Environment | The Guardian

Campaigners from organisations including Greenpeace, the National Trust and Friends of the Earth highlight major risks to environment if EU protections are dropped or dilutedEnvironmental campaigners with 8 million members between them are putting forward key amendments to the repeal bill to be published on Thursday to tackle the threat of Brexit leaving huge gaps in environmental protection in the UK.

Obike have become the first dockless hire bike company to launch in the capital, following similar schemes in Manchester and Cambridge

A video posted to YouTube shows a protester at Preston New Road fracking site in Lancashire being knocked down by a van leaving the drilling area. Following the incident police have beefed up security, providing 24/7 monitoring around the site, which has long been a focal point of anti-fracking protests Continue reading...

A new study has crunched the numbers on efforts to fight climate change, from skipping holidays to ditching our cars. Here’s a guide to the (not always) easy ways to be greenIt’s easy to feel powerless in the face of new coal mines and shrinking rainforests in distant countries, but we also know that being green starts at home. We do what we can, right? But what really helps, and what is a drop in a warming ocean? A study by the Universities of Lund, Sweden, and British Columbia, Canada, has crunched the numbers and the results are intriguing. Bottom line: every little recycled yoghurt pot helps, but the environmental impacts of our actions vary massively. Here’s a cut-out-and-keep (and then, you know, recycle) guide to a greener you. Continue reading...

MPs say leaving European nuclear treaty without replicating benefits could lead to ‘economically crushed’ communitiesThe Conservative revolt over Theresa May’s plan to withdraw from the Euratom nuclear treaty has grown, with one former minister accusing the government of cutting off its nose to spite its face.A string of Tory MPs opposed leaving the body for nuclear cooperation during a Westminster Hall debate called by Labour’s Albert Owen, suggesting May has no Commons majority for the move. Continue reading...

Cuadrilla drill site to be monitored 24/7 as Green MEP renews calls for reviewing guidance to police officers on how to deal with anti-fracking protests

Gloucestershire officers tweet a picture of the animal along with the message: ‘Have you lost a pig?’A hunt is on for a wild boar that was spotted roaming around the streets of Gloucester city centre late at night.Gloucestershire police posted a picture of the boar on Twitter in the early hours of Wednesday with the message: Continue reading...

Former US vice president and climate change campaigner says providing funding for infrastructure to support Adani coal mine is ‘just nuts’Any move by the Australian government to subsidise coal-fired power would be “crazy” and providing funding for infrastructure to support the Adani coal mine is “just nuts,” former US vice president and climate change campaigner Al Gore has said.“Globally, the world is moving rapidly away from subsidies to fossil fuels,” he said. “It would be odd if Australia went in the opposite direction and subsidised coal. It’s impolitic of me to say it, but it would be crazy.” Continue reading...

Next best actions are selling your car, avoiding flights and going vegetarian, according to study into true impacts of different green lifestyle choicesThe greatest impact individuals can have in fighting climate change is to have one fewer child, according to a new study that identifies the most effective ways people can cut their carbon emissions.The next best actions are selling your car, avoiding long flights, and eating a vegetarian diet. These reduce emissions many times more than common green activities, such as recycling, using low energy light bulbs or drying washing on a line. However, the high impact actions are rarely mentioned in government advice and school textbooks, researchers found. Continue reading...

Wenlock Edge: Shropshire It’s easy to see how the comma butterfly got its English name, but devilishly hard to work out where the French one came fromI crept up on the butterfly as its wings flexed, pumping like delicate bellows, as it took in salts from dried dog urine. For a moment I thought it might be a fritillary – the upper sides of the wings were a rich orangey-brown with complex dark markings, the kind of colour unique to the old slide transparencies of Agfa film.Then it detected my presence and flew up powerfully, manoeuvred in a seemingly random pattern, and settled on a leaf of yellow flag iris. I could see by the shape of its wings, like holes clipped from the edges of a bus ticket, that it wasn’t a fritillary but a comma butterfly.

Australian Automobile Association argues government plan will cost consumers more but government says petrol savings will offset any riseThe Australian car industry has tried to kill any government move to cut greenhouse gas emissions from cars, arguing it would increase the cost to consumers and contradicting comprehensive government modelling.The government plans to introduce emissions standards for new cars, releasing a series of proposed targets in discussion papers and seeking input from industry and other stakeholders. Continue reading...

