Development of new material for supercapacitors has potential to raise range to that of petrol carsResearchers have claimed a breakthrough in energy storage technology that could enable electric cars to be driven as far as petrol and diesel vehicles, and recharge in minutes rather than hours.Teams from Bristol University and Surrey University developed a next-generation material for supercapacitors, which store electric charge and can be replenished faster than normal batteries. Continue reading...

Minette Batters, the National Farmers’ Union’s new president, says good quality, safe food is ‘a public right’ and staying part of a customs union is vitalBritish farmers will not accept lower welfare and hygiene standards under any post-Brexit trade deals, and will fight to remain as part of a customs union, the new president of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has pledged.Minette Batters, the first woman to head the powerful farmers’ lobby since its foundation 110 years ago, set out a vision of farming as a unifying force across the UK, providing high-quality but low-cost food to consumers on a tight budget while safeguarding the environment and providing one in eight of the UK’s jobs. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Watchdog’s new report will say agency’s prosecutions and compliance statistics were seriously overstatedThe New South Wales ombudsman is investigating whether WaterNSW – the body responsible for compliance with the state’s water laws – has misled it when it provided data last year on the number of prosecutions and enforcement actions it had taken in the 15 months prior.The ombudsman confirmed a second special report will be tabled in the first week of March, but declined to outline its contents. Special reports are a last resort when the ombudsman deems that a report to the minister is insufficient. Continue reading...

Climate change and overfishing could push the region’s king penguin populations to the brink of extinction, a new study showsRising temperatures and overfishing in the pristine waters around the Antarctic could see king penguin populations pushed to the brink of extinction by the end of the century, according to a new study.The report, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, found that as global warming transforms the environment in the world’s last great wilderness 70% of king penguins could either disappear or be forced to find new breeding grounds. Continue reading...

The new rules will also see car speed limits cut and wood-burning stoves banned in a drive to improve air quality in the cityBrussels has moved to make the city’s public transport and bike share system free on the smoggiest days in a bid to drive down pollution levels and meet EU air quality directives.After two consecutive days of high particulate matter (PM) levels – defined as surpassing an average of 51-70 micrograms per cubic metre of air – buses, trams and metros would have to open their doors completely free, under new city council rules. Continue reading...

A deposit return scheme to tackle the billions of bottles not recycled every year is being kicked into the long grass, say MPsThe government is “dragging its feet” on introducing a deposit return scheme to cut the billions of plastic bottles not recycled every year, according to a committee of MPs.The Environment Audit Committee (EAC) called for a deposit return scheme (DRS) in a report in December, in which a small deposit is paid when purchasing a bottle and then returned when the empty bottle is brought back. Environment secretary Michael Gove called a DRS a “great idea” in September. Continue reading...

Groups comprised of ranchers, hunters and conservationists say interior secretary Ryan Zinke has stonewalled them

Exclusive: 60% of parents want traffic to be diverted away from schools at peak times to protect children’s health, a new study showsThe majority of UK parents back the introduction of “pollution exclusion zones” outside schools amid growing concern that illegal levels of air pollution are doing long term damage to hundreds of thousands of young people.A new study published on Monday by environmental law organisation ClientEarth reveals that 60% of parents want traffic diverted away from school gates at the beginning and end of the school day, with just 13% opposed. Continue reading...

People buying hot drinks in cardboard cups in 35 London branches will pay ‘latte levy’Starbucks will be the first UK coffee chain to trial a “latte levy” – a 5p charge on takeaway coffee cups – under plans that aim to reduce the overuse and waste of 2.5bn disposable cups every year.In the latest offensive in the war against plastic waste, the chain said it hoped the move, starting on Monday, would help change behaviour and encourage customers to switch to reusable cups instead. Continue reading...

Fracking has been hailed as an energy miracle in the US, yet globally it faces blocks and even bans. Adam Vaughan explains what it is and why it is so controversialWhat is fracking?

