Hundreds of riders race from Belgium to Greece, with no set route, facing extreme heat and often on only a few hours sleep a night Continue reading...

Cameras are part of a series of measures to improve animal welfare and enforce laws against cruelty

Nearly half of £6.1bn energy spending in developing countries from 2010-14 went on oil, coal and gas-fired schemes, data showsThe UK has spent more than twice as much overseas support on fossil fuels projects as on renewable ones so far this decade, according to research commissioned by the Catholic aid agency Cafod.The Overseas Development Institute, which analysed the figures, found that 46% of Britain’s £6.1bn energy spending in developing countries between 2010 and 2014 went on oil, coal and gas-fired schemes, compared with 22% for renewable energy projects. Continue reading...

Public governance specialist raises concerns over the way the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility is conducting itselfIf the federal government funds a rail link to Adani’s proposed Carmichael mine, it will become known as the “government-funded billion-dollar ghost train”, an expert in public governance has told the Senate.Thomas Clark, a professor at the University of Technology Sydney, who has decades of experience in public and corporate governance, appeared before a Senate inquiry into the operation and governance of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (Naif), which is considering a $900m loan to Adani’s rail link. Continue reading...

Four mines operated by Glencore and Anglo could be prosecuted or even shut down, minister tells state parliamentFour underground Queensland coalmines operated by Glencore and Anglo American could be prosecuted or even shut down for failing to properly monitor dust levels.Anthony Lynham, the state’s mines minister, has named and shamed the companies in parliament, warning that they risked severe penalties for failing to meet monitoring obligations designed to protect workers from dust-related diseases such as black lung. Continue reading...

Dumped water containing over eight times the permitted amount of sediment was released by family-linked company during Cyclone Debbie in MarchAn Adani company has been fined by the Queensland government for its unauthorised release of coal-laden stormwater into the sea at its Abbot Point port during a cyclone in March.The coal port operator, which dumped water containing more than eight times the permitted amount of sediment during Cyclone Debbie on 27 March, was issued a $12,190 penalty for a technical breach on 20 July. Continue reading...

Court decision is blow to Vinod Khosla and other wealthy landowners seeking to buy renowned beaches, making public land privateA California court has ordered a Silicon Valley billionaire to restore access to a beloved beach that he closed off for his private use, a major victory for public lands advocates who have been fighting the venture capitalist for years.An appeals court ruled Thursday that Vinod Khosla, who runs the venture capital firm Khosla Ventures and co-founded the tech company Sun Microsystems, must unlock the gates to Martins Beach in northern California by his property. Continue reading...

Former defence force chief decries Australia’s response to climate challenge as a ‘manifest failure of leadership’Military and climate experts, including a former chief of the defence force, have warned that Australia faces potential “disastrous consequences” from climate change, including “revolving” natural disasters and the forced migration of tens of millions of people across the region, overwhelming security forces and government.Former defence force chief Adm Chris Barrie, now adjunct professor at the strategic and defence studies centre at the Australian National University, said in a submission to a Senate inquiry that Australia’s ability to mitigate and respond to the impacts of climate change had been corrupted by political timidity: “Australia’s climate change credentials have suffered from a serious lack of political leadership”.

A former partner in an Amazonian conservation project with Lloyd and his partner Vanessa Hunter is claiming more than $600,000 in damages and costsGraham Lloyd, the environment editor of the Australian, and his partner, Vanessa Hunter, are being sued by a former joint-venture partner in an eco-retreat and Amazonian conservation project in Peru.Cheryl Conway, who provided Lloyd and Hunter with more than $600,000 between 2013 and 2015 to establish the Lupunaluz Foundation and build the Lupunaluz Retreat, has filed an application in the federal court seeking damages for misleading or deceptive conduct and breach of contract. Continue reading...

City council accuses environment secretary of ‘ill-informed whims’ that contradict his government’s policyMichael Gove has intervened in a long-running battle to try to stop a controversial tree-felling programme in Sheffield.A number of Sheffield residents have been arrested trying to protect some of the 6,000 trees that face being chopped down as part of a 25-year £2bn highway maintenance scheme called Streets Ahead. Continue reading...

