Confectionery firm also launches M&Ms renewable energy campaign as part of a growing corporate backlash against the US’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate dealThe corporate backlash is growing against Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, with Mars launching a $1bn sustainability plan and an M&M’s campaign centred on renewable energy.It is the latest climate move by the family owned firm, which emerged as a vocal critic of the US president’s decision to pull out of the 2015 climate pact, saying it was “disappointed” with the withdrawal and stressing that corporations could not go it alone when it came to tackling climate change. Continue reading...

Planning application for 5,000 houses in Kent is withdrawn following a long campaign but wildlife site remains at risk from future developmentsOne of the best sites in England for endangered nightingales will not be covered in 5,000 new houses after a long campaign by environmental charities.The planning application to build on the former Ministry of Defence site of Lodge Hill, Kent, has been withdrawn ahead of a public inquiry into the controversial development. Continue reading...

New studies reveal that tiny plastic fibres are everywhere, not just in our oceans but on land too. Now we urgently need to find out how they enter our food, air and tap water and what the effects are on all of usSometimes a single revelation opens our eyes to a whole new view of the world. The contamination of tap water around the world with microplastics, exposed on Wednesday in the Guardian, unmasks Earth as a planet pervasively polluted with plastic.What that means for the seven billion people who live on it, no one yet knows. All the experts can agree on is that, given the warning signs being given by life in the oceans, the need to find out is urgent. Continue reading...

A strong-beaked bird named after Barack Obama, a fire-tailed titi monkey and a new pink river dolphin are among species recorded by the Living Amazon Initiative of the WWF Network Continue reading...

Government must incentivise households to make energy saving improvements to improve air quality and warm homesMore efficient use of energy in the UK would save as much power as could be generated by six new nuclear reactors and shave £7.5bn from energy costs, experts have calculated.But to achieve such savings would require substantial changes to government policy because there are few incentives for households to carry out the necessary measures, such as insulation, which can take 20 years to pay for themselves via bill savings. Continue reading...

Scientists have tracked the ruddy shelduck to 6,800 metres, making it the first duck known to fly at extreme high altitudesA high-flying species of duck reaches altitudes of up to 6,800 metres (22,000ft) to cross the Himalayas, research from a British university has revealed.Scientists from the University of Exeter used satellite tracking to find out how ruddy shelducks – which are a similar size to mallards – find their way through the mountain range. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Tests show billions of people globally are drinking water contaminated by plastic particles, with 83% of samples found to be polluted

We need our mob working arm-in-arm with non-Indigenous people across the Northern Territory to stand up against fracking. It’s not safe, not trusted and not wantedThere has been a lot of talk from both the Northern Territory and federal governments recently about the rivers of royalties, jobs and other benefits they claim will come from opening up the Territory to vast new shale fracking gas fields.This has seen 83% of the Territory’s landmass swallowed by shale gas exploration applications and permits from 2011 to the current day, under both Labor and Country Liberal governments. Continue reading...

State will also introduce new container refund scheme with most drinks containers attracting 10-cent refundSingle-use plastic bags will be banned in Queensland from July next year after the state parliament passed new legislation on Tuesday night.The state will also have a new container refund scheme, with most beverage containers to attract a 10-cent refund to stop them ending up in waterways and the sea. Continue reading...

Science agency stands in contrast to Australia’s biggest polluter, AGL, which parted ways with MCA over climate changeThe Australian government’s science agency, the CSIRO, has paid tens of thousands of dollars to peak mining lobby group the Minerals Council of Australia, which fights against government action on climate change.The CSIRO has been listed as an “associate member” of the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) since at least 2004 and new documents obtained by the Australian Institute, under freedom of information laws, show that in 2017 the “annual subscription” for membership was just under $10,000. Continue reading...

Prymnesium parvum has wreaked calamitous damage on angling spots in Norfolk, making it an economic and environmental threatMany effects of global warming appear gradually but can cause sudden and devastating changes. A rise in sea levels is one; it makes estuaries and lagoons slightly more saline, which in the case of the Norfolk Broads, suddenly threatened a big attraction, angling.This is because tiny “golden” algae called Prymnesium parvum, which thrive in slightly saline or mineral rich water, can turn toxic, suffocating the fish by destroying their gills. Continue reading...