Demand for locally sourced meat may be high but suppliers face uncertain regulatory and economic environmentLocally sourced meat, one of the cornerstones of modern sustainable eating, may soon be out of reach for consumers across the UK as large numbers of small suppliers are forced to close down.Seeking out local meat, vegetables and other food products is increasingly embraced as part of a healthier diet that reduces environmental impact, allows clear traceability and improves farm welfare. Continue reading...

Elveden, Suffolk: Dell is a folky term – a word in the minds of Milton and Tolkien, of outlawed church groups gathered for moonlit worship, of children seeking fairiesThe word “dell” is pure, earthy English. From it we have acquired dale, a valley. But as grand as it has developed, the meaning of this Old English word remains as it was, a wooded hollow – somehow over time engendering an intimacy and aura benignly Arcadian in feel. Dells have a strange magic through literature, which is where the word lives now. No longer practical, more an alternative to evoke, rather than inform. A folky term – a word in the minds of Milton and Tolkien, of outlawed church groups gathered for moonlit worship, of children seeking fairies, or singing in rhyme. These days the farmer tends to be in his den rather than the dell – although the two words are, in this context, synonymous. As such they could have called this little village on the edge of Thetford Forest Elvedell, but they called it Elveden.This roadside dell in Elveden has an old story for its old name, Elveden Dell: literally, the dell of the valley of the elves. A little girl who heard beguiling sounds, tinkling, in high boughs. Then, the same half-music luring horses off the road into here – now the magic dell, of course. Continue reading...

Species remains UK’s fastest declining mammal despite large reintroduction programmeThe number of areas where water voles are found across England and Wales has fallen by almost a third in 10 years, research has found.The species, which provided the model for the much-loved character Ratty in The Wind of the Willows, has suffered catastrophic declines over several decades and is the UK’s fastest declining mammal. Continue reading...

Scientists are alarmed by a rise in mass mortality events – when species die in their thousands. Is it all down to climate change?There was almost something biblical about the scene of devastation that lay before Richard Kock as he stood in the wilderness of the Kazakhstan steppe. Dotted across the grassy plain, as far as the eye could see, were the corpses of thousands upon thousands of saiga antelopes. All appeared to have fallen where they were feeding.Some were mothers that had travelled to this remote wilderness for the annual calving season, while others were their offspring, just a few days old. Each had died in just a few hours from blood poisoning. In the 30C heat of a May day, the air around each of the rotting hulks was thick with flies. Continue reading...

South-east Asian idylls – from Philippine islands to the Thai bay made famous in The Beach – plan to turn tourists away so that devastated coral reefs have some time to recover. Will it be enough?Our Thai tour guide, Spicey, takes a drag on her cigarette and gestures sadly towards the beach. “The problem with people is that they are too greedy. They see a beautiful place and they want it. They take, take, take from nature. And then they destroy it.”The golden sands of Maya Bay where Spicey stands are some of the most famous in the world. This once-idyllic cove, on the tiny Thai island of Koh Phi Phi Leh, was the paradise location of The Beach, Danny Boyle’s 2000 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio. It was then pushed by tourism officials in advertising campaigns to entice more wealthy visitors to Thailand. Continue reading...

Conservationists sound alarm over unprecedented slaughter of rare and endangered species by hunters at three lagoonsA million wild birds a year are now being killed illegally at a single wildlife site in Iran. That is the stark warning from conservationists who say highly endangered migratory species face being wiped out in the near future there unless urgent action is taken.In a letter last week to the journal Science, the conservationists pinpoint the Fereydunkenar wetlands in Iran as the site of this widespread wildlife slaughter. Continue reading...

In the Cumbrian beauty spot that has fended off high-level zip slides, local people and visitors are mostly glad that it won’t now be ‘a glorified theme park’On a crowded island like Britain, encountering absolute silence is rare. But one place where true tranquility can be guaranteed for the foreseeable future is in Cumbria’s north lakes, on the shores of Thirlmere.Plans to stretch eight of the longest zip wire rides in the country across its icy waters, highlighted in the Observer, were abandoned last week to the unbridled delight of many locals. Zip wire advocates had argued the landscape should be opened up for everyone and not “preserved in aspic”. The Lakes, said opponents, should offer a place of escape and peace. The small-C conservatives won the day. Continue reading...

