Most filming done in the wild – including armoured octopuses and hypnotic cuttlefish – but some crucial behaviour had to be captured in lab conditionsFootage of captive wildlife inserted into the BBC’s Blue Planet 2 series remains “totally true to nature”, according to the makers of the flagship show that reveals new insights into life in the oceans.An octopus that armours itself with shells and rocks, fish that use sign language and tools and dazzling cuttlefish that appear to hypnotise their prey are among the new spectacles uncovered by the series, which starts later this week. Continue reading...

SSE and Drax tell Philip Hammond they need longer-term clarity on price floor if they are to replace coal power plantsTwo of Britain’s biggest energy companies have called on Philip Hammond to strengthen a carbon tax that has driven a dramatic collapse in coal power generation, arguing it is essential for the shift to cleaner energy.SSE, the UK’s second largest energy supplier, and Drax, which runs the country’s biggest power station in North Yorkshire, urged the chancellor to use his autumn budget to shed light on the tax’s fate into the 2020s. Continue reading...

Epping Forest For centuries commoners were allowed to lop the beeches here for firewood. Now this ancient pollard is big enough to create its own microclimatesCenturies of sunlight have solidified into this beech’s massive presence, which creates its own woodland world. I stand beneath the grandeur of its shaded columns in veneration. But it was not always this way. This great beast was made to bend to the will of generations of commoners, lopped for the humblest of produce, a 10-yearly crop of firewood. It was a labourer, a working tree.Until the mid 19th century, that is, when cropping ceased. Today, 20 poles, each the size of a mature tree, thrust skywards from the lumpen head of this ancient pollard. And around its great girth, in its crevices and creases, the microclimate changes with the compass. Dominating the trunk’s north-west curve, like a coral outcrop, the bracket fungus Perenniporia fraxinea fans out dramatically in three layers more than 120cm wide. For 20 years I’ve watched this veteran grow so large that its soft, skin-coloured underbelly is now punctured by a million tiny spore-producing pores. Continue reading...

Historical data from studies on museum bird specimens, combined with current research, gives us a picture of the long-term harm from air pollutionThere is growing evidence about the lifelong harm from air pollution. The air that we breathe as children can stunt our lung growth, potentially causing problems later in adult life. Air pollution breathed decades ago has been shown to shorten lives in the UK today. However, investigating these lifelong impacts is hampered by a lack of historic measurements.Can the natural environment help us? Starting with lichens in the Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris in 1886, biomonitoring has helped to track air pollution. In a new twist, researchers in the US have constructed a 135-year history of pollution in America’s rust belt by studying soot in the feathers of museum bird specimens. Tests on 1,347 birds showed that air pollution between 1880 and 1920 was worse than we thought. The birds also revealed useful data for climate modellers. It appears that soot pollution started to decrease around 1910, earlier than thought; with dips in the great depression and a rise for the second world war. Continue reading...

Some 10,000 young char have been released into Kielder Water with the aim of saving this ancient fish, an important relic of our pastThe Arctic char, Salvelinus alpinus, is a remarkable survivor from the ice age in Britain, having been trapped in various lakes and Scottish lochs for 10,000 years. As a result, if you manage to catch one, the fish may look considerably different from those in other lakes, because they have had many generations to evolve to survive in local conditions after being cut off from the oceans when the ice retreated.Some scientists went to the trouble of designating each of these populations of Arctic char as separate species because of these different characteristics, but this idea has generally been dropped as too difficult, not least because there are dozens of cut-off populations, some yet to be described. Continue reading...

AAA says motorists are being misled by lab tests of emissions and fuel efficiency but green groups accuse it of delaying tacticAustralia’s motoring lobby is launching a campaign for “real-world” vehicle emissions testing, arguing the current system needs an overhaul because it is misleading consumers and regulators.The Australian Automobile Association will on Monday release results from emissions and fuel consumption tests on 30 passenger and light commercial vehicles showing discrepancies between real world and official fuel consumption established in laboratory testing. Continue reading...

Invasion of site in North Yorkshire comes as campaigners say they have seen letter stating exploration is due to startProtesters in a tiny North Yorkshire village have vowed to put their lives on the line to prevent the first fracking operation in six years from taking place this week.

