Long-nosed fur seal seen on banks of waterway in city's inner west similar to those occasionally found outside Sydney Opera House

The juvenile freshwater crocodile was first spotted by a group of teenagers in Ironbark Creek in the Australian city on SaturdayAn Australian freshwater crocodile has been captured in a city creek thousands of kilometres south of its normal range, after sightings shocked onlookers at a suburban park.The crocodile was first spotted in Ironbark Creek in Newcastle - about 100km north of Sydney - around midday on Saturday, by a group of teenagers. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Whistleblower figures show large rise in serious' to minor' downgrades based on water company evidenceEnvironment Agency (EA) staff have downgraded thousands of serious pollution incidents by water companies in England without visiting to investigate, data unearthed by freedom of information (FoI) requests suggests.The figures were obtained by Robert Forrester, a whistleblower who left the agency in January and has spent nine years shining a light on the state of the water industry. His identity was revealed in the Channel 4 docudrama Dirty Business this week, and he has vowed to carry on fighting to expose the truth. Continue reading...

Unsettling predictions are now our catastrophic reality, but a brighter future is still within reach if our political leaders change courseSoaring, scorching, record temperatures, yet again. Distressing, protracted droughts. Raging fires and devastating floods. Australia's summer is drawing to a close, and a reprieve from climate whiplash can't come soon enough.We've witnessed and suffered immense losses and deep heartache for wildlife, ecosystems, and our communities. There was a time when the dire potential consequences of climate breakdown and environmental destruction were warnings, calls from scientists and experts for increased and urgent action. Now an unsettling possibility feels like a disturbing reality. Continue reading...

Understanding biodiversity within species is key to our understanding of why nature works the way it does, say researchers

Judge slashed a $667m damages award to Energy Transfer over Greenpeace's role in Dakota Access Pipeline protestsA North Dakota judge on Friday finalized a $345m judgment against Greenpeace in a lawsuit pursued by pipeline company Energy Transfer (ET.N) over the environmental group's role in protests against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.The final judgment by judge James Gion was in line with a decision he issued in October, in which he slashed by almost half a damages award of about $667m that a jury had awarded Energy Transfer in March. Continue reading...

SA premier Peter Malinauskas warns residents to prepare for heavy falls and possible flash floods

Researchers find that across 195 US cities, winters are on average nine days shorter than they were in 1970-1997For the millions of people across the United States who have spent the last month digging themselves out of above-average levels of snow and ice, this winter has felt especially long and harsh. But the typical winter is actually getting shorter in 80% of major US cities scrutinized by researchers, according to new data released by Climate Central, an independent climate science and communication group.Researchers found that across 195 US cities, winters are on average nine days shorter today than they were from 1970 to 1997, as the climate crisis progresses. Continue reading...

What is a favourite place if not one built upon our fondest memories?Would I like to write about my favourite place?The invitation inspired me to recall so many magical places - from north-east Arnhem Land to Mediterranean island hamlets with idyllic quayside tavernas, from the Melbourne Cricket Ground on grand final day to Dickensian London pubs, from picture postcard villages beneath snow-capped alpine peaks to the haunts of my literary giants and on to Joshua Tree and Hagia Sofia. Continue reading...

EPA rolls back rules as chemical firms claim provisions in RMP protection system too expensive to implement

With most Scots supportive of reintroducing the wild cat, charities are focusing on those whose jobs could be affectedCould lynx, the elusive wild cat driven to extinction in Britain more than 1,000 years ago, become the new Loch Ness monster? Whether Nessie's there or not, she draws tourists," said Margaret Luckwell, a resident of Moray, Scotland. It would be the same with lynx. I'd love to see a lynx in the wild."Luckwell's view is a majority one among local people gathering at village halls across the Highlands, as a painstaking consultation slowly gathers momentum for the apex predator's return to Scottish forests. Continue reading...

EPA found only 27 of 219 plants needed upgrades; 71 later got exemptions as Donald Trump scrapped mercury limitsAlmost all coal-fired power plants in the US had the ability to comply with rules limiting their emission of dangerous pollutants such as mercury that can cause brain damage in children. Despite this, Donald Trump's administration decided to demolish the standards anyway.Last week, the Trump administration said it is loosening restrictions on air toxins from mercury, lead and other heavy metals that are released by coal plants. Such pollution is known to be neurotoxic and has been linked to irreversible brain damage in children and infants, as well as heart disease and cancer in adults. Continue reading...