Anna Shurapey recovering in hospital after being bitten by a suspected juvenile great white off Little Congwong beachBotany Bay beaches that were closed after a woman was bitten by what experts suspect was a juvenile great white shark have reopened after the attack.Randwick City Council on Sunday morning reopened Little Congwong, Congwong, Frenchmans and Yarra beaches at La Perouse following the shark attack on Friday evening. Continue reading...

The Asian amphibians arrived just 10 years ago. Now in their millions, they threaten the island’s unique wildlifeRustling branches and a canopy cacophony – part howl, part screech, part snigger – proclaim the presence of black-and-white ruffed lemurs as visitors enter Ivoloina zoological park in eastern Madagascar.The raucous primate is one of several critically endangered species in this biological refuge, which breeds and protects rare wildlife from the growing pressures on this island’s unique ecology. Continue reading...

It’s polluting our oceans and killing our wildlife, but how easy is it to get by without it? Four writers find outNo man is an island. However, if I were an island, I’d probably be the best one ever. When the Guardian asked me to record all the single-use plastic I got through in a week, I scoffed. Piece of cake, I thought. Continue reading...

Aberystwyth, Ceredigion: From the depths of dormant bramble thickets, tangled and moribund, robins called and chased defiantly as they reinforced their territoriesIn the last stages of its journey to the sea, the river Ystwyth curves in gentle meanders across a broad valley pasture grazed by a modest scattering of sheep. This close to the coast, the wind from the sea is a powerful force, carving the small riverside trees into forms that leave no doubt as to its direction and persistence. Continue reading...

Analysis for the Guardian shows most companies charging customers the same after switching them to ‘cheaper’ tariffsThe UK’s big six energy companies have been accused of dirty tricks after analysis for the Guardian revealed that they are routinely charging customers almost exactly the same amount after switching them off controversial default tariffs.In the face of Theresa May’s plans to impose a price cap on standard variable tariffs (SVTs), which more than half of energy customers are on despite their steep prices, companies such as British Gas, E.ON and SSE have pledged to phase out such tariffs and shift billpayers onto better value fixed deals. Continue reading...

Minister in Twitter spat with Brussels after suggesting UK ban could be prevented by EUMichael Gove has become embroiled in a Twitter row with the EU over his suggestion that Brussels could block the UK government from banning plastic straws.The environment secretary and Frans Timmermans, a European commission vice-president, goaded each other on the social media platform over their rival claims to be the most advanced in clamping down on plastic waste. Continue reading...

White-tailed sea eagles, a rose-ringed parakeet and an Aldabra giant tortoise are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

Subpoena could see the campaign group forced to release huge amounts of internal communications including the email addresses of four million people who have signed online petitionsA US court will today hear a request from Monsanto for access to a huge batch of internal communications by Avaaz, in a move that the campaign group says could have grave repercussions for online activism and data privacy.

Ashton, Northamptonshire: Woodland management changes did for this butterfly as the woods were drained, rides narrowed and glades shaded. But now it is to be reintroducedThis May the small brown and gold wings of the chequered skipper will once again beat in the woods of England. Susannah O’Riordan from Butterfly Conservation is here in the butterfly’s spiritual home, the Chequered Skipper pub in Ashton, to reveal the plot to an enthusiastic audience of 80 or so.Related: 20 great UK walks with pubs, chosen by nature writers Continue reading...

Forest peoples affected by plantations urge EU to enact ban despite diplomatic oppositionIf Britain and other European nations are to fulfil forest protection goals, they must ban the use of palm oil for biofuel and tighten oversight of supply chains, a delegation of forest peoples told parliamentarians this week.The call for urgent, concrete action comes amid an increasingly heated diplomatic row over the issue between the EU and the governments of major palm-producing nations such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Costa Rica. Continue reading...

Expert finds pattern of battery charging up overnight to hit grid at peak timesThe big Tesla battery in South Australia is consistently working to serve the peak energy demand each day, taking the “straw off the camel’s back,” according to the Australia Institute’s latest national energy emissions audit.The report also finds emissions from the National Electricity Market [NEM] continued to drop in January, falling to their lowest levels since 2004, driven by the federal large-scale renewable energy target. Continue reading...

