Environment | The Guardian

Comins Coch, Ceredigion For years the robins ignored our open invitation to take up residence above the shed door

From rosella pie to the ‘delicate’ flesh of baby emus, the 19th century ornithologist relished the taste of the creatures he so meticulously studiedOf all the changes to the study of ornithology in the past 200 years, the most striking, when reading John Gould’s seven-volume 1848 treatise The Birds of Australia, is the apparent lack of interest among modern scientists in what their subjects taste like.Gould left no such questions unanswered. The prototype of his beautifully illustrated guide, digitised and made available online by the State Library of New South Wales, contains many tips for the keen sportsman on how best to shoot each of the featured birds and, where Gould had opportunity to sample them, what they tasted like. Continue reading...

Pictures of overflowing bins and bags spilling out their contents shared online as Five Star Movement fails to tackle wasteMounds of uncollected rubbish have been piling up in Rome since Christmas Eve, with some residents setting them on fire in protest against a municipal administration that has failed to deliver on its promise to tackle the city’s waste.Scenes of overflowing bins and bags spilling out their contents have been shared on social media as collections by the public services firm, Ama, were disrupted by holidays and heavy downpours. Continue reading...

A rare golden monkey, Hawaiian green sea turtles and Malaysia’s last female Sumatran rhinoceros all feature in this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

Suganshi Ropia says a piece she read after the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement helped her realise we shouldn’t wait to make our voices heardSuganshi Ropia, 21, is a law student from Pune, IndiaI try to keep in touch with news related to climate change, and am particularly interested in environmental law. My compulsion to do something positive about climate change was one of the reasons I decided to study law. When I read the opinion piece Civil disobedience is the only way left to fight climate change, by Kara Moses, in spring 2016, it crystallised my feelings about the responsibility we have as a community of humans to do more.

Fungicides are found to be the strongest factor linked to steep bumblebee declines, surprising scientists and adding to the threats to vital pollinatorsCommon fungicides are the strongest factor linked to steep declines in bumblebees across the US, according to the first landscape-scale analysis.The surprising result has alarmed bee experts because fungicides are targeted at molds and mildews – not insects – but now appear to be a cause of major harm. How fungicides kill bees is now being studied, but is likely to be by making them more susceptible to the deadly nosema parasite or by exacerbating the toxicity of other pesticides. Continue reading...

What may be America’s strangest presidency ever has been a radical departure – in tone if not in substance – not least over race, the media and the environmentThis is arguably the strangest presidency in America’s 241-year history.Donald Trump, billionaire businessman and reality TV celebrity, rises at the crack of dawn, compulsively watches cable news, impulsively rattles off thoughts on Twitter and lives in perpetual campaign mode, re-enacting old battles against Hillary Clinton and arming for new ones against the media, Robert Mueller and his next Democratic foe. Continue reading...

In the wake of Colombia’s peace deal, the rush to clear Amazon jungle for cattle ranches and coca caused deforestation to soar. A new scheme hopes to enable farmers to make a sustainable living from the forest

In poll by Radio Times, wildlife series comes out on top ahead of Line of Duty, Big Little Lies and The CrownBlue Planet II has been named the best television programme of 2017 in a poll of TV critics.The seven-part wildlife series, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, has proved a big success for the BBC and attracted more viewers than any other programme this year. Continue reading...

From the Pink Floyd shrimp that makes a noise so loud it can kill small fish, to giant stick insects and new types of orangutans and gibbons, here is a round up of new animal species discovered this year Continue reading...

Advanced plans by Dutch power grid aims to build power hub possibly at Dogger Bank whose scale would dwarf current offshore sites

Stamford, Lincolnshire Hieroglyphics left by fleeting feet provide a record of their ways, written on the groundCold comes, and life hunkers. A hedgehog asleep in a nest of leaves behind the shed. Inside it, there are big spiders and signs of shredding, mice probably. So much life that stays unnoticed most of the year, then moves indoors undetected. But the birds are always noticed. Though in winter, less.Morning, and the inside is filled with a quiet, odd brightness. Outside is a four-inch mantle of snow. Softening, just. No signs of life. Then I see something inscribed in the white. What Richard Clapham called “the hieroglyphics left by the feet of nature’s wild things” (Bird Tracks in the Snow, 1920). Continue reading...

