The zero-waste revolution has been postponed, except on Instagram. But there are some constructive steps to be takenI’ve been hearing about a “zero waste” world for half my life. What would it look like? It would be rubbish-free for starters, no more single-use plastic being shovelled into landfill. Shelves would be full of intelligent products designed to have a second useful life. Materials that couldn’t be reused would gently turn into compost, nourishing the earth as they broke down.The high priestess of waste-free living is Californian Bea Johnson, whose home produces remarkably little waste Continue reading...

Controversial three-day South African sale condemned by conservationists, but seller says it was ‘successful’South Africa’s first online auction of rhinoceros horn – held amid outrage from conservationists – attracted fewer buyers than anticipated, lawyers for the organiser said on Saturday.John Hume, owner of the world’s largest rhinoceros farm, organised the controversial three-day selloff which ended on Friday. Continue reading...

Norway wants urban gardeners to cultivate wildflowers and keep hives to reverse a decline in biodiversityOn a sloping meadow near the centre of Oslo, red-tailed bumblebees gather pollen from hairy violets, spiders spin webs between maiden’s tears while hoverflies buzz between yellow daisies and white yarrow.Such a bucolic scene might normally be associated more with a rural past than an urban future, but it is part of a thoroughly modern attempt to reverse the decline of bee populations and put biodiversity at the heart of city planning in Norway’s capital. Continue reading...

Native Americans and environmental advocates get help from outdoor retailers as they battle proposal to change monuments’ boundariesEnvironmental activists, Native American groups and a coalition of outdoor retailers have vowed to redouble their efforts to protect public lands, after the US interior secretary, Ryan Zinke, recommended on Thursday that Donald Trump change the boundaries of a “handful” of national monuments.Related: US public lands: Trump official recommends shrinking national monuments Continue reading...

Ryall, Dorset The wax cells are studded with pollen gems in carnelian, citrine, garnet – an almanac of the seasonsThe bees think it’s autumn. Since mid-July they have been reducing their numbers and sealing up the hives with propolis. Dark brown, sticky when fresh, brittle as cinder toffee when dry, propolis is a glue bees make from tree sap. It’s antimicrobial and despite its bitter taste some beekeepers chew it as a remedy for a sore throat.Bees use propolis to fill small gaps in the hive and to mummify any invaders that are too big for them to carry outside. Occasionally, you find a dead mouse inside a hive its body shrouded in propolis, pieces of varnished bone showing through as if fossilised. The ancient Egyptians revered bees and it is thought they might have learned the principle of mummification from them. Continue reading...

An Institute of Public Affairs-sponsored journal article has been seized on by conservative media outlets. But there are a few problemsPeople who work for climate science denial thinktanks tend not to spend all that much time worrying about getting stuff into scientific journals.Perhaps because it’s easier, people who are paid to tell the public and policy makers that human-caused climate change is overblown bunk would rather pump out newspaper columns, do softball interviews or push out their own self-published reports. There’s a lot less scrutiny in that kind of public relations. Continue reading...

Each year the keepers at the zoo record the animals’ vital statistics to monitor their health and general wellbeing Continue reading...

Police call for cull shooters to be given same hi-tech system they use – but activists buy counter-devices to disrupt shootingHundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ pounds have been spent on equipping badger cull marksmen with radios that link them directly to police, the Guardian has learned.Police have advised the government to invest in the same communications system they use to make it easier for officers to get to conflicts with cull saboteurs in remote areas where the mobile phone signal is poor. Continue reading...

Amazon leaders accuse government of blocking consultation on 30-year contract with Canadian oil firm and have given ministers 20 days to apply lawIndigenous leaders from the area around Peru’s largest oil field have threatened to block the government from accessing their territories and halt oil production unless an indigenous rights law is applied within 20 days.The tribal leaders, who hail from four Amazon river basins, accuse the government of refusing to carry out a consultation process even though it is negotiating a new 30-year contract for oil block 192 with Frontera Energy, a Canadian firm, whose current contract expires in early 2019. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Risk assessment table indicates Glencore may have little or no involvement after McArthur River Mine’s life ends

A shag in the Farne Islands, coral reefs in recovery in Belize, and a fox near Chernobyl are among this week’s images from the natural world Continue reading...

Paula Kahumbu: The sale of rhino horn in South Africa won’t help save rhinos, but it will benefit organised crime

Initiative to convert CO2 into solid carbonates aims to produce building materials on commercial scale by 2020An Australian pilot project capturing carbon emissions and storing them in building materials aims to have a full-scale production plant by 2020.Mineral Carbonation International, an Australian company developing carbon-utilisation technology will officially launch its technology and research program at the Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources on Friday. Continue reading...

Government allocates £8.1m to trials of ‘platooning’ which proponents say could cut congestion and hauliers’ fuel costsThe government has given the go-ahead for the first trials of convoys of semi-automated trucks on UK motorways.Up to three wirelessly connected HGVs will travel in convoy, with acceleration, braking and steering controlled by the lead vehicle, a concept named platooning. Each lorry will have a driver in the cab ready to retake control at any time. Continue reading...

Grade II*-listed Garden Wisley could lose 10,000 sq metres of woodland if proposals are approved, warns horticultural charityRelated: Everything in the garden is political – even at Hampton Court Palace | Patrick BarkhamOne of the country’s most important horticultural gardens is under threat from a road-widening scheme, the Royal Horticultural Society has said. Continue reading...

As interior secretary recommends boundary changes to Donald Trump, three national monuments are reportedly at risk of being reduced in sizeIn April, Donald Trump ordered a sweeping review of 27 national monuments, from Maine to Oregon. The monuments were set aside over the last three decades by Bill Clinton, George W Bush, and Barack Obama. Trump’s review sought to explore whether the protected land should be opened up to create economic opportunities for industries such as oil, gas, mining and timber.Related: US public lands: Trump official recommends shrinking national monuments Continue reading...

The reasoning the president gave for the review, which could affect 27 national monuments, are demonstrably untrue

Special report: India and China are shifting away from coal imports and coal-fired power while a mega-mine is planned for Queensland. Where does this leave coal in Australia?

Broadcaster says he is more optimistic about the future of the planet after a global shift in attitudes to the natural worldSir David Attenborough has said he is more encouraged about the future health of Earth than he has been for some time after a “worldwide shift” in attitudes about concern for the natural world and the damage that humans are doing to the planet.The veteran wildlife broadcaster said there are “signs of hope” for the health of the planet and called the Paris climate change agreement a “big advance” in an interview at the Edinburgh TV festival despite President Donald Trump’s disengagement. Continue reading...

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Brazilian president has dissolved Renca to attract investment in region thought to contain gold, with critics warning of irreversible damageThe Brazilian president Michel Temer has abolished an Amazonian reserve the size of Denmark, prompting concerns of an influx of mineral companies, road-builders and workers into the species-rich forest.The dissolution of the Renca reserve – which spans 46,000 sq km on the border of the Amapa and Para states – was described by one opposition senator Randolfe Rodrigues of the Sustainability Network party, as the “biggest attack on the Amazon of the last 50 years”.

Interior secretary Ryan Zinke says his recommendations include boundary adjustments for some locations among 27 national monumentsConservation safeguards on a “handful” of national monuments across the US could be rolled back following the delivery on Thursday of the White House’s long-awaited review of such public lands, interior secretary Ryan Zinke said.Related: The Trump administration's national monuments 'review' is a sham | Brian Calvert Continue reading...

Climate change has thawed Arctic enough for $300m gas tanker to travel at record speed through northern sea routeA Russian tanker has travelled through the northern sea route in record speed and without an icebreaker escort for the first time, highlighting how climate change is opening up the high Arctic.The $300m Christophe de Margerie carried a cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Hammerfest in Norway to Boryeong in South Korea in 19 days, about 30% quicker than the conventional southern shipping route through the Suez Canal. Continue reading...

Owner of Maurice, who lives on the Île d’Oléron, has tried putting egg boxes in the coop but neighbours maintain morning racket is a health riskMaurice the French cockerel fancies himself as a bit of a crooner. Not quite like his famous namesake Maurice Chevalier, the late French balladeer; but still, each dawn, Maurice does what nature intended cockerels do: he crows.His owner, Corinne Fesseau, who describes herself as a local singer on the Île d’Oléron, an island off France’s Atlantic coast, is used to Maurice’s early wake-up call. Continue reading...

Wildfires in the US and Africa, tropical storms, and Bolivian salt flats are among the images captured by Nasa and the ESA last monthPakistan’s Makran coast meets the Arabian Sea where the dry terrain contrasts sharply with the water. Sometimes coast and water overlap and sediment pours into the sea. Once river water and sediment reach the ocean they are swept along by currents. Inland, the landscape is rugged. Narrow valleys provide pastures for sheep amid the desert. Continue reading...

In the USA, the southeastern states are most vulnerable to the costly impacts from human-caused climate change

Environmental groups have lambasted penalty issued by Queensland government as a slap on the wristAdani has chosen to fight a $12,900 fine by the Queensland government for the unauthorised release of coal-laden stormwater into the sea at its Abbot Point port during a cyclone in March.The Indian energy giant has given notice to the state environment department that it intends to contest the modest penalty infringement notice in court, the Guardian can reveal. Continue reading...

Sandy, Bedfordshire Nectar shoppers flutter out of nowhere, a mass of moths, midges and mosquitoes chopping across the torchlit pathUnder a moonless, starless, benighted sky, head torches were switched on and we struck out across the riverside meadow. We had walked for several sure-footed minutes along a closely grazed towpath where white yarrow rosettes glowed like solar garden lights. The only hazards on that firm ground had been the nearly invisible giant plates that I stepped on and found to have hard crusts and soft hearts.Related: Country diary: Sandy, Bedfordshire: The river is my guiding light Continue reading...

State department’s Daniel Kammen quits with note calling out Charlottesville and Paris accord – and a hidden message in the first letters of each paragraphOne of the US state department’s three science envoys resigned on Wednesday, the latest in a wave of defections over Donald Trump’s response to a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.Daniel Kammen, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, said in a letter posted on his Twitter account that Trump had failed to condemn white supremacists and neo-Nazis, part of “a broader pattern of behavior that enables sexism and racism, and disregards the welfare of all Americans, the global community and the planet”. Continue reading...

Special report: The pace of coal plants shutting down in Australia could mean the country’s fleet could be gone before 2040. The transformation is enormous – and seems inevitable• Support our independent journalism and critical reporting on energy and the environment by giving a one-off or monthly contributionFor a glimpse into the future of coal power in Australia, go west. The country’s last major investment in coal-fired electricity was in Western Australia in 2009, when Colin Barnett’s state government announced a major refurbishment of the Muja AB station about 200km south of Perth, far from the gaze of the east coast political-media class.The plant was 43 years old and mothballed. Reviving it was meant to cost $150m, paid for by private investors who would reap the benefits for years to come. But costs and timeframes blew out. An old corroded boiler exploded. The joint venture financing the project collapsed; a wall followed suit. The bill ultimately pushed beyond $300m, much of it to be stumped up by taxpayers – and once completed, the plant was beset with operational problems. It ran only 20% of the time. Continue reading...

Bicycles offer endless opportunities for modification, both practical and decorative. We’d like you to share your bicycle projects with usFrom converting a multi-speed hub into a fixed gear, adding downtube shift levers or simply a comfy seat, a bicycle offers endless opportunities for the DIY enthusiast. We’d like you to share your bicycle modifications with us.Whether it’s to help those with mobility problems, to transport your children or just to look like the coolest rider on the street, there are any number of ways to make your bike even better. Continue reading...

Government officials and fellow conservationists paid tribute to Wayne Lotter at a special memorial yesterdayHundreds of people gathered at Baobab Village in Dar es Salaam to pay tribute to Wayne Lotter on Tuesday evening, as tributes continued to come in from around the world.Lotter, 51, was shot and killed last week while travelling in a taxi from the airport to his hotel on Dar es Salaam’s Msasani Peninsula. Lotter, who co-founded PAMS Foundation, a conservation nonprofit, was responsible for supporting anti-poaching efforts that had led to the arrests of more than 2000 ivory poachers and traffickers, and had taken down several key poaching syndicates in the country. He had received numerous death threats since starting the organization in 2009. Continue reading...

Charlie Alliston should have had a front brake but 18mph is a cautious speed and double standards are at work hereA heavy-handed prosecution against a cyclist for manslaughter has failed but a charge of “wanton and furious driving” has succeeded.In 2016 more than 400 pedestrians were killed on UK roads. Each a terrible tragedy to those involved and almost all avoidable. One of these casualties, Kim Briggs, died after a collision between herself and a teenage cyclist, Charlie Alliston. Continue reading...

Wildlife protection has become an increasingly dangerous business as rangers face armed gunmen and poachersThree rangers have been killed in separate countries in a deadly month for wildlife defenders.A ranger at Serra da Capivara national park, in Brazil’s north-eastern Piaui region, was killed by hunters on 18 August. Edilson Aparecido da Costa Silva and two other colleagues were patrolling the park when they were ambushed by a group of four armed men who are believed to have been hunting in the park illegally. Costa Silva was killed in the shootout that followed, while the other two rangers were injured. Continue reading...

Intrexon, a $2.2bn company headed by Randal Kirk, quietly began selling transgenic salmon, after making apples that don’t brown and cloning petsIf you want to sample the world’s first animal to be genetically engineered in the name of dinner, good luck finding it. If, on the other hand, you would never eat such a thing – good luck avoiding it.Tons of lab-developed salmon was sold in Canada last year without any packaging labeling it as a product of science, and the company that created and raises the fish, AquaBounty, won’t release the names of food distributors it sells to. Continue reading...

Farmer sends gift of sausages to thank Wiltshire firefighters who rescued piglets and two sows from fire in barnA farmer whose piglets were saved from a barn fire has served the animals up as sausages to thank the firefighters who rescued them.The baby pigs and two sows were freed by firefighters from Pewsey in Wiltshire when a barn went up in flames in February. Continue reading...

A new study finds a stark contrast between Exxon’s research and what the company told the publicRead all of these documents and make up your own mind.That was the challenge ExxonMobil issued when investigative journalism by Inside Climate News revealed that while it was at the forefront of climate science research in the 1970s and 1980s, Exxon engaged in a campaign to misinform the public. Continue reading...

Demonstration comes hours after court order preventing campaigners from taking ‘unlawful direct action’ came into forceCampaigners have demonstrated against a “politically controversial” tree-felling programme in Sheffield, hours after the start of a high court injunction against protesters.About 50 campaigners, some wearing wigs and dressing gowns and one in a Michael Gove mask, blockaded a Sheffield city council depot to try to prevent tree-felling contractors from leaving on Wednesday morning. Continue reading...

London’s historic food market also aims to achieve zero landfill with biodegradable packaging and compostable leftoversLondon’s Borough Market is to introduce free drinking water fountains as part of a new pledge to phase out sales of all single-use plastic bottles over the next six months. Continue reading...

Government says law, which will include 40% renewables by 2025 and commitment to invest in new projects, will send a strong signal to investorsThe Victorian government has introduced legislation to enshrine its renewable energy targets in law and establish a reverse auction mechanism to build 650 megawatts worth of new projects.The premier, Daniel Andrews, announced the Victorian renewable energy targets (VRET) of 25% renewable energy by 2020 and 40% by 2025 in June 2016.

