Research supports the idea that nature could be widely prescribed by doctors as a therapy, easing the burden on the NHSVolunteers on wildlife projects benefit from a big boost to their mental health, according to new research. It advances the idea that nature could be widely prescribed by doctors as a therapy, which its supporters say would ease the burden on the NHS.The new analysis tracked people across England taking part in projects run by the Wildlife Trusts, ranging from nature walks and conservation work to the Men in Sheds project in Bolton, which makes bird tables and bug hotels. Continue reading...

Charta Smerelda aims to encourage 150,000 sailors to reduce plastic pollution in ocean and protect marine habitatsOne of the most exclusive yacht clubs in the world has drawn up an environmental charter to ask 150,000 sailors across the globe to reduce plastic pollution in the ocean.The Costa Smerelda yacht club in Sardinia, established by the Aga Khan 50 years ago, is publishing the charter to cut plastic waste at the One Ocean Forum conference. International sailing organisations have signed up to support the document which will be disseminated to 150,000 sailors who compete across the world. Continue reading...

Andrew Broad says untapped reserves are not creating gas shortages and government should fix exports, which are to blameThe GST should not be used to force states to lift bans on gas exploration and development because exports, not bans, are to blame for shortages, the Nationals MP Andrew Broad has said.On Monday the energy and environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, doubled down on the government’s threat to use goods and services tax distribution as a lever to force states to end bans on gas exploration and development. Continue reading...

Kinder Scout, Derbyshire Kestrel numbers may be in decline but we saw maybe half a dozen hanging in the updraft or plummeting into peat groughsThe perfect wild camping place: an obliging flat spot next to a horseshoe-shaped meander where the stream has carved out a tall bank from the soft shale grit, offering water close to hand and shelter from the wind. Best of all, our tents face towards a slope covered in reefs of purple heather that are being prowled by a kestrel. Though dinner consists of a bag of rehydrated dust, the opportunity to eat while watching a wild bird at work without hurry or distraction makes it feel positively luxurious.I never fail to be captivated by kestrel flight; the suspenseful hovering, then the sudden swoop, that combination of charged stillness and sudden action that Gerard Manley Hopkins thrilled to in Windhover: “High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing… / then off, off forth on swing, / As a skate’s heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend.” Over an hour or so it makes several apparently unsuccessful plunges into the heather before finally reappearing with a vole in its talons. Continue reading...

Tesco joins boycott as food group closes doors at West Bromwich plant in order to retrain workers after Guardian/ITV investigationThe country’s largest supplier of supermarket chicken has suspended production at one of its main processing plants after undercover filming revealed poor hygiene standards and food safety records being altered.The temporary closure by 2 Sisters Food Group (2SFG), which will now put employees at the plant through a retraining programme, came as Tesco, the UK’s largest supermarket chain, joined the boycott of the poultry group’s West Midlands plant in the wake of a joint undercover investigation by the Guardian and ITV News. Continue reading...

State-owned company refused disclosure of security arrangements for Chinese plant the Bradwell nuclear station could be modelled onThe Chinese state-owned company planning a nuclear power station in Essex refused to share the security arrangements for a Chinese nuclear plant with the British authorities, it has been revealed.Inspectors from the UK nuclear regulator visited the China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) in Shenzhen earlier this year, as part of the four-year approval process for the reactor the company wants to build at Bradwell. Continue reading...

My friend and colleague David Tayler, who has died aged 53, was a geographer, geologist and passionate conservationist who devoted his life to connecting people with landscapes. Through this he changed countless lives. Most of his career was spent in the Yorkshire Dales, running conservation, education and outreach projects.Born to John, a local government worker, and his wife, Margaret (nee Tyler), a teacher, in Maidenhead, Berkshire, he attended the local comprehensive, Desborough school (now Desborough college). There, particularly on geography and geology field trips, he developed a lifelong affinity with landscapes, wildlife and botany. He never lost that early sense of joy and wonder at the natural world and a desire to inspire it in others. Continue reading...

Fashion designer, 76, says not washing too much is the secret to seeming young, while her husband, Andreas Kronthaler, says he washes even less oftenAchieving eternal youth may not be as difficult as one imagines, according to the fashion designer and environmentalist Vivienne Westwood.

