Environment | The Guardian

Snowshoe hare, flying fish and pink flamingos are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

Ridhima Pandey, daughter of green activist, urges ministers to reduce emissions to limit impact on younger generationsA nine-year-old girl has filed a lawsuit against the Indian government for failing to take action on climate change, warning that young people will pay the price for the country’s inaction.In the petition filed with the National Green Tribunal, a special court for environment-related cases, Ridhima Pandey said the government had failed to implement its environment laws.

Unsuccessful visa application prevents Athanase Monja from attending Rio Tinto AGM, where he hoped to highlight impact of mining on his communityA Madagascan farmer who says he and his neighbours have lost access to their land because of the UK mining company Rio Tinto has been blocked from visiting London, where he had been due to address the firm’s annual general meeting.Athanase Monja planned to speak at the firm’s AGM on 12 April, but was refused a visa by the Home Office. Monja, a subsistence farmer, fisherman and first assistant to the mayor in his town of Antsontso, was told by British officials he had a “lack of qualification” to speak about environmental and human rights concerns. Continue reading...

He said he was looking for parasitic wasps but volunteers at Daneway Banks where the large blue is flourishing suspected Phillip Cullen had ulterior motivesMark Greaves, a butterfly enthusiast, points out the slope where he first spotted Phillip Cullen. “He and his mate parked in the layby, climbed over that locked gate, and he was down there running around with a little net.”Greaves asked Cullen what on earth he thought he was doing with a net on one of the most precious butterfly sites in the UK and was doubtful about the explanation. Continue reading...

Phillip Cullen ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work after illegally capturing and killing specimens of the large blueAn insect enthusiast who illegally captured and killed specimens of Britain’s rarest butterfly, the large blue, has been given a six-month suspended prison sentence.The amateur entomologist and former body builder Phillip Cullen, 57, was caught after being spotted by volunteers and wardens acting suspiciously at two nature reserves in the west of England. Continue reading...

New law allows private landowners to cut down any number of trees without applying for permission or even informing authoritiesA controversial change to Polish environmental law has unleashed what campaigners describe as a “massacre” of trees across the country.

Cheating, dodging rules and heavy lobbying by motor manufacturers fuelled the toxic air the UK is struggling with today

Human activities are altering the jet stream, which leads to extreme weather patterns getting stuck in place

Commonwealth, NAB and ANZ are each analysing the financial position of business customers in sectors exposed to climate changeThree of Australia’s big four banks are reviewing their exposure to fossil fuels, including their lending practices to households and farmers, in response to climate change.The Commonwealth Bank is conducting a “detailed climate policy review” that will be released publicly pending board approval, and NAB has a working group reviewing the risks from global temperatures rising two degrees. Continue reading...

From basking gharial to stampeding muskoxen, these images from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition have been selected for a Natural History Museum book, Unforgettable Behaviour, and offer a unique glimpse into hidden worlds of animal survival and joy Continue reading...

Dartmoor, Devon A thick cylindrical form, bent double like a trombone pipe, in a sheltered patch of grass, stops me shortBeneath the granite knuckles of this east Dartmoor tor the land spreads and softens high above the valley. Sheep-clipped grasses and scattered clumps of gorse cover the sides of the outcrop, punctuated by exposed boulders. After a lengthy spell of rain, morning sunshine makes a welcome change, and the temperature along this south-facing incline is climbing steadily. Continue reading...

Endangered Carnaby’s cockatoo treated by vets at Perth Zoo after it was badly burnt on a power lineVets at Perth zoo have used matchsticks and glue to replace the flight feathers of a Carnaby’s cockatoo which was badly injured after it was burned on a power line.Using a syringe to coat the donor feathers with superglue and a matchstick to shape the quill, vets replaced the juvenile bird’s feathers and cut away the burnt remains in an effort to help it fly again. Continue reading...

This year is unlikely to be a brilliant butterfly summer because 2016 was so poor. But insects can rapidly bounce backSpring is an unquenchably optimistic time, and two weeks of plentiful sunshine – in the south, at least – has brought out the first butterflies of the year. My first, like last year, was a male brimstone, bobbing beside the old ivy-covered hedge beyond my garden.

Former Barrier Reef authority director Jon Day says the idea such an approach would save the reef from bleaching is ‘ridiculous’A proposal to use $9m to pump cold water on to the Great Barrier Reef’s tourist hotspots to stave off coral bleaching has been described as a “band-aid” solution, which does little to address the fundamental threats to the world’s largest living structure.

Study shows almost all farms could significantly cut chemical use while producing as much food, in a major challenge to the billion-dollar pesticide industryVirtually all farms could significantly cut their pesticide use while still producing as much food, according to a major new study. The research also shows chemical treatments could be cut without affecting farm profits on over three-quarters of farms.The scientists said that many farmers wanted to reduce pesticide use, partly due to concerns for their own health. But farmers do not have good access to information on alternatives, the researchers said, because much of their advice comes from representatives of companies that sell both seeds and pesticides. Continue reading...

Animal welfare advocates have filmed some of the wild elephants captured in Zimbabwe last year and shipped to China

Green groups say the Resgen Boikarabelo project in South Africa will lead to worker exploitation and hinder Paris commitmentsEnvironmental action groups including Greenpeace, Oxfam and GetUp have signed an open letter to Australia’s export credit agency asking it not to fund a controversial new coal mine.

Ruling by South Africa’s highest court means rhino horns can be sold locally by traders holding permitsSouth Africa’s highest court has rejected a bid by the government to keep a ban on domestic trade in rhino horn, a court document shows.The ruling by the constitutional court effectively means rhino horns may be traded locally. