The killing of two activists who successfully campaigned to shut down a mine has shocked environmentalists in Turkey who fear their deaths will embolden others to kill to protect their profits• Interactive: recording the deaths of environmental activists around the worldCedar branches whisper in the Anatolian breeze. Twigs crunch underfoot. A truck rumbles from a distant marble quarry. The crack of a hunter’s rifle echoes through the forest.The sounds of tranquility and violence intermingle at the remote hillside home of Aysin and Ali Büyüknohutçu, the Turkish beekeepers and environmental defenders whose murder in Finike earlier this year has sent a chill through the country’s conservation movement. Continue reading...

Three companies are ultimately owned in the Cayman and British Virgin islands, raising questions about the tax implications of profits generated by solar assetsAdani has spread its use of offshore tax havens to its Australian solar projects, providing another avenue that could allow the wealthy Indian family behind the transnational to legally minimise tax paid on income from local operations.Six companies linked to Adani’s renewables business, which chairman Gautam Adani wants to make the biggest in Australia by 2022, were registered with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission on 3 August. Continue reading...

Judgment rules laws unconstitutional after former Greens leader argues they interfered with the right to freedom of political expressionThe former Australian Greens leader Bob Brown has won a landmark high court fight against Tasmanian anti-protest laws passed in 2014 and under which he was charged in 2016.Brown, the third person arrested under the Workplaces (Protection from Protesters) Act 2014, argued the laws directly targeted implied freedom of political expression in the constitution and were therefore unconstitutional. Continue reading...

A ceremony at the Natural History Museum, London, will reveal the winners of its Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition on Wednesday. Two overall winning images have been selected from the winners of each category, depicting the incredible diversity of life on our planet. They are on show with 99 other images selected by an international panel of judges at the 53rd exhibition, which opens at the museum on Friday. Continue reading...

Walsall’s heyday | Wind power | Elon Musk’s Hyperloop | Today programme | Worst deal ever“Walsall was never a pretty town”, according to Roy Boffy (Letters, 16 October); this may be true now but has not always been the case. Its handsome villas and public buildings were remarked on in 1834 by William White in The History, Gazeteer and Directory of Staffordshire and he believed it needed to yield to no other town in Staffordshire in beauty and elegance. During the 19th century, Walsall added more civic buildings, many built to help improve the life of working people. The 20th and 21st century have not been kind to the town but that is not a reason to forget its history.

New bill omits key ‘precautionary’ principle requiring developers and industry to prove actions will not harm wildlife or habitats as well as ‘polluter pays’ protections

Natural solutions such as tree planting, protecting peatlands and better land management could account for 37% of all cuts needed by 2030, says study

Prime minister wins party room backing despite Tony Abbott bid for delay, but policy may be resisted by statesMalcolm Turnbull has secured party room backing to impose new reliability and emissions reduction guarantees on energy retailers and large energy users from 2020.But the emissions reduction trajectory, the most internally sensitive component of the reform, will require new legislation, and the government has been advised to implement the new scheme with the support of state governments passing complementary laws – which could render Turnbull’s reworked proposal dead on arrival.

Cressbrook Dale, Derbyshire These often despised trees took centuries to go native but today they are a welcome addition to the autumn atmosphere – especially in the rainI find it strange to read in Oliver Rackham’s wonderful Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape that sycamores were probably introduced to the UK in the 16th century, but only went native in the 18th. It seems odd, because it is hard to imagine this restless beast of a tree settling for domestic imprisonment for 200 years.

Conservationists and Indigenous groups hail decision to examine plan to lay rubber matting over middens and heritage sitesThe federal government has requested an independent assessment of an application to open four-wheel-drive tracks along Tasmania’s heritage-listed north-west coast, potentially delaying action until the state election.Conservationists and Indigenous groups have been fighting the Hodgman government’s proposal to lay rubber matting over middens and other Aboriginal heritage sites along the Tarkine coast to allow four-wheel-drive access. Continue reading...

Anne Cameron’s remains and walking stick found at Craiglie Creek, south of Port Douglas, after 79-year-old went missing from her aged-care facilityHuman remains have been found inside a large crocodile police believe killed an elderly woman in Queensland’s far north.Remains believed to belong to Anne Cameron, her walking stick and other items were located at Craiglie Creek, south of Port Douglas, last week. Continue reading...