ReachTel poll finds majority in three Liberal-held seats support carbon pricing, and more ambitious renewable policyVoters in the electorates held by Malcolm Turnbull, Josh Frydenberg and Tony Abbott would be more likely to support the government’s new energy policy if it ensured Australia had at least 50% renewable energy by 2030, according to a new opinion poll.

Placard-bearing angry activists have their place, but their are other, gentler ways to make a differenceActivists are the vital foot soldiers of the environmental movement. But is the classic activist model – placard-bearing and angry – actually effective? There’s a suggestion that if you’re not shouting in the face of The Man 24 hours a day, do you actually care?Sarah Corbett warns that angry activists are in danger of burning out Continue reading...

Energy minister says he believes Labor and Coalition can agree on reliability obligations but differ on emissions targetsThe energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, has stopped short of guaranteeing prices will come down under the Turnbull government’s new energy policy, but says he’s “absolutely confident” power prices will fall.

Adani and the loggers should watch out – we have a right to peaceful protest to protect our environmentThe high court has drawn a line in the sand against laws which burden the right of Australians to peaceful protest.The court made no judgement on Tasmanian premier Will Hodgman’s decision to flatten the Lapoinya state forest in northwest Tasmania against the wishes of the local community. But it struck down his Workplaces (Protection from Protesters) Act 2014 aimed at stopping people from protesting effectively against such forests being logged. Continue reading...

The Antiquities Act has been used to preserve some of the most beloved US lands and landmarks but it is facing assault from Trump and CongressOne-hundred-eleven years and a few months ago, Theodore Roosevelt signed the landmark law that helped cement his place as America’s conservation president.Related: National park ban saved 2m plastic bottles – and still Trump reversed it Continue reading...

As events across the UK celebrate Apple Day this weekend, we talk to the growers preserving the country’s ‘lost’ harvestBritain is enjoying a remarkable apple boom, as hundreds of new community orchards revive lost varieties and contribute to a thriving heritage market.According to Steve Oram, who is the apple diversity officer at the wildlife charity People’s Trust for Endangered Species: “We are adding new orchards to the register all the time. Some are in allotments, others in schools and even housing developments. Continue reading...

Jesse Norman wants to make cycling safer, but sees local authorities and charities like Sustran as key facilitators, not governmentJesse Norman, the transport minister whose brief includes cycling, has only been in the job for six months but has already prompted controversy by insisting that cyclists follow the Highway Code, something criticised here on the Bike Blog.In his office at the Department for Transport in Westminster, he comes across as affable and open – and talks the talk when it comes to bikes for transport. Continue reading...

Bramshaw Telegraph, New Forest The heather is fading but there are so many fallen trees to explore, each with its diverse community of fungiWithout doubt, 200 years ago our walk would have made a slow start. We would have been watching with fascination the sliding shutters of the new signalling station, constructed as part of the chain linking Plymouth with London and Portsmouth. Skilful combination of its six panels could transmit messages at astonishing speed. Today only the place name, Bramshaw Telegraph, is left to remind us what once stood here.Patches of wire wool – actually the lichen Cladonia portentosa – lighten up the fading hues of the heathers as we cross Studley Head. A deeply rutted track forewarns of forestry work ahead. A notice as we enter the woodland confirms this and urges caution: thinning is under way again in the Island Thorns Inclosure. Continue reading...

Country’s treasured avian species puff up their plumage as nation votes on who rules the roostBird of the Year leaderboard – check the pecking orderFirst there was the “Jacinda effect” and a government to cobble together. Then came the mania for the jade Kākāriki, the shining cuckoo and the stern Ruru.New Zealand’s Bird of the Year Competition has kicked off, and it has galvanised voters with the same intensity as the recent election. Now in its 13th year, the poll pits the country’s rare and endangered birds against one another: the cheeky Kea versus the shy Kiwi, the dowdy Bar Tailed Godwit against the alluring Hihi. Continue reading...