Energy minister hoses down lobbying from Nationals, saying the government would only support new coal-fired power if the market backed itThe government has no plans to build a coal-fired power station, energy minister Josh Frydenberg has said, despite repeated public lobbying by senior Nationals to bring more coal into the system.Frydenberg told the ABC on Wednesday if the market supported a new coal-fired power station, “then we will support that”. Continue reading...

Resources minister says 51.4% of exploration licence in Liverpool plains would be handed back, in exchange for a refund of $262mThe controversial Shenhua Watermark coalmine in NSW will be scaled back to avoid mining land marked as “strategic” agricultural lands, after a partial buy-back of the mining licence by the state government.The government indicated it was in discussions with Shenhua in August, when it announced a similar buyback of BHP’s planned underground mine in nearby Caroona, also on the Liverpool plains. There has been continued speculation that the mine was not financially viable, given declining Chinese coal imports and Shenhua’s failure to apply for a mining licence, instead extending its cheaper exploration licence. Continue reading...

Joe Howlett helped to rescue a north Atlantic right whale that had become heavily tangled in rope and was struck by the mammal afterwardA Canadian lobster fisherman who saved dozens of endangered whales after they became tangled in fishing nets has been killed – moments after a last successful rescue.Joe Howlett, from Campobello Island, New Brunswick, boarded a vessel off the province’s eastern coast on Monday to help rescue a north Atlantic right whale that had become heavily tangled in rope. Continue reading...

Exclusive: move to improve targets and increase support for recycling comes amid pressure from environmentalistsCoca-Cola is to radically increase the amount of recycled plastic in its bottles, the Guardian understands, amid pressure from environmentalists and new figures that show more than a million plastic bottles are bought globally every minute.The world’s biggest drinks brand is expected to announce on Wednesday that it will increase its target for recycled plastic in its bottles and its support for recycling.

Office of the chief economist projects market will grow by 8.7% by 2022, but Institute for Energy Economics says this is based on out of date analysisAs Australia mulls the building of its biggest-ever export thermal coal mine, its biggest foreign buyers look set to reduce their consumption, driving down the price of Australian coal, and the profitability of its mines.

Huge spike in Queensland land clearing destroys ecological communities and habitat of threatened species, according to analysisThe federal government is allowing the huge spike in land clearing in Queensland to destroy threatened ecological communities, the habitat of threatened species and increase pollution on the Great Barrier Reef by failing to enforce environmental law, according to analysis by WWF.Following the weakening of land clearing laws in Queensland in 2013, the rate of clearing there has tripled to almost 300,000 hectares each year. Continue reading...

Foreign secretary confirms government’s pledge, despite absence from manifestoA total ban on ivory sales in the UK could still be introduced by the British government, foreign secretary Boris Johnson has said, signalling a possible U-turn that has been welcomed by conservationists.In their 2015 manifesto the Conservatives promised to “press for a total ban on ivory sales”. But the pledge was quietly taken out of this year’s Tory manifesto, sparking anger among conservation organisations, which say that by allowing the trade to continue, the UK is fuelling elephant poaching. Continue reading...

A white humpback whale, known as Migaloo, was spotted swimming off Australia’s Gold Coast on Tuesday. The whale was making its annual migration towards the Great Barrier Reef. Up to 5,000 humpbacks migrate north up Australia’s east coast between April and August each year from waters in the Antarctic to feed and breed in warm tropical waters

Elon Musk’s company has rightly been praised for its proposed giant battery in South Australia, although some components will prove controversial

Police investigate after animal rights group films badgers allegedly being caught in snares and shot on the Moscar estatePolice are investigating allegations that protected wildlife was killed on a shooting estate owned by the Duke and Duchess of Rutland.

The scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has reported that the Earth is already in the stages of the sixth mass extinction, which will see the world’s wildlife and plants die out. The research found that species, including those which are not endangered, had reduced in number due to habitation shrinkage, hunting, pollution and climate change

Cab maker ditches diesel to produce a petrol and electric-powered taxi that will be rolled out in NovemberThe maker of the London black cab has unveiled the new, electric design of the car, which will hit the capital’s roads in November and which it hopes to sell to pollution-blighted cities worldwide.Known as the London Taxi Company since 1948, the firm will rebrand as the London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC) to export the new model, which runs for about 70 miles off a battery before switching to a petrol engine for up to 400 miles. Continue reading...