Instead shop in markets and smaller shops, which are less packaging obsessed and often use paper bags, says Rachel MeredithThe idea of increasing the use of aluminium and steel packaging, as proposed by Andy Clarke (Bring in plastic packaging ban, former Asda boss tells stores, 13 October), is not a sustainable solution. Both materials rely on finite substances and intensive energy to produce them, and there is no guarantee that they will be recycled and will avoid ending up in the sea as well. One possibility would be to increase the use of starch based “plastic”; it’s biodegradable and therefore matters less where it ends up. Obviously another solution is to avoid shopping in supermarkets as far as is possible and to instead shop in markets and smaller shops, which are less packaging obsessed and often use paper bags, as in the good old days.

Guardian Essential poll finds 65% support for doomed target recommended by the chief scientist Alan FinkelThe Turnbull government is poised to unveil a new energy investment framework that will impose obligations on the electricity sector to reduce emissions consistent with the Paris agreement. It will also create new reliability obligations to ensure there’s enough dispatchable power in the system.

Wood Mackenzie predicts global oil growth will plateau about 2035 – earlier than some previous forecastsWorld petrol demand will peak within 13 years thanks to the impact of electric cars and more efficient engines, energy experts have predicted.UK-based Wood Mackenzie said it expected the take-up of electric vehicles to cut gasoline demand significantly, particularly beyond 2025 as the battery-powered cars go mainstream. Continue reading...

Pipeline company downplaying major legal and financial risks of crossing unceded First Nations territory in British ColumbiaThe controversial expansion of a pipeline that would carry tar sands crude from Alberta to British Columbia’s coast will be doomed by the rising power of Indigenous land rights.That’s the message that Kanahus Manuel, an Indigenous activist from the Secwepemc Nation in central BC, plans to deliver to banks financing the project as she travels through Europe this week. Continue reading...

Overfishing and fewer food sources making bears more aggressive, say officials, who have killed 83 on Sakhalin Island this yearTwo people have been killed by bears in Russia’s far east as increasingly large numbers of the animals are approaching humans due to a lack of food sources.Authorities on Sakhalin Island last week said 83 bears had to be shot dead because they were hostile. That figure is nearly three times higher than last year. Continue reading...

Scientists investigating marine life in the Baltic Sea have found mussels, oysters and clams are emitting greenhouse gases – but cows still trump themSwedish scientists have found that flatulent shellfish are creating vast amounts of greenhouse gases, leading to a predictable slew of comments about farting cockles and clams. But beneath the schoolboy humour, there is a serious point. The two gases in question – methane and nitrous oxide – are potent agents of climate change, with a warming potential 28 and 265 times greater than carbon dioxide respectively.Scientists studying the Baltic Sea off the coast of Sweden have found that shellfish are producing one-tenth of all the greenhouses gases released there – the equivalent to the amount produced by 20,000 cattle. If the same situation is being replicated around the rest of the world’s seas and oceans, we have a serious problem. Continue reading...

Georgetown mayor Dale Ross is ‘a good little Republican’ – but ever since his city weaned itself off fossil fuels, he has become a hero to environmentalistsWhen the caller said he worked for Harry Reid and the former Senate majority leader wanted a word, Dale Ross assumed it was a joke. “OK, which of my buddies are messing with me today?” he wondered.He shouldn’t have been so surprised. Ross is the mayor of Georgetown, population 65,000, and he has become a minor celebrity in environmental circles as a result of a pioneering decision in 2015 to get all the city’s electricity from renewable sources.

Coal can’t compete with cheaper clean energy. The Trump administration can’t save expensive, dirty energy.Last week, Trump’s EPA administrator Scott Pruitt announced, “the war on coal is over.” If there ever was a war on coal, the coal industry has lost. According to a new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists, many old American coal power plants are being retired or converted to natural gas, and new coal power plants aren’t being built because they’ve become more expensive than natural gas, wind, and solar energy:The share of US electricity coming from coal fell from 51 percent in 2008 to 31 percent in 2016—an unprecedented change. New UCS analysis finds that, of the coal units that remain, roughly one in four plans to retire or convert to natural gas; another 17 percent are uneconomic and could face retirement soon. Continue reading...

In a new project, an international group of photographers have joined forces to use their powerful images to raise awareness and funds to help stop the illegal wildlife trade Continue reading...

WWF analysis reports that 40% of rivers are polluted with sewage that can harm wildlife and put human health at riskRaw sewage is flowing into rivers at thousands of sites across England and Wales, a report has warned, harming wildlife and putting human health at risk.The total amount of raw sewage intentionally being put into rivers is unknown, which is a “huge concern”, according to conservation group WWF, which produced the analysis. The available data suggests that more than half of overflow sites spill sewage into rivers at least once a month and 14% at least once a week. Continue reading...