Add to the top council tax bands to boost effective use of our housing stock, writes David RenshawYour letter writers on the housing shortage (5 September) neglect a key point – under-occupation of the existing stock. I sympathise with the nimbys’ desire to keep the green belt from urban sprawl, but this can only be done if they are prepared to occupy less space when occasion demands (ie in later life). Only a reset of the council tax bands, punitively progressive at the top end to discourage oligarchs and investment buyers, will have the desired effect, along with stronger compulsory purchase order powers for councils.

Chancellor doubles funds set aside to improve air quality to avert court-enforced diesel ban and backlash from motoristsWith less than three weeks until the German elections, pressure is mounting on Angela Merkel to tackle the deadly smog in a large number of cities or face a court-enforced diesel ban and backlash from millions of motorists faced with plummeting resale values.More than 90 cities with excessive levels of nitrogen dioxide pollution could potentially outlaw diesel cars from their centres when the country’s federal administrative court rules early next year. Continue reading...

Exclusive: in America, the world’s richest country, hookworm, a parasitic disease found in areas of extreme poverty are rampant, the first study of its kind in modern times showsChildren playing feet away from open pools of raw sewage; drinking water pumped beside cracked pipes of untreated waste; human faeces flushed back into kitchen sinks and bathtubs whenever the rains come; people testing positive for hookworm, an intestinal parasite that thrives on extreme poverty.Related: Pittsburgh officials may have 'deflected' attention from lead-contaminated water Continue reading...

Australian Energy Market Operator advice is to hold a reverse auction, then pass costs on to consumers to help prevent blackoutsEnergy regulators want to create a new strategic reserve mechanism to ensure there is enough dispatchable power available for emergencies, like heatwaves and storms – and are proposing a reverse auction system to bring sufficient back-up power into the grid.The recommendations are contained in a new report from the Australian Energy Market Operator to the Turnbull government, which suggests that an additional gigawatt of incremental dispatchable power will be needed in the system when the ageing coal-fired Liddell power station closes in 2022. Continue reading...

The variables in the climate change formula are mitigation, adaptation, and suffering. Denying the problem loads up on the suffering.Human-caused climate change amplified the damages and suffering associated with Hurricane Harvey in several different ways. First, sea level rise caused by global warming increased the storm surge and therefore the coastal inundation and flooding from the storm. Second, the warmer atmosphere holds more water vapor, which intensifies extreme precipitation events like the record-shattering rainfall associated with Harvey. Third, warmer ocean waters essentially act as hurricane fuel, which may have made Harvey more intense than it would otherwise have been.There are other possible human factors at play about which we have less certainty. For example, it’s possible that Harvey stalled off the coast of Texas because of changes in atmospheric circulation patterns associated with human-caused global warming. As climate scientist Michael Mann notes, his research has shown that these sorts of stationary summer weather patterns tend to happen more often in a hotter world, but we can’t yet say if that happened in Harvey’s case. Continue reading...

German environment group says industry has not tried to cut pollution over the past year and reneged on a promise to install soot filtersThe world’s cruise ships have done virtually nothing to reduce their pollution over the past year, with some still emitting as much particulate matter as 1m cars a day, a report says.The annual survey of 63 ships, conducted by the German environment group Nabu, refused to recommend a single one for adequately reducing its environmental impact in 2017. Continue reading...

Energy Market Operator report comes as Coalition seeks to extend life of Australia’s oldest coal power plant, LiddellAustralia’s Energy Market Operator says the introduction of more renewable energy is helping secure Australia’s electricity grid but that “new approaches” will be needed to avoid blackouts in coming years.The report comes as the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, confirms the government is seeking to extend the life of Australia’s oldest coal power plant, Liddell, and is in talks with owners AGL. Continue reading...

Weather experts and rural fire services warn of elevated fire risk in areas of Queensland, NSW, Victoria and SAMost of the east coast and parts of South Australia are at high risk of bushfire after one of the warmest, driest winters on record, a national conference has warned.Populated areas of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia have been marked “red” in the 2017 Southern Australia Seasonal Bushfire Outlook. Continue reading...