Finance minister indicates NSW, Victoria and Northern Territory could be penalised for their gas moratoriumsThe federal government has indicated it could use the GST to try to force states to end bans on gas exploration and development.As it seeks to avoid long-term gas shortages, the Coalition is escalating pressure on state governments to ease restrictions. Continue reading...

Cei Newydd/New Quay, Ceredigion Waterfalls flowed wide and white on to the foreshore, shedding excess water from the landscapeThe steep path up to the headland was scoured to the bedrock by the recent storms, with banks of debris built up at the breaks of slope like shoals in a stream. Long grass at the margin was flattened and the turf had been peeled back from the edges of the rock by the passage of water.Recent rain, a series of startlingly abrupt and intense showers, had made me wonder whether a walk on the coast path was a good plan – but the view northwards along the coast more than justified the risk of a soaking. Continue reading...

Tesla boss said the project is a great example of how to replace fossil fuels with renewables• Elon Musk: SpaceX can colonise Mars and build moon baseThe clock is ticking on entrepreneur Elon Musk’s promise to build the world’s largest lithium-ion battery in South Australia within 100 days or provide it for free.But with the facility already half finished, the US billionaire looks set to get paid. Continue reading...

A beetle and a fungus are killing off the trees that have become synonymous with the city, making way for trees that give more shade and use less waterThey are the sultry, swaying backdrop to countless films, posters and music videos, an effective way to announce: this is Los Angeles.Palm trees greet you outside the LAX airport, they line Hollywood Boulevard, stand guard over the Pacific and crisscross neighbourhoods poor and rich, a botanical army of stems and fronds which symbolise the world’s entertainment capital. Continue reading...

Commons committee to summon founder Ranjit Singh Boparan as three supermarkets suspend contracts and FSA launches investigation

Christine Tacon’s firm hand is bringing results but many farmers still fall foul of unfair practice, say Kerry McCarthy MP, Lindsey Macdonald of NFU Scotland and 11 other signatoriesFarmers at home and those in developing countries are waiting with bated breath for the government to rule on expanding the role of the groceries code adjudicator, Christine Tacon. Ms Tacon has wielded her ombudsman role to impose sanctions on supermarkets for failures to play fair with suppliers – and her firm hand is bringing results. But many farmers growing food for our tables still fall foul of unfair practice.Late cancellations to orders – the equivalent of ordering a meal only to walk out as it arrives at the table – leave piles of unwanted fruit and veg rotting on compost heaps instead of filling our shopping baskets. Ahead of the government’s call for evidence we interviewed banana farmers who received late order changes four weeks out of five, leading to additional costs in an industry notorious for tight margins and difficult working conditions. Late payments also cost farmers money. One group of UK dairy farmers has found itself out of pocket by up to £14,000 per farm since 2015 because of a two-week delay to payments imposed on them by their milk purchaser. Continue reading...

Bearded tits in Norfolk, rutting deer in Dublin, and a hungry polar bear in Alaska are among our pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

Focus of London mayor’s proposed ban will be on educating owners not to burn wood during bad air quality episodes

Sadiq Khan wants to reduce air pollution – and one of the worst offenders is the wood-fired stove. But is there any other use for your Scandi-inspired heater?In a blow targeted straight at the city’s middle-class heart, Sadiq Khan is trying to occasionally ban some wood-burning stoves from being used in London. To reduce air pollution, he is seeking powers to prohibit the burning of wood in any areas that suffer from poor air quality. However, there are 1.5m wood-burning stoves in the UK, and that number is increasing by 200,000 annually. So, if you have a wood-burning stove that you can’t currently use, what are you supposed to do with it? Some thoughts.• Use it to burn something less harmful to the environment than wood. Polystyrene perhaps? Continue reading...

Food Standards Agency, Tesco and Sainsbury’s investigate 2 Sisters Food Group plant after Guardian/ITV News story

In his new documentary, the explorer joins Borneo’s Penan tribe to see what the world’s indigenous people can teach us about our own survival and that of the planet

Mercury is found in household items from beauty products to electronics, and even in food. Without proper safeguards our health is in dangerMercury is far more pervasive than most people realise, and we have no idea how many people are at risk. It can be found in everything from mascara and dental amalgam to thermometers and skin whitening creams – and that’s before it reaches the food chain.There is no safe level of exposure, and everyone is at risk when mercury is released without safeguards. Children and newborn and unborn babies are most vulnerable, along with populations who eat contaminated fish. Studies have shown that children as far afield as Brazil, Canada, China, Columbia and Greenland all suffer cognitive impairment from eating fish containing mercury. Continue reading...