Cameron Milner says he will no longer represent Adani to government as ALP prepares for an electionA key Queensland Labor strategist who lobbied over a five-year period for Adani has parted ways with the Indian mining giant in a bid to stop controversy dogging Annastacia Palaszczuk’s re-election campaign.Cameron Milner has confirmed to the Guardian that his firm Next Level Strategic Services would no longer represent Adani in dealings with government as it looks to make its contentious proposal for Australia’s largest coalmine a reality. Continue reading...

Electric cars won’t eradicate gridlocks and air pollution, but carbon footprints could be cut by favouring pedestrians, cyclists and mass transitThe spectre of our cities choking with unhealthy air has prompted numerous governments to mandate a transition to electric cars. Their concerns are well founded, even if their proposals fall short of what is needed.Over the past four decades, cars have become far less polluting. Their fuel efficiency has practically doubled and their tailpipe emissions have been reduced by more than 95%. Yet cities such as London and Paris are still battling smog and pollution. California has for decades demanded the toughest emission standards in the US, and yet Los Angeles heads the list of US cities for bad air quality. Moving to all-electric car fleets will be a positive step, albeit an inadequate measure. Continue reading...

Reports that homes belonging to Maasai people were torched have upped the stakes in their long-running land dispute with the Tanzanian governmentFor Lilian Looloitai, a Maasai woman from east Africa, “land means life”. For her nomadic tribe, who have grazed cattle in north Tanzania’s highlands for centuries, a bitter dispute playing out on the edge of the Serengeti national park brings not just uncertainty, but threatens their very existence. It is the latest example of the growing tensions between wildlife conservation, which brings revenue to the country, and the rights of nomads, who need land to survive.“How long will the government continue to expand the national parks? It is for wildlife, but we are human beings,” said Looloitai, the managing director of Cords Limited, a rights group based in Arusha. “As pastoralists, we are being undermined.” Continue reading...

Pret A Manger becomes the latest to act by offering free filtered water and selling empty glass bottles

A recent story on 621 plants being built globally was played up in various media – but the figure is way off the mark• Support our independent journalism and critical reporting on energy and the environment by giving a one-off or monthly contributionThis is a story about how misinformation can take hold. It’s not always down to dishonesty. Sometimes it’s just a lack of time, a headline and the multiplying power of ideological certainty.Last week, China announced it was stopping or postponing work on 151 coal plants that were either under, or earmarked for, construction. Continue reading...

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 19 October 1917Someone had taken a wasps’ nest. Perhaps as he carried it home some of the inmates objected, or he discovered that most of the cells were empty; at any rate it had been dropped, and lay broken by the path. Over the grubless cakes a few weary workers, chilled by the night exposure, crawled feebly, and three young queens refused to leave the ruins of what had once been their home. They seemed puzzled by the tragedy which had overtaken the busy colony, but they were too weak or too stupid to fly in search of shelter. Two of them died quietly in my killing bottle, but it was not until I pinned the bodies on a setting-board that I discovered that one was abnormal. Either through accident in her youth or from birth she was a cripple; the second and third legs on the right side were missing. Imperfectly developed insects are not rare; but the interesting point about this wasp was that she had made the best of a bad business. When she was alive I did not notice anything peculiar about her gait, but when I attempted to set her limbs I found that the third leg refused to remain on the left side. It was only then that I found that the right legs were missing, and that, in order to avoid the bias of three legs against one, the third left leg was bent under so as to work on the right side. I was sorry that I had not kept her alive to watch her manner of walking.Related: Conservationists slam 'hateful' survey promoting wasp killing Continue reading...

It never occurred to me, peering through rain-soaked binoculars, that I would have to wait 43 years to see another oneIt was late September 1974. Manchester United led the old Second Division, Kung Fu Fighting was top of the pop charts, and the BBC had just launched its Ceefax service. Meanwhile, I was birdwatching on the Isles of Scilly, thanks to my mother’s far-sighted decision to take me out of school for a fortnight, slap-bang in the middle of the migration season.We saw some good birds, including Iceland gull, scarlet rosefinch and a sharp-tailed sandpiper from Siberia. But nearly 50 years later, those I remember best were three buff-breasted sandpipers, plump little waders that had flown all the way across the Atlantic, driven off course by the tail end of a hurricane. Continue reading...