Data gathered from more than 70,000 vessels shows commercial fishing now covers a greater surface area than agricultureMore than half the world’s oceans are being fished by industrial vessels, new research reveals.

Court ruling raises possibility of traffic returning to popular pedestrianised right bankWhen pedestrians reclaimed a stretch of once traffic-clogged dual carriageway on Paris’s right bank a year-and-a-half ago, it was a symbol of the leftwing mayor’s anti-pollution fight to push cars out of the French capital.But a court ruling has raised the spectre of traffic potentially being forced back on to the newly popular, car-free promenade by the river Seine – the latest battle in the city’s ongoing “car-wars” between the left and right. Continue reading...

An innovative exchange of sovereign debt for marine conservation, backed by the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, could pave the way to saving large swaths of the world’s oceansThe tropical island nation of Seychelles is to create two huge new marine parks in return for a large amount of its national debt being written off, in the first scheme of its kind in the world.The novel financial engineering, effectively swapping debt for dolphins and other marine life, aims to throw a lifeline to corals, tuna and turtles being caught in a storm of overfishing and climate change. If it works, it will also secure the economic future of the nation, which depends entirely on tourism and fishing. With other ocean states lining up to follow, the approach could transform large swaths of the planet’s troubled seas. Continue reading...

A call for continued efforts to protect our water and our Earth

A wood stove emits more harmful air particulates than a diesel truck. Does their newfound popularity in cities threaten to wipe out progress in reducing air pollution?

Sandy, Bedfordshire: These grit peckers are masters of last-minute escapology. But not alwaysTwice every day, soon after dawn and a little before dusk, wood pigeons come down on country roads to feed. Not for them the tyre-stamped carcasses that are peeled off the asphalt by crow beaks. Pigeons are grit peckers, heads down like chickens in a yard. They gobble up tiny stones to act as so many grinding pestles in the mortar of their digestive tract.While crows have adapted to life in the fast lane with cunning and calculating judgment, wood pigeons are masters of last-minute escapology. But not always. Last autumn, I noticed one standing in the middle of a straight, wood-edged road, head lowered, picking away at the ground. I drove on, slowed and waited for it to fly. It flew all right: just a few metres in front of the car it gave a tiny hop that brought it just above the bumper. I heard a soft thud and then, through an explosion of down, a grey bundle smacked against the windscreen, after which I looked in the rear-view mirror to see the poor bird’s body cartwheeling off towards the verge. Weeks later, I was still picking out pale feathers that had wedged firmly on impact in the radiator grill. Continue reading...

Labor frontbencher says party must ‘get the policy mechanisms right’ over Carmichael coalmineAnthony Albanese says Labor should not single out existing projects, like the Adani coalmine, that have already gone through approval processes “and then retrospectively change existing laws, which would have ramifications across the board”.The Labor frontbencher has effectively ruled out Labor overhauling the Environmental Protection Biodiversity and Conversation Act as part of a strategy to boost legal options of killing the controversial Queensland coal project. Continue reading...

Federal court to announce next week whether Stuttgart and Düsseldorf can use vehicle bans to try to improve air qualityOne of Germany’s top courts will rule next week on whether heavily polluting vehicles can be banned from the urban centres of Stuttgart and Düsseldorf, a landmark ruling which could cause traffic chaos and dramatically hit the value of diesel cars on the country’s roads.Related: First fall in car sales since 2011 blamed on fears over diesel ban Continue reading...

Traditional scale used goes only to five but strength and intensity of storms is increasing, says scientistsThe increasing strength, intensity and duration of tropical cyclones has climate scientists asking whether a new classification needs to be created: a category-six storm.The Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale currently runs in severity from one to five, with five describing near-total destruction. Continue reading...

Multinational says deadline was predicated on a subsidised Australian government loanAdani’s plan to build Australia’s largest coalmine has suffered another setback. The company has abandoned its March deadline for securing financing for the first stage of the Carmichael mine.In October, Jeyakumar Janakaraj, the chief executive of Adani Australia, told Reuters it aimed to settle financing for the project by March 2018. Continue reading...