Uri Ariel works with rabbis to bring worshippers to Western Wall as country struggles with long-running water shortageWith technology coming up short, Israel’s agriculture minister sought an unconventional solution on Thursday to end the country’s water shortage: rallying a few thousand worshippers at Jerusalem’s Western Wall to pray for rain.Related: Food ruined by drought could feed more than 80m a day, says World Bank Continue reading...

This year is set to be the third warmest on record in the US, as scientists say the fingerprints of climate change can be seen in numerous extreme weather eventsScientists say 2017 is set to be the third warmest year on record in the US as they look back on a year littered with stark signals of climate change.The year-to-date average temperature across the contiguous US has been 2.6F above the 20thcentury average, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), placing it only behind 2012 and 2016 in terms of record warmth. Continue reading...

The new president immediately made his mark on environmental policy, pulling out of the Paris climate accord and targeting America’s protected public landsIt was a tempestuous year – politically and literally.

Battery-powered air taxis and bigger hybrid planes poised to change aviationTrains, ships and automobiles have all been swept along in recent years by the electric power revolution – and planes are next.Passenger jets are poised for an electric makeover that could fundamentally change the economics and environmental outlook of the aviation industry. Up until now the fact that the necessary batteries weigh two tonnes each has limited the switch from fossil fuels to a totally electric-powered future. Continue reading...

We have to develop digital forecasts of species’ responses to climate change, design robust strategies to protect as many as possible, and help nature to adaptEach day increasingly dangerous hurricanes, wildfires, and floods betray the influence of climate change. We are appalled at the accruing losses of life and property. The arguments to address climate change at the recent UN climate conference in Bonn focused most often on these more concrete risks. However, the worst effects of climate change will come not from severe weather but from the irreversible loss of species and ecosystems.Moulded over millions of years by natural selection, the diversity of species on Earth does more than just inspire awe. They are technical marvels and solutions to problems we do not yet know exist.

Wrest Park, Bedfordshire The statue was pitted and scarred with marine fossils, drooling threads of spider web anchored to its teethEven before the stonemason struck soft rock with hard metal for the first time, he must have known that he was destined for imperfection. Three hundred years later, the evidence was plain to see on an animal sitting on the terrace of the big house, haughty, imperious and mildly deformed.The mason had chiselled a block of sediment from an ancient sea into a guard dog of the land. The sculpture was well executed – the claws on the beast’s forepaws overlapped the plinth, making a pleasing break to the block’s rectangularity. A loop of its tail coiled daringly beyond the straight edge. Continue reading...

As the worst-polluting coal plants near the end of their life, the focus must turn to tackling gas dependency, says analysis firmBritish wind farms generated more electricity than coal plants on more than 75% of days this year, an analysis of energy figures has shown.Solar also outperformed coal more than half the time, the data provided by website MyGridGB revealed. Continue reading...

Australia is the land of droughts and floods, but they are becoming more frequent and forceful. The window of opportunity to act on climate change is closingThe fingerprints of climate change can be traced across 2017, with extreme weather events witnessed around the world; from supercharged storms, hurricanes, floods and heatwaves through to bushfires. 2017 has seen it all.

Consent given to turn reactors at the massive Kashiwazaki-kariwa plant back on, but Japanese worry over active fault lines and mismanagementIf a single structure can define a community, for the 90,000 residents of Kashiwazaki town and the neighbouring village of Kariwa, it is the sprawling nuclear power plant that has dominated the coastal landscape for more than 40 years.

