The Trump Administration keeps trying to go after scientists, and being forced to retreat

Controversial statements angered environmentalists who insist courts have an obligation to recognize the science about manmade climate changeA Washington state judge has sparked outrage for remarks questioning the existence of climate change and the role of humans in global warming.During the high-profile trial of Ken Ward, a climate activist facing 30 years in prison for shutting down an oil pipeline, Judge Michael E Rickert said: “I don’t know what everybody’s beliefs are on [climate change], but I know that there’s tremendous controversy over the fact whether it even exists. And even if people believe that it does or it doesn’t, the extent of what we’re doing to ourselves and our climate and our planet, there’s great controversy over that.” Continue reading...

The discovery of the 600 mile-long reef in 2016 stunned scientists but oil companies are planning to drill in the areaThe first images have been released of a unique coral reef that stunned scientists when discovered in 2016 at the mouth of the Amazon.

Redcastle, the Black Isle There are dozens of them waiting in the undergrowth to fly up, panic-stricken, as we passWhen we reach the turn for Gallowhill Wood the horses know we’re going home and pick up the pace. It has been a long day for them, these heavyset highlands – so low to the ground and dressed in such thick fur coats. But not so long they haven’t the energy to feign fright when we round a bend to find tripods lurking between the trees, with plastic bellies and wooden legs, short tails protruding from their underparts. They have an alien aspect, and the horses don’t like them at all. I agree.

Forest loss worst in North America and Australia, with 63% of sites under increased pressure from infrastructure, agriculture and settlementsMore than 100 of the world’s most precious natural assets are being severely damaged by encroaching human activities, according to a study examining direct human footprints and forest losses.Natural world heritage sites are are identified by Unesco and include 229 sites around the world that are considered to have “outstanding universal values” that transcend national boundaries. Continue reading...

The Prime Minister’s refugee-friendly branding has veiled Canada’s fortress policies that are in urgent need of overhaulIt was a tweet heard around the world: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s rejoinder to Donald Trump’s repugnant Muslim travel ban that has sparked outrage around the world. “To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith,” Trudeau tweeted on Saturday. “Diversity is our strength. #WelcometoCanada.”While Trump has immediately stoked reactionary chaos, Trudeau has always struck the progressive posture. With fuzzy memes and messaging and photo-ops of him hugging refugees – and his predictably popular latest tweet – Canada’s Liberal party has painted themselves as a welcoming government in a sea of rising intolerance. Praise from the international political and media class has flowed. Continue reading...

Money collected as an alternative to prosecutions will go to projects that help wildlife, says Environment AgencyMore than £1.5m will go to projects that help wildlife and the environment as companies pay for breaking green laws, the Environment Agency has said.Businesses are paying between £1,500 and £375,000 in “enforcement undertakings” as an alternative to prosecutions for breaking environmental laws by polluting rivers, breaching permit conditions or avoiding recycling. The money on the new list of enforcement undertakings from 26 companies – including six paying six-figure sums – totals £1,535,992. Continue reading...

More than half of Liberal voters also oppose plan to loan Indian company $1bn to build a rail line between proposed Carmichael coalmine and Abbot PointThree-quarters of Australians, including most Liberal voters, oppose the government giving a $1bn loan to Adani to build a rail line between its proposed Carmichael coalmine and the Abbot Point shipping terminal.The government’s Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund (Naif) granted Adani “conditional approval” for a $1bn loan in December last year. Continue reading...

Operator says it has seen what may be fuel debris beneath badly damaged No 2 reactor, destroyed six years ago in triple meltdownHopes have been raised for a breakthrough in the decommissioning of the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant after its operator said it may have discovered melted fuel beneath a reactor, almost six years after the plant suffered a triple meltdown.

Climate-change denier Myron Ebell says he expects Trump to withdraw the US from the global climate change agreementThe environmental movement is “the greatest threat to freedom and prosperity in the modern world”, according to an adviser to the US president Donald Trump’s administration.Myron Ebell, who has denied the dangers of climate change for many years and led Trump’s transition team for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) until the president’s recent inauguration, also said he fully expected Trump to keep his promise to withdraw the US from the global agreement to fight global warming. Continue reading...

