Holdfast Bay council wants moratorium on oil and gas exploration in bight over fears of ‘devastating impacts’ of oil spillLocal opposition to plans by multinational oil companies to drill in the Great Australian Bight has ratcheted up a notch after Holdfast Bay council passed a motion calling on the regulator to stop all such activity – the largest of five councils in the South Australian region to voice concern.The move almost doubles the number of people living in councils opposed to drilling in the bight, bringing it to nearly 84,000 people in total, with the representatives of the roughly 38,000 people in Holdfast Bay adding their voices to those of Kangaroo Island, Victor Harbor, Yankalilla and Yorke Peninsula. Continue reading...

First global analysis of all mass–produced plastics has found humans have produced 8.3bn tonnes since the 1950s with the majority ending up in landfill or oceansHumans have produced 8.3bn tonnes of plastic since the 1950s with the majority ending up in landfill or polluting the world’s continents and oceans, according to a new report.

Exclusive: Australian Conservation Foundation asks environment and energy minister to revoke Carmichael mine approvalA fresh legal challenge could be brewing for Adani’s planned Carmichael coalmine. New advice has found the federal environment minister’s approval of the mine may have been unlawful in light of new scientific evidence of its impacts on the endangered black-throated finch.As a result, the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has asked the federal minister for the environment and energy, Josh Frydenberg, revoke the approval and ask Adani to resubmit its plans for consideration. Continue reading...

Brexit department warns EU counterparts it will ‘return waste to its country of origin’ if an agreement on nuclear cooperation cannot be reachedBritain has warned the EU that it could return boatloads of radioactive waste back to the continent if the Brexit talks fail to deliver an agreement on nuclear regulation.

Neart na Gaoithe project on east coast likely to go ahead after long-running court battle despite claim it threatens seabirdsA £2bn offshore windfarm in Scotland looks set to go ahead after the RSPB lost a long-running legal challenge against the plans, which the conservationists said threatened puffins, gannets and kittiwakes.The Scottish government gave its consent to four major windfarms in the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Tay in 2014, but the RSPB launched a judicial review, saying it was extremely concerned at the impact on seabirds. Continue reading...

Catholic order builds chapel in middle of cornfield in attempt to use religious freedom protections to block Atlantic Sunrise pipelineCatholic nuns in Pennsylvania are resisting plans to build a $3bn pipeline for gas obtained by fracking through its land by creating a rudimentary chapel along the proposed route and launching a legal challenge, citing religious freedom.The Adorers of the Blood of Christ order has filed a complaint against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in a bid to keep the pipeline off their land. The nuns’ lawyers argue in court papers that a decision by FERC to force them to accommodate the pipeline is “antithetical to the deeply held religious beliefs and convictions of the Adorers”.

Coal supplied just 2% of power in the first half of 2017, marking a steep decline from just five years ago, according to analysis by Imperial College

Scene in Coverack ‘devastating’ as forecasters warn of more potential flooding in parts of England and WalesDazed residents in a Cornish fishing village have begun a huge clean-up operation following a flash flood that saw a torrent of water more than a metre deep rip up roads and damage 50 properties.As forecasters warned of more potential flooding in parts of England and Wales on Wednesday, the scene at Coverack on the Lizard peninsula was described as devastating.

Trevor Noah, Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers discussed the failure of the Republican healthcare plan and rollback of environmental regulationsLate-night hosts addressed the GOP healthcare bill on Tuesday night, which collapsed after four Republican senators came out in opposition to it.“Trumpcare is no more,” Trevor Noah of Comedy Central began. “I don’t know why we’re surprised. We all knew the words Trump and care were never destined to be together.” Continue reading...

Trump has been paralyzed on healthcare and tax reform, but his administration has been active in eroding safeguards and protections elsewhereGiven all that Donald Trump promised the business world during his bombastic campaign it’s tempting to dismiss the president’s first six months with a “meh”. It would also be myopic. Continue reading...

The wall of Republican climate denial is starting to crack; who will be the Neo that accelerates the process?

