It seems reasonable to call the Coalition's policy what it primarily is: a proposal to expand fossil fuelsSome news you may not have clocked last week while the focus was on important things like a royal tour: 44 of the world's top climate scientists, including four decorated Australian professors, released an open letter warning that ocean circulation in the Atlantic is at serious risk of collapse sooner than was previously understood.They said a string of studies suggested the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body backed by nearly 200 countries, had greatly underestimated the possibility that the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation - or Amoc, a system of ocean currents that brings heat into the northern Atlantic west of Britain and Ireland - could in the next few decades reach a point at which its breakdown was inevitable. The cause? Rising greenhouse gas emissions. Continue reading...

Escaped blue-throated macaws, named Lily and Margot, were tracked down after numerous sightingsLondon zoo's critically endangered" missing parrots have been found 60 miles away behind afamily's garden in Cambridgeshire.The escaped birds were tracked down after numerous sightings from local residents, and were eventually found in the back garden of a family in Buckden. They flew away once more before being traced to a field and public footpath in nearby Brampton. Continue reading...

The mammals were once common across Europe but urban development has pushed them towards extinctionHedgehogs are now listed as near threatened" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's red list after a decline in numbers of at least 30% over the past decade across much of their range.While hedgehogs were once common across Europe, and were until now listed as of least concern" on the red list, they are being pushed towards extinction by urban development, intensive farming and roads, which have fragmented their habitat. Continue reading...

Second Trump term would restore climate denialism to an Oval Office efficiently dismantling protectionsThe climate crisis may appear peripheral in the US presidential election but a victory for Donald Trump will, more than any other issue, have profound consequences for people around a rapidly heating world, experts have warned.During his push for the White House, Trump has called climate change a hoax" and one of the great scams of all time" while vowing to delete spending on clean energy, abolish insane" incentives for Americans to drive electric cars, scrap various environmental rules and unleash a drill, baby, drill" wave of new oil and gas. Continue reading...

Carbon dioxide concentration has increased by more than 10% in just two decades, reports World Meteorological OrganizationThe concentration of planet-heating pollutants clogging the atmosphere hit record levels in 2023, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has said.It found carbon dioxide is accumulating faster than at any time in human history, with concentrations having risen by more than 10% in just two decades. Continue reading...

The harm to babies and mothers is one of the warnings being sent to Cop29 decision-makers by leading scientistsMiscarriages, premature babies and harm to mothers caused by the climate crisis are a blind spot" in action plans, according to a report aimed at the decision-makers who will attend the Cop29 summit in November.Potential collapse of the Amazon rainforest, vital Atlantic Ocean currents and essential infrastructure in cities are also among the dangers cited by an international group of 80 leading scientists from 45 countries. The report collects the latest insights from physical and social science to inform the negotiations at the UN climate summit in Azerbaijan. Continue reading...

Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility alleges Santos's plan to reach net zero by 2040 is little more than a series of speculations'

Study says harmful gases linked to heart and lung disease shave nearly two years off a person's lifeGas stoves kill 40,000 Europeans each year by pumping pollutants into their lungs, a report has found, a death toll twice as high as that from car crashes.The cookers spew harmful gases linked to heart and lung disease but experts warn there is little public awareness of their dangers. On average, using a gas stove shaves nearly two years off a person's life, according to a study of households in the EU and UK. Continue reading...

As a new glamping development seeks to open in the region hammered by extreme weather, Mariposa locals are fighting backKathleen Armstrong saw the smoke curling above the tree-covered horizon and turned on her scanner with bated breath. Mariposa was on fire again. It was the Fourth of July, a high-risk time in the California mountain town near Yosemite national park that had already seen its fair share of emergency evacuations.Memories still fresh from the destructive 2022 Oak fire, Armstrong and her husband rushed to pack up their four dogs as the sky began to glow red and flames raced toward the back door. It was traumatizing," she recalled in a recent interview. It's a miracle we are still here." Continue reading...

Pledge signed by experts from nine countries reflects concerns that offsets generated from forest-related projects may not have cut emissionsCarbon offsets used by corporations around the world to lower their reportable greenhouse gas emissions are ineffectual" and hindering the energy transition", according to more than 60 leading climate change scientists.A pledge signed by scientists from nine countries, including the UK, the US and Australia, said the only path that can prevent further escalation of climate impacts" was real zero" and not net zero". Continue reading...