De Brum saw the effects of rising seas from his home in the Marshall Islands and became a leading advocate for the fight against climate changeTony de Brum, the former Marshall Islands foreign minister who became a leading advocate for the landmark Paris Agreement and an internationally recognised voice in the fight against climate change, has died aged 72.De Brum, who was also the Pacific nation’s climate ambassador, died on Tuesday in the capital Majuro surrounded by his family, according to Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine. Continue reading...

A Buddhist leader has told Josh Frydenberg he would stand in front of machinery if digging at the Adani coal mine starts. All people of faith should join him

Glastraeth, Gwynedd A vastness of light and water, the sea’s immensity and the intimacy of the creeks, overwhelms the selfAmong the glittering spillways, a vastness of light and water, the self is overwhelmed by the immensity of mountains and sea, and the intimacy of samphire lawns, sea aster flowers and creeks. We wander into the salt marsh with sheep, a drift of Canada geese, an egret sharpening its idea of the strike, a group of Romany foragers, a raven and a story.When the monastery at Bangor-is-y-Coed was sacked in the early seventh century, on account of its allegiance to the Pelagian heresy, the surviving monks fled to what is now the magically circular walled church of Llanfihangel-y-Traethau on a little hill above the Dwyryd and Glaslyn estuary. Continue reading...

Plight of ordinary people being overlooked amid focus on missile launches and rising tensions between Pyongyang and WashingtonSanctions and the worst drought for almost two decades threaten to cause severe hardship for millions of people in North Korea, while the country’s leadership continues to plough scarce resources into its missile and nuclear programmes, according to UN agencies and those with contacts in the impoverished nation.A drought that ravaged crops earlier this summer will leave the North unable to properly feed many of its people, including soldiers in the country’s million-strong army, the groups have warned. Continue reading...

Josh Frydenberg says ElectraNet will build and own the battery and lease out the commercial operation to a major energy retailerThe Australian Renewable Energy Agency will provide funding of up to $12m for a new battery at the Dalrymple electricity substation on the Yorke Peninsula.The federal environment and energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, is expected to confirm the funding for the 30MW battery on Wednesday during a visit to South Australia. Continue reading...

If so, Ford should prove there’s merit to its new scrapping scheme, writes Dr Kevin BannonAs the motor car industry is at the forefront of environmental degradation both globally and locally, it is only right that manufacturers take a lead in tackling the problem (Ford launches £2,000 scrappage scheme, 22 August). Instead, they offer only a scheme to sell more cars based on an unproven theory. This appears to posit that the pollution created by running an “old” car is so much greater than that of running a “new” one, that an environmental disaster might be delayed if we buy new cars more quickly. If Ford will reveal their figures for this old/new pollution differential and compare them with an evaluation of the pollution created in manufacturing a brand-new vehicle, then we might establish whether or not they know what they are talking about.

Two baby apes were discovered in tiny cages in Ketapang, Borneo. A man has been arrested for trafficking wildlife via social mediaA UK charity has helped rescue two baby orangutans who were found by police in West Borneo caged and ready to be sold through social media to illegal buyers.The two apes, a one-year-old male and an eight-month-old female, who were discovered in tiny cages are now in the care of International Animal Rescue (IAR) at its centre in Ketapang, Borneo. Continue reading...

Millions affected by severe flooding in south Asia, as aid agencies struggling to cope with disaster warn of food shortages and risk of disease

Research finds endangered Antarctic blue, fin and southern right whales struggling to recover despite hunting bansPopulations of the endangered blue and fin whales, which were hunted nearly to extinction in the 20th century, will not have recovered to even half of their pre-whaling numbers by 2100, according to a new Australian study.The research, published in the Fish and Fisheries journal next month, analysed 122 years of whaling data from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and current population survey data to project future population growth, based on predicted food availability in the southern oceans. Continue reading...

UK accused of double standards as thousands of tonnes of pesticide not authorised for use in EU are produced in Britain for export to developing worldA highly toxic weedkiller not authorised for use in the EU is being exported to developing countries from a UK factory.