Residents claim high-speed rail company has not taken West Yorkshire area’s coal mining legacy into accountResidents in West Yorkshire have raised concerns about plans to build the HS2 rail line through a former mining area, after an eight-metre-long crack opened up in the ground along the proposed route.Plans for the Yorkshire section of the high-speed train line were changed earlier this year, taking it to the east of Sheffield instead of through the Meadowhall shopping centre, on the city’s border with Rotherham. Continue reading...

Wind isn’t just mysterious, destructive and exhilarating – capturing just 2% of it would solve the planet’s energy needs at a stroke. And as the windiest country in Europe, Britain is at the forefront of this green revolution

Naturalist says experience making second series of BBC show revealed devastating threat posed to oceans by plasticSir David Attenborough has called for the world to cut back on its use of plastic in order to protect oceans. His new BBC TV series, Blue Planet II, is to demonstrate the damage the material is causing to marine life.Speaking at the launch of Blue Planet II, which will be broadcast 16 years after the original series, the broadcaster and naturalist said action on plastics should be taken immediately and that humanity held the future of the planet “in the palm of its hands”. Continue reading...

As the annual solar race across Australia wraps up, a Dutch entry averaged 69kmh from Darwin to Adelaide and resupplied the gridA futuristic family car that not only uses the sun as power but supplies energy back to the grid has been hailed as “the future” as the annual World Solar Challenge wrapped up in Australia.

Cotton has a disastrous foorprint, leather is destroying the Amazon, polyester threatens the ozone layer. Luckily there are some new fabrics on the wayThe current exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art asks: “Is Fashion Modern?” Looking at the industry’s main materials you would have to answer “no”. The global wardrobe of cotton and polyester (invented around 80 years ago) spells ecological disaster.How do you take the cow (with its thunderous footprint) out of a pair of leather shoes? Continue reading...

Richard Di Natale ‘confident’ if project can’t be stopped in parliament or for financial reasons, Australians will stand in front of bulldozersAdani’s Carmichael coalmine won’t go ahead, the Greens leader Richard Di Natale said, predicting “many, many thousands” of Australians would come together to protest any moves to stop the project.Di Natale said he believed Australians largely stood against the Carmichael coalmine, choosing the Great Barrier Reef and the environment over the construction of what has been billed as the largest coal project in the southern hemisphere. Continue reading...

The devastating winds of 1987 felled 15 million trees but also prompted a radical change to the way we work with the countryside to let it heal itselfIt is remembered as a generation-defining moment, the night when ships ran aground, London endured its first blackout since the Blitz, 18 people died and 15 million trees were toppled. But the devastation wrought by the Great Storm of 1987 also left in its wake a startling woodland recovery, prompting a radical reshaping of the way we work with nature to care for the countryside.Thirty years ago on Monday the storm hit south-east England after a fierce wind swooped up from the Bay of Biscay, across a corner of northern France before making landfall in the south-west and sweeping through southern England to bring the full force of its 100mph winds to bear on the south-east. Continue reading...

Research at a secret location in Devon may help eradicate bovine tuberculosis without a single badger being killed, says leading vetA pretty stone farmhouse sits in a bucolic green valley, surrounded by airy cowsheds. It looks like a timeless west country scene but is actually a pioneering farm, where cutting-edge science is helping to solve the hugely controversial, multimillion-pound problem of bovine tuberculosis (bTB).As an expanded badger cull gets under way this autumn, in which 33,500 animals will be killed to help stop the spread of the disease, a leading vet, Dick Sibley, believes this Devon farm demonstrates a way to eradicate the disease in cattle – without slaughtering any badgers. Continue reading...

Nominations for Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards include images of endangered species on island of SulawesiNona is a Sulawesi crested black macaque. Photographed here by Stefano Unterthiner, she is seen chained to a chair outside the house where she is kept as a pet. The scene is made particularly poignant because Unterthiner has included in his image the shadow of Nona, her chain and a tree, thus underlining the freedom that the little animal has lost. At the same time, the owner of Nona – which means “miss” – stands relaxing in the early morning sun.It is illegal to keep this critically endangered animal in captivity. Yet the law is rarely enforced, particularly in remote areas. Hence the grim picture – though far worse was taken by Unterthiner, an Italian wildlife photographer, during his visit to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Hunting, the live-animal trade and forest clearance have caused the animal’s population on the island to crash by 90% in the past 30 years. Only a few thousand are left there. Continue reading...