Trafficking of endangered snakes as pets or for their skins is having a negative impact on breeding patterns and size of speciesKenya has banned the export of various snake species, including the African rock python, to zoos and pet shops around the world after reports of animal abuse and snakes being sold on the black market for their meat and skins.The trafficking of the endangered snakes by cartels is also having a negative impact on the environment, said authorities.

Energy company and RenewableUK argue it is ‘counterproductive’ to spend bill-payers’ money on dirty technologyMinisters should ban coal power stations from a scheme paying their owners subsidies to provide backup power, a leading energy company and green energy group have urged.Scottish Power and RenewableUK said it was an “obvious paradox” and “counterproductive” that the government had committed to closing all coal power stations by 2025 while continuing to support them through the capacity market, its system for ensuring power when supplies are low. Continue reading...

Juniper threatened by fungus-like disease is first species to be fully collected in Kew’s Royal Botanic Gardens tree seed projectThe future of gin is safe, according to horticultural experts who have collected juniper seeds from across the country to help conserve the declining tree species.Juniper berries, which take two years to mature slowly on the plant, help give gin its distinctive flavour, but the native UK species is in decline. Continue reading...

Offices, gyms, supermarkets – even your local bus shelter. We want to find out about the renewables projects in your citiesRenewable power is spreading across cities around the world. Whether motivated by energy security, cost or climate change, the result is a surge of projects from Rio de Janeiro to Melbourne.Now we want to see what your city is doing on renewables. Continue reading...

The research is clear – humans are responsible for all the global warming since 1950The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report – which summarizes the latest and greatest climate science research – was quite clear that humans are responsible for global warming:It is extremely likely [95 percent confidence] more than half of the observed increase in global average surface temperature from 1951 to 2010 was caused by the anthropogenic increase in greenhouse gas concentrations and other anthropogenic forcings together … The best estimate of the human-induced contribution to warming is similar to the observed warming over this period … The contribution from natural forcings is likely to be in the range of −0.1°C to 0.1°C, and from internal variability is likely to be in the range of −0.1°C to 0.1°C. Continue reading...

The Mormon church owns vast tracts of US land, and now envisages a huge new city on its Deseret Ranch – but at what cost?Everything about the Deseret cattle and citrus ranch, in central Florida, is massive. The property itself occupies 290,000 acres of land – more than nine times the size of San Francisco and almost 20 times the size of Manhattan. It is one of the largest ranches in the country, held by the one of the biggest landowners in the state: the Mormon church.On an overcast weekday afternoon, Mormon missionaries give tours of the vast estate. Fields, orange trees and grazing animals stretch as far as the eye can see. While central Florida may be best known for Disney World, the ranch – roughly an hour’s drive away – is nearly 10 times bigger. It is home to a jaw-dropping 40,000 cows and has grown oranges for millions of glasses of juice. Continue reading...

Roger Gower’s brother says he wants something good to come from tragedy after pilot was shot dead in TanzaniaThe family of a British pilot who was shot dead by elephant poachers in Tanzania have said they want to “make some good come from tragedy” as they spearhead an appeal to raise £1m to help tackle the African ivory trade.

Thorpe Wood, Peterborough This wood was here long before the city grew up around it. If it were lost its space would be instantly absorbedHere’s a strange little peace in a tightened noose of noise. If you stumbled on it by footbridge, housing estate passage or nondescript pull-in, it would be a surprising find: an ancient worked wood caught in an outer eddy of the city. Thorpe Wood was here long before Peterborough grew up around it, before the city began to squeeze, before what little was left was mercifully protected.

The Pixar animation screened at the White House on Sunday is a tale of environmental alarm and family reunion across continentsAs the chaos and protests at airports around the US gathered steam on Sunday after President Donald Trump’s startling travel ban on people coming to America from seven majority-Muslim countries, the White House had a lighter listing on its official schedule: a screening of Finding Dory at the White House family theater from 3pm.