The good news is that we are using our tumble driers less, the bad news we are chucking our unwanted clothes in the bin rather than recycling themThe carbon footprint of the UK clothing sector is worsening, a new report reveals, driven by the ongoing popularity of cheap and cheerful “fast fashion” and a shortage of sustainable raw materials.Although the amount of clothing being sent to landfill has fallen by 14% from 350,000 tonnes in 2012 to 300,000 in 2016 a staggering one-quarter is still binned rather than recycled. That is down from 31% four years ago. Continue reading...

Area of deforestation climbed 44% in 2016 compared with year before, as criminal groups have swooped in promote illegal logging and miningColombia has seen an alarming surge in deforestation after the leftwing rebels relinquished control over vast areas of the country as a part of a historic peace deal.

The Trocaz pigeon is a vital seed-disperser in one of the world’s rarest forest ecosystems, but its taste for cabbage has put it in direct competition with humans. Guess who wins?As we hike through the cool, low-canopied forest along a levada – a centuries-old water canal carved out of the mountainside – our guide talks effusively of a pigeon.It’s the “guardian of the forest” the guide with MB Tours tells me and the other hikers. Known as the Trocaz pigeon, or alternatively the laurel pigeon or the long-toed pigeon, it’s only found here: on the Portuguese island of Madeira. We halt under an ancient laurel tree and the guide explains that the endemic pigeon is vital to Madeira because it disperses many of the plants found in this unique forest ecosystem: the laurisilva. Continue reading...

While butterflies are ubiquitous from stationery to fashion, we have forgotten how to appreciate these humble, hungry, miraculous creatures

Aemo chief executive calls Elon Musk’s project a ‘very important part of our summer plan’The head of Australia’s energy market regulator is “concerned” about avoiding blackouts next summer and says the proposed Tesla lithium ion battery in South Australia is a “very important part of our summer plan”.Speaking at an industry event in Melbourne on Tuesday, the Australian Energy Market Operator chief executive, Audrey Zibelman, said the regulator would do everything it could to ensure the project was built within the 100-day deadline set by the Tesla founder, Elon Musk, saying missing that deadline was “not really an option”. Continue reading...

West Sussex Over a few short weeks the peregrine chicks have grown from ungainly youngsters into aerobats like their parentsThe piercing calls coming from above, high up on the chalk cliff, reveal that there are still peregrine falcons at home. Four chicks have fledged, and over the course of a few short weeks I’ve been watching them grow from ungainly youngsters, flapping in short, clumsy flights across the cliff face, to become stronger aerobats like their parents. The mother soars overhead, her tail fanned out, and slowly banks and turns back towards the cliff, calling again, the sun catching her grey and white face. The young birds – brown with heavily streaked breasts – answer, their voices sounding more like squeaks than the piercing shrieks of the adult.In the past week, both parents have been enticing the chicks to follow them by carrying prey in their talons, which they give to the young mid-air. When they all leave the nest site, probably some time in the next few weeks, the adults will teach them how to hunt live prey – birds in flight – over the Downs.

Custodians of world heritage-listed sites should aim to keep global temperature increases to just 1.5C, UN agency saysCountries with responsibility over world heritage-listed coral reefs should adopt ambitious climate change targets, aiming to cut greenhouse gas emissions to levels that would keep global temperature increases to just 1.5C, the UN agency responsible for overseeing world heritage sites has said.At a meeting of Unesco’s world heritage committee in Kraków, Poland, a decision was adopted that clarified and strengthened the responsibility of countries that have custodianship over world-heritage listed coral reefs. Continue reading...

Keir Starmer pledges to work across parties to prevent ‘reckless’ plan as part of Brexit, as radiologists warn of effect on patientsLabour’s Keir Starmer has urged the government to keep Britain in the Euratom treaty that governs the movement of nuclear materials – and drop its red line on the future role of the European court of justice or risk defeat in the House of Commons.