Operator of UK’s largest power station says it plans to convert one of three remaining coal-fired units to gasThe operator of the UK’s largest power station has seen its share price slide after it posted a pre-tax loss of £83m in the first half of the year despite increasing earnings by 73%.Drax Group, which runs a coal and biomass plant in North Yorkshire, boosted its earnings to £121m from £70m last year, due to its acquisition of the business energy supplier Opus Energy. Continue reading...

Daimler acts to reduce nitrogen oxide output as diesel emissions remain under scrutiny in wake of VW scandalAlmost every new Mercedes-Benz diesel car bought in the UK during the past six years is being recalled to improve their emissions performance.

Flooding in Cornish coastal village of Coverack described as horrendous, and further deluges possible further northMuch of England and Wales has been warned to prepare for more stormy weather and localised flooding after several people in Cornwall had to be rescued from flash floods overnight.Heavy rain and thunderstorms caused “devastating” flooding in the coastal village of Coverack in Cornwall on Tuesday, with about 50 homes and businesses affected. Met Office forecasters put in place a yellow warning, the lowest of the three weather warnings, for most of the rest of Wednesday and said that as much as two-thirds of a month’s average rainfall could come down in a few hours. Continue reading...

Every winter thousands of giant Australian cuttlefish gather to breed in a stretch of shallow, rocky water off Point Lowly in South Australia. The phenomenon, known as an aggregation, is the only known instance of cuttlefish gathering in such large numbers – it is estimated there can be more than 150,000 in a 10km stretch of water – and has become a tourist as well as scientific attraction. This video, taken by mpaynecreative.tv, captures male cuttlefish as they display their brightest pigments in a bid to attract females. It is not known why the giant Cuttlefish aggregate in this area particularly but it is believed they are likely attracted to the shallow rocky area along the coast as it provides optimal habitat to lay their eggs. Video courtesy of mpaynecreative.tv Continue reading...

Emergency services tell people to avoid Coverack area and not to drive through flood waters after violent storms on Tuesday afternoonDozens of homes have been evacuated on the south coast of Cornwall as flash floods sweep through the county after violent thunderstorms on Tuesday afternoon.Cornwall Fire and Rescue told people to avoid the Coverack area because of “major flooding”. Continue reading...

Four re-introduced beavers in Scotland engineered a network of dams, canals and ponds that left the landscape ‘unrecognisable’ from the original drained pastureThe extraordinary ability of eager beavers to engineer degraded land into wildlife-rich wetlands has been revealed by a new study in Scotland.Scientists studied the work of a group of four re-introduced beavers over a decade and found their water engineering prowess created almost 200m of dams, 500m of canals and an acre of ponds. The result was a landscape “almost unrecognisable” from the original pasture that was drained over 200 years ago, with the number of plant species up by nearly 50% and richly varied habitats established across the 30 acre site. Continue reading...

Australian team failed to find missing Malaysia Airlines plane but images show ocean floor’s mountains, rift valleys and shipwrecks in unprecedented detailDetailed ocean-floor maps made during the unsuccessful search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, released by Australia on Wednesday, could help increase the knowledge of rich fisheries and the prehistoric movement of the earth’s southern continents.Related: Why hasn't MH370 been found? Continue reading...

Trevone to Padstow, Cornwall From higher land the ocean appears even more azure, like the sky now streaked with cirrusBeneath the clearing sky, people gravitate from car park and cafe towards the life-guarded beach. By Roundhole Point, kayakers paddle and huddle around their instructor, and further west, low tide reveals the expanse of sand in Harlyn Bay.Close to the shore alexanders along a track are clustered with an abundance of little stripy snails along the bare stems and among the umbels of black seeds. Perhaps these snails relish the celery flavour and thrive in the mild seaside weather, but (as with the tourists and sun-seekers) their numbers diminish away from the sea.