Company refutes legal analysis of documents suggesting it ignored risk to human health and environment long after pollutants’ lethal effects were knownMonsanto continued to produce and sell toxic industrial chemicals known as PCBs for eight years after learning that they posed hazards to public health and the environment, according to legal analysis of documents put online in a vast searchable archive.More than 20,000 internal memos, minuted meetings, letters and other documents have been published in the new archive, many for the first time. Continue reading...

Noway’s role as the world’s biggest fossil fuel exporter undermines its efforts to cut emissions at home, says NGO reportNorway’s plan to ramp up oil and gas production in the Arctic threatens global efforts to tackle climate change, according to a new study.The research says 12 gigatonnes of carbon could be added by exploration sites in the Barents Sea and elsewhere over the next 50 years, which is 1.5 times more than the Norwegian fields currently being tapped or under construction. Continue reading...

Communities in danger of falling into the sea say assistance from Washington has dried up: ‘It feels like a complete abdication of responsibility on climate change’The US government’s withdrawal from dealing with, or even acknowledging, climate change may have provoked widespread opprobrium, but for Alaskan communities at risk of toppling into the sea, the risks are rather more personal.The Trump administration has moved to dismantle climate adaptation programs including the Denali Commission, an Anchorage-based agency that is crafting a plan to safeguard or relocate dozens of towns at risk from rising sea levels, storms and the winnowing away of sea ice. Continue reading...

Carmakers, recyclers and tech start ups are working to solve the question of how to deal with lithium-ion batteries when they wear out

Skyrocketing Australian gas prices are behind AGL plans to build a $250m LNG import terminal south of MelbourneAs Australia ramps up to become one of the world’s biggest gas exporters, skyrocketing local gas prices are driving one company to build a new gas import terminal, highlighting an apparently absurd situation for local gas users.On Thursday AGL announced it had come closer to realising its plans to build a $250m LNG import terminal, nominating a port 80km south of Melbourne as its preferred location. Continue reading...

Sandy, Bedfordshire As the birdsongs of day fade out, the bat detector stirs into unheard actionThe sun had risen over fields of oats and gone down on a prairie of stubble, yet still the skylarks sang. Though the world beneath their wings had been transformed, they continued exulting or lamenting in twilight overtime. I listened to two, three, or many voices intermingling at the fading of the day, but whether they sang in the sky or gave their evening show from the ground, I could not tell.Other voices came too, though intermittently. Restless flocks of geese seeking rest crisscrossed between land and lakes. Numbering no more than a dozen at a time, they passed low overhead, their wings making a fuzzy buzz. The birds were muted but not mute; single birds made bleating calls that to me were riddled with anxiety at the approach of night. Continue reading...

Families living on riverbanks of north-east India claim pleas for help following devastating floods have been ignored on religious and racial groundsThe Indian government has been accused of religious and racial discrimination after members of the Chakma ethnic group said their pleas for help following the devastating floods and landslides that swept the country’s north-east have fallen on deaf ears. Continue reading...

NT town’s drinking water is contaminated by foam from air force base but federal government is resisting calls to fund testsThe Northern Territory government and the Katherine mayor have called for locals to be given the same blood testing and support provided to other communities impacted by Defence’s firefighting foam contamination scandal.Drinking water in the town of Katherine, in the territory’s top end, has been contaminated by the decades-long use of toxic firefighting foam at the nearby Tindal air force base. Continue reading...

A new trade analysis reveals the scale of Britain’s role in the international ivory trade

Readers respond to George Monbiot’s recent article and news that the US Department of Agriculture is censoring use of term ‘climate change’George Monbiot’s call to reconsider how we name things (Forget ‘the environment’. Fight for our living planet, 9 August) is a timely contribution to a confusing world. But one word that both he and the majority of online contributors have ignored is “prosperity”. That, after all, is why humans engage in economic activity: they believe it will make things better. There is, however, a fundamental problem with the way we have arranged our economic affairs. By treating the natural world as an infinite thing, “external” to the economy (except as a never-ending supply of resources) we have built a massive endeavour to take natural resources and make them into things that are then disposed of, generally after a fairly brief period of human enjoyment.Everyone I speak to readily accepts that under this system the planet must eventually “run out”, but they cannot see an alternative to “prosperity”. The conversation we need to have is not how we name things but how we do things. Continue reading...