Bigger livestock in larger numbers in more regions has led to methane in the air climbing faster than predicted due to ‘out-of-date data’Emissions of the greenhouse gas methane from livestock are larger than previously thought, posing an additional challenge in the fight to curb global warming, scientists have said.Revised calculations of methane produced per head of cattle show that global livestock emissions in 2011 were 11% higher than estimates based on data from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC). Continue reading...

While Flint battles a water crisis, just two hours away the beverage giant pumps almost 100,000 times what an average Michigan resident uses into plastic bottlesGina Luster bathed her child in lukewarm bottled water, emptied bottle by bottle into the tub, for months. It became a game for her seven-year-old daughter. Pop the top off a bottle, and pour it into the tub. It takes about 30 minutes for a child to fill a tub this way. Pop the top, pour it in; pop the top, pour it in. Maybe less if you can get gallon jugs.Luster lives in Flint, Michigan, and here, residents believe tap water is good for one thing: to flush the toilet. Continue reading...

September saw more fires than any month on record, as experts say uptick is due to expansion of agriculture and reduction of oversight and surveillanceBrazil has seen more forest fires in September than in any single month since records began, and authorities have warned that 2017 could surpass the worst year on record if action is not taken soon.Experts say that the blazes are almost exclusively due to human activity, and they attribute the uptick to the expansion of agriculture and a reduction of oversight and surveillance. Lower than average rainfall in this year’s dry season is also an exacerbating factor. Continue reading...

Welburn, North Yorkshire Neighbourly etiquette precludes releasing our captives near another house, and compassion compels me to avoid roadsWhile we were on holiday recently, our home became the venue for an unsanctioned party. It probably started with one or two acquaintances, a few nibbles. But word got around, as it does. The first we knew of the ensuing orgy was the smell in the kitchen, the ureic perma-damp stink I associate with concrete-floored public toilets.Our house is highly permeable to small mammals. On moving in we found dozens of bank vole skeletons in the loft. Two shrews once drowned in a nappy bucket and another morning we found a baby rabbit camped under a bookcase. Sometimes bats appear in the kitchen. Continue reading...

Welsh climber Andrew Foster, 32, was man killed on El Capitan, say authorities, and ‘substantially bigger’ fall has since taken place

London mayor cites figures showing that the home stoves, used in 16% of households, produce up to a third of all the capital’s fine-particle pollution

Forests globally are so degraded that instead of absorbing emissions they now release more carbon annually than all the traffic in the US, say researchersThe world’s tropical forests are so degraded they have become a source rather than a sink of carbon emissions, according to a new study that highlights the urgent need to protect and restore the Amazon and similar regions.Researchers found that forest areas in South America, Africa and Asia – which have until recently played a key role in absorbing greenhouse gases – are now releasing 425 teragrams of carbon annually, which is more than all the traffic in the United States. Continue reading...

After leaving school at 16, the entrepreneur has built up a vast business employing 23,000 peopleHis soft West Midlands accent betrays the fact that Ranjit Singh Boparan has not ventured far from his roots during a career in food. But in business terms he has travelled miles.The entrepreneur, who left school at 16 with few qualifications and spent his early working life toiling in a local butcher’s shop, founded 2 Sisters Food Group in West Bromwich in 1993 with a bank loan, and has since grown the firm into the UK’s second largest food business by turnover. Continue reading...

We sent two undercover journalists to work in the supermarket supply chain and found some alarming food safety practices“Have you just got out of prison?” the slaughterhouse foreman asks his new recruit.

Concern grows that cause of toxic plume last month, which left 150 people seeking hospital treatment, may never be knownMPs have criticised a decision to wind down an investigation into the mysterious chemical haze that caused Sussex beaches to be evacuated and left dozens of people reporting sore eyes and breathing problems.People affected by the incident expressed alarm that they may never know the cause of the toxic plume that gave them sore throats for weeks after it drifted on to Birling Gap and other beaches on 27 August. Continue reading...