Malcolm Turnbull says the Coalition’s position on the RET was settled 18 months ago under former prime minister’s leadershipMalcolm Turnbull has dismissed Tony Abbott’s latest criticism of the Coalition’s renewable energy target, reminding Abbott that the target was settled under his leadership just 18 months ago.Abbott warned at a Young Liberals conference at the weekend that power was getting more expensive and less reliable because the Turnbull government was making it “harder and harder” to use coal and gas through the renewable energy target. Continue reading...

Originally published in the Guardian on 4 February 1967MACHYNLLETH: Foxes, unlike most creatures, are noisiest in midwinter. Here they usually begin calling about a week before Christmas and go on till early February. Their normal cry is often described as a bark. But foxes are not dogs and their call sounds to me more like a honking, a strangely vibrant, rather eerie owk-owk-owk-owk. This is repeated about every half-minute for several minutes at a time, it is a far-travelling call; so when you hear it the fox may be much farther off than you suppose. But foxes will cry close to houses. One night a fox called for ten minutes just outside our garden, a loud, wild, exciting sound.We mostly hear our foxes in the early part of the evening. But they must call on and off all night, for if I wake I occasionally hear one. On morning this week there was a fox in full voice in broad daylight but that does not happen very often. So the mating season passes. And soon, come wind, come weather, the young foxes will be born safe and warm in their burrows. But not safe for long, many of them, when the spade and terrier brigade arrives. Still, not all will be discovered, for though thousands will be killed plenty will survive to send their lovely cries through the nights of next midwinter. So let us rejoice. For the fox is, as Hudson once said, “good to meet in any green place.” Continue reading...

Under a new French scheme cars are labelled according to the pollution that they emit. This allows the worst offenders to be banned when necessaryLast week Paris suffered its fourth smog of the winter and tried a new idea to protect its residents from the worst effects. Like many European cities, the Paris region has a well-established system of emergency actions that escalate if smog persists. Initial steps include health warnings, reduced speed limits and restrictions on lorries in the city centre. Final steps include cheaper public (€3.80 for a day pass), and bans on half of cars, using an odd/even number plate system.Related: The UK’s deadly air pollution can be cured: here's how Continue reading...

RETs are the only policy tool left to shift Australia’s electricity sector away from fossil fuels, RepuTex modelling showsState-based renewable energy targets are becoming essential drivers of Australia’s carbon reduction framework and, based on current policy settings, will be vital for Australia to meet its 2030 emissions targets, according to a report by the energy consultancy RepuTex.The finding comes amid attacks on state-based renewable energy targets by the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and his ministers, who have called for them to be scrapped. Continue reading...

President Trump wants Perdue to lead the agriculture department – but the head of a global agribusiness could favor big ag over many family farmersAfter keeping the rural voters who put him in office on edge until the last moment, President Trump nominated Sonny Perdue, a former Georgia governor now heading a global agribusiness trading company – Perdue Partners LLC – to be his agricultural secretary. The night following Trump’s announcement, Perdue took the stage at the Bipartisan Inaugural Gala Celebrating American Agriculture and promised to “make American agriculture great again”.The good news is that Perdue clears a bar far too few Trump cabinet nominees seem to meet – he has experience in government and management, as well as knowledge about the department he’s been selected to lead. This is a relief, given the breadth of authority of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), an agency of nearly 100,000 employees with an annual budget over $140m. The bad news is, Perdue also has a great deal in common with other cabinet nominees: a whole lot of money, close ties to big industry and a track record that bodes poorly for the interests of the broader constituency of the USDA: the American people. Continue reading...

Some in Whitehall are urging the prince to challenge US president’s pledge to abandon 2015 UN climate change dealDonald Trump’s state visit to Britain this year was never likely to fit the mould of previous trips undertaken by his predecessors, from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama. The US president’s rumoured wish to play nine holes on the Queen’s private golf course at Balmoral and the question of how he might explain his 2012 tweet defending the sale of topless pictures of the Duchess of Cambridge made sure of that.But the tour is now looking even more likely to generate controversy as Prince Charles emerged as a possible challenger to the president’s views on climate change and faith issues. Continue reading...