Government experts say adverse health effects are unlikely, but campaigners argue the primary school scheme should switch to organic as a precautionThe free fruit and vegetables provided by the government to millions of young schoolchildren usually contain the residues of multiple pesticides, according to official tests collated in a new report.In the last decade, residues of of 123 pesticides were found, while apples and bananas given out recently in schools contained more residues than those sold in supermarkets. Continue reading...

Abriachan, Highlands In places, the canopy of thistle, ling, scabious and soft rush was sunk in a near-weightless empire of silkAside from the slurry of S-sounds tipped out by a roadside burn, there was nothing at this spot but the early morning hush of the moor. Yet the silence seemed only to emphasise all the internal noise generated in me by an assault from midges. They started as a loose-meshed veil about my hands and face but soon thickened into a maddening private halo.They particularly wanted my wrists – I have 23 bites there as I type – and I could invert my binoculars to watch the 2mm beasts, with their pin-thin heads and barred bodies, at their work. How can something so easily turned to a smudge on a notebook page puncture human skin? Continue reading...

Under the programme, based on schemes in Scandinavia, customers would pay a surcharge that would be reimbursed when they return to the shopThe Scottish government is planning to introduce a deposit return scheme for bottles and cans.Customers would pay a surcharge when purchasing bottles or cans under the programme, which will be refunded when they return them to a shop. Continue reading...

The proposal to open up the Renca reserve in the Amazon for exploitation by large mining companies would be catastrophic for the earth’s climate, for biodiversity and for local indigenous communities, writes Molly Scott Cato MEPThe proposal to open up the Renca reserve in the Amazon for exploitation by large mining companies would be catastrophic for the earth’s climate, for biodiversity and for local indigenous communities. At the same time, the European Union is negotiating a new trade agreement with Mercosur, the Latin America regional trade bloc, of which Brazil currently holds the presidency. This is a vital opportunity for the EU to use our trade muscle to make clear that the Amazon is not for sale and that minerals extracted from a protected reserve will never find their way onto European markets.World Trade Organisation rules also make clear that trading parties have a legitimate right to ban imports if it is “necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health”. I have written to trade commissioner Malmström stating my clear view that the Renca reserve is necessary to protect human life and demanding that she excludes its products from the free trade deal. I will be urging my MEP colleagues to vote against the deal if it does not include this guarantee.

German chancellor pledges extra €500m in attempt to head off threat of ban on diesel vehicles following emissions scandalAngela Merkel has pledged a further €500m (£460m) to help German cities fight air pollution caused by diesel cars, as a scandal strangling the automobile industry threatened to engulf politicians at the height of an election campaign.

Displaced families say they are struggling to pay rent on damaged dwellings, as an acute housing crisis grips south-east Texas after Hurricane Harvey

To achieve Paris climate agreement’s limit of 2C rise, pricing will have to increase to more than $100 a tonne, claims SchrodersMore than $1.5tn (£1.2tn) in company profits worldwide could be erased by taxes required to meet the Paris climate agreement, according to analysis by Schroders.In a stark warning to investors to back more sustainable companies, the fund management group said total earnings of 12,500 global companies could fall by 20% were the world to limit itself to the 2C temperature rise target agreed in Paris through higher taxes. Schroders found prices in emissions trading would need to rise to “well over” $100 a tonne of CO2e from current levels, about $5, to encourage the move away from fossil fuels on the scale that was needed. Continue reading...

As the seasons begin to change in most places, we would like to see and hear about the wildlife you’ve discovered in your area

Ecclesall Wood, Sheffield A close-up look at these birds – which have evolved to be invisible in domains such as this – was proving elusiveA new noise stopped me dead in my tracks; a sort of pulse-quickening, primitive shriek, more banshee wail than bird call. Through the still-bare March treetops I saw the source of the sound barrel straight overhead – my first thrilling glimpse of sparrowhawk in this neck of Ecclesall Wood, near my home.In the long light of a clear May evening came a second sighting, not far from the first; a revelatory 10 minutes of spectacular aerobatics in the full view of Ecclesall Road South, the bird’s fluidity of movement spellbinding. Continue reading...