This week's best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...

The annual competition draws thousands of entries from across the world and brings together images from below the water's surface that show the diversity and challenges of subaquatic life

Federal judge in Oregon rejects bid to overturn Biden-era agreement to protect endangered fish populations

Families are struggling with cost of heating their homes', letter says as Trump repeatedly pledges to slash utility billsAs energy prices for US households soar nationwide, Democratic and progressive lawmakers are calling on the energy department to end its plan to double exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG).The Trump administration's LNG export policies are not putting America first: they have jacked up utility prices for families, leaving many Americans struggling with the cost of heating their homes this winter," reads a letter to the energy secretary, Chris Wright, sent the Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Independent senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and seven others. Continue reading...

Yorkshire plant has been criticised for taking material from some of British Columbia's most environmentally important forestsThe owner of Drax power plant has started reducing the amount of Canadian wood pellets it burns, and will stop burning trees from British Columbia entirely within the next year.The FTSE 250 company Drax Group said its Canadian wood pellet plants, which once supplied millions of tonnes of biomass to be burnt in its North Yorkshire power plant, had cost the company almost 200m in financial impairments last year. Continue reading...

Panama joins smaller nations in dropping support for policy aimed at cutting maritime emissionsUS bullying" over a proposed carbon levy on shipping appears to be paying off, experts have said, after Panama reversed its support for the measure.In a leaked document seen by the Guardian, the key maritime state has co-sponsored a proposal to the International Maritime Organization that would in effect cancel the carbon levy and undermine attempts to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Continue reading...

Supermarket chain says it will point customers to herring and other species to protect threatened Atlantic stocksWaitrose has become the first UK supermarket to suspend the sale of mackerel because of overfishing and will start pointing customers toward herring and other species.The Marine Conservation Society warned last year that stocks were at breaking point owing to overfishing, and it downgraded mackerel from a three to a four on its five-point Good Fish Guide sustainability scale. Continue reading...

As fish stocks dwindle, surf tourism may offer a lifeline to traditional caballitos de totora fishers, whose vessels are thought to be among the first ever used to ride wavesJust before dawn, in a scene that has repeated itself over thousands of years on the north coast of Peru, fishers drag boats made of bound reeds to the water's edge and, kneeling on them, use paddles shaped from split bamboo to row out into the Pacific Ocean to catch their breakfast. A few hours later, these surfer fishers return with netfuls of their catch, riding waves on the final stretch back to the shore. From the main beach in Huanchaco - a seaside town near the city of Trujillo - the fish are taken to sell at the market or to beachfront restaurants preparing meals for tourists.The four-metre-long reed vessels - known as caballitos de totora in Spanish, or little reed horses" - are placed upright on their ends by the promenade on El Mogote beach so that the seawater drains away and they are ready to be used the next morning. Continue reading...

Group says case far from over after being found liable for defamation and other claims brought by energy firmA North Dakota judge has said he will order Greenpeace to pay damages expected to total $345m in connection with protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline from nearly a decade ago, a figure the environmental group contends it cannot pay.In court papers filed on Tuesday, Judge James Gion said he would sign an order requiring several Greenpeace entities to pay the judgment to pipeline company Energy Transfer. He set that amount at $345m last year in a decision that reduced a jury's damages by about half, but his latest filing did not specify a final amount. Continue reading...

Record rainfall in famously arid California park has caused a wildflower eruption nearing levels of a superbloomDeath Valley and parts of southern California have erupted in wildflowers thanks to record rain that helped deliver spectacular blooms.In the famously arid national park, the rare display has covered miles of the landscape in vibrant shades of yellow and purple. Continue reading...