It’s the final countdown to New Zealand’s Bird of the Year award, the annual contest for the most popular bird in Aotearoa. Here you can see the current leader in the contest, updated hourly

Bloomberg New Energy Finance says proposed guarantee could be ‘template for policy makers worldwide’The Turnbull government’s proposed national energy guarantee has been given enthusiastic support by the renewable energy analysis firm Bloomberg New Energy Finance, which has described the concept as “innovative and elegant” and said it could be “a template for policy makers worldwide”.Earlier this week Malcolm Turnbull persuaded the Coalition to support an energy policy that includes measures intended to drive down emissions (the “emissions guarantee”) and ensure reliability of the grid (the “reliability guarantee”). Continue reading...

In Sussex scientists have found that insecticide use has stabilised over the past two decades with an associated stabilisation of some insect groups, write Dr Julie Ewald and Prof John Holland of the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust. Plus Judith Wright says we should let verges growIt is with great interest that we read about the long-term decline in the biomass of flying insects on German protected areas (Scientists tell of alarm at huge fall in flying insects, 19 October).The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) carries out two long-term surveys of insects on farmland in England – the Sussex Study (1970 to present) and at our demonstration farm in Loddington (1992 to present). Continue reading...

Migratory birds, rutting stags and leaping salmon are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

Roads minister Jesse Norman says government could push councils to do more to fight pollution and inactive livingThe UK government could potentially consider providing subsidies for electric bicycles and electric cars as part of a concerted policy effort to get more people cycling, the roads minister, Jesse Norman, has said.With the UK facing health crises from pollution and inactive living, other plans could include using electric cargo bikes to deliver packages from internet retailers rather than vans, Norman told the Guardian. Continue reading...

Landmark study finds toxic air, water, soils and workplaces kill at least 9m people and cost trillions of dollars every yearPollution kills at least nine million people and costs trillions of dollars every year, according to the most comprehensive global analysis to date, which warns the crisis “threatens the continuing survival of human societies”.Toxic air, water, soils and workplaces are responsible for the diseases that kill one in every six people around the world, the landmark report found, and the true total could be millions higher because the impact of many pollutants are poorly understood. The deaths attributed to pollution are triple those from Aids, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Continue reading...

National Geographic’s #TellYourPollutionStory asks readers to share their images to shed light on new evidence that pollution – air, water, soil and workplace – is the leading cause of death in the world

Air pollution in Indian capital hits 18 times the healthy limit despite supreme court ban on sale of firecrackersAir pollution in Delhi has hit 18 times the healthy limit and left the city under a thick, toxic haze after Diwali was celebrated with a night of fireworks – despite a court-ordered ban on their sales.Residents of the Indian capital, which already ranks among the world’s most polluted cities, complained of watering eyes and aggravated coughs as levels of PM2.5, ultra-fine particles of less than 2.5 microns, rose alarmingly on Friday. Continue reading...

Big Moor, Derbyshire The stag ignores the passing lorries but isn’t ready for a photographic closeupRunning south from the old Barbrook reservoir, I found myself struggling against the strong south-westerly that had kept temperatures unusually high for several days and delayed wintering thrushes returning to the moors. The arrival of fieldfares and redwings is always sparkling compensation for the gloomy approach of winter but I would have to wait a little longer. At least the sun was out, turning the sprung shoulders of a kestrel to a vibrant caramel as it quartered the brook below me.Almost as I reached the Baslow road the sunlight picked out a red deer stag standing tall some distance away, antlers raised, breath steaming from its flared nostrils. At the same time I caught sight of another beast advancing towards the stag with an enormous-lensed camera held to his eye. Continue reading...

After a new study showed an alarming decline in insect populations we asked you to share your pictures of the creatures, in celebration of all they do for global ecosystems. Here are some of our favourites

Few locals know about Walthamstow Wetlands in north London, which opens on Friday. But now they, and nature lovers everywhere, can enjoy this amazing bird reserve for free

A new study finds alarming decline in insect numbers – we’d like your help celebrating what these creatures do for life on earth

Analysis for Feast! exhibition suggests workers ate hog roasts and beef stew made from animals taken to Wiltshire by boatPrehistoric people brought animals to Stonehenge from as far afield as north-east Scotland, more than 500 miles away, to feed the engineers who built the monument and to take part in lavish midwinter feasts, an exhibition has claimed.Related: What did neolithic man eat after a hard day at Stonehenge? Sweet pork and rich cheese Continue reading...