Researchers gain deeper understanding of bird migration in study that could have profound' implications for windfarms

The Institute for Contemporary Art in San Francisco has curated a show of alchemized' toothpaste caps, zip ties, broken computer keys and perfume spray tubesAs a young artist, Miguel Arzabe visited art shows around the US to learn from others' work. But his biggest source of inspiration were the exhibit catalogues. Fascinated by the documents, he decided to make his own work out of the books themselves.He cut the pages into thin strips and wove them into a large, intricate Andean tapestry called Last Weaving - because the strips would make a timeless and lasting work of art - completed in 2018. Continue reading...

A haul of 8,000 items from 150 shipwrecks - including the Titanic and Henry the VIII's flagship, the Mary Rose - is to be auctioned after the closure of a Cornish museumThey are some of the most evocative historic artefacts that fate ever consigned to the bottom of the sea. Now, coal from the Titanic, a piece of rope from the Mary Rose and musket flints from the shipwreck that inspired William Wordsworth to write one of his greatest works are to be sold at a very rare auction.The artefacts are among the 8,000 objects salvaged from 150 wrecks that will go under the hammer for the first time next month. Continue reading...

Destruction caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton bring climate crisis to top of mind, especially for young votersThe climate emergency was already a hot-button political issue in Florida long before devastating back-to-back hurricanes named Helene and Milton barreled into the state in recent weeks.Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor who considers global warming leftwing stuff", angered environmental advocates by signing a bill in May scrubbing the words climate change" from state statutes and in effect committing Florida to a fossil fuel-burning future.Don't miss important US election coverage. Get our free app and sign up for election alerts Continue reading...

The Michelin-starred restaurateur has signed an open letter demanding delivery of 15m to divert produce to food banks and soup kitchensChef Tom Kerridge is teaming up with charities to demand delivery of a promised 15m fund to divert fresh but unused food from farms to food banks and soup kitchens across the country.Repeated promises have been made by former ministers to fund the food waste reduction scheme, which effectively compensates farmers for harvesting, storing and packaging the food that would otherwise head into landfill or animal feed. Continue reading...

Lovisa Sjoberg hadn't been seen for almost a fortnight when she was located on Sunday afternoon at Kiandra about 85km south-west of Canberra

Hundreds of health workers sign letter to General Medical Council calling for halt to suspensions as GP faces jail for activismHundreds of health workers have called on the General Medical Council to stop suspending doctors imprisoned for peaceful climate activism ahead of a trial which could see the first jailing of a working GP for a non-violent climate protest in the UK.Two retired GPs have been suspended by GMC-convened tribunals this year after receiving short sentences for non-violent offences during Just Stop Oil and Insulate Britain protests in 2021 and 2022. The medical regulator did not express concerns about the doctors' clinical capabilities but said their actions undermined public confidence in the profession. Continue reading...

Legions of young people are getting organised, skilling up, raising their voices and placing their bodies in the path of those who profit from our addictionNot long before the Nazis murdered him, the Lutheran pastor and resister Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote that the ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children".That moral challenge is timeless. But with the climate emergency upon us, it has an unsettling new edge, and with that in mind, I've been preoccupied lately by the underappreciated power of solidarity. Continue reading...

Rescue workers continue to search for missing after storm brings two months' rainfall to some areas in 24 hoursThe number of dead and missing after tropical storm Trami caused extensive flooding and landslides in the Philippines has exceeded 100, as the president said many areas remained isolated.Trami blew away from the north-western Philippines on Friday, leaving at least 81 people dead and 34 others missing in one of the south-east Asian archipelago's deadliest and most destructive storms so far this year, the government's disaster response agency said. The death toll was expected to rise as reports come in from previously isolated areas. Continue reading...

Climate Change Committee advised Ed Miliband to cut level by 81% but activists want bigger promisesClimate campaigners have urged ministers to make steeper cuts in the UK's greenhouse gas emissions after the government's statutory adviser on the climate gave its verdict on new targets.The Climate Change Committee, which advises the government, has written to Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, to advise cuts of 81% in the UK's emissions, compared with 1990 levels, by 2035, if emissions from aviation and shipping are excluded. Continue reading...