Fines for illegal dumping decreased over past year with only 0.2% of incidents resulting in court actionFly-tipping incidents across England have reached the highest level since current records began, with most offences continuing to involve household waste.In 2024-25, 1.26m fly-tipping incidents were recorded by local authorities, an increase of 9% on the 1.15m reported in the year before, according to data released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Coalition government agrees to remove parts of controversial law and allow homes to rely on fossil fuelsGermany's coalition government has been accused of abandoning its climate targets after agreeing to scrap parts of a contentious heating law mandating the use of renewables in favour of a draft law allowing homeowners to rely on fossil fuels.While the previous law required most newly installed heating systems to use at least 65% renewable energy, often with a heat pump, the amended legislation will allow households to keep using oil and gas. Continue reading...

Advocates often assume communities of color just don't know any better when it comes to eating healthyI met the man I'll call Randy Johnson 13 years ago, as I began research in South Central Los Angeles. I'm an anthropologist who explores how people think about food and use food in their everyday lives. As executive director of a large food justice organization focused on K-12 education throughout the city, Randy was a key source. He talked to me about South Central's status as a food desert, where its majority Latinx and Black residents had little access to groceries or healthy food. A middle-aged white man, Randy told me of his work in South Central, which centered around encouraging school-age children to eat more fresh vegetables.He described South Central as a wasteland of sorts. There is just nothing there," he said, pointing to the common but false idea that there were no grocery stores there. He then pivoted to talking about the residents. I see them having almost zero education when it comes to [making healthy eating choices]. They don't know that what they're eating is destroying them slowly. It's just that we, as a society, have failed our citizens to educate them that they shouldn't be buying the fries every day."Hanna Garth is assistant professor of anthropology at Princeton University Continue reading...

President derided Biden's green new scam' during State of the Union address, and hailed the rise in US oil productionTrump didn't say the words climate change" during the State of the Union, but it loomed large over his 108-minute speech as he touted his drill, baby, drill" agenda and derided Joe Biden's green new scam".Toward the beginning of his address, the president discussed last year's flooding at Camp Mystic in Texas, saying they were one of the worst things I've ever seen". Continue reading...

Fish levels fall by 7.2% with as little as 0.1C of warming per decade, northern hemisphere research showsChronic ocean heating is fuelling a staggering and deeply concerning" loss of marine life, a study has found, with fish levels falling by 7.2% from as little as 0.1C of warming per decade.Researchers examined the year-to-year change of 33,000 populations in the northern hemisphere between 1993 and 2021, and isolated the effect of the decadal rate of seabed warming from short shifts such as marine heatwaves. They found the drop in biomass from chronic heating to be as high as 19.8% in a single year. Continue reading...

Thousands more people across Devon and Cornwall could join case against water firmA group legal claim against South West Water alleging sewage pollution into coastal waters is harming businesses and individuals has been expanded across Devon and Cornwall.Thousands more individuals could now join the first environmental community group legal action against a water company over the impact of sewage pollution. Continue reading...

Researchers say solitary bottlenose has adapted well to city waters, but tighter controls on boat traffic and human behaviour are neededItalian scientists monitoring the movements of a dolphin in the Venice lagoon have said humans are the ones who need managing, rather than wildlife.Known as Mimmo, the bottlenose dolphin has been spotted on several occasions since it made its first appearance in June last year, prompting a research team from the University of Padova to spring into action. Continue reading...

UK Climate Change Committee voices concern over Scotland's progress on decarbonising buildings and reliance on unproved technologiesScotland has finally produced realistic short-term plans on cutting its climate emissions, but there is real concern" about the credibility of its overall strategy, the UK's climate policy watchdog has found.Nigel Topping, the chair of the UK Climate Change Committee, said there were flashing amber lights" about the quality and seriousness of some of the Scottish government's medium- and long-term proposals to reach net zero by 2045. Continue reading...

Critics say proposal to fold department into a new mega ministry' will dilute accountability and put nature protections at riskNew Zealand's government is seeking to abolish its dedicated environment ministry to cut down on bureaucracy, a move critics say could dilute environmental protections.Under the plan, the department would be folded into a new mega-ministry" that will cover housing, urban development, transport, local government and the environment. Continue reading...