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 4 September 1917September 3

Opposition told to be wary of doing a Finkel review deal with the Coalition that would prolong the life of coal plantsThe Greens are attempting to warn Labor off doing a deal with the Turnbull government on a new clean energy target, saying a Finkel handshake could trigger a “valley of death” for short-term investment in renewables, and lock in coal, rather than stranding it.With parliament due to resume on Monday, and with the Turnbull government inching closer to finally resolving and outlining its energy policy, the Greens climate change spokesman, Adam Bandt, will bring forward a bill to prolong and expand the existing renewable energy target scheme. Continue reading...

A Snares penguin from islands south of New Zealand is found wounded on a Tasmanian beach. Nine months’ nursing later, she tastes the open sea againJust before dawn on a still morning in autumn a crowd of people gathers on a beach in southern Tasmania. They watch in tense silence as a small animal shuffles across the sand. This animal, a penguin, has been the focus of nine months of care, liaison and cooperation to get to this moment – she is being released and sent back out into her world. I am privileged to be included in the farewell crew, and share the jubilation and anxiety of the people around me, all of us hoping that she will remember her path home.

Country wants to reclaim physical activity in age when young people are focused on computers, says government spokeswomanAir pollution levels have plunged in cities across Bolivia as the country marked a nationwide car-free day in which all non-emergency vehicles were banned from city streets.As Bolivia’s middle-class population has increased over the past 10 years so has the number of cars clogging city streets. The car-free event started 18 years ago in Cochabamba, one of Latin America’s five most polluted cities, and has gradually taken root across the country. By 2011, it had become so popular that Bolivia’s legislature declared a yearly “Day of the Pedestrian and Cyclist in Defence of Mother Earth”. Continue reading...

Plastic pollution in our seas is depressing – but there are imaginative moves afoot to address the problemI’ve been sceptical about the power of running shoes to affect global change. So naturally I had it in for UltraBoost Uncaged Parley, Adidas trainers that claim to make peace with the ocean. The shoe’s upper is created from plastic waste retrieved from a clean-up operation in the Maldives, and recycled polyester. But Adidas has committed to producing a million pairs of these ocean waste running shoes, and a swimwear line.Adidas has committed to producing a million pairs of ocean waste running shoes Continue reading...

Palaszczuk government and mining giant apparently at odds as Adani says ‘there are no ongoing negotiations’ on Carmichael schemeQueensland’s government says it is still negotiating with Adani over the details of its royalties agreement for its $16.5bn Carmichael mine, despite the deal being officially agreed months ago.Adani announced in May it had reached agreement with the government over royalty payments, after a more generous offer of concessions was scrapped amid internal pressure from within the state Labor cabinet and caucus. Continue reading...

Our seafood diet must adapt, say scientists, as climate change forces some favourites to colder waters and threatens othersBritain must prepare itself for invasions of growing numbers of foreign sea creatures attracted by our warming waters, a new report has warned. Some newcomers could have devastating effects, others could be beneficial, say the researchers.Examples provided by the team include slipper limpets that could destroy mussel and oyster beds. By contrast, new arrivals such as the American razor clam and Pacific oyster could become the bases of profitable industries for British fishermen. Continue reading...

Communities face surging toxic fumes and possible water contamination, as refineries and plants report more than 2,700 tons of extra pollutionHurricane Harvey has resulted in Houston’s petrochemical industry leaking thousands of tons of pollutants, with communities living near plants damaged by the storm exposed to soaring levels of toxic fumes and potential water contamination.Refineries and chemical plants have reported more than 2,700 tons, or 5.4m pounds, of extra air pollution due to direct damage from the hurricane as well as the preventive shutting down of facilities, which causes a spike in released toxins. Continue reading...

