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Until Pruitt deleted the EPA climate webpages.

First data ever gathered from extremely remote area of the South Indian Ocean has a surprisingly high volume of plastic particles, say scientistsMicroplastics have been found in some of the most remote and uncharted regions of the oceans raising more concerns over the global scale of plastic pollution.Samples taken from the middle of the South Indian Ocean – at latitude 45.5 degrees south – show microplastic particles detected at relatively high volumes. Sören Gutekunst, from the Geomar Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel, who analysed the samples, said the data showed 42 particles per cubic metre, which was surprising given the remoteness of the area. Continue reading...

15 February 1918 The ground was seamed and lined by their tracks until it resembled the photographs taken from aircraft of trenches at the frontYesterday morning, and to a lesser extent this morning, worms were unusually active; the influence of spring had penetrated underground and sent them to the surface to feel rather than see the improved conditions. They crawled in thousands over the footpaths; they were crushed and mutilated in hundreds beneath the feet of passers-by; the ground was seamed and lined by their tracks until it resembled the photographs taken from aircraft of trenches at the front. These extensive peregrinations must have begun at an early hour.Related: From the archive, 19 May 1984: Here's hoping the Guinness worm will turn Continue reading...

South Devon: Outside this field the nearest colony of these heathland ants is in the Scottish Highlands

Everyday hubbub can increase your chance of cardiovascular problems, new research claims. Here are four ways to mitigate the effects of background soundsIf you find it vexing that a loud bang can trigger a heart attack, bad news: it turns out a low rumble can, too. Several studies have identified links between noise pollution from railways, airports or roads and cardiovascular conditions such as high blood pressure, stroke and heart failure. According to new research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, this is probably because sound can cause a spike in stress hormones, which damages the heart over time.The researchers from Johannes Gutenberg University in Germany who compiled the research said one of the main ways noise pollution affects heart health is by disrupting sleep. Thankfully, there are simple way to mitigating those effects. Continue reading...

Solar farm approvals and record rooftop installations expected to ‘turbo-boost’ productionA record-breaking month of rooftop installations and a flood of large-scale solar farms could almost double Australia’s solar power capacity in a single year, industry analysts say.A massive solar energy boom is being predicted for 2018, after an unprecedented number of industrial solar farms were approved by the New South Wales and Queensland governments last year. Continue reading...

The Danish capital ranks high on the list of the world’s healthiest and happiest cities. With obesity and depression on the rise worldwide, here are its lessons for how to combat them culturallyMaybe it’s the Viking heritage. There is an icy open-air pool in the waters of Copenhagen’s harbour, and although it is mid-winter Danes still jump in every day. On the front cover of the city’s health plan, a lean older man is pictured climbing out, dripping, his mouth open in a shout that could be horror or pleasure. “Enjoy life, Copenhageners,” urges the caption.It’s not every Copenhagener who wants to take strenuous exercise in cold water either for fun or to get fit. But the packed bike lanes of the Danish capital, even at this sometimes subzero time of year, are testimony to the success of a city that is aspiring to be one of the healthiest in the world. Copenhagen consistently sits at the very top of the UN’s happiness index and is one of the star performers in the Healthy Cities initiative of the World Health Organisation, which, almost unknown and unsung, celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. The initiative was the idea of a group of individuals inspired by the Alma Ata Declaration of 1978, which was about elevating the status of primary care and public health in a world where everybody equated healthcare with hospital treatment after you got ill. Continue reading...

Gender imbalance at energy firms and industry events is slowing transition to greener power, claims expertThe lack of women in energy companies is holding back the sector’s efforts to tackle climate change, a leading industry watcher has warned.Catherine Mitchell, a professor of energy policy at the University of Exeter, said poor gender diversity meant the industry was less open to new ideas, in particular the move to a lower-carbon energy system. Continue reading...

Rio’s vast annual street celebration features copious amounts of sparkling microplastics that find their way into the marine food chainWith Rio’s enormous carnival in full swing, the streets are full of revellers in colourful fancy dress, thronging the city’s many samba street parties. And among the looks, there is one carnival constant: multicoloured glitter smeared over bare skin.

Tanya Plibersek rejects Jeyakumar Janakaraj’s claim Bill Shorten casting doubt on future foreign investmentLabor has rejected claims it is destabilising Australia’s ability to attract investment through its growing scepticism of the controversial Adani Queensland coalmine.

North Yorkshire project halted for inquiry into stability of Third Energy, whose chairman is former chief executive of outsourcing giantA controversial plan to start fracking for shale gas in rural North Yorkshire has been thrown into doubt amid mounting concerns over the finances and management of the company behind the scheme.In a move that has encouraged anti-fracking protestors, energy secretary Greg Clark has ordered the start of drilling at Kirby Misperton to be put on hold pending an investigation into the “financial resilience” of Third Energy. Continue reading...

Popular species like grouper and wrasse could be gone from dining tables in decades as trade drives wild populations to the brink of collapse.The US$1 billion a year Live Reef Fish for Food Trade (LRFFT) is threatening the future of key reef predator species like grouper, coral trout and Napoleon wrasse, according to a recent study.

Photographs of rare species from unexplored area of Antarctic seabed highlight need to protect life in one of the most remote places on the planet

Bus driver raises cash via Twitter to give ‘magical’ poetry and picture book to all 2,681 schoolsA book created to celebrate the disappearing words of everyday nature, from acorn and wren to conker and dandelion, is fast becoming a cultural phenomenon with help from a crowdfunding campaign by a school bus driver.

Airedale, West Yorkshire: Neck held straight, upright and officer-like, the drake appears dressed in close-fitted tweeds, a fine houndstooth of tan and greyI don’t know a bird book that has much to say about the gadwall (Anas strepera). Generally this unobtrusive winter duck is compared with the more common mallard, and comes off worse: smaller (just), duller (much), either shriller (the duck) or coarser (the drake) in quack. But like many a winter bird – think of the intricate copper-trimmed scalloping of a starling’s non-breeding plumage – the gadwall repays a little close attention. Continue reading...

Environmentalists say car could have been powerful statement to promote electric cars in AustraliaThe new Holden Commodore – the first to be made overseas – is a “missed opportunity” to launch a high-profile electric or hybrid car in Australia, according to pro-renewables groups.The 2018 Commodore has been launched after the last operational Holden plant in Australia, in Elizabeth, South Australia, closed on 20 October last year. Continue reading...

Figures released by the EPA show that 115 crime cases were opened in 2017, down from a peak of nearly 400 in 2009The Environmental Protection Agency’s enforcement activity against polluters has fallen to its lowest level in a decade, with the first year of the Trump administration seeing a sharp drop in fines for companies that break environmental rules.Figures released by the EPA show that 115 environmental crime cases were opened in the 2017 financial year, down from a peak of nearly 400 in the 2009 financial year, which was largely under the Obama administration. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Brexit fears and falling pound left fruit and vegetable farms short of more than 4,000 workers, with senior MPs warning of a crisisFruit and vegetable farms across the UK were left short of thousands of migrant workers in 2017, leaving some produce to rot in the fields and farmers suffering big losses. Continue reading...

The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox Continue reading...

Galápagos marine iguanas, feeding penguins and a camouflaged owl are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

Wilderness study areas are more wild and untouched than national parks. But a Republican proposal threatens this unique terrain, environmentalists say

Fears for spectators and competitors as temperatures forecast to plummet to -15C

Canadian government viewed Trump’s election as “positive news” for Keystone XL and energy industryThe Trudeau government treated Donald Trump’s election as “positive news” for Canada’s energy industry and welcomed the help of Canada’s main corporate oil group in lobbying the US administration, documents show.

Sinah Common, Hayling Island, Hampshire: Despite years of dedicated gorse-scanning this was the first time I’d seen one of these secretive little birds on my patchThe gorse thicket was ablaze with flower, but the heady coconut-suncream scent of the golden blossom was at odds with the biting wind and overcast sky. As a shower began to fall like a haze of iron filings, I decided to take shelter behind one of the well-preserved anti-aircraft gun emplacements – a relic from the second world war, when decoy fires were set on Hayling Island to draw the Luftwaffe away from the important military targets on nearby Portsea Island.

Only one quarter of the world’s governments have urban development policies and most are not enough to make cities sustainableNational governments around the world are neglecting the needs of their major cities with non-existent or inadequate development policies, a new report has found.National governments are key to making cities more sustainable, because cities are limited in the policy measures they can take for themselves, the report points out. However, only a quarter of the world’s governments have urban development policies at all, and most of those that do exist are not sufficient to make cities sustainable. Continue reading...

UK’s largest poultry group may close three factories putting 900 jobs at risk

CSIRO researchers use world-first genetic analysis to estimate population, but believe numbers could be as high as 12,800About 5,500 great white sharks are cruising in the waters off Australia’s east coast, new research has revealed.

Lock the Gate says previous decisions not factored in to recommendation allowing 250ha of endangered area to be clearedCoalmining companies were given approval to clear nearly 10% of what is now a critically endangered forest in the New South Wales Hunter Valley over the past decade, according to evidence before a government commission.