The government will hand over $10.8bn this financial year under the scheme that makes it cheaper for miners and other industries to use diesel and petrol

Without federal climate regulation, fossil fuel industry may be more vulnerable to local lawsuitsThe Trump administration's repeal of a foundational climate determination could clear a path for new litigation and policies targeting big oil, legal experts say.Earlier this month, Donald Trump's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a rule revoking the endangerment finding", a 2009 determination that established that greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare. The move eliminated federal limits on climate-warming emissions from motor vehicles, and is expected to extend to all other pollution sources. Continue reading...

Taster days and training are offering teenagers an escape from a future of part-time, seasonal work - and giving a boost to a declining industryIt's mid-morning on a rare calm day in Newlyn, Cornwall. Will Roberts is back at the quayside with a catch of mackerel to unload, having set off from the harbour before dawn. At 22, he is something of a rarity here, one of a handful of young fishers running his own small commercial boat from the port.It's a magical feeling when you set out in the dark, with no one else around, and see the Milky Way in the sky above you," he says. I couldn't imagine working in an office or somewhere indoors, and not be surrounded by all of this."Potential recruits learn more about career opportunities at sea at a taster day for young people in Newlyn Continue reading...

With the rhetoric not matching the reality, future Olympics hosts need to forge clearer sustainable standardsBy the end of the 21st century, only eight of the 21 cities that have hosted the Winter Olympics are projected to be cold enough to reliably host the Games due to climate change. Challenges faced by Milano Cortina 2026 organisers such as producing artificial snow, establishing transport links between remote locations and building new infrastructure are likely to become more omnipresent at future editions.In response to a petition asking the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to prevent fossil fuel companies from sponsoring winter sports, the IOC president, Kirsty Coventry, said the governing body is having conversations in order to be better" in its approach to climate change. A New Weather Institute report estimated that the fossil fuel giant Eni, carmaker Stellantis and ITA Airways sponsoring Milano Cortina 2026 will induce an additional 40% to the Games' carbon footprint, enough to melt 3.2 square km of snow cover and 20 million tonnes of glacier ice. Continue reading...

The World Nature Photography awards have announced the winners for 2026 and Australian Jono Allen has taken out the top prize Continue reading...

As the drama shows, private firms no longer able to pollute the coast of England of Wales just switched to rivers insteadThere is a moment in Channel 4's drama Dirty Business when Julie Maughan holds the body of her dead child and lets out an anguished cry. It is as brutal as it is compelling.Her eight-year-old daughter Heather had just died in hospital, two weeks after playing in the sea on the beach at Dawlish Warren in Devon, where she contracted E coli O157, a bug which comes from raw sewage. She became ill with diarrhoea and blood loss. Transferred to Bristol children's hospital, her parents agreed to switch off her life-support machine after she suffered kidney failure and brain damage. Continue reading...

OpenAI CEO also downplayed concerns about how much water datacenters require at AI summit in IndiaThe OpenAI boss, Sam Altman, has tried to ease concerns about how much power is used by artificial intelligence models by comparing it to the amount of energy required by human development.People talk about how much energy it takes to train an AI model - but it also takes a lot of energy to train a human," Altman told the Indian Express recently while in India for the AI Impact summit. It takes about 20 years of life - and all the food you consume during that time - before you become smart." Continue reading...

Judgment in city of Boulder's lawsuit against Suncor Energy USA and ExxonMobil could affect wave of climate litigationThe US supreme court has decided to hear arguments in a climate accountability lawsuit, marking the first time the high court has weighed in on such a case. The decision could potentially hinder the wave of climate litigation the US has seen in recent years.It's not a good sign," said Pat Parenteau, a professor of environmental law at Vermont Law and Graduate School. Continue reading...

Company admits three pollution events that killed fish and insects in Pools Brook country park near ChesterfieldA water company has been fined more than 700,000 for repeatedly releasing sewage into a stream.Yorkshire Water was issued with the penalty after pleading guilty to three offences of sewage pollution in Pools Brook country park near Chesterfield. Continue reading...

Weakened food security could tip into unrest after a cyber-attack, extreme weather or conflict, analysis findsOne shock could spark social unrest and even food riots in the UK, according to dozens of the country's top food experts, because chronic issues have left the food system a tinderbox".The group first identified a series of issues that are making access to food vulnerable in the UK, including the climate crisis, low incomes, poor farming policy and fragile just-in-time supply chains. These have left the UK dangerously exposed, the researchers said. Continue reading...