Clear skies above Beijing again – but some fear the problem is just being pushed elsewhereThe photographs on display at Wu Di’s Beijing studio imagine China and Beijing at their dystopian worst.Naked, expectant mothers stare out from the walls, their bellies exposed but their faces hidden behind green gas masks. Continue reading...

Potential for floating windfarms is huge, as many countries have windy sites close to shoreFloating windfarms are likely to be the next large-scale development in renewable energy. The first Hywind Scotland, developed by the Norwegian state oil giant, Statoil, has proved a greater success than its designers hoped. The five giant six-megawatt turbines, 25 miles east of Peterhead, produced more power than expected in the first three months and withstood hurricane-force winds and giant waves.The potential for this technology is hard to overstate. Few countries have shallow continental shelves like the UK to build offshore windfarms on the sea bed, but many have windy sites close to shore where floating windfarms could be anchored to provide power for coastal cities. Continue reading...

Police chiefs seek new powers to help combat ‘very significant’ issue of pets worrying livestock

The Australian white ibis, AKA the 'bin chicken', might not have won the title of Australia's favourite bird, but its next race might help scientists understand how dinosaurs walked and ran Continue reading...

High court says approach to tackling pollution in 45 local authority areas is ‘not sufficient’ and orders urgent changesFor the third time, the UK government has been slammed by the courts for failing to produce an adequate plan to tackle the growing problem of air pollution, in a landmark judgment that will force ministers back to the drawing board in their efforts to clean up dirty urban air.The high court ruled that the government’s current policy on air pollution was “unlawful”, and ordered changes. Air pollution has become a leading test case for environmental legal activism in the UK, as scientists have found as many as 40,000 people a year are dying from dirty air across the country. Continue reading...

These masters of disguise are some of the world’s oldest surviving mammals, but they are threatened by habitat loss, traffic and feral cats – and they need our helpThey may be one of the world’s oldest surviving mammals – around for at least 25m years – but scientists don’t know much about echidnas. Now researchers believe the remaining Australian population may be threatened and they need citizen scientists’ help to save them.

Minette Batters becomes first woman to hold top job since NFU was founded in 1908The National Farmers’ Union has elected Minette Batters as the first female president in the organisation’s 110-year history.Batters, a Wiltshire beef, sheep and arable farmer who has also diversified her business into weddings and catering, was previously the NFU’s deputy president. Continue reading...

Previously unseen government records detail ‘deeply worrying’ incidents in pork and poultry plants, raising fears of ‘dirty meat’ entering the UK under a post-Brexit trade dealShocking hygiene failings have been discovered in some of the US’s biggest meat plants, as a new analysis reveals that as many as 15% (one in seven) of the US population suffers from foodborne illnesses annually.A joint investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) and the Guardian found that hygiene incidents are at numbers that experts described as “deeply worrying”. Continue reading...

Campaigners had opposed £1.8m activity hub in Thirlmere, saying it would ruin the landscapePlans to erect zip-wire rides across one Britain’s most picturesque national parks have been abandoned after protests from residents and environmental campaigners.Treetop Trek Ltd had applied for planning permission for a £1.8m activity hub with eight aerial lines up to 1,200 metres long criss-crossing an area in the Lake District. Continue reading...

Activists seize upon Labor’s contradictory messages on Queensland coalmine in battle for inner-city MelbourneThe Greens will use Labor’s failure to make an unequivocal statement on whether it will oppose the Adani coalmine to ramp up campaign efforts in the Melbourne electorate of Batman.

Luckett, Tamar Valley: Vegetation hides the extensive spoil heaps and the midday sun gilds catkins on sprawling hazelsOn the north side of Kit Hill, remnants of last night’s hail lie beside the steep road leading to the old mining settlement of Luckett. A solitary stack in a field above Deer Park Farm used to vent poisonous arsenic fumes from works in the valley below; down there, beside abandoned mine workings, dilapidated single-storey dwellings have been mooted as a mining museum. Continue reading...