Environment | The Guardian

Clougha Pike, Forest of Bowland Once forbidding and forbidden, ringfenced for shooting, this is still a secret, silent placeFind a big map and you’ll see there’s a monstrous, heart-shaped blank in the middle of north-west England. You’ve passed it probably, but the big roads skirt it with such circuitous subtlety you don’t notice you’re orbiting something. For years, unless you paid to shoot things, it might well have remained more a brooding feeling than a sight, its extent out of view beyond this brow or that.But then wildest Bowland became the poster-place for the second access revolution. The first was Kinder Scout, for its trespass in 1932,which legitimised the case for national parks. Bowland epitomised the unfinished business: the Countryside Rights of Way Act.

The World Bank reckons the 16,000 flares worldwide produce around 350m tonnes of CO each year, causing untold harmThe emission of air pollution from traffic in our cities is the last step for a fuel that produces air pollution at every stage of production, often starting with flaring at a distant oil well. The World Bank estimates that the 16,000 flares worldwide produce around 350m tonnes of CO each year.Black carbon from sooty flames adds to the problems, especially across the northern hemisphere where it darkens arctic and mountain snow encouraging melting. The flared gas is also a wasted resource. Continue reading...

We had come to see one of the greatest bird spectacles in the world: the courtship display of the Andean cock-of-the-rockOur guide unlocked the wooden door. “Here” he announced to his still sleepy audience “are the keys to paradise.” José Antonio has probably used this line before, but none of us was complaining. For as dawn broke over the Manu cloud forest, in the heart of Peru, we were assembling on a wooden platform perched on the edge of the mountainside. We had come to see one of the greatest bird spectacles in the world: the courtship display of the Andean cock-of-the-rock (Rupicola peruvianus).Cocks-of-the-rock (note the pedantic plural) are very striking birds indeed. About the size of a collared dove, though much plumper, they sport a prominent crest, which they use to intimidate their fellow males, and attract females, in the avian equivalent of the red deer rut. Continue reading...

‘There is an acute danger of politicians panicking’ about energy demand and costs, Grattan Institute report warnsA new report has warned the Turnbull government the national electricity market is at “crisis point”, with rising energy prices for consumers and increasing concerns the grid cannot meet demand.The report by the Grattan Institute says urgent action is required before summer to safeguard against the risks of blackouts, but it also cautions against political “fixes” – like Malcolm Turnbull’s Snowy Hydro 2.0 plan or the South Australian government’s plan to boost energy self sufficiency. Continue reading...

Emanuele Lobina makes the case for public ownership of the water industry, while Peter Simpson of Anglian Water defends the privatised company’s record on reducing leaksNils Pratley (Labour’s water renationalisation plan is a damp squib, 17 May) argues that there is no need to renationalise water because regulation is enough to tame the monopolistic behaviour of the private operators. This argument is not convincing when you look at the experience with water privatisation since 1989.Related: 'Water poverty' to rise in the UK as scarcity pushes up bills Continue reading...

Girl shaken but physically unharmed after large sea lion grabs her dress and pulls her into the water near Vancouver, CanadaA young girl and her family were left shaken after a large sea lion grabbed her and pulled her underwater near Vancouver.The girl was sitting on a dock in Richmond watching the animal in the water before it grabbed her dress and pulled her into the water. Continue reading...

Oxfam attacks Australia’s ‘climate policy paralysis’ and urges it to promise no new coalmines and end public subsidiesNew coalmines will leave more people in poverty, Oxfam has said in a new report, calling on Australia to commit to no new coalmines and to end public subsidies for coalmining.The report comes as the Queensland and federal governments continue to push for the controversial Adani coalmine in the Galilee basin, signalling potential infrastructure support and “royalty holidays”. Continue reading...

Tim Mosedale says destruction of rocky outcrop, possibly in 2015 earthquake, may make climbing to summit more dangerousA British mountaineer has confirmed that a famous rocky outcrop near the peak of Mount Everest has collapsed, potentially making the climb more dangerous.The Hillary Step, named after Sir Edmund Hillary who, along with the sherpa Tenzing Norgay, was the first person to climb the mountain in 1953, may have been destroyed during the 2015 Nepal earthquake.

Investors including the Church of England and activists will send signal to Anglo-Dutch company’s board at AGM this weekShell shareholders including the Church of England, European pension funds and Dutch activists will send a signal to the board of the Anglo-Dutch company this week by voting for it to set new climate change goals.The challenge comes from a Dutch group of retail investors, who have tabled a resolution for Shell’s annual general meeting on Tuesday, asking the company to establish carbon emission reduction targets.