Demand for hide, used to make traditional ejiao, has raised the price and rate of slaughter of donkeys, endangering the livelihoods of those who rely on themThis trade is threatening livelihoods and communities – we need to act nowThousands of donkeys in developing countries are being killed and their skins sold to China for use in traditional medicine, reveals a report published today by the Donkey Sanctuary.Demand for donkey hide, which is boiled to produce gelatine – the key ingredient in a medicine called ejiao – has raised the price and the rate of slaughter of the animals, threatening the livelihoods of poor communities who rely on the them.

As London pollution hits a five-year high, will we see a return to the carpets of fog?Last Sunday evening, the air over London achieved a remarkable quality. As winds died and a freezing stillness gripped the city, levels of nitrogen oxides and particles of soot slowly built up in the air until they reached maximum measurable levels at 24 different locations across the capital. It was a degree of pollution that had never been recorded in London since the government introduced its current methods and scales for recording air quality, the Daily Air Quality Index, in 2012.“What we recorded was a very intense pollution event over London – in common with several other areas of western Europe,” said air pollution expert Gary Fuller, of King’s College London. “We had not seen anything like it here for the past five years.” Continue reading...

A few intrepid tour operators are determined to reduce the harm we do to the planet with our holidaysI love an untapped resource (as opposed to a very overstressed one). The responsible travel movement is perfect. It takes the huge global travel industry (1.2 billion people holidaying abroad in 2015) and shapes it into a force for good, rather than one that trashes local host communities, siphoning profits to rich countries.It’s untapped partly because we’re encouraged to think like travel consumers (obsessed with injustices such as single-person supplements) and not as citizens of the world. But a few tour operators are determined to change us. Continue reading...

Writers and artists were inspired by the pea-soupers but smog cost thousands of livesLondoners are being warned not to breathe too deeply when they go outside. A toxic fog is hanging over the streets, threatening the health and wellbeing of the capital. It is small consolation to know that this has been the state of the city’s air for more than 200 years.London is in a natural basin surrounded by hills and its air generally holds moisture because of the river running through it, so it has always had a natural fog problem. Continue reading...

Consumers could be exposed to American farming practices banned by the EUThose of us who want to eat safe, healthy food awoke to a nightmare on Tuesday, a chilling interview on Radio 4’s Today programme. Bob Young, chief economist at the American Farm Bureau Federation, made it crystal clear that any US trade deal struck by Theresa May would be contingent on the UK public stomaching imports of US foods that it has previously rejected: beef from cattle implanted with growth hormones, chlorine-washed chicken, and unlabelled genetically modified (GM) foods.Wiping the sleep from our eyes, we hoped it was just a bad dream, but the grim reality worsened. Martin Haworth, director of strategy at the National Farmers Union (NFU), was up next. Surely our own farmers, who have worked for decades to stricter EU standards shaped by consumers’ demand for safe, natural food, would reiterate their commitment to keeping them? Not a bit of it. Haworth’s only concern was that if such controversial American products were allowed into the country, British farmers should be able to use the same production techniques to ensure “an even playing field”. Do you find it credible that British farmers could beat the US’s vast industrial feedlots, hi-tech poultry plants and vast GM prairies at their own game? No matter, the NFU does. Continue reading...

The woman in charge of UK’s largest power station admits they must do more to change attitudesWhile the lack of female chief executives in the UK is a problem, the lack of female engineers is an even bigger concern, as Dorothy Thompson, chief executive of Drax group, knows only too well. The head of the UK’s largest power station is grappling with the question of how to attract more women into the energy sector.Thompson says the six places available on the Drax apprenticeship scheme this year attracted just two female applicants compared with 76 men. The education is partly to blame, she says, but energy companies also need to do much more to change girls’ perceptions. Continue reading...

NYC-based Lemonade hopes to reverse the poor reputation of insurance companies by using tech and behavioral science to appeal to younger customersWith its complex rules, fine print and lengthy processes, it’s little wonder that the $1.2tn insurance industry has a poor reputation for trust and customer service. In a recent global survey from accounting firm EY, consumers ranked insurance below banks, car manufacturers, online shopping sites and supermarkets for trustworthiness.