Councillor has reportedly suggested using pills to control gulls, but experts say it may not be ethical or practicalTheir brazen chip-snatching, swooping and aggressive squawking has earned seagulls a reputation as the scourge of seaside towns, terrorising unsuspecting tourists and enraging residents alike.And as the marauding birds have ventured inland and established urban colonies, towns have deployed spikes, netting and even birds of prey as deterrents. Now Worcester city councillors appear to be contemplating a new escalation in the battle: bird contraceptives. Continue reading...

Shelly beach, Bronte, Coogee and Malabar among those rated poor' as swimmers urged to check water quality online

Petition to Ecuador's copyright office is first legal attempt to recognise an ecosystem's moral authorshipA forest in Ecuador could be recognised as the co-creator of a song under a groundbreaking legal proposal.A petition is to be submitted to Ecuador's copyright office to recognise the Los Cedros cloud forest as the co-creator of the composition Song of the Cedars. The action by the More Than Human Life (Moth) project is the first legal attempt to recognise an ecosystem's moral authorship of a work of art. Continue reading...

Kevin Jordan and two other claimants argued the country's climate adaptation plans were insufficient and unlawfulAn East Anglian man who lost his home to coastal erosion has lost his high court challenge against the government's climate adaptation plans.Kevin Jordan was one of three claimants who argued the government's plans for adapting to the existing and predicted impacts of climate change, known as the National Adaptation Programme 3 (NAP3), were insufficient and unlawful. Continue reading...

Researchers criticised and gaslighted after sharing fears with Guardian say acknowledging feelings is critical to their workClimate scientists who were mocked and gaslighted after speaking up about their fears for the future have said acknowledging strong emotions is vital to their work.The researchers said these feelings should not be suppressed in an attempt to reach supposed objectivity. Seeing climate experts' fears and opinions about the climate crisis as irrelevant suggests science is separate from society and ultimately weakens it, they said. Continue reading...

The best of this week's wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...

The Labor opposition, conservationists and Indigenous groups have expressed shock at the move

Biotech giant's alleged comments come as world leaders at Cop16 discuss how to share benefits from genetic code discoveries fairlyAstraZeneca has said it may cut jobs at its UK operation if the government enforces a global push to make companies share profits derived from nature's genetic codes, multiple sources have told the Guardian.The alleged comments from the company came amid a concerted lobbying push by the pharmaceutical industry against the profit-sharing measures. Continue reading...

Advocates vow to sue, saying plan, crucial to Biden's clean energy agenda, will drive Tiehm's buckwheat to extinctionFor the first time under Joe Biden, a federal permit for a new lithium mine has been approved for a Nevada project essential to his clean energy agenda, despite conservationists' vows to sue over the plan, which they say will drive an endangered wildflower to extinction.Ioneer Ltd's mine will help expedite production of a key mineral in the manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles at the center of the president's push to cut greenhouse gas emissions, administration officials said Thursday in Reno. Continue reading...

Agriculture board approves regulations, including ban on moving infested soil between islands, to thwart pestsHawaii is doubling down in its fight against invasive coconut rhinoceros beetles, with state authorities greenlighting rules to prevent the damaging insects from spreading across the Pacific archipelago.The Hawaii agriculture board on Tuesday approved regulations, including a ban on moving infested soil and compost between islands and an increase of insect inspections, to thwart an influx in pests, according to Honolulu Civil Beat. Continue reading...

Leaders are eager to fill us with positivity, but research shows people in distress are more likely to take collective actionIf despair is the most unforgivable sin, then hope is surely the most abused virtue. That observation feels particularly apposite as we enter the Cop season, that time of United Nations megaconferences at the end of every year, when national leaders feel obliged to convince us the future will be better, despite growing evidence to the contrary.Climate instability and nature extinction are making the Earth an uglier, riskier and more uncertain place, desiccating water supplies, driving up the price of food, displacing humans and non-humans, battering cities and ecosystems with ever fiercer storms, floods, heatwaves, droughts and forest fires. Still worse could be in store as we approach or pass a series of dangerous tipping points for Amazon rainforest dieback, ocean circulation breakdown, ice-cap collapse and other unimaginably horrible, but ever more possible, catastrophes. Continue reading...

