directive could make all existing equipment obsoleteI am writing to you as the president of the Association of Lighting Designers, and as the Founder of Theatre Projects, an international theatre design company that for 60 years has been at the forefront of British theatre technology, responsible for the stage design of the National Theatre, and for over 1,500 theatre projects in 80 counties.I have been a lighting designer for over 60 years. British theatre now faces an extraordinary crisis. On Saturday 7 May consultation on an amazing EU draft regulation – the Energy Directorate’s Eco-design Working Plan 2016-19 – will close. If confirmed, in 2020 virtually all stage lighting equipment used throughout the British Theatre and entertainment industry will be rendered obsolete and the lamps within that create the light be unobtainable. Continue reading...

The author of a new book on the history of birds’ names found tales of conquest, myth and human endeavourIt’s easy to assume, with bird names, that we know what they mean, and often that assumption is quite correct. Woodpeckers peck wood, bee-eaters feed on bees, and whitethroats are indeed white around the neck.Other names seem almost wilfully obscure: what on Earth does the name puffin mean? Or hobby? Why are turtle doves named after reptiles? And don’t get me started on some of the more bizarre bird names found around the world – from oleaginous hemispingus to zitting cisticola, leaflove to hardhead, and bananaquit to bearded mountaineer. Continue reading...

The money will help try to save the reef from crown-of-thorns starfish and reduce pollution, Malcolm Turnbull to announceThe Turnbull government will allocate $500m to mitigate the impacts of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef.

Exclusive: Co-author of study expresses shock at ‘complete ineptitude’ of government’s intervention• Sign up to receive the top stories in Australia every day at noon The federal government has successfully put pressure on the United Nations to delete all criticism of Australia’s $13bn effort to restore the ailing Murray-Darling river system from a published study, according to the author of an expert report.

Forestry Commission reports invasion of oak processionary moths in south-east EnglandAn infestation of caterpillars that can trigger asthma attacks, vomiting and skin rashes has appeared in south-east England.Oak processionary moths, in their larval stage now, have been spotted in areas that include Croydon, Twickenham, Epping Forest, Watford, Ealing and several London suburbs. Other infestations have been spotted in Bracknell Forest, Slough and Guildford. Continue reading...

Rather than discarding unused bread, retailers are sending it off to be turned into alesBeer and sandwiches have gone together ever since Harold Wilson invited trade union leaders for talks at No 10. Now brewers have gone one better and created a beer made from leftover sandwich bread.It is a tasty solution to the shocking daily waste of bread, with more than 24 million slices thrown away in Britain every day by consumers alone. Three new beers will soon be available at Marks & Spencer made from surplus bread from its sandwich factory that would otherwise be discarded or turned into animal feed. Continue reading...

Beldoo Moss, Cumbrian Pennines: Brontë, bog-body, Baskerville, Brady – it’s as if we are impelled to fill all that bare, bleak, vacant space

Speaking at a memorial to the victims of lynching, the former vice-president warned of the disproportionate impacts of global warmingAl Gore, the former US vice-president turned climate change advocate, has warned that the deepening crisis of global temperature and sea level rise – and the consequent spate of natural disasters in America – will increasingly affect black and poor people more than others.

Bluebell woods, two giant tortoises and a golden jackal are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

Major study finds microplastics in soil across Switzerland and scientists warn urgent research is needed into impacts on food safety as other countries may be worse affectedMicroplastic pollution contaminates soil across Switzerland, even in remote mountains, new research reveals. The scientists said the problem could be worse in other nations with poorer waste management and that research was urgently needed to see if microplastics get into food.In the first major study of microplastics in soil, the researchers analysed soil samples from 29 river flood plains in nature reserves across Switzerland. They found microplastics, fragments under 5mm in size, in 90% of the soils. The scientists believe the particles are carried across the country by the wind. Continue reading...

The world’s most widely used insecticides will be banned from all fields within six months, to protect both wild and honeybees that are vital to crop pollinationThe European Union will ban the world’s most widely used insecticides from all fields due to the serious danger they pose to bees.The ban on neonicotinoids, approved by member nations on Friday, is expected to come into force by the end of 2018 and will mean they can only be used in closed greenhouses. Continue reading...

A scheme to rewild marshland east of Amsterdam has been savaged by an official report and sparked public protest after deer, horses and cattle died over the winterIt is known as the Dutch Serengeti, a bold project to rewild a vast tract of land east of Amsterdam. But a unique nature reserve where red deer, horses and cattle roam free on low-lying marsh reclaimed from the sea has been savaged by an official report after thousands of animals starved.In a blow to the rewilding vision of renowned ecologists, a special committee has criticised the authorities for allowing populations of large herbivores to rise unchecked at Oostvaardersplassen, causing trees to die and wild bird populations to decline. Continue reading...