A recovery from near total collapse has led North Sea cod stocks to be labelled as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council for the first time in 20 yearsFish and chip lovers can now enjoy North Sea cod with a clear conscience, after the fishery was awarded sustainable status by the Marine Stewardship Council on Wednesday.Stocks of cod in the North Sea were once one of the world’s great fisheries but plummeted by 84% between the early 1970s and 2006. They came perilously close to the total collapse seen in the Grand Banks fishery off Canada in the early 1990s, which has still not recovered. Continue reading...

Thirty-five councils pledge to switch renewable energy, maximise public transport use and develop more climate-resilient communitiesLocal councils across Australia are taking climate action into their own hands as climate policy paralysis plagues the federal government.Thirty-five have pledged to switch to renewable energy, build sustainable transport, and develop greener, efficient and more climate-resilient communities. Continue reading...

Move represents a tiny proportion of world production, but could embolden others to rethink their commitment to cutsEcuador has become the first country to publicly admit it will not meet Opec’s production curbs, saying it needs to pump more oil to address its fiscal deficit.The South American country’s promised cut of 26,000 barrels of oil a day is a tiny drop in the 1.8m b/d that the cartel recently agreed to curb until early 2018, but the decision is still the first crack in the deal’s unity. Continue reading...

Elephant Action League’s sting operation shows how horns are trafficked from Africa and enter into China via Vietnam, alleging official complicityRhinoceros horn can be easily bought in China despite it being illegal since 1993. The rhino horn products in antiques shop are far from antique. They are new and most likely been illegally trafficked from Africa to Vietnam and then into China.A new report from Elephant Action League (EAL), Grinding Rhino: An Undercover Investigation on Rhino Horn Trafficking in China and Vietnam, shows how rhino horn makes its way into shops in China, the largest illegal market for rhino horn in the world. EAL’s 11-month investigation, called Operation Red Cloud, targeted the supply chain, exposing the players, the networks, and the means by which rhino horn is trafficked into China. Continue reading...

Cap-and-trade system, which aims to help state cut greenhouse gases 40% by 2030, stands against Trump policies: ‘That’s what good government looks like’California legislators have voted to extend a centerpiece program to cut greenhouse gas emissions, burnishing the state’s reputation as a bulwark against Donald Trump’s demolition of climate change measures.

Demand for cheaper food and lower production costs is turning green fields into industrial sheds to process vast amounts of meat and poultry

Dozens of startups are inventing ways to keep LA cool with products and services that aim to avert environmental disaster – and yield profitsDrought, floods, wildfires and heat waves – climate change and extreme weather events are wreaking havoc in California, especially in Los Angeles. The city has recently baked in record temperatures with a long, hot summer still stretching ahead.

Making energy ratings a factor in mortgage offers could let people borrow up to £11,500 more, says Lenders groupHomebuyers could take out bigger mortgages if the energy ratings of properties were factored into the lending criteria of banks and building societies, government-funded research has found.Although estate agents are legally bound to display energy performance certificates (EPCs) in property listings, few buying decisions hinge on energy bill costs and the efficiency of a home is not considered in affordability calculations by lenders. Continue reading...

Deputy prime minister says Australia has a ‘moral responsibility’ to provide the world with energy from exported fossil fuelsBarnaby Joyce has told a clean energy summit that coal is crucial to Australia’s energy policy, saying the government has “a moral responsibility” to provide the world with the energy from exported fossil fuels.Speaking in Sydney on Tuesday, the Nationals leader met Bill Shorten’s offer of bipartisanship around a clean energy target with his own call for compromise. Continue reading...

Air pollution is ‘the tobacco of the 21st century’ says report, which calls on government to introduce radical measures to improve air qualityDangerous levels of air pollution in towns and cities across the north of England are threatening the health of hundreds of thousands of people and stifling economic growth, according to a new report.

More than 140 products including crisps and popcorn put in smaller, redesigned packets with reduced air pocket, but same amount of foodA major UK supermarket has slashed the amount of packaging used for its popular snacks such as crisps and popcorn by reducing the pocket of air at the top of the bag.