One of the UK’s largest battery storage schemes, built next to a windfarm, will offer vital services to the National GridNestling alongside rows of conifers and wind turbines in a Welsh valley, a pioneering project will materialise this summer that could prove a blueprint for unlocking Britain’s renewable energy potential.The Upper Afan Valley near Swansea is already home to the biggest windfarm in England and Wales, but in July work will begin there on one of the UK’s largest battery storage schemes. Continue reading...

As Trump administration reviews 27 national monuments, conservationists fear a federally mandated effort to strip public lands of environmental protectionsA decision by the Republican governor of Maine, Paul LePage, to ban signs to Katahdin Woods and Waters, a national monument designated by Barack Obama, has been described as “sophomoric and petty” by a member of the family that donated the 87,563-acre tract to the nation.Related: 'This is our land': New Mexico's tribal groups gear up to fight for their home Continue reading...

Electoral Commission says charities must declare all campaign spending since June last year, despite them not knowing a snap election would be calledUK charities face a permanent “chilling effect” on their campaigns after the Electoral Commission said they must declare any work that could be deemed political over the past 12 months to ensure they are not in breach of the Lobbying Act.At least one charity has been warned that if it does not, it may face “civil or criminal sanctions”. Continue reading...

Environment experts weigh up the manifesto pledges on issues such as air pollution, climate change, energy and waste Continue reading...

Campaigners call for all cut flowers to have ‘grown in UK’ labelWhen you’re searching for the perfect bunch of flowers at your local supermarket or florist, how many of those blooms do you think are grown in Britain? The perhaps surprising answer is typically just 10% to 12% – a percentage that has been shrinking rapidly over the last 30 years.Now the National Farmers’ Union, backed by growers and florists, is taking matters into its own hands. It is spearheading calls for “provenance labelling” of cut flowers in retailers and florists to enable the public to better recognise which are homegrown. By doing so it hopes to persuade consumers that local and seasonal are the way to go. Continue reading...

Fabrics such as cotton come at a dear cost to the environment. Look for progressive alternatives made from pineapples, eucalyptus, even mushroomsFuture generations will shake their heads at our loyalty to a handful of fibres with terrible environmental profiles, such as cotton (thirsty for pesticides and water) and plastic (oil based). They’ll want to know why we didn’t display more imagination.Many innovations in the fashion industry have a distinctly mushroomy flavour Continue reading...

The government must find a way to proceed with green energy projects while maintaining responsibility for its environmentFor anyone who has concerns about our environment and about humanity’s future in a rapidly heating world, the proposed construction of massive offshore windfarms in Scotland’s Firths of Forth and Tay poses a dilemma of some magnitude. On one hand, the four projects – Inch Cape, Neart na Gaoithe and Seagreen Alpha and Bravo – offer the prospect of generating enough electricity to power 1.4m homes without burning fossil fuel or producing carbon emissions. At the same time, between £314m and £1.2bn could be generated for the Scottish economy. Such prospects – claimed by the Scottish government and local industry – are powerful inducements to proceed with the farms’ construction.But some environmentalists point to the cost. Every year, the windfarms’ 335 giant turbines could kill thousands of Scotland’s seabirds – puffins, gannets and kittiwakes – when they stray into the giant blades that have been erected in their feeding areas. Hence the RSPB’s dismay at last week’s decision by Scotland’s most senior judge, Lord Carloway, to reverse previous legal bans on the projects. As we report, environmentalists are now locked in opposing camps. One side claims the windfarms will help make Scotland the green energy leader of Europe. Others point out that the country’s nesting seabirds make a crucial contribution to Scotland’s highly lucrative tourism industry. Their slaughter could have serious financial consequences. More importantly, the nation has a duty of care to its wildlife. Continue reading...

Beach businesses in La Baule, celebrated by F Scott Fitzgerald, say ‘absurd’ rules threaten its futureIn the chic French seaside town of La Baule, the tourist season has not yet started. The Côte d’Amour resort known for its long beach, Anglo-Norman villas and palatial hotels is preparing for the invasion of French and foreign holidaymakers that will swell the 16,000 local population almost a hundredfold.In his 1922 collection of short stories, Tales of the Jazz Age, F Scott Fitzgerald described La Baule, on France’s Atlantic coast in southern Brittany, as a haven of good taste and refinement. “At the Palace in La Baule we felt raucous amidst so much chic restraint. Children bronzed on the bare blue-white beach while the tide went out so far as to leave them crabs and starfish to dig for in the sands,” he wrote. Continue reading...