East Riding of Yorkshire and north-east Lincolnshire among areas hardest hit, with severe downpours expectedA month’s worth of rain was set to fall on the UK on Wednesday as severe downpours brought flooding to large parts of the country. Flash flooding hit towns and villages in the East Riding of Yorkshire and north-east Lincolnshire. There was a metre (3ft) of standing water in parts of Withernsea, and further flooding in the Grimsby and Immingham areas.The Humberside fire and rescue service said it responded to calls on Tuesday evening from Bridlington to Hull, and from towns south of the river Humber. Grimsby Town’s League Cup football match with Derby County had to be abandoned on Tuesday night because of the heavy rain. Continue reading...

Move follows NFU criticism of practice and consumer calls for genuine labellingSupermarket chain Morrisons has pledged to support real British farmers by not adopting brands using fake farm names after a backlash by the National Farmers’ Union and concerns by shoppers.Morrisons announced its intention after a 70% of adults said in a survey by the company they objected to the use of fictitious farm brands and only wanted genuine place or farm names on packaging and branding. Continue reading...

Wildlife officials say something must be done to end animal’s months-long rampage that has left villagers living in fearAn elephant that has killed 15 people in eastern India over a months-long rampage could be shot within days if it is not brought under control, an official has said.Wildlife rangers and hunters assembled in Jharkhand on Wednesday after another victim was trampled to death on Tuesday evening, said the state’s chief forest and wildlife conservator, LR Singh. Continue reading...

AquaBounty salmon was approved for sale in Canada in 2016, paving the way for it to become the first genetically engineered animal to enter the food supplyCanadian supermarkets have become the first in the world to stock genetically modified fish, and about five tonnes of GM salmon have been sold in the country in recent months.The sales figure was revealed in the most recent earnings report of the US-based AquaBounty Technologies, whose hybrid Atlantic salmon – which contains a gene from a Chinook salmon and a gene from the ocean pout – has been at the heart of a heated debate over transgenic animals as food. Continue reading...

Interview with UN Special Rapporteur Victoria Tauli-Corpuz to mark the International Day of the World’s Indigenous PeoplesToday is the United Nations’ (UN) International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, numbering an estimated 370 million in 90 countries and speaking roughly 7,000 languages. To mark it, the Guardian interviews Kankanaey Igorot woman Victoria Tauli-Corpuz about the UN’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which she calls “historic” and was adopted 10 years ago.Tauli-Corpuz, from the Philippines, was Chair of the UN Permanent Forum of Indigenous Issues when the Declaration was adopted, and is currently the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In this interview, conducted via email, she explains why the Declaration is so important, argues that governments are failing to implement it, and claims that the struggle for indigenous rights “surpasses” other great social movements of the past: Continue reading...

Turnbull has directed the power companies to help people lowering their bills. Only an empowered consumer is able to navigate market options effectively

Wenlock Edge Rain hardens summer’s lushness and the vivid knapweed seems loaded with the uncanniness of the seasonOn the windmill meadow, above a green rind of grasses and below their fidgety seedheads in the rain is the dotty purpling of knapweed.The jet stream divides August in Europe. As the south swelters in life-threatening temperatures, this side of the shower curtain is cool, wet and, after Lammas Day, thistly. Continue reading...

Decision enrages environmental groups, with Lock the Gate calling it a ‘very dark day for farming’ in the stateGlencore’s multibillion-dollar Wandoan coalmine proposal has been granted mining leases years after it was shelved amid falling commodity prices and a ramped-up global response to climate change.On Tuesday Queensland’s natural resources and mines minister, Dr Anthony Lynham, approved three 27-year leases covering 30,000 hectares for the first stage of its $7bn mine near Roma. Continue reading...

More than 1,000 of the endangered species, which come from one island off Portugal, have hatched in captivity in a world firstIn what is believed to be a world first, one of the rarest spiders has been bred in captivity at Bristol Zoo Gardens. More than 1,000 Desertas wolf spiderlings, classed as critically endangered, have hatched. Keepers hand-reared some from tiny eggs as they are so precious. At birth, they measure 4mm across, but they will grow to 12cm, with a 4cm body.The species is found in a single valley on Deserta Grande, one of the Desertas islands near Madeira, Portugal. There are about 4,000 adults left in the wild and it is hoped that some of the spiderlings can be returned to their home. Continue reading...

Secretary of state Rex Tillerson directs staff to make clear US wants to help other countries use fossil fuels, diplomatic cable showsUS diplomats should sidestep questions from foreign governments on what it would take for the Trump administration to re-engage in the global Paris climate agreement, according to a diplomatic cable seen by Reuters.