MEPs withdraw parliamentary access after the firm shunned a hearing into allegations that it unduly influenced studies into the safety of glyphosate used in its RoundUp weedkillerMonsanto lobbyists have been banned from entering the European parliament after the multinational refused to attend a parliamentary hearing into allegations of regulatory interference.It is the first time MEPs have used new rules to withdraw parliamentary access for firms that ignore a summons to attend parliamentary inquiries or hearings. Continue reading...

Greenland wildfires, deforestation and tropical storm Harvey are among the images captured by Nasa and the ESA last monthTropical storm Harvey in the Gulf of Mexico on 24 August. This geocolor image appears differently depending on whether it is day (right of the image) or night (left). Continue reading...

The latest example, Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Rebecca Otto has a strong clean energy proposal

Environment secretary hopes for ‘decent conversation’ with council, but says he is also exploring ‘legal or policy avenues’Michael Gove has asked government officials to explore ways of stopping the “bonkers” felling of thousands of roadside trees in Sheffield.The environment secretary said the government would examine “legal or policy avenues” to end the scheme that has triggered months of protests by residents. Continue reading...

World faces disaster if those who contributed ‘lion’s share’ to global warming don’t aid low-income countries, IMF saysThe International Monetary Fund has told rich countries they must do more to help poor nations cope with climate change or suffer from the weaker global growth and higher migration flows that will inevitably result.In a chapter released ahead of the publication of next month’s World Economic Outlook, the Washington-based IMF said low-income countries had contributed little to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations and could not afford to tackle the problem from their own meagre resources. Continue reading...

Survey of 11 European countries reveals huge government subsidies to the transport sector and for fuels such as gasGovernments of 11 European nations are providing subsidies totalling more than £80bn a year to fossil fuel industries, green campaigners have claimed.Transport fuels account for the lion’s share of the support to fossil fuels. Many of the 11 countries surveyed encourage drivers to use diesel as it produces less carbon per mile than petrol, despite the fuel’s effects on air pollution which is particularly harmful to children. For many years, governments had incentives to prioritise the use of diesel, as it helped them meet internationally-set carbon reduction targets. Continue reading...

Clissold Park, London Folded in on itself, the grey heron is still, only slightly moving its head to watch the water for an eel or frogOld Spear-Face crouches in the rushes. The great grey heron has folded itself, all beak and eye, wing and leg, invisibly for such a large bird, into the watery edge of bulrushes in a park busy with people. Perhaps the people pretend not to notice the heron so the heron believes it really is invisible; they may steal a glance at each other from different realities in the same place but their gazes never meet.Old Spear-Face is still, only slightly moving its head to watch the water for an eel or frog, while the surface reflects the finest autumn afternoon, high clouds and rumours of change in the trees. The bird’s eye, with its golden ring, has a determined look, like that of self-conscious cyclists, sellers of socialist papers, wedding photographers, proprietors of food stalls. Its wings cloak its body in plumy tassels of grey, and the scaly stick of its one leg (or so it seems) is jammed into the mud of the New river. Continue reading...

The band and the composer have released the track, which is a reworking of Radiohead’s Bloom and will be the theme to the forthcoming nature seriesRadiohead and Hans Zimmer have released a clip of their collaboration (Ocean) Bloom, which will be the opening music for the forthcoming BBC series Blue Planet II.The track is an orchestral reworking of Bloom, Radiohead’s song from their 2011 album The King of Limbs, and will appear during the prequel to the BBC’s flagship nature documentary about life in the world’s oceans. Continue reading...

Family rivalry and Brazil’s Catholic church helped miners devastate an indigenous territory that was once a leader in the fight against deforestation. Climate Home reportsThe Paiter-Suruí are a tribe of roughly 1,400 people, uncontacted until 1969, who live in the Amazon forest on the border between the Brazilian states of Rondônia and Mato Grosso.In 2013, they became the first indigenous population in the world to sell carbon credits under the UN’s major anti-deforestation scheme. Then, last year, they discovered the earth beneath their forest was rich with diamonds, and all hell broke loose. Continue reading...