After a long legal battle, 335 turbines will now be built in Scottish watersIn the waters of the North Sea a few miles off Scotland’s east coast, a nine-year battle has been raging that threatens a fragile and unique environmental equilibrium. The struggle has made mortal enemies of two huge lobbies that share a passionate commitment to the environment.On one side are the developers of four vast windfarms comprising 335 turbines, which are planned for the waters of the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Tay. The windfarms are backed by the Scottish government, which regards renewable wind energy as key to the economic future. Pitched against them is the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, which claims the scale of the developments threatens the existence of some of Scotland’s best-loved species of seabird. Continue reading...

Lomborg’s Copenhagen Consensus Centre says investment in keeping temperature rises below 2C would return less than $1 for every $1 spentExperts have challenged a claim by Bjørn Lomborg’s Copenhagen Consensus Centre that holding global temperature rises to 2C is a poor investment.In 2015 the education department abandoned plans for Lomborg to set up an Australian Consensus Centre, but gave the Copenhagen centre $640,000 to support its Smarter UN Post-2015 Development Goals project. Continue reading...

Rome has a problem with wild boar; wolves mingle with surburban Germans; mountain lions frequent LA. All around the world, city life seems increasingly conducive to wildlifeIn Aesop’s fable, the town mouse turns his nose up at his country cousin’s simple fare, preferring the haute cuisine to be scavenged in the city. It appears that the wild boar of Italy have taken note, and are venturing ever more boldly into Rome.But they are not alone: all around the world, city life seems to be increasingly conducive to wildlife. Urban nature is no longer unglamorous feral pigeons or urban foxes. Wolves have taken up residence in parts of suburban Germany as densely populated as Cambridge or Newcastle. The highest density of peregrine falcons anywhere in the world is New York; the second highest is London, and these spectacular birds of prey now breed in almost every major British city. And all kinds of wild deer are rampaging through London, while also taking up residence everywhere from Nara in Japan to the Twin Cities of the US. Continue reading...

Scientists have produced detailed maps showing where plants known to trigger allergies growSufferers could have relief from runny noses, sneezing and itchy eyes as scientists have developed the first ever hay fever map of Britain.The new, highly-detailed maps of the UK contain the location of key plants and trees known to produce pollen that triggers allergies and asthma. Continue reading...

Mockbeggar, New Forest Tiny, parched, sorrels streak the ground with red but there is feverish activity in the ditchFrom Moyles Court, a fine 17th-century house that is now a private school, we set off up the slope with paddocks on either side. Leaving the Avon Valley Path, we cut the corner of Newlands Plantation, and climb steadily uphill along the woodland edge. Rhododendron ponticum infests part of the margin, with the blooms of young plants announcing their colonisation of the adjacent open ground.

Report questions why taxpayers should finance the project, which would have an export edge over Australia’s coal ports

BHP’s new image could appeal to the patriotism of its Australian shareholders and help rebuff Elliott Advisors’ advancesIt’s been a big week for BHP Billiton. For one thing, it’s not even called that any more. As part of its “Think Big” rebranding theme, the world’s biggest mining company opted to shed the Billiton moniker it acquired in a 2001 merger with a Dutch-South African company and revert to its previous true-blue Aussie name.

The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox Continue reading...

No seeds were lost but the ability of the rock vault to provide failsafe protection against all disasters is now threatened by climate changeIt was designed as an impregnable deep-freeze to protect the world’s most precious seeds from any global disaster and ensure humanity’s food supply forever. But the Global Seed Vault, buried in a mountain deep inside the Arctic circle, has been breached after global warming produced extraordinary temperatures over the winter, sending meltwater gushing into the entrance tunnel.

The conflict between humans and elephants for space and resources is driving the rapid decline of elephant populations. Join us on Wednesday 24 May from 1-2.30pm BST to discuss how elephants and humans can live togetherThis week an elderly man was killed by a wild elephant in central India as he picked tendu leaves in the Surajpur forest. A few days earlier, a father and his son were injured after two elephants wandered into their house in Tamil Nadu. As human populations grow and communities live in closer proximity to elephants, one of the world’s most unique and beautiful animals can become the most dangerous.But human development is also contributing to the severe decline in elephant populations. Across Asia and Africa, elephants’ natural habitats are being destroyed by rapid urbanisation and industrial and agricultural expansion. Continue reading...