Since their trial reintroduction in Devon, the animal’s engineering skills have reduced floodwater and created a paradise for local wildlife. Should we bring them back for good?At a secret location in the rolling pasture of west Devon lies a marshy patch of farmland protected by £35,000-worth of solar-powered electric fencing. This isn’t to keep people out but to restrain the tree-chomping, river-damming residents of these three hectares. Outside the fence is a typical small valley, with a trickle of a stream, willow thickets and pasture grazed by cattle. Inside the enclosure, the tiny stream has been blocked by 13 dams, creating pools and half-metre-wide canals. These have been built by Britain’s newest wild mammal, the beaver, which uses its waterways like we do – to transport goods. And as the beavers have coppiced trees, the willow thicket has been replaced with sunny glades of wild flowers – marsh thistles, watermint, meadowsweet – which dance with dragonflies and butterflies.“The beavers have transformed this little trickle of a stream into a remarkable, primeval wetland,” says Mark Elliott, lead beaver project officer of Devon Wildlife Trust, which released two beavers here in 2011. “This is what the landscape would have looked like before we started farming, and it’s only six years old. That’s the amazing thing.” Continue reading...

当野生动植物的存亡关系到当地居民切身利益时，他们就会成为野生动植物的最佳保护者，约翰·斯坎伦写到。

Pulborough Brooks, West Sussex The sun is slowly dropping towards the horizon and the air is cooling. The sandpipers are still feeding, making the most of this important stopover site on their routeRipples flow across the golden grass as the stems bend back and forth in the breeze. A pair of common blue butterflies – the male sky blue, the female rusty brown – dance over the field. It’s quiet, apart from the tinkling of parties of goldfinches flying over, and the relentless buzz of crickets and grasshoppers rising up from the ground alongside the footpath.I follow the track around the field and into the woods, and walk uphill to the Hanger, the viewpoint that looks out over the pools and channels of the brooks. Two young grey herons battle over the fishing rights to their small pool, raising the crests on their heads, holding their wings wide and barking sharp “frarnk” calls. Finally one gives way and heaves itself into the air, flapping slowly into the distance. Continue reading...

It’s safe to go back in the water, says marine biologist who identified the miniature attackers as lysianassid amphipodsThe “meat-loving” marine creature that ate at the legs of a Melbourne teenager has been identified as a flesh-eating sea flea, known as a lysianassid amphipod.Marine biologist Dr Genefor Walker-Smith said the creatures, which left 16-year-old Sam Kanizay with significant bleeding from his legs, were a small, scavenging crustacean that usually fed on dead fish or sea birds. Continue reading...

Global warming helping spread of micro-algae, forcing the closure of several beaches including popular Teresitas at Santa Cruz de Tenerife.Tourists have been warned to avoid blooms of toxic micro-algae that have been proliferating in hot weather in the sea off Spain’s Canary Islands.

Recognition of barred grass snake as distinct species different to common cousin increases native total to fourEngland is home to four kinds of wild snake, not three as was previously believed, according to scientists.

We should beware of myths about electric vehicles, says David Bricknell; but John Richards still worries about the environmental impact of their batteriesYour editorial perpetuates a number of myths about electric vehicles (Car drivers are heading into a future far from their dreams, 7 August). You say “Tesla has just started selling its first electric car aimed squarely at the middle classes”, reinforcing the views recently posted online by fossil fuel lobby groups that EVs are only for the rich while being subsidised by the poorer. The Tesla 3 is directly cost competitive with similar cars with internal combustion engines and cheaper when including running costs, and there is now a growing second-hand market.You say Tesla sales are “a remarkable figure for a machine with a fairly short range and a very limited number of specialised charging stations”. The Tesla 3 has an EPA rated range of 310 miles – this is not a “fairly short range”. Continue reading...

Carnivorous amphipods feasted on the legs of one unlucky Australian teenager, but they are not the only watery beasts with a taste for human flesh. Which ones should we really be afraid of?Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, some mystery lice chow down on a boy’s legs in Australia. Sam Kanizay had been paddling at a Melbourne beach. Half an hour later, the 16-year-old reeled when the sand he thought was covering his legs turned out to be eating his flesh, leading to unstoppable bleeding.Related: Tiny 'meat-loving' marine creatures 'eat' teenager's legs at Melbourne beach Continue reading...