A tiny town in southern Greenland is fighting for its future. Behind it sits one of the world’s largest deposits of uranium. Should a controversial mine get the green light?It is a beautiful morning on the southern tip of Greenland; the sun is high in a cloudless sky, but there is a tang of cold in the air. A crowd of Spanish tourists in red parkas has gathered at the small jetty in Narsaq, to watch boatmen who have just returned from hunting a minke whale in the open sea. From the shoreline, the Spaniards watch the men below busy themselves, slicing the whale meat into slippery rectangular chunks. They work swiftly, as if cleaning up the scene of an emergency, deferring to one young man in orange overalls. As word spreads that a catch has landed, local people arrive with carrier bags and choose from the cuts laid out on the bloodstained floor of the little boats bobbing in the water. The bags are slung on handheld scales; today, whale meat costs 80 Danish kroner a kilo, about £9. A woman pushes a wheelbarrow down the jetty, loaded with what looks like a ribcage.The whale hunter is a symbolic figure in Greenland but the flurry the Spaniards are observing is humdrum, devoid of ceremony. Sebu Kaspersen, the hunter in orange overalls, explains that there was a calm sea and they could see a lot of whales; they shot one with a rifle and then fired a harpoon to finish it off. It is, he says, the second minke whale he has killed this year, the limit of his quota. His living largely comes from fishing halibut, and hunting seals for their skin; mostly, he works alone, without a crew. Continue reading...

Strathnairn, Highlands Looking at siskins so close is a delight. I can never decide if their plumage is yellow-green or lime-greenMy study is separate from the house, in the 0.4 hectare garden, and I find there are three main distractions when I try to write there during daylight. (Though not the Toad’s Hole engraving by the door, which so intrigues visitors – it’s a family joke, dating back to a time when I used to work away a lot and write home signing myself “Toad”).

The well, which is owned by Total, was the subject of a £1m fine after another leak in 2012Questions need to be asked about safety and protection of the environment, campaigners have said, after a leak in a North Sea well being drilled by the oil and gas firm Total.The company may be forced to temporarily abandon part of the well owing to a gas leak beneath the seabed, which has restricted access to the wellhead at its Elgin B platform. Continue reading...

In trial aimed at cutting air pollution, diesel motorists parking in Marylebone will pay an additional 50%, or £2.45 extra an hourWestminster will become the first council in the UK to charge drivers of diesel cars extra money to park as town halls across London battle air pollution.The charge will be introduced for a trial period from April. Drivers of diesel-powered cars and vans will pay an additional 50%, which at current rates would be an extra £2.45 an hour to park on the street in Marylebone, one of the most polluted areas of the borough. Continue reading...

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...

Analysts say exit from EU atomic treaty is ‘lose-lose’ that will raise costs and safety questions at plants such as Hinkley Point CBritain’s first nuclear power station in two decades will be delayed by a government decision to quit Europe’s atomic power treaty, experts have warned.Ministers revealed on Thursday that Brexit would involve the UK leaving Euratom, which promotes research into nuclear power and uniform safety standards. Continue reading...

A baboon squaring up to a leopard, white-tailed eagles, and a cauliflower jellyfish are among this week’s pick of animals from the natural world Continue reading...

Too comfortable in their separate silos, activists on the left need to learn that the only way to fight a unified rightwing agenda is to unify in responseDonald Trump is the fossil fuel industry’s puppet, and he’s spent the first few days of his administration doing its bidding. A former ExxonMobil executive is en route to become the country’s top diplomat, and the Centers for Disease Control has cancelled a long-planned conference to discuss the impacts of climate change on public health. And now, thanks to a presidential memorandum, the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines have been brought back from the dead.Related: Resurrection of Keystone and DAPL cements America's climate antagonism Continue reading...