Lake Baikal in Siberia holds one fifth of the world’s unfrozen fresh water, but its precious fish stocks are disappearingLake Baikal is undergoing its gravest crisis in recent history, experts say, as the government bans the catching of a signature fish that has lived in the world’s deepest lake for centuries but is now under threat.

Hospital issues warning as ‘extraordinary’ spate of bird-inflicted injuries include a penetrated eye that required surgeryA penetrated eye that needed surgery is just one of an “extraordinary” spate of magpie-inflicted injuries in Melbourne, and one hospital has issued a warning about the swooping birds.The number of eye injuries caused by the bird has risen significantly, according to the emergency director of the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear hospital, Dr Carmel Crock. Continue reading...

Adam Bandt says sector could reach as little as 28% of the energy mix compared with 35% under business-as-usualThe Greens say the Turnbull government’s national energy guarantee will be more detrimental to the renewables sector than if the Coalition did nothing.The Greens’ climate spokesman, Adam Bandt, said a comparison of the analysis in the Finkel review of the national electricity market with the new advice provided by the Energy Security Board shows the policy the government has unveiled this week is detrimental to renewables. Continue reading...

In 1997 the Kazakh president launched a plan to protect his new capital from the icy winds of the featureless steppes with a ring of trees. Twenty years on, his scientists are still struggling to grow forests in a spot where no trees stood“Do you know why women in Astana don’t get expensive haircuts?” asked television presenter Dinara Tursunova. “Because no sooner do you leave the beauty salon, the wind blows away your hairdo, and with it all the money you spent.”

Our pine groves, canyons, parks and peaks are an incredible national asset. Let’s fund them properly, and make them truly accessible to everyoneWhen Bernie Sanders unveiled his “Medicare for All bill” last month, it sent bolts of electric excitement through a rising generation of progressive young people who crave an end to the austerity consensus that has dominated this country for at least a decade. The senator from Vermont offered a bold vision that has the potential to improve the wellbeing of millions and an army of millennials, with our affinity for social democracy and social media, loved him for it.Healthcare, though, is just one realm of public life that needs an urgent infusion of idealism. From housing policy to public education, from police reform to environmental issues, the youth of the US are desperate for ambitious and populist ideas that can help revitalize this republic we’re inheriting. We are bent on upending the status quo, because the status quo, as we know, is all wrong. Continue reading...

Five men arrested after police find minibus loaded with thousands of frogs in nets, allegedly part of lucrative export tradeTurkey’s gendarmerie has released 7,500 frogs into the wild after capturing five poachers involved in one of the largest frog trafficking operations in the country.

Supermarket says easy-peelers are ripe and edible but failed to turn usual orange colour due to hotter weather in SpainTesco has started selling “green” satsumas and clementines after relaxing its quality specifications in its latest attempt to reduce food waste.The flesh inside is orange, ripe and edible, but as a result of recent warm weather in Spain the skins have failed to turn the normal colour. Continue reading...

If you’re not familiar with the new genre of climate fiction, you might be soon.Cli-Fi refers to “climate fiction;” it is a term coined by journalist Dan Bloom. These are fictional books that somehow or someway bring real climate change science to the reader. What is really interesting is that Cli-Fi books often present real science in a credible way. They become fun teaching tools. There are some really well known authors such as Paolo Bacigalupi and Margaret Atwood among others. A list of other candidate Cli-Fi novels was provided by Sarah Holding in the Guardian.What makes a Cli-Fi novel good? Well in my opinion, it has to have some real science in it. And it has to get the science right. Second, it has to be fun to read. When done correctly, Cli-Fi can connect people to their world; it can help us understand what future climate may be like, or what current climate effects are. Continue reading...

Opposition leaves itself room to move on Coalition’s national energy guarantee while zeroing in on promised price reductionsMalcolm Turnbull has acknowledged there are “many impacts” on a household energy bill after being pursued by Labor about whether he could guarantee the power price reductions floated under his proposed energy policy.

Legal NGO ClientEarth to take the government back to court if it fails to set out a new range of measures to tackle Britain’s toxic airEnvironmental campaigners are set to take the government back to court over what they say are ministers’ repeated failings to deal with the UK’s air pollution crisis.ClientEarth, which has already won two court battles against the government, has written a legal letter demanding that the environment secretary Michael Gove sets out a range of new measures to address air pollution which contributes to the deaths of 40,000 people across the UK each year. Continue reading...