Tasmanian devils, a Saimaa ringed seal and a white wolf are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

People have to grasp how climate change impacts them, and we need to value environmentally sound behaviorWe know humans are causing climate change. That is a fact that has been known for well over 100 years. We also know that there will be significant social and economic costs from the effects. In fact, the effects are already appearing in the form of more extreme weather, rising sea levels, ocean acidification, and so on.So why haven’t humans done much about the problem? Answering that question may be more challenging than the basic science of a changing climate. Fortunately, a new review just out in Science helps us with this question. Lead author, Dr. Elise Amel, a colleague of mine, completed the review with colleagues Drs. Christie Manning, Britain Scott, and Susan Koger. Rather than focusing solely on the problems with communicating the science of climate change, this work takes a wider view on the hurdles that get in the way of meaningful action. Continue reading...

The bikes designed by Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde would suck in polluted air, using positive ionisation to purify it, before releasing it back into the atmosphereDutch designer Daan Roosegaarde has announced the next phase of his Smog Free Project: a bike that sucks in polluted air and releases purified air in a cloud around the cyclist.According to Roosegaarde, whose design firm Studio Roosegaarde has offices in both Rotterdam and Beijing, the idea for his Smog Free Project came just over three years ago, as he gazed out of his Beijing apartment’s window. On a Saturday, the city skyline is visible; on weekdays, it’s shrouded in smog. Continue reading...

The company reported a leak from a well off the coast of Western Australia to Nopsema last year, and says there was no lasting impact on the environmentWoodside Petroleum has confirmed it was behind an oil spill off the coast of Western Australia that was kept secret by the regulator for more than a year.The company said on Friday that it reported a leak from a well in the Cossack field on the North West Shelf to the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (Nopsema) in April 2016. Continue reading...

Government may justify delisting the threatened species or order a cull despite its treaty obligations, senator saysA scientific study of great white shark numbers could be used by the government to justify delisting the species as threatened or ordering a cull despite international treaty obligations, the Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson has warned.Whish-Wilson, who is chairing a committee inquiring into shark mitigation and deterrence, has accused the Liberals of politicising recent deaths in Western Australia, including that of 17-year old Laeticia Brouwer through their calls to end protection of great whites. Continue reading...

John Pettigrew claims switch to public ownership will disrupt transition to cleaner forms of energy

Commercial interest is growing in plans to harness geothermal energy from Iceland’s magma lakes and use it to supply the UK and Europe

Milldale, Derbyshire The adult whirred downstream. The juvenile, sat still for a bit, gaped, grew restless, then launched itself into the streamThe grassy east bank of the river Dove below the packhorse bridge at Milldale, in the Peak District, is popular with picnickers and we had to drift downstream to find a little space. Once prone, bagel in hand, I half dozed, half watched insects forming clouds over the river, catching sunlight like chaff.But then I snapped awake as I realised I was being watched. A rich brown eye glistened as it fixed on mine from no more than three metres away – a juvenile dipper clamped to a broken branch jammed in the rocks, deep in shadow, breaking the flow of water. Continue reading...

Arena and Aemo to trial program that would pay South Australian and Victorian customers to reduce their useSouth Australian and Victorian electricity users will be paid to voluntarily forego power use during times of extreme stress on the power grid under a trial program announced by national energy regulators.The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena) and the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) are looking to trial the program next summer, following outages earlier this year in South Australia and New South Wales caused by “an unprecedented level of demand”. Continue reading...

Recent innovations in hydrogen generation, storage, transport and use could transform it into the ultimate source of clean energyNearly a century ago, British scientist JB Haldane saw an energy future in which wind power would be used to generate hydrogen; a fuel he described as, weight-for-weight, the most efficient known method of storing energy.

World Wildlife Fund calls for public pressure on the Palaszczuk government to reduce habitat destructionTree clearing may have killed as many as 180 koalas in south-east Queensland in the two years after the former state government relaxed vegetation protection laws, according to an analysis by the World Wildlife Fund.The environmental group says a crisis gripping koala populations has its root in a surge in tree clearing given the political green light in both Queensland and New South Wales. Continue reading...

Brown hares and hunting | Water in Bagno Vignoni | 35mm film canisters | Letter from the Tories | Granny Seaside and Granny CatA repeal of the 2004 Hunting Act would accelerate the demise of our iconic brown hares, already listed in 2011 for potential extinction by 2050 (May pledges free vote on hunting, 10 May). One third of the hunts (with dogs) in England and Wales target these declining hares, not foxes. The act outlaws hare coursing, but a repeal would further encourage this intrusive and destructive activity, already so distressing to farmers and problematic to police forces countrywide.

Recycling Association chief cites crisp brand as one of worst examples of multiple materials being used in single productProduct designers need to retreat from “the Pringles factor” in order to make their packaging more recyclable, an environmental expert has said.Simon Ellin, the chief executive of the Recycling Association, which represents recyclers, pointed to the snack tube as a prime example of the failure to consider recycling in design – and listed a range of other offenders from Lucozade Sport drinks to whisky packaging. Continue reading...

Pricey alternatives to plastic wrap and other disposable products are sending out the message that you need to be wealthy to live sustainablyI was giving the daughter a slice of cake to take away, wrapped in plastic, even though the world is drowning in the stuff, and I thought, “Wouldn’t it be lovely if there was something to wrap my food in that didn’t leak and wasn’t wrecking the planet?”And there is. Bee’s Wrap – made of cloth, beeswax and tree resin, washable in soap and cold water, reusable and sealed by the warmth of your hands. Continue reading...

A tiny proportion of excess food is being sent to charities and is instead ending up in landfill or left to rot, figures showLess than 1% of edible surplus food produced by UK manufacturers and farms is being sent to charities to help feed the hungry, according to new figures.

Middlehope Moor, Weardale Miners who left waste rock beside the burn created a perfect habitat for the spring sandwortOn a grey day in a tree-less landscape, buffeted by a bone-chilling north-easterly wind, only the calls of curlews and oystercatchers that had returned here to breed suggested this must be spring.But when we reached the stony, undulating, ground near the entrance to the “governor and company’s level”, a mine tunnel driven into a hillside almost two centuries ago by the London Lead Company, we found an infallible floral indicator of the season. Continue reading...

Queensland premier will neither confirm nor deny deal under which full royalties due would only be paid in later yearsThe Queensland government has reportedly offered Adani a royalties pause worth up to $320m as the company decides whether to proceed with its Carmichael mine project.The deal, in which Adani would pay a discounted $2m a year on exported coal in the mine’s early years, could be signed this week and has concerned some senior Labor figures, the ABC has reported. Continue reading...

Offshore oil and gas regulator says there was a 10,500-litre spill in April 2016 but refuses to reveal where it occurred or company responsibleAn offshore oil and gas well in Australia leaked oil continuously into the ocean for two months in 2016, releasing an estimated 10,500 litres. But the spill was never made public by the regulator and details about the well, its whereabouts and operator remain secret.

Predicted shortfall no longer on horizon – and opening up new coal seam gas fields will not bring down prices, researchers sayA predicted shortage of gas for electricity generation in Australia from 2018 will not eventuate, and the recent surge in domestic prices will not be mitigated by opening up new coal seam gas fields, according to a new report.In March, the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) predicted that without national reform, Australia would face gas shortages, which would drive power outages, in 2018 and 2019. Continue reading...

I know there are much bigger and more terrible things in the world, but these tiny creatures have come to represent a sense of doom and decayHere they are again, always in my peripheral vision, the tiny papery things that make me feel neither strong nor stable. Indeed, I would probably vote for anyone who vowed to get rid of the clothes moths that I always think have gone, until they come fluttering back. Everything may feel manageable but they are here to undermine that – by the time you see them, the damage is done. They serve only to remind you of that, for moths don’t eat anything at all – the larvae do. Once you see them, you have lost and they have won.They acquire all the nutrition they will ever need as caterpillars. They live on nothing. Their mouth parts have atrophied, their only goal is to reproduce. Every year I think I have stopped their life cycle, that I am in control – and every year it turns out that I haven’t. They are eating their way through clothes that are loved and unloved. The world appears infested and the world is warming, so they appear more and more. Continue reading...

Nearly 50 farm workers experienced nausea and vomiting apparently caused by a pesticide whose scheduled ban was overturned by the Trump administrationA pesticide that was set to be banned before the Trump administration reversed course has been blamed for causing sickness to nearly 50 farm workers who were exposed to the chemical in California.Spraying of Vulcan, a brand name chemical, on an orchard southwest of Bakersfield led to the pesticide drifting to a neighboring property operated by Dan Andrews Farms. A total of 47 farm workers were harvesting cabbage at the time and subsequently complained of a bad odor, nausea and vomiting. One was taken to hospital with four other workers visiting doctors in the following days. Continue reading...

Finalists for his year’s prestigious ‘green Oscars’ include a Turkish conservationist working with fisherman to create a marine reserve and a woman partnering with prisoners to protect the critically endangered Philippine cockatoo Continue reading...