Guardian picture editor Eric Hilaire explains the success behind one of our most-loved galleries – the week in wildlife

Harlech, Gwynedd Redshank circle above Ynys while Roma samphire pickers search the saltingsA flight of redshank, wings elegantly barred and bent, clatter and yelp out of a draining channel as I circle Glastraeth, the “green strand” at the mouth of the river Dwyryd, which was once a crucial Welsh wintering ground for curlews, pintails and geese.Related: Birdwatch: Common redshank Continue reading...

Veteran conservationist compares situation to a nationwide action he led against the Franklin Dam in Tasmania in the 1980sVeteran conservationist Bob Brown has criticised the “destructive wealth and arrogance” of Indian mining group Adani at a Sydney protest against the Galilee Basin mine.The Adani chairman, Gautam Adani, announced this week that the company would break ground on it’s $16.5bn coal mine in Queensland in October. Continue reading...

Maritime and Coastguard Agency considering theories, including whether chemical haze came from a wreckInvestigators trying to find the source of last Sunday’s mysterious chemical plume on the Sussex coast say they are looking into possible emissions from disturbed shipwrecks in the Channel.Almost a week after the plume caused 150 people to seek medical treatment prompting the closure of Birling Gap beach, the source of the gas is still baffling experts. Continue reading...

Despite a ‘rapid succession of disaster events’, the agency tracking changes in climate faces severe budget cuts under Donald Trump

NGO Earthsight reports charcoal from the Chaco region has been sold in Aldi, Lidl and Carrefour in Spain and GermanyNo tropical forests anywhere in the world are being destroyed more rapidly than the Chaco stretching across Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay. Not the Amazon in Brazil, nor in Indonesia, Malaysia or the Democratic Republic of Congo.At least, that is according to a University of Maryland-led study published in 2013. And the carnage continues today. In July British NGO Earthsight released a report stating that “the latest available analysis [by Paraguayan NGO Guyra], covering January 2017, suggests that the rate of deforestation has kept pace since the Maryland paper. The Paraguayan Chaco is on course to lose more than 200,000 hectares of forest this year: an area the size of Manhattan every fortnight.”

Marabou storks, Kamchatka brown bears and playful lion cubs are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

Thousands of people are using home air quality monitoring kits due to fears official figures are not capturing dangerous pollution levels, say Friends of the EarthA growing number of citizens are monitoring local air quality because of fears official figures are not capturing “dangerous” levels of pollution.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says she will write to auditor general to request review of Murray Darling Basin AuthorityNick Xenophon has called for a royal commission into water theft along the Murray Darling river system, following fresh allegations of water misuse in Queensland.

Emergency package likely to be followed by further requests that could exceed $110bn for victims of KatrinaThe White House has prepared a request to Congress for an emergency $5.9bn (£4.6bn) package in Harvey recovery aid, as flood waters receded in Houston to reveal swaths of devastation wrought by the former hurricane.It is expected to be followed by further requests that could exceed the $110bn to victims of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina. Continue reading...

People’s Energy seeks ‘fairer, simpler’ way to supply energy while undermining dominance of big six suppliers

Long before the storm dropped barrels of rain over one of the world’s largest industrial corridors, the area was rife with potentially dangerous chemicals

August rains wiped out the promise of a long-awaited bumper summer for birds, insects and plants, say experts, though autumn will be good for fungiThe summer holiday washout wiped out a much needed bumper season for wildlife across the UK, according to wildlife experts at the National Trust.A normal winter and balmy spring provided ideal conditions for birds, insects and plants but the heavy rains that rolled in during August dampened the promised bonanza. However, the weather patterns should see a good autumn for fungi and some nuts and berries. Continue reading...

Chew Valley Lake, Somerset Redshank, mud-wort, cudweed and crowfoot – their names are peasant-simple – rise from the mud like miniature GrendelsThe lake in late summer is brimming with life. Swallows and martins sweep through rafts of duck, coot and gulls, sometimes dipping to sip flies from the surface. The shoreline is lush with plants and wet with drizzle. We push through shoulder-high bushes of water mint and spires of gypsywort and golden dock.This is the seasonal outburst of the inundation community, the plants that spring up on the mud of the lake edge. The vegetation may have a grand title but the plants themselves have earthy, Old English names, mud-savoury and peasant-simple. Continue reading...