Researchers talk of ‘biological annihilation’ as study reveals billions of populations of animals have been lost in recent decadesA “biological annihilation” of wildlife in recent decades means a sixth mass extinction in Earth’s history is under way and is more severe than previously feared, according to research.Scientists analysed both common and rare species and found billions of regional or local populations have been lost. They blame human overpopulation and overconsumption for the crisis and warn that it threatens the survival of human civilisation, with just a short window of time in which to act. Continue reading...

Derbyshire police say rig was damaged at storage yard in move seemingly intended to slow embryonic shale industryA drilling rig owned by one of the UK’s most prominent fracking firms has been seriously vandalised, in a move seemingly intended to slow down the country’s embryonic shale industry.Derbyshire police said that between 18 and 24 May, a person illegally entered a facility near Chesterfield run by PR Marriott, Britain’s largest onshore deep drilling company, which stores and maintains the rig on behalf of shale gas firm Cuadrilla.

Government considering ‘associate membership’ of group that governs movement of radioactive material across EuropeThe government is drawing up plans to replicate the benefits of remaining a member of the Euratom treaty, which governs the movement of nuclear materials across Europe, in the face of a growing rebellion of Conservative MPs.The Guardian understands that one option being considered is an “associate membership”, similar to that held by Switzerland, or paying money to an international agency to set up an independent arrangement. Continue reading...

To celebrate the anniversary of the annual 116 mile night ride, here’s how the night unfolded for one distinctly average rider

Tory rebels are fighting over the UK’s participation in the European atomic energy community. What happens if Britain does quit?Of all the many European collaborations threatened by Brexit, the UK’s participation in the European atomic energy community, Euratom, might seem an odd subject for Tory rebels to pick for their first fight. But the government’s policy on leaving this nuclear safety and research watchdog provides an unusually clear-cut example of the economic pain of taking back control – and one for which there is unusually limited political justification.“Initially created to coordinate the member states’ research programmes for the peaceful use of nuclear energy,” explains the official legal summary, “the Euratom treaty today helps to pool knowledge, infrastructure and funding of nuclear energy. It ensures the security of atomic energy supply within the framework of a centralised monitoring system.” Continue reading...

Call for review follows repeated allegations of violence and excessive force by police and security staff at UK sitesRepeated allegations of excessive force by police and security staff against protesters at oil and gas fracking sites across the country have led to a call for an urgent review of police tactics.Lancashire police are investigating an allegation of assault by a security official at the Cuadrilla site at Preston New Road in Lancashire. At other protest sites – including Surrey and Derbyshire – demonstrators have made complaints about the alleged heavy-handedness of police officers. Continue reading...

A new series on Sky 1 traces the ancestry and evolution of the 500 million domesticated dogs worldwide, with biologist Patrick Aryee introducing some of the 36 wild species. Dogs: An Amazing Animal Family airs on Thursdays from 13 to 27 July.All photographs: Offspring Films Continue reading...

The best efforts to undermine the established climate science behind the Endangerment Finding are pathetically bad

Amid budget cuts and threats from conservative lawmakers, the National Indian Foundation, or Funai, is barely able to protect indigenous people and their landThe Brazilian agency charged with protecting nearly a million indigenous people and their extensive reserves is barely functioning after a debilitating assault from a powerful group of conservative politicians and a cost-cutting government.The concerted campaign against the National Indian Foundation, known as Funai, could endanger some of Brazil’s most vulnerable tribes – and compromise the country’s ability to meet international commitments on climate change, said indigenous leaders, campaigners and scientists. Continue reading...

Carmichael plan details no mining or construction, which would trigger a Queensland government demand for funds to pay for land rehabilitationAdani has kept an operating plan for its unfunded Queensland mine to just six months, postponing an expected legal obligation to provide a billion-dollar rehabilitation bond before financial backing emerges.The miner has provided the state government with a plan that covers only up to the end of 2017, which falls before its deadline for securing US$2.5bn in financial backing to execute the first phase of Australia’s largest proposed coal project. Continue reading...

A relatively small number of fossil fuel producers and their investors could hold the key to tackling climate changeJust 100 companies have been the source of more than 70% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions since 1988, according to a new report.