Blackwater, Norfolk Pollinated flowers means more plants next year – and more thistles means more beesAfter explaining to a visitor the lengths to which I go to encourage marsh and spear thistles on my fen, I was amused to hear her describe the troubles she takes to keep them from her garden. I know they’re prickly customers, but why do people dislike them?What I cherish most is the sheer architectural grandeur of the summer plant. Each fully open flowerhead has a kind of declarative beauty – a blend of spine-fringed awkwardness and inner sensuous velvet. No wonder nations have hitched their wagons to the thistle’s star-like bloom. Even in autumn, when they are desiccated and devoid of seed floss, and possibly enwrapped in old spider’s web, they retain an aura of dignity. Continue reading...

South and east England, Midlands and Wales to be hit by storms on Tuesday, with north of England affected on WednesdayThunderstorms and potential flooding have been forecast for large parts of the UK on Tuesday, prompting weather warnings from the Met Office.

Swan upping, a five-day event to count the swans on the river Thames, began as a ritual to check supplies for feasts but is now more about conservationThe annual count of swans belonging to Queen Elizabeth II has begun on the river Thames.

Resources minister tells Q&A audience Adani’s Queensland mine would not stop Australia meeting its Paris climate change commitments because the coal is burned overseasThe federal minister Matthew Canavan has defended government support for Adani’s Carmichael mine by saying coal burned overseas will not stop Australia meeting its Paris climate commitments.Canavan also denied the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, had politicised the defence force by using a backdrop of masked soldiers to announce plans to enable military handling of domestic terrorist threats, telling the ABC’s Q&A program it wasn’t a “campaign announcement”. Continue reading...

We produce 300m tonnes of plastic a year – 5m tonnes of which ends up in the oceans. How easy is it to ditch the excess packaging and learn to love shampoo in solid bars?It’s in shampoo bottles, toothbrushes, clothes and biros. It’s even in teabags. Plastic is everywhere.In some cases this brings clear benefits – plastic has brought advances including domestic pipes, composite materials for lighter aircraft and wind-turbines, as well as blood bags – but, for consumers, it is largely cosmetic: a cheap signifier of hygiene and a mainstay of convenience. Continue reading...

Labor leader says opposition will back clean energy target ‘if the economic and environmental case stacks up’Bill Shorten says Labor is prepared to pass legislation giving effect to the Finkel review this year, and has called for the Turnbull government to sit down with the opposition to craft a bipartisan solution.The Labor leader will use a speech to a clean energy summit in Sydney to make a pitch for a “sensible centre” in climate policy, arguing that Australia cannot afford to lose another decade “to brawling and name-calling”. Continue reading...

Deputy premier says the state’s coal-fired power stations will be among the last to close in the nation, despite 2050 zero emissions targetQueensland’s plan to slash carbon pollution would generate “ongoing discussion” about shutting coal-fired power stations, despite expert advice that the need for closures was more than a decade away, the deputy premier, Jackie Trad, has said.While the Palaszczuk government was determined to drive Queensland’s transformation from Australia’s biggest carbon polluter to a zero net emitter by 2050, it would rely for now on the economics of renewable energy and the “goodwill and leadership of industry” where national political leaders had failed, she said. Continue reading...

An ambush by local rebel forces led to five deaths in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, while another ranger died in VirungaFour Congolese park rangers and one porter have been killed in an ambush in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

En Guatemala está uno de los mayores depósitos de plata del mundo; a sus dueños canadienses les proporciona millones de dólares, pero para los campesinos locales pone en peligro sus tierras y, a veces, sus vidasLean esta historia en inglés A grandes profundidades, enterrado en las exuberantes colinas del sur de Guatemala, se encuentra un verdadero tesoro: toneladas de plata que forman uno de los mayores depósitos del mundo.Sin embargo, lo verdaderamente peligroso sucede en la superficie. En una carretera polvorienta, aproximadamente 50 campesinos rezan en círculo, una especie de barricada para que no pasen los camiones que se dirigen a la mina. La policía ya los ha dispersado por la fuerza con gases lacrimógenos. Ahora tienen miedo de que llegue el ejército. Continue reading...