The Belgian ceremony attracts beekeepers from the Netherlands, France and Germany keen to boost dark bee numbers and stop the spread of the hybrid honeybeeEvery summer, 1,000 virgin queens descend on the Belgian town of Chimay. During the wedding flight", a male attaches to the female. His endophallus (penis equivalent) is torn off and he falls to the ground and dies. Mission accomplished.Beekeepers come and pick up their fertilised queens in small colourful hives, driving them back home, sometimes more than 300km away. They will use the genetic material gathered in south Belgium to build new colonies in the Netherlands, France and Germany. Continue reading...

Millions of gallons of raw sewage have been pouring into the water through a ruptured pipe since last monthDonald Trump approved a federal emergency declaration Saturday related to a sewer main break north of Washington DC that threatens to put a stink on the US's 250th anniversary celebrations in the US capital this summer.The president's action authorizes Fema to coordinate all disaster relief efforts to alleviate the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population and to provide appropriate assistance to save lives, to protect property, public health and safety, and to lessen the threat of catastrophe," a release from the Federal Emergency Management Agency said. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Project Giving Back, set up in 2022 to help charities exhibit show gardens, says this year will be its lastChelsea flower show is looking for new charity sponsors after the mystery philanthropic couple who have spent more than 23m on show gardens end their support.Project Giving Back was set up by two anonymous donors in 2022, and since then it has paid for 63 gardens at the most prestigious horticultural event in the world, held each summer at the Royal Hospital gardens in south-west London. Continue reading...

Subspecies driven to extinction by hungry whalers returns after back breeding' programme using partial descendantsGiant tortoises, the life-giving engineers of remote small island ecosystems, are plodding over the Galapagos island of Floreana for the first time in more than 180 years.The Floreana giant tortoise (Chelonoidis niger niger), a subspecies of the giant tortoise once found across the Galapagos, was driven to extinction in the 1840s by whalers who removed thousands from the volcanic island to provide a living larder during their hunting voyages. Continue reading...

Environmental groups warn that weakening air toxics and mercury standards will lead to higher health-related costsThe Trump administration announced on Friday it would roll back air regulations for power plants limiting mercury and hazardous air toxics at an event in Kentucky, a move it says will boost baseload energy but that public health groups say will harm public health for the most vulnerable groups in the US.Donald Trump's EPA has said that easing the pollution standards for coal plants would alleviate costs for utilities that run older coal plants at a time when demand for power is soaring amid the expansion of datacenters used for artificial intelligence. Continue reading...

Geoengineering does little to defuse most of the risks that really matter for people - and it runs the risk of making some harms worsePlanetary-scale solar geoengineering interventions involve the deliberate injection of either natural or artificial particulates into the stratosphere - stratospheric aerosol injection, or SAI - with a view to offset some of the global heating caused by greenhouse gases. If implemented, the technology would create a metaphorical thermostat for the planet. Such a thermostat is advocated on the grounds that controlling global temperature reduces the harms associated with the climate crisis.I wish to challenge this assertion. Continue reading...

A man in Catania, Sicily, trained his dog to dump rubbish bags by the roadside in an attempt to outsmart anti-fly-tipping cameras, municipal police have said. The 'canine courier' was caught on newly installed surveillance footage, prompting officers to post the clip on the city's official Facebook page with a pointed message: 'Inventiveness can never become an alibi for incivility.' The owner has since been identified and fined.Illegal dumping is a chronic problem across Italy, particularly in the south. Authorities recorded more than 9,300 waste-related offences in 2023 - a 66% increase on the previous year - as councils increasingly turn to camera traps and smart monitoring systems to catch offenders in the act

City of Catania calls ruse to avoid CCTV cameras installed to stop fly-tipping as cunning as it is doubly wrong'A man in Catania, Sicily, trained his dog to dump bags of rubbish by the roadside in an attempt to evade surveillance cameras installed to combat fly-tipping, municipal police have said.The episode was detailed in a post on the city of Catania's official Facebook page. Accompanying a video of the dog was a remark from the police that inventiveness can never become an alibi for incivility". Continue reading...

This week's best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...