Exclusive: series of emails show staff at Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service advised to reference ‘weather extremes’ insteadStaff at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have been told to avoid using the term climate change in their work, with the officials instructed to reference “weather extremes” instead.A series of emails obtained by the Guardian between staff at the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), a USDA unit that oversees farmers’ land conservation, show that the incoming Trump administration has had a stark impact on the language used by some federal employees around climate change. Continue reading...

Sighting of animal follows four-year project on the North York Moors carried out in partnership with Forestry CommissionOne of England’s rarest animals has been caught on camera after a four-year stakeout by wildlife experts.A male pine marten was captured on a wildlife camera in the North York Moors, the Forestry Commission said. Pine martens were last seen alive in Yorkshire about 35 years ago.

Fifteen volunteers held on suspicion of lighting or reporting non-existent wildfires in Italian region in bonus payments scamFifteen volunteer firefighters have been arrested in Sicily on suspicion of starting wildfires and reporting non-existent blazes so they could earn €10 (£9) an hour for putting them out.Police in Ragusa province, in the south of the Mediterranean island, said the fire department became suspicious when it emerged that the auxiliary brigade had responded to 120 incidents compared with just 40 tackled by other volunteer teams over the same period. Continue reading...

Supermarket to stop selling ‘single-use’ bags but will offer customers ‘bags for life’ costing 10pThe UK’s largest retailer is to stop selling “single use” 5p carrier bags in its UK stores from the end of the month, instead offering shoppers reusable “bags for life” costing 10p.The move by Tesco follows a 10-week trial in Aberdeen, Dundee and Norwich, which led to a 25% cut in bag sales as shoppers either brought their own or switched to the bags for life. Continue reading...

A new study finds 6.5% of global GDP goes to subsidizing dirty fossil fuels

Daimler says diesel is worth fighting for but there is no comeback for the toxic technology and the fight must now be to save livesWhen the story of Volkswagen’s cheating on diesel emissions tests broke nearly two years ago, a number of reporters asked me if this spelled the end for diesel cars. My response was a confident, dismissive “no”. While dieselgate would cast a long shadow, there was no reason to write off diesel cars, at least in the short term. After all, the technology does exist to make clean diesel cars. It’s just a question of improving the existing regulations and enforcing them better.

Dark Peak, Derbyshire Even avowed outdoor evangelists should be allowed to keep one or two places to themselvesI am not going to tell you where I am writing about. It is one of those places of personal sanctity that has, miraculously, escaped the popular attention I am fully aware it deserves. Even avowed outdoor evangelists should be allowed to keep one or two of these places to ourselves.I discovered it a few years ago, but had not gone back since. On a searing day this spring, after two excruciating hours inching through Manchester traffic, it flashed back into my head on my journey over the Pennines. Craving the mini-rebirth of a soak in wild water, I fled my car and marched up to it in my work clothes. There it shone, almost landscaped in its perfection, the porter-coloured beck tumbling down in bright cascades over exquisite water-smoothed shelves of rock. The cool pool at the bottom was treacle-dark and deep enough for submersion; water from heaven. Continue reading...

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 7 August 1917

Greens’ Jeremy Buckingham says Coalition government frightened of public scrutiny following allegations of water theft in Murray-Darling basinWater regulations due to be reviewed and updated on 1 September have been postponed for another year by the New South Wales government following the controversy over allegations of water theft in the Barwon-Darling region of the Murray-Darling basin.The Greens MLC Jeremy Buckingham accused the NSW Coalition of running scared over the recent scrutiny of state water management following the Four Corners program.

Country that produces almost half the world’s avocados contemplates the unthinkable as dietary staple becomes too costly for ordinary MexicansThe growing global appetite for avocados has been blamed for a litany of sorrows, from self-inflicted stab wounds to stopping young people from buying their own homes.But in Mexico, the world’s biggest producer, what used to be a dietary staple is now too expensive for many ordinary consumers. And, now the country where the avocado is believe to have originated is considering the unthinkable: importing avocados from abroad. Continue reading...

Infected larvae are exploding in Lincolnshire – and the virus is spreading …Name: Zombie caterpillars.Age: Not very old, and dead before their time, after a tragic life in which their bodies were taken over by a malign force. Continue reading...