Citizen power forced Germany's greenest city-state into a binding agreement balancing housing and natureWhen Fritz Schumacher laid out his vision for Hamburg a century ago, the sketch looked more like a fern than a town plan. Fronds of urban development radiated from the centre to tickle the countryside, bristling with dense rows of housing. The white spaces in between were to be filled with parks and playgrounds.Schumacher was Hamburg's chief building officer in the early 20th century, and a pioneer of green cities with widespread access to nature. Building sites emerge even if you don't invest in them," he warned in 1932. Public spaces disappear if you don't invest in them." Continue reading...

Expert reminds owners freeze it, don't squeeze it' when it comes to the parasites, ideally with a freezing spray from a chemist

More than 30m homes are thought to contain lead paint, including nearly 4m where children under age of six liveTwo weeks after setting a nationwide deadline for removal of lead pipes, the Biden administration is imposing strict new limits on dust from lead-based paint in older homes and childcare facilities.A final rule announced on Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency sets limits on lead dust on floors and window sills in pre-1978 residences and childcare facilities to levels so low they cannot be detected. Continue reading...

Pace of growth helps maintain renewable energy when weather conditions interfere with wind and solarFaced with worsening climate-driven disasters and an electricity grid increasingly supplied by intermittent renewables, the US is rapidly installing huge batteries that are already starting to help prevent power blackouts.From barely anything just a few years ago, the US is now adding utility-scale batteries at a dizzying pace, having installed more than 20 gigawatts of battery capacity to the electric grid, with 5GW of this occurring just in the first seven months of this year, according to the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA). Continue reading...

Move is designed to combat environmental damage from single-use vapes and their widespread use by childrenDisposable vapes will be banned from sale in England next summer, the government has confirmed.From June 2025 it will be illegal to sell single-use vapes, in a move designed to combat environmental damage and their widespread use by children. Continue reading...

Government agencies and departmental officials spend full day scrutinising Peter Dutton's controversial plan to build seven nuclear power plants

Just designating key areas will not meet 30x30 target on nature loss, study says, pointing to oil drilling in parksBiodiversity is declining more quickly within key protected areas than outside them, according to research that scientists say is a wake-up call" to global leaders discussing how to stop nature loss at the UN's Cop16 talks in Colombia.Protecting 30% of land and water for nature by 2030 was one of the key targets settled on by world leaders in a landmark 2022 agreement to save nature - and this month leaders are gathering again at a summit in the Colombian city of Cali to measure progress and negotiate new agreements to stop biodiversity loss. Continue reading...

Plant enthusiast Darren Williams made the discovery in Marys Creek State Forest just west of Gympie in Queensland. The male platypus was freshly killed, probably after what would have been a fierce struggle with the ambush predator. Williams and his companion Elliot Bowerman photographed the roughly 2-metre long carpet python with its jaw firmly clasped around the platypus before quickly moving on. 'We didn't want to disturb the snake,' Bowerman said

Grizzly No 399 was at least 28 years old and beloved by many in Grand Teton national parkA famous grizzly bear beloved for decades by countless tourists, biologists and professional wildlife photographers in Grand Teton national park is dead after being struck by a vehicle in western Wyoming.Grizzly No 399 died on Tuesday night on a highway in Snake River Canyon south of Jackson, park officials said in a statement on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Rachel Reeves urged to shelve fuel duty plans and overhaul taxes amid expected switch to electric vehiclesA pay-per-mile road pricing system must be brought in now, according to Tony Blair's thinktank, which is urging the chancellor to overhaul motoring taxes.Rachel Reeves is widely expected to confirm the end of a temporary 5p cut in fuel duty, and possibly announce an inflationary rise in the tax paid on petrol and diesel at the pumps, in her budget next Wednesday. Continue reading...

RHS says ensuring access to green space as part of housebuilding push could make Britons healthierRequirements for gardens and the planting of trees must be included in Labour's planned new rules for housebuilders, green groups have said.The government is drawing up its future homes standard for new developments and it is not yet clear what requirements there will be for green space. Continue reading...