Participants in the world’s biggest wildlife survey this weekend could see droves of charismatic waxwings arriving from Scandinavia, says RSPBUnusual migrant birds could be seen in UK gardens in the cold snap, experts said as they urged people to take part in the world’s biggest wildlife survey.More than half a million people are expected to take part in this year’s RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, which is taking place over three days for the first time. Continue reading...

For nine years under Canada’s previous government, science suffered harsh restrictions. Now US scientists may be facing a similar fateCanadian scientists – who were muzzled for nearly a decade by the country’s previous Conservative government – have been making contact with their counterparts in the US to offer their support and solidarity amid mounting fears that Donald Trump’s presidency will seek to suppress climate science.For nine years, scientists with Canada’s federal government grappled with what many described as an all out assault on science. Continue reading...

Boy, 10, was surfing off Port Stephens when picture-taking father realised son was on collision course with possible great whiteA man photographing his 10-year-old son surfing captured more than either of them bargained for when he snapped the boy sharing a wave with a shark.Chris Hasson was taking pictures of Eden off Samurai beach, Port Stephens, eastern Australia, this week when he realised that he had photographed a twisting shark – thought to be a great white - just below the surface on an apparent collision course with his son. Continue reading...

MPs from across the political spectrum say the UK prime minister must urge the US president to remain in the global Paris agreementPrime minister Theresa May must challenge President Donald Trump’s “contempt” for environmental protection and urge him to remain in the global agreement to fight climate change, according to MPs from across the UK’s political parties.May will meet Trump on Friday in Washington DC and has been warned by MPs that the US president’s approach to global warming could determine whether or not people around the world suffer the worst impacts of climate change, such as severe floods, storms and heatwaves. Continue reading...

Old Hall Marshes, Essex: Outside the seawall the sombre estuarine mud is densely carved into curled knollsA tongue of land borrowed from the mouth of the Blackwater estuary. Inside the mile-long V of grassy banks that exclude the sea the tamed land is riven by the contorted veins of once-tidal channels, now filled with freshwater. Today they are frozen into wide, snaking sheets of white. The khaki reeds that fringe the ice blend into fields of dead grass dotted with the greener humps of ancient yellow meadow ant hills.

Researcher says new coal plants aimed at reducing emissions would cost $62b, while the cost using renewables would be $24-$34bnA plan for new coal power plants, which government ministers say could reduce emissions from coal-generated electricity by 27%, would cost more than $60bn, a new analysis has found.Achieving the same reduction using only renewable energy would cost just half as much – between $24bn and $34bn – the report found. Continue reading...

Statement of claim lodged at federal court alleges that a general manager said company calculated it was cheaper to pay fines than comply with regulationsOrigin Energy has had a deliberate policy of ignoring coal seam gas wells that have been leaking and an offshore gas well that has potentially been leaking for more than a decade, a corporate whistleblower has alleged.The claims, filed in a revised statement of claim to the federal court and denied by Origin Energy, suggest Origin also failed to properly measure the amount of gas it was producing and therefore underpaid its royalties to the Queensland government – something the whistleblower says senior management were alerted to but also ignored. Continue reading...

Environmental Protection Agency spokesman says employees are anxious after Trump team placed a hold on the release of work and edited websiteFears that Donald Trump’s presidency will suppress climate science at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are causing widespread unease, with a spokesman for the administration admitting staff are experiencing “tension and stress” over the transition.

Tribe says Donald Trump’s executive order instructing the Army corps of engineers to approve project is not backed by ‘proper consultation’The Standing Rock Sioux tribe has called Donald Trump’s decision to push forward the controversial Dakota Access pipeline “utterly alarming”, and warned the president that rushing through the project would break federal law.

My friend Martin Alder, who has died aged 69 from an embolism, was a driving force in building the renewable energy industry in Britain.Martin led the renewable energy committee of the Association of Electricity Producers from 1992 until 2014, by which time it had become Energy UK. He also served as the association’s vice-chair, supporting renewable energy interests on the board alongside representatives from the largest British electricity companies. He steered this broad church of member companies towards policies that have increased the proportion of UK electricity provided from renewable energy from 2% in 1992 to more than 25% today. Continue reading...