The agreement was triggered by the Chinese ban on imported plastic waste but critics say it is too little too late

Demand in China and Korea has led to thousands of dudleya being stolen from California as officials lament ‘plant poaching’In China, they are prized for their chubby limbs and cute shapes. In Korea, they are a treasured hobby for housewives. But on the coastal cliffs of California, the dudleya succulent plants are vanishing, snatched up by international smugglers and shipped to an Asian middle-class market hungry for California native flora.California department of fish and wildlife wardens have made five busts this year, involving more than 3,500 stolen plants, evidence that the succulent, a symbol of American hipster style, has gone global to grievous effect. Continue reading...

Controversial plans for an open-pit gold mine have split the French overseas territory in South America. Opponents warn of pollution and biodiversity loss, while local officials point to its potential economic benefits. But ultimately the decision will be made thousands of miles across the AtlanticThrough the window of the small propeller plane leaving the capital Cayenne, the jungle’s canopy stretches out as far as the eye can see.

Abbeydale, South Yorkshire: Years ago, I stumbled across a large patch of the bone-white flowers. Could I find it again?When our children were young, we’d take them on voyages of exploration to an extensive patch near our home of what is sometimes called the unofficial countryside, and by unofficial I mean of course forbidden. Trespassing wasn’t mentioned, but children know when parents are being shifty. The subterfuge only added to their excitement, and having to ford a river to reach this lost Eden was very heaven. One April we stumbled across a large patch of wood anemones that hardly anyone would ever see, treasure that could never be moved. So when this past winter suddenly gave way to blazing sunshine, I wondered: could I find it again?Despite the sun, the moors were still heavy with rain, so the water flowed deep and fast. I threw my boots to the far bank and teetered across, immediately rewarded with a thick spread of ramsons, still fresh with dew. This is a plant almost designed to please children. It stinks and you can make up stories about the bears that grub for the bulbs, wild garlic’s Latin name being Allium ursinum. I stepped carefully, bathing in pungent draughts of scent, toes pushing into the warm earth. Continue reading...

Researchers analysed data from November quake and found main shock occurred near fracking siteOne of South Korea’s largest earthquakes on record may have been caused by hydraulic fracturing – or fracking – according to a study published on Friday in the journal Science.

Josh Frydenberg will seek agreement at meeting of environment ministers for a national stocktake of recycling• Sign up to receive the top stories from Guardian Australia every morningThe Turnbull government will ask the states to work towards a national fix on recycling in the wake of an import ban imposed by China on recycled waste, which has triggered a crisis in Australia.Environment ministers will meet on Friday to discuss practical responses to the Chinese ban, with the commonwealth seeking agreement from state counterparts for a national stocktake as the precursor to boosting domestic capacity to recycle. Continue reading...

Aerial footage supplied by the Lock the Gate Alliance shows the site of the former Ebenezer coalmine near Ipswich – which will remain a cratered landscape after the Queensland government accepted a rehabilitation plan from the site's current owner Continue reading...

EPA administrator blames media and his job’s learning curve as lawmakers grill him over lavish spending and ethical controversies

Site of former Ebenezer coalmine near Ipswich will remain a cratered landscape after authorities apparently lose key environmental documents• Sign up to receive the top stories from Guardian Australia every morningThe Queensland government accepted a “bare minimum” rehabilitation plan for a decommissioned coalmine near Ipswich after apparently losing key documents relating to the site’s environmental conditions.The site of the former Ebenezer mine will remain scarred by massive voids and a waste dam. Rather than fill them – a course of action demanded by environmentalists and local community groups – the owner wants to keep the cratered landscape in the hope of selling the site as a readymade garbage dump. Continue reading...

French president’s frank comments come after Congress address in which he stood up for policies his US counterpart has sought to destroyEmmanuel Macron conceded he had probably failed in his attempt during a three-day trip to Washington to persuade Donald Trump to stay in the Iran nuclear deal, describing US flip-flopping on international agreements as “insane”.The French president had hoped to convince Trump to continue to waive sanctions on Iran, as agreed by the 2015 nuclear deal, in which Iran agreed to accept strict curbs on its nuclear activities. Macron offered Trump the prospect of negotiations on a new complementary deal that would address Iranian missile development and Tehran’s military intervention in the Middle East. Continue reading...

We should account for the costs of disease and death from fossil fuel pollution in climate change policiesWhile the climate policy world is littered with numbers, three of them have dominated recent discourse: 2, 1000, and 66.

Sources within EPA tell Guardian that proposals are threadbare and muddled – ‘they’re are just making it up as they go along’Donald Trump has overseen an onslaught against environmental regulations while insisting, in the wake of the Flint lead crisis, that he would ensure “crystal-clean water” for Americans.The federal government says it is currently drawing up a new plan to tackle lead contamination, which the Environmental Protection Agency says will be unveiled in June. Continue reading...