US firm Wolfspeed and German car parts supplier ZF postpone plans over doubts about viabilityA project to build a 3bn factory making microchips for electric vehicles once hailed as part of a return of the industrial revolution" in Germany has been put on hold, as the crisis in the country's hi-tech manufacturing industry deepens.The US company Wolfspeed and the German car parts supplier ZF have postponed plans to build an EV chip factory, adding to problems caused by a delay to two large-scale factories belonging to the US chip giant Intel and possible factory closures being considered by Volkswagen. Continue reading...

With no power, no water and soon-to-spoil food, Asheville residents fired up their grills and emptied their freezers for communal mealsErin Kellem's Asheville, North Carolina neighborhood is a short drive from the city center, but feels remote. The Haw Creek area's culs-de-sac are fronted by spacious yards and surrounded by thick woods that give the illusion of isolation.Hurricane Helene changed that, dropping an ocean of rain on the southern Appalachian mountains. Floods of biblical proportions killed dozens. Power outages left thousands without electricity for at least two weeks in most places. There was no gas or cellphone service for days following the storm, and most of the city is still without potable water. Roads disappeared under rushing water and mud. The help that was on its way had no way in, and those stranded in their homes had no way of checking on loved ones. Continue reading...

US readers are responding to the reality of the climate crisis by adapting their homes, from insulation as a refuge from heat to removing yard debris in case of wildfiresRose, 62, was living in a remote area of Washington, west of Seattle, when the scorching heat dome" of 2021 hit the Pacific north-west. As the house Rose shared with her then 93-year-old mother grew hotter, and their two air conditioning units struggled to make any dent on the wall of heat, Rose's heart rate climbed, and she watched as all the rubber bands in the house liquefied.The heat dome - which broke local records to reach highs of 120F (49C) - buckled roads, melted electrical cables and caused about 600 excess deaths, and research showed it was virtually impossible" without climate change. It's just one example of a worsening picture for US extreme weather driven by human caused global heating: including more frequent hurricanes, wildfires and devastating floods. Continue reading...

The Danish political scientist Bjorn Lomborg has told the US cable host its biggest threat is not the climate crisis, but do his claims stack up?

Oceanographer Stefan Rahmstorf explains why Amoc breakdown could be catastrophic for both humans and marine lifeThe dangers of a collapse of the main Atlantic Ocean circulation, known as Amoc, have been greatly underestimated" and would have devastating and irreversible impacts, according to an open letter released at the weekend by 44 experts from 15 countries. One of the signatories, Stefan Rahmstorf, an oceanographer and climatologist who heads the Earth system analysis department at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, explains here why he has recently upgraded his risk assessment of an Amoc breakdown as a result of global heating - and what that means for Britain, Europe and the wider world. Continue reading...

Villagers in Barekuri, Assam, have lived closely with endangered hoolock gibbons for generations. A new Guardian documentary shows their bond - and the fight to protect themOn a misty winter morning, farmer Mohit Chutia sits on the ground outside his home rocking his grandson in his lap. He sings about the hoolock gibbons, the only ape species in India. High in the tree canopy above, the gibbons leap gracefully from branch to branch. Below, Chutia and his family watch.It is a picture of the coexistence that has endured for generations between the endangered gibbons and villagers in Barekuri in Assam, in the remote east of the country. Continue reading...

For over a century the villagers of Barekuri, north-east India's biodiversity hotspot, have coexisted with the country's only ape species, the hoolock gibbon. But this harmony stands in fragile ecological balance. Mohit Chutia, a 55-year-old farmer and father, has been taking care of one gibbon family while raising his own. When researcher Ishika Ramakrishna arrives to study human-gibbon interactions, she joins forces with Mohit and the villagers to tackle the gibbons' urgent population decline, endangered by habitat loss, deforestation and industrial catastrophe Continue reading...

For over a century the villagers of Barekuri, north-east India's biodiversity hotspot, have coexisted with the country's only ape species, the hoolock gibbon. But this harmony stands in fragile ecological balance. Mohit Chutia, a 55-year-old farmer and father, has been taking care of one gibbon family while raising his own. When researcher Ishika Ramakrishna arrives to study human-gibbon interactions, she joins forces with Mohit and the villagers to tackle the gibbons' urgent population decline, endangered by habitat loss, deforestation and industrial catastrophe Continue reading...