Warmer weather has been good for some of the UK’s flora and fauna, while others have suffered or almost disappeared completely“Haywire” seasons caused by global warming are having a worrying effect on flora and fauna, a leading conservation charity has warned.In its annual wildlife and weather review, the National Trust said mixed-up seasons and warming seas in 2017 had led to a “freak” year for nature. Continue reading...

Disturbing links between Britain’s nuclear power stations and the military are highlighted by Dr David LowryIn her excellent article on the Hinkley C nuclear plant financial fiasco (The long read, 21 December), Holly Watt mentions the innovative insight of Sussex University academics Prof Andy Stirling and Dr Phil Johnstone, who have identified the central importance of expansion of the skill base of the new nuclear build programme – headed by Hinkley C – for the Trident military nuclear renewal programme. Watt also mentions the first nuclear plant built on the same site, Hinkley A. What is barely acknowledged about this reactor is it was both built and operated to manufacture plutonium for British nuclear warheads, and probably some plutonium it created was sent to the US for use in its military stockpile too.I have dug up considerable evidence that demonstrates this beyond any doubt. The first public hint came with an announcement on 17 June 1958 by the Ministry of Defence, on “the production of plutonium suitable for weapons in the new [nuclear] power stations programme as an insurance against future defence needs”. Continue reading...

Global plastic binge | Rubber band wastage | Moon boots | Road songs | New UK passportThe global plastic binge (Report, 26 December) needs more than “serious source reduction efforts”. I have just completed a dry-season 10-day voyage along the Irrawaddy river in Myanmar, and did a similar trip down the Mekong river in Vietnam last year. The river banks are sadly festooned with plastic waste tipped there in the absence of municipal refuse collection. Come the rainy season the whole lot will be swept into the sea.

Jackie Brooks says new location proposed by North Yorkshire council is dangerous as it will force her customers into the roadA retired nurse who serves tea and cake to anti-fracking protesters has been ordered to remove her refreshments van, three months after her arrest made headlines worldwide.Jackie Brooks, 79, and her husband, Jim, have been providing hot drinks and biscuits at the fracking site in the village of Kirby Misperton, North Yorkshire, since September. Continue reading...

A plan to save the sage grouse was a rare instance where ranchers, the timber industry, scientists, landowners and environmentalists all agreed on somethingAt 5am, the day is black, and resounds with the steady drum of rain. My husband Rich is getting ready for work. He oils his leather gloves and fills a Thermos. He’ll spend a 10-hour day in the downpour: tramping through thorny salmonberry and wading through the roaring creeks.We live in the Oregon Coast Range, a region that’s been in steady economic decline since the sawmills began shutting down in the late 1980s. Before Rich got this job we were living hand to mouth. Now things are looking up. It won’t make us wealthy, but Rich has scored one of the best jobs in our remote neck of the woods. Continue reading...

The tropical island of Roatán is a gold mine for tourism and fishermen but those protecting the reef want tougher laws to turn the area into a no-take zone

Oiapoque, surrounded by mangroves and close to a recently discovered 600-mile reef, is divided over what BP and Total might bring and what they might destroyAnchored in shallow, cloudy waters just a few hundred yards from the mangrove swamps that dominate this wild and empty coastline, the fishermen rolled in their nets. The three men had spent five days at sea and their catch glittered on the deck.“It’s good fishing,” said Cleyton Celeiro, 26, who feeds his wife and two children with money earned on trips to the Amapá state coast, on the far north-eastern corner of the Amazon. “It’s beautiful, I like it. I’m proud to be a fisherman.” Continue reading...

Overfishing, development and pollution have all contributed to the reef’s decline, but climate change is its biggest threat. UN targets must be met to stop ocean acidificationThe great Florida coral reef system stretches hundreds of miles down the eastern seaboard of the US. It is the world’s third largest, and nearly 1,400 species of plants and animals and 500 species of fish have been recorded there.But last year marine scientists found nearly half the reef was missing. They took the latest satellite images, compared them with precisely drawn 250-year-old British admiralty charts and found them nearly identical.