Museum of London opens putrid exhibit that ‘reflects the dark side of ourselves’Its aroma was once a mix of rotting meat and a toddler’s nappy that had been left out for months, but it has now, mercifully, calmed down.“At the moment it smells like dirty toilets,” said Sharon Robinson-Calver, who has led the conservation team at the Museum of London for one of its most challenging and unusual projects. Continue reading...

Chris Junior Anaekwe, a self-appointed ‘ambassador’ for the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, drew praise on Twitter after he persuaded local teens to tackle rubbish in OnitshaA Nigerian man living in one of the world’s most polluted cities has been hailed for “leading by example” and cleaning up his community in the face of government inaction.Chris Junior Anaekwe, 28, drew the applause of the internet for leading a group of local teenagers in tackling rubbish in their neighbourhood in Onitsha, a port city in southern Nigeria. Continue reading...

A new study finds strong agreement that flood risks in central and western Europe are rising due to global warming.

UK insurer accused of undermining international efforts to fight climate changeUK insurer Aviva is the second-biggest investor in the Polish coal industry, the most polluting in Europe, according to a report that looks at insurance firms’ involvement in the sector.Aviva is among a number of major European insurers that are backing the expansion of Poland’s coal industry, undermining international efforts to battle climate change, according to research from Unfriend Coal, a global network of organisations including Greenpeace Switzerland, 350.org and the UK Tar Sands Network. Continue reading...

Sandy, Bedfordshire: It should have been hibernating, but there it was, bashing its head against a cold window. Something had to be doneIt is a curious fact that the most beautiful parts of a butterfly are also the least palatable. When I lifted a log from the woodpile, the eye of a peacock in an insect wing beneath looked back. It was a sail without a ship, a cover without a book. The wing was still fired with fresh colours, as lustrous as a birthday balloon and just as nutritious. The thick body that had been provisioned with sweetness to sit out the winter in darkness had gone.The day before, another peacock, inadvertently transported indoors in the log basket, was hours away from cremation when it woke into living room summer. I did not see it fly up to the sunlit window but heard a loud thrumming from behind the blind. There it was, improbably animated out of season, bashing its head incessantly against a cold window. How could it understand that the golden orb beyond was a false god, offering only frost and ice? Continue reading...

Concerns raised over weakened regulations on imports in potential post-Brexit trade dealsLivestock raised for food in the US are dosed with five times as much antibiotic medicine as farm animals in the UK, new data has shown, raising questions about rules on meat imports under post-Brexit trade deals.The difference in rates of dosage rises to at least nine times as much in the case of cattle raised for beef, and may be as high as 16 times the rate of dosage per cow in the UK. There is currently a ban on imports of American beef throughout Europe, owing mainly to the free use of growth hormones in the US. Continue reading...

Activist group surveys members about role they want it to play in Melbourne contestGetUp is yet to decide whether or not it will be active on the ground in the looming Batman byelection, and is waiting on a signal from Labor about its position on the controversial Adani project.

EPA administrator says ‘There are assumptions made that because the climate is warming that necessarily is a bad thing’Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, has suggested that global warming may be beneficial to humans, in his latest departure from mainstream climate science.Pruitt, who has previously erred by denying that carbon dioxide is a key driver of climate change, has again caused consternation among scientists by suggesting that warming temperatures could benefit civilization. Continue reading...

The most recent Countryside Survey revealed a loss of 91,000 miles of managed hedgerow between 1984 and 2007 in Britain, writes Emma MarringtonYour report (7 February) highlights the shocking decline in hedgehog populations – as high as 97% since the 1950s, particularly in rural areas. It can’t just be coincidence that our countryside hedgerows, the favourite bolthole of the discerning hedgehog, have seen a similar decline over that period.Aerial photographs from 1940 show an almost complete network of hedges across much of the country. But between 1950 and 1975, the loss of hedges became the most familiar and visible damage to the countryside. The most recent Countryside Survey revealed a loss of 91,000 miles of managed hedgerow between 1984 and 2007 in Britain. Continue reading...

Slash CEO income, bring more women on board and go low carbon, Church Investors Group tells companiesThe Church Investors Group has warned some of Britain’s biggest companies it intends to take a hard line over failings on executive pay, gender diversity and climate change in the forthcoming annual meeting season.The group, which represents church organisations with combined investment assets of about £17bn, has told companies listed on the FTSE 350 index it will refuse to re-elect directors at firms failing to make sufficient progress in key areas.