UK-based airline has linked up with US firm Wright Electric to build battery-powered aircraft for flights under two hoursEasyJet could be flying planes powered by batteries rather than petroleum to destinations including Paris and Amsterdam within a decade.The UK carrier has formed a partnership with US firm Wright Electric, which is developing a battery-propelled aircraft for flights under two hours. Continue reading...

Capital is given emergency warning as polluted air from the continent combines with toxic air at homeThe mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has triggered the capital’s emergency air quality alert as polluted air from the continent combines with toxic air in London to create dangerous levels of pollution.The alerts will see warnings displayed at bus stops, road signs and on the underground. Khan has also asked TV and radio stations across the capital to warn their viewers and listeners in news bulletins. Continue reading...

As usual, conservative media outlets distorted a climate science paper to advance the denialist agenda

Study of skull, as well as DNA analysis, confirms new species in genus of mosaic tailed rats or Uromys

Stamford, Lincolnshire A little ashy triangle in the grass, the red admiral looked oddly serene amid the gathering tempestAutumn arrives, as . storms suddenly acquire names. Over there, Hurricanes Irma, Jose, Maria. Over here, Storms Aileen, Brian, Caroline: a queue of peculiarly civilian namings – a quiz team of meteorological terror – due before Christmas, the news says.A drop in temperature, a greying of the light and a whine of wind through cracks sent me into the garden to dismantle the swaying paraphernalia of summer. As I reached the buffeting tent my children had been playing in, I saw a patch of colour in the grass. Continue reading...

Without action to tackle global warming, deadly summer temperatures of 40C in Europe could be normal by 2050The scorching temperatures across Europe’s Mediterranean nations this summer were made at least 10 times more likely by climate change, according to scientists.Furthermore, without action to tackle global warming, such summer heatwaves with temperatures soaring over 40C will become normal by 2050. Continue reading...

Annual general meeting told of plans for ageing power station, including reiteration of reasons it should be decommissionedAGL has proposed to replace its ageing Liddell power station with renewables, batteries, gas power, upgraded coal power and demand response. And the company again outlined a laundry list of problems with the federal government’s request for it to extend the plant’s life or sell it.At AGL’s annual general meeting on Wednesday its chief executive, Andy Vesey, outlined the “broad architecture” of a plan to replace the eight terawatt hours of energy produced by Liddell each year (a terawatt is 1,000 gigawatts), as well as the 1,000MW of standing capacity the plant maintains. Continue reading...

‘Clean growth’ report steps into scrapping of green deal void and reinstates all new homes be zero carbon by 2020Progress in making Britain’s homes more energy efficient has stalled, but the government could salvage billions in wastage by taking a few key steps, a new report with wide backing has found.Ministers are preparing a new “clean growth” plan after the scrapping of the green deal, which left the UK without a government policy on making homes more energy efficient and tackling fuel poverty. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Evidence showed that billions of litres was taken from the Barwon river but federal agency rejected it as flawedThe Murray-Darling Basin Authority knew about allegations of substantial water theft as early as July 2016 but took no serious action until an ABC investigation broadcast new claims a year later, documents obtained by the Guardian reveal.Related: NSW accused of 'running scared' after postponing review of water regulations Continue reading...

Conservationist and 1,461 other scientists release statement describing Australia’s oceans as a ‘global asset’ that must be protectedGrowing global momentum to protect the world’s oceans from overfishing could be undermined by Australia, warns renowned conservationist David Suzuki and more than 1,461 other scientists.Australia is currently considering the world’s biggest downgrading of a protected area with a reduction in the size of its network of marine reserves. Continue reading...

The pub chain’s decision to do away with straws is expected to stop 70m of them ending up in landfill or the sea every year. Here are some other plastics we perhaps could do withoutDrinkers heading to Wetherspoon’s for a tipple will have to do without plastic straws from the end of this year as the cheap (and occasionally cheerful) high-street pub chain does its bit to tackle the problem of global plastic pollution.Following on the heels of companies such as Tesco, which last month announced it would stop selling its 5p single-use plastic bags, Wetherspoon’s senses the tide is turning against unnecessary plastics and claims that the move will stop 70m plastic straws finding their way into landfill or the world’s oceans every year. Continue reading...