Deaths of three children and a woman highlight environmental impacts of Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar into forested hills of BalukhaliWild elephants trampled sleeping Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh in the early hours of Saturday, killing three children and a woman in the second such incident since the arrival of hundreds of thousands of refugees from Myanmar in just a few weeks.Many trees on the forested hills of Balukhali in southern Bangladesh, where the incident took place, have been chopped down to house the massive influx of Rohingya Muslims escaping violence in neighbouring Myanmar. Continue reading...

Critics say dredging of sediment could increase risks of contamination on Welsh side of Severn estuaryMore than 300,000 tonnes of “radioactive” mud, some of it the toxic byproduct of Britain’s atomic weapons programme, will be dredged to make way for England’s newest nuclear power station and dumped in the Severn estuary just over a mile from Cardiff.Related: Electricity consumers 'to fund nuclear weapons through Hinkley Point C' Continue reading...

Ribblesdale, North Yorkshire Wild trout are once again thriving in the beck my grandfather tended for the Manchester Anglers’ AssociationWhen I was a kid I recall fishing for minnows with a jam jar by the Ribble and being sketched by a man in wire-framed specs. It was the writer Arthur Ransome, who was there with my grandfather, Nat Hunt, then river keeper for the Manchester Anglers’ Association. I no longer have that sketch, but I do still own a card Ransome sent Grandad praising his hand-crafted trout flies (“north country spiders”).Related: Peak District: Rewilding the rivers Continue reading...

Green peer Jenny Jones says the police’s actions at a fracking protest show they are helping impose government policy and defending corporate interestsWhen the police forcibly remove a 79-year-old woman for serving refreshments to fracking protesters, you know they have taken sides (Report, 11 October). Having wasted their time and our money dragging pensioners around, the Lancashire constabulary has asked the Home Office for an extra £3.1m to cover the cost of drafting in police from Somerset and Wales. It is time for the policing operation at New Preston Road to be scaled back, or called off altogether. The police are helping to impose a government decision to frack, which is opposed by local residents at every level of local government. The police should go back to patrolling the streets and arresting criminals, instead of defending corporate interests by harassing the protesters.

A wild boar, clown fish and two rhinoceros calves are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

Scottish ministers have blocked £5m sale of tiny Hebridean island to allow community to organise bidIslanders on Mull will launch a worldwide appeal to help buy the tiny Hebridean island of Ulva after Scottish ministers stopped its owner selling it for as much as £5m.The appeal is likely to include Australians whose forebears left Ulva during and after the Highland clearances, which resulted in its population plummeting from about 600 people two centuries ago to just six. Continue reading...

‘Catastrophic breeding event’ leads to demands for a marine protected area to be set up in East AntarcticaA colony of about 40,000 Adélie penguins in Antarctica has suffered a “catastrophic breeding event” – all but two chicks have died of starvation this year. It is the second time in just four years that such devastation – not previously seen in more than 50 years of observation – has been wrought on the population.The finding has prompted urgent calls for the establishment of a marine protected area in East Antarctica, at next week’s meeting of 24 nations and the European Union at the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) in Hobart. Continue reading...

Federal government concessional loan is yet to be secured but the group is confident of delivering first shipment in March 2020The Adani Group has said it will “break ground within days” on the rail link for its Carmichael coalmine and has claimed daily progress on a project for which it still needs to secure about $5bn in finance.The Adani Mining chief executive, Jeyakumar Janakaraj, said in a statement on Friday the company remained “confident and committed” to delivering its first coal shipment in March 2020. Continue reading...

Australia Institute wants free access to bus lanes after electric cars accounted for just 0.1% of new car sales in 2015Tax breaks and free access to bus lanes should be used to help reverse Australia’s poor uptake of electric vehicles, a new report has said.Australians remain deeply reluctant to buy electric cars, which accounted for just 0.1% of new car sales in 2015. Australia is increasingly falling behind other countries, particularly in Europe, where sales of electric cars represented 1.2% of new European Union car sales in the same year. Continue reading...

Environmentalists hail decision that comes almost exactly a year after BP ditched its own scheme for the untapped basinChevron has become the second big oil company to abandon plans to drill for oil in the Great Australian Bight, almost exactly a year after BP ditched its more advanced plans for the untapped basin.Oil companies have compared the potential of the bight to the Gulf of Mexico, where there are thousands of oil rigs. Continue reading...