Beaches, wildlife, the Great Barrier Reef, unspoilt natural wilderness and national parks all considered threatenedTourism is Australia’s most vulnerable and least prepared industry to deal with climate change despite the fact it is already feeling its effects, according to an advocacy group report.The report by the Climate Council, based on 200 source documents and articles, says while tourism is growing at an extraordinary pace – an 8% jump in visitors last financial year – not enough is being done to prepare for damage to the country’s greatest drawcards. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Documents show Katrina Hodgkinson changed plan to allow irrigators to extract up to 32% more after lobbyingA water-sharing plan for the Barwon-Darling was altered by the former New South Wales minister for primary industries, Katrina Hodgkinson, even though public consultations on the draft plan had ended and her bureaucrats had already submitted a draft for her to sign.

Marbled crayfish have developed the ability to self-clone – and now a million-strong crustacean army exists in waters stretching from Europe to JapanName: Marbled crayfish. Marmorkrebs in German.Age: Potentially infinite. Continue reading...

Train operator also pledges to reduce food waste as part of new environmental targetsEurostar has unveiled a new 10-point plan to cut carbon emissions and reduce waste over the next three years, highlighting the reduced carbon footprint of high-speed rail for short-haul journeys.

Genome study finds the invasive clonal freshwater crayfish is descended from a single female and reproduces without malesA voracious pest that mutated in a German aquarium and is marching around the world without the need for sexual reproduction may sound like science fiction, but a genetic study has revealed that a rapidly spreading all-female army of crayfish is descended from a single female and reproduces without any males.The clonal freshwater crayfish is regarded as an invasive species which threatens endemic wild species, but its success may help scientists better understand how cancer spreads. Continue reading...

Indonesian authorities say male orangutan was found with 130 airgun pellets and machete wounds in the second known killing this yearThe body of a Borneo orangutan has been found riddled with some 130 airgun pellets, Indonesian authorities have said, the second known killing this year.

Uganda’s first ever Critical Mass is missing the air of protest normally found in Europe or the US. This may be for the best in a country where dissent is often quashed with rubber bullets and tear gas“Do you know what is going on here today?” I ask Annette, the banana seller I’m buying a quick breakfast from. She doesn’t, so I explain that people are gathering here to ride bicycles together. We’re standing on Luwum street in central Kampala, looking out at a completely alien scene. With the usual sea of cars, minibus taxis and boda bodas (the city’s famous motorbike taxis) absent, the whole road is visible and looks 10 times more spacious than usual. It has been adorned with colourful paintings – including green cycle lanes – and we can see people walking, talking and cycling, while children run around playing.

In a sixth year of consecutive growth, organic sales rose by 6% to a record £2.2bn, driven largely by independent outlets and home deliveriesSales of organic food and drink in the UK rose by 6% last year to a record £2.2bn, fuelled by strong growth through independent outlets and home delivery which outpaced sales in rival supermarkets.Almost 30% of all organic sales now take place online or on the high street, according to a new report from Soil Association, the trade body which licenses organic products and promotes organic farming. Continue reading...

Longterm decline is blamed on loss of hedgerows and insect prey but urban hedgehogs may offer a glimmer of hope, says a new reportThe number of hedgehogs living in the British countryside has plummeted by more than half since 2000, according to a new report.The popular but prickly character topped a vote in 2013 to nominate a national species for Britain, but it has suffered as hedgerows are lost and the invertebrates it feasts on diminish. However, the survey offers a glimmer of hope as losses in towns and cities appear to have slowed and the numbers patrolling nighttime gardens may be increasing. Continue reading...

Photographer Sean Gallagher has set up a new Instagram feed called Everyday Extinction. Featuring work from 25 wildlife photographers, photojournalists and scientists, the project aims to highlight species extinction and celebrate biodiversity

Wenlock Edge, Shropshire: Planted to enhance the landscape around a medieval monastery, this tree has been saved from natural disintegration through pruning and loppingThe big old horse chestnut at Wenlock Priory has been pruned. I expect it’s to do with reducing the great limbs of its crown to prevent the tree falling apart in gales. The amputations have an odd symmetry and, although the idea is for new growth to reshape the tree, it looks now like a ruin among the ruins of the medieval monastery. There may be five centuries between the destruction of the priory following its dissolution in 1540 and the pruning of the tree this winter but they seem so similar, as if made of the same strange fabric.Timber and masonry are, as Rose Macaulay said in Pleasure of Ruins (1953), “part of the ruin-drama staged perpetually in the human imagination”. It’s divided in two, she says: a desire to build them up and then knock them down. There is a sense that the lopped tree in the priory grounds now joins the remains of the past to be preserved as heritage. The horse chestnut was planted to enhance the landscape around the ruins, but it could not be allowed to disintegrate naturally through wind and rain and snowfall. A veneration of age extends to old trees: it behoves us to maintain it as a version of itself, if not its natural self. Continue reading...