Conservationists are battling to save the 700-mile Mesoamerican Barrier Reef in the Caribbean suffering the effects of mass tourism and global warming

Campaigners vow to continue to block traffic at sites across London until their demands are heard and political action to reduce pollution levels is takenAs the green man appeared on the pedestrian crossing a couple of dozen people dressed in Santa hats and tinsel shuffled into the road at one of London’s busiest roundabouts.Moments later, in the early morning gloom, a banner was unfurled and the small group of pensioners, students and workers – armed with home-made road signs and leaflets – had blocked both lanes of the dual carriageway. Continue reading...

As the year draws to a close, we celebrate the finest wildlife photos our readers’ have snapped this year – from fantastic foxes to thirsty chamois calves Continue reading...

From a crammed tube carriage to a jar of diesel fumes, V&A curator Rory Hyde selects six items to sum up life in the capital for future museum-goers

Wenlock Edge, Shropshire Thawing snow highlights the paths people – and animals – take through the landscapeA thin white track up the field marked where footsteps of schoolchildren, dog walkers and ramblers had compacted the snow and turned it to ice. When the thaw came only the narrow ice track remained: white, opalescent, slippery and dangerous to walk on. People took to the sides of the path, already claggy from before the snow, making the white line through dark earth even more pronounced.I was reminded of the work of the land artist Richard Long. A Line Made by Walking (1967), Long’s photograph of a simple line that he had walked through short grass, had been really inspiring for me – as enigmatic as a ley line, a ghost image, ephemeral and transient. It had an important influence on how I saw marks in the landscape as a kind of writing. Continue reading...

In your letter you have asked me if it’s true that the Great Barrier Reef is dying. The reef is sick, but if we stand up to those destroying it, it can recoverDear Lizzy,

MPs’ pension fund must dump fossil fuel investment, says Caroline Lucas; and the government should look to getting out of nuclear power, writes Paul DonovanThe government’s decision to allow pension funds to dump investments in fossil fuels (Boost for fossil fuel divestment as UK eases pension rules, 18 December) is a major step forward but, with such progress on the issues around “fiduciary duty”, it is increasingly puzzling that MPs are still denied a say over where our pensions are invested – and blocked from holding our trustees to account. Over the last few years, I have repeatedly urged ministers to take action to clean up the MPs’ pension scheme, but they’ve been consistently obstructive. A failure to clean up this fund would be a dereliction of duty.If the government is serious about handing people control over their investments, they should urgently get their own house in order, by forcing the parliamentary pension fund to be more transparent – and to lead the way by divesting our savings from climate-wrecking fossil fuels.

Ornithologist, conservationist and publisher with a special interest in wildlife artIan Langford, who has died of oesophageal cancer aged 61, was a conservationist and publisher with a special interest in wildlife art. He showcased the work of artists who were also passionate about conservation, such as John Threlfall and Carry Akroyd. The Langford Press art books he issued were sumptuous large-format volumes packed with pictures and sketches based on the patient observation of natural landscapes and animals.Modest, generous, always brimming with ideas, Langford was a man of many parts. He was first and foremost an ornithologist, but served a long apprenticeship as a trainee craftsman, and also spent some time as a community tutor in Scotland. For several years, he and his wife, Angela, ran a specialist book shop in Wigtown, an experience that led to the establishment of Langford Press in 2001. Continue reading...

Body representing big six suppliers says price cap is not inevitable and could have been avoided if industry had acted more quickly on ‘rip-off’ tariffsEnergy suppliers could have avoided the government imposing a price cap if they had acted faster to shift customers off the tariffs branded a “rip-off” by Theresa May, according to an industry lobby group.Lawrence Slade, chief executive of Energy UK, also said he believed it was still possible the cap might not happen – if the sector can transform itself in time. Continue reading...