Moonshine Gap, Cambridgeshire I watch a bird, listen to its dainty movements, then walk over into Northamptonshire, into the wood and signs of rural mischiefMoonshine Gap: what does that name say? When I saw it on the map it said something probably over-romantic, definitely nefarious, the sort of feature found in literature of the Kentucky backwoods. Or older, when the transit of and sightlines to stellar objects were watched, noted and sometimes immortalised. Seemed a stretch for this place.Gap is like col or pass, a place where the ground gives to allow a way between this place and that. All are mountain words, so a strange find in this flat place. This “gap” marks a straddle between Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire, so maybe that’s why. It’s not new: there it is on the 1889 map, attached to a wedge of wood amid crackle-glaze fields. Continue reading...

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 12 July 1917Along the grassy cuttings of the railway line between Carlisle and Kilmarnock the midsummer flowers are rampant. One would like to have a free pass to investigate the flora of railway cuttings. Many are the tales one hears of the uncommon plants which turn up in such situations, but, in whirling past, one can get only an impressionist view. To-day the prevailing colour was a brilliant and beautiful lilac-blue, that of the tufted vetch (Vicia cracca) whose long-spikes of pea-shaped flowers made “little heavens” for many miles. In some places they had begun to mow the grass along the cuttings, and the farmers will be glad of this vetch, which makes a much-prized sweet food for cattle.Related: How to access the Guardian and Observer digital archive Continue reading...

The June heatwave brought dangerously high ozone levels and caused serious summer smogThe hottest June day in the UK since 1976 caused widespread summertime smog across southern England and the Midlands. Sevenoaks in Kent and Lullington Heath, East Sussex, measured the greatest ozone level for 11 years; reaching eight on the UK government’s ten-point scale for the first time. The winds then turned westerly and carried our polluted air eastwards to create problems over Germany.Ozone can take days to form in the atmosphere. It therefore spreads across very wide areas. To reduce the worst impacts, Paris once again banned the oldest vehicles from its roads and, in a targeted approach, restrictions were placed on industries that emit volatile hydrocarbons that contribute to ozone formation. In a re-run of the 2003 heatwave, smoke from the tragic forest fires in Portugal spread over France and reached the UK during the hot weather. Continue reading...

Plans to reduce forest protections linked to attacks on inspectors and campaigners, environmental groups said after two land rights activists murderedEnvironmental campaigners have blamed the Brazilian government for intensifying violence in the lawless Amazon after two land activists were murdered and a transporter carrying vehicles for Brazil’s environment agency was torched last week.Related: Brazil's archaeologists join fight to preserve country's ancient lands Continue reading...

Energy analysis firm RepuTex finds clean energy target going beyond that advocated by Finkel Review would keep prices down for longerThe more ambitious a clean energy target is, the lower Australian wholesale electricity prices will be, according to new modelling by energy analysis firm RepuTex.

Surinder Arora publishes ‘cheaper and less disruptive’ plan to expand airport including shifting new runway away from M25 and reducing site area by 25%A wealthy hotel operator has submitted plans for a third runway at Heathrow which he claims would be £6.7bn cheaper than the airport’s current scheme.Surinder Arora, founder and chairman of the Arora Group, said there were “cheaper and better ways” to expand Britain’s biggest airport in proposals sent to the government as part of a public consultation. Continue reading...

The Taylor review of employment practices, set up by Theresa May, is due to be published. It must promise radical reformWhen Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the Royal Society of Arts, was appointed last year by Theresa May to lead a review of modern employment practices, he said it would be “really important to get out and listen to people”, as opposed to merely crunching data and numbers.Let us hope he has listened to some of the same people as Frank Field, the former chair of the work and pensions committee. Field’s latest report from the frontline of the gig economy told some depressing, if by now familiar, stories. Workers can be forced into forms of self-employment against their will. Contracts can offer effective wages of less than £2.50 an hour and be enforced with threats of fines or loss of work. Continue reading...

Animals and plants struggle to survive as severe heat dries up the landA taunting peal of thunder rings out overhead as Diego García de la Peña studies one of his ponds and wonders whether its water will see his cattle through until October.The 65-year-old farmer – a former bullfighter who quotes Federico García Lorca and whose ancestors were among the legions of steely Extremadurans who bent the New World to their will – is a worried man. Continue reading...