Stop obsessing with how personally green you live – and start collectively taking on corporate powerWould you advise someone to flap towels in a burning house? To bring a flyswatter to a gunfight? Yet the counsel we hear on climate change could scarcely be more out of sync with the nature of the crisis.The email in my inbox last week offered thirty suggestions to green my office space: use reusable pens, redecorate with light colours, stop using the elevator. Continue reading...

Each shed here contains 42,000 chickens. The conditions are all in line with government regulations, but there are around 17 birds per square metreIn a valley in rural Herefordshire, near the village of Kington, four industrial sheds lie partly covered in trees, with an apple orchard on the approach. From the top of the hill there is no odour, but nearer to the sheds – 100m long by 20m wide, with 42,000 chickens in each – the sweetish, sickly smell is overpowering. The broiler chickens, grown for meat, are stocked at around 17 birds per square metre. Birds are packed as far as the eye can see within the buildings, making it impossible to see the floor.

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Exclusive: US-style intensive factory farming of poultry, pigs and cattle is sweeping across the British countryside – raising concerns over animal cruelty

I propose that people take indefensible positions like climate denial and Trump support simply out of fear

The Havasupai are attempting to fight back against the operation of a uranium mine that they say could contaminate their sole water sourceEd Tilousi knelt down next to the crystal-clear turquoise creek. The only sounds were the gurgling of the current and the sawing of cicadas in a pecan nut tree as the hot sun made the red rock canyon walls towering above him glow. Continue reading...

Sandsend, North Yorkshire It’s not a jellyfish but a ctenophore, one of a group thought to be more than 500m years oldClose to dead calm on the Yorkshire hem of the North Sea today. The waves are barely 10cm high and the water is so clear that, standing knee-deep between each half-hearted surge, I can see sand grains shifting on the bottom.

A rare sighting of a red-backed shrike, notorious for its habit of impaling its victims in a grisly larderThe first sign of autumn appeared the moment we arrived. A spotted redshank, resplendent in its dusky breeding plumage, stopping off on my Somerset coastal patch as it headed south from its Arctic nesting grounds.But the start of July is far too early for any songbird migrants. So along with my companion Daniel, whom I met on our very first day at grammar school, almost half a century ago, I simply enjoyed the fine weather, and its associated marbled white and meadow brown butterflies. Continue reading...

A Victorian garden sensation has become a sensational invasive nuisance. Contact with its toxic sap causes burns and blisters that can take months to healIt’s a monster towering up to 20ft tall, leaves spreading out like giant hands and flowers arranged in clusters the size of dinner plates. This is the giant hogweed, and the tabloids have been running alarming headlines recently, claiming an explosion in numbers of “Britain’s most dangerous plant” is creating havoc as it spreads in the hot weather this summer.In reality, the plant only spreads by seed, each plant producing up to 50,000 seeds released from late August onwards and cast into the wind or water. But the giant hogweed is undoubtedly a dangerous plant, armed with highly toxic sap and just brushing past it with bare skin is enough to cause painful skin burns, which blister when exposed to ultraviolet rays in daylight, and can take months to heal. Even years afterwards the skin remains sensitive to sunlight. Continue reading...

Report suggests surface water and groundwater should not be used in some instances and warns against fracking during wet seasonResidents, environmentalists and pastoralists have welcomed a “balanced” report on fracking in the Northern Territory, which identified a number of risks associated with the industry and a loss of community trust.The NT government enacted a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in the NT when it took office in August, establishing an inquiry to examine if it could be done safely, following concerted campaigning by Indigenous land owners, pastoralists and environmentalists. Continue reading...

Inside the Lancashire protest camp aiming to disrupt new Cuadrilla wells with direct action tacticsIt is a battle that has gone on for years, pitting tireless local residents and environmentalists against a major gas exploration company hoping to get rich – and solve a future energy crisis – by fracking under the Fylde coast.Last October the government overruled Lancashire county council and gave Cuadrilla the green light to begin drilling, but anti-fracking activists have refused to give up their fight. Continue reading...