Declan Davitt, 26, and Martin Needham, 27, were driving across Carrowniskey river when 4x4 became submergedThe families of two men who died after their Jeep was swept away in a river on Christmas Day have said they are heartbroken.Declan Davitt, 26, and Martin Needham, 27, were in the 4x4 when it fell into the Carrowniskey river in County Mayo, west Ireland, in the early hours of the morning.

Hobby’s increasing popularity, and the rising cost of some queens, thought to be driving thefts of bees and hivesThieves are cashing in on an increasingly lucrative beekeeping market by snatching entire hives, with 135 reported thefts over the past six years.

A key chapter of the US Global Change Research Program Report deals with how the oceans are being impacted by human carbon pollution

Hartburn, Northumberland Carved into the cliff is a narrow entrance, like a grotesque maskOur footsteps are quieted by fallen leaves as we enter Hartburn Glebe, a curve of ancient semi-natural woodland hugging the steep sides of the Hart Burn. There is something of Kipling’s poem The Way Through the Woods about it, a past glimpsed beneath the undergrowth. There was “once a road through the wood”. The Devil’s Causeway, a Roman road that ran north-east to the Tweed, passed through here, seen now as a holloway under woodrush and conifers.Related: The 10 best woods and forests for views Continue reading...

Winning images from national and international wildlife photography competitions of the year Continue reading...

It was a tale of two years – the best of times and the worst of times. But not everything went wrong – from Mata’s 1% to orangutans, we look at the goodHow was it for you? A bit grim? Many people will be eager to see the back of 2017, the year of Trump, Twitter, terrorism, Yemen, Libya and the plight of the Rohingya, as well as environmental degradation and almost daily doomsday warnings about the multiplying threats to sustainable life on earth.But the big, bold headlines tell only half the story – perhaps not even that much. Away from the hysteria of daily news, it is possible to discern progress, joy, breakthroughs and that rarest commodity of all: optimism. Continue reading...

Colossal funding in manufacturing plants by fossil fuel companies will increase plastic production by 40%, risking permanent pollution of the earthThe global plastic binge which is already causing widespread damage to oceans, habitats and food chains, is set to increase dramatically over the next 10 years after multibillion dollar investments in a new generation of plastics plants in the US.Fossil fuel companies are among those who have ploughed more than $180bn since 2010 into new “cracking” facilities that will produce the raw material for everyday plastics from packaging to bottles, trays and cartons. Continue reading...

Communities fear impact on environment, as fossil fuel companies target region in multi-billion dollar push to increase global plastic productionDonald Trump’s state visit to Saudi Arabia in May will perhaps be best remembered by his participation in an all-male sword dance where he awkwardly waved a ceremonial blade in step with his cabinet and their Saudi counterparts.

Nearly a third of all new cars sold in the country this year will be plug-in models and experts expect that share to skyrocketWhile tourists explore Oslo’s history in the grounds of the centuries-old Akershus fortress, below their feet is a harbinger of the city’s future.Here in the catacombs sit scores of Teslas, Nissan Leafs and BMW i3s, plugged into the charging points of the world’s largest public garage for electric cars. Continue reading...

Binding carbon commitments and the falling cost of renewables could prove a perfect storm for investorsThe UK’s shale gas industry is in a race against time to establish itself before climate change regulations shut it down. As its stands, the frackers are off the pace.With no wells yet tested for gas flow, the industry does not yet know if large-scale production is possible or what the cost of the gas will be, and it won’t know until 2020 at best. Protests and planning problems have delayed exploration, but the real difficulty is the UK’s legally binding carbon targets. Continue reading...

Firms leading UK push for shale gas say ‘we will see results next year’ after 12 months of opposition, protests and a ban in ScotlandBritish shale gas companies have said domestic fracking will finally begin in earnest in 2018, after another year passed without serious progress amid strong opposition.Industry figures said next year would be crucial for the sector, as companies start the process of hydraulic fracturing to extract gas trapped underground in shale rock. Continue reading...