US environmental official says Pfas chemicals found in firefighting foam is contaminating water suppliesA top United States environmental official has described the contamination of drinking water by toxic firefighting chemicals as the most seminal public health challenge of coming decades.The US, like Australia, is still grappling with how to respond to widespread contamination caused by past use of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (Pfas) in firefighting foam. Continue reading...

St Dominic, Tamar Valley Black Rocks and Crimson Queens and Green Chisel pears – colourful fruit with colourful names on show at Cotehele’s Apple DaySheltered from rain, inside the display tent at Cotehele’s Apple Day, the perfume of juice and ripe fruit pervades the damp air. Examples of different varieties are pinned to a board and Mary and James (my sister and brother-in-law) have laid out a lavish array from their orchard of local varieties, gathered on rare dry days during recent weeks.A basket of pears, decorated with swags of rose hips and sloes, includes the large Aston Town (originally found in a pub garden at Launceston), Green Chisel (possibly the Hastings pear), green sweats, various harvest pears, grey and red Catterns, all awaiting the results of genetic tests to confirm their identities. Continue reading...

The killing of two activists who successfully campaigned to shut down a mine has shocked environmentalists in Turkey who fear their deaths will embolden others to kill to protect their profits• Interactive: recording the deaths of environmental activists around the worldCedar branches whisper in the Anatolian breeze. Twigs crunch underfoot. A truck rumbles from a distant marble quarry. The crack of a hunter’s rifle echoes through the forest.The sounds of tranquility and violence intermingle at the remote hillside home of Aysin and Ali Büyüknohutçu, the Turkish beekeepers and environmental defenders whose murder in Finike earlier this year has sent a chill through the country’s conservation movement. Continue reading...

Three companies are ultimately owned in the Cayman and British Virgin islands, raising questions about the tax implications of profits generated by solar assetsAdani has spread its use of offshore tax havens to its Australian solar projects, providing another avenue that could allow the wealthy Indian family behind the transnational to legally minimise tax paid on income from local operations.Six companies linked to Adani’s renewables business, which chairman Gautam Adani wants to make the biggest in Australia by 2022, were registered with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission on 3 August. Continue reading...

Judgment rules laws unconstitutional after former Greens leader argues they interfered with the right to freedom of political expressionThe former Australian Greens leader Bob Brown has won a landmark high court fight against Tasmanian anti-protest laws passed in 2014 and under which he was charged in 2016.Brown, the third person arrested under the Workplaces (Protection from Protesters) Act 2014, argued the laws directly targeted implied freedom of political expression in the constitution and were therefore unconstitutional. Continue reading...

A ceremony at the Natural History Museum, London, will reveal the winners of its Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition on Wednesday. Two overall winning images have been selected from the winners of each category, depicting the incredible diversity of life on our planet. They are on show with 99 other images selected by an international panel of judges at the 53rd exhibition, which opens at the museum on Friday. Continue reading...

Walsall’s heyday | Wind power | Elon Musk’s Hyperloop | Today programme | Worst deal ever“Walsall was never a pretty town”, according to Roy Boffy (Letters, 16 October); this may be true now but has not always been the case. Its handsome villas and public buildings were remarked on in 1834 by William White in The History, Gazeteer and Directory of Staffordshire and he believed it needed to yield to no other town in Staffordshire in beauty and elegance. During the 19th century, Walsall added more civic buildings, many built to help improve the life of working people. The 20th and 21st century have not been kind to the town but that is not a reason to forget its history.

New bill omits key ‘precautionary’ principle requiring developers and industry to prove actions will not harm wildlife or habitats as well as ‘polluter pays’ protections

Natural solutions such as tree planting, protecting peatlands and better land management could account for 37% of all cuts needed by 2030, says study

Prime minister wins party room backing despite Tony Abbott bid for delay, but policy may be resisted by statesMalcolm Turnbull has secured party room backing to impose new reliability and emissions reduction guarantees on energy retailers and large energy users from 2020.But the emissions reduction trajectory, the most internally sensitive component of the reform, will require new legislation, and the government has been advised to implement the new scheme with the support of state governments passing complementary laws – which could render Turnbull’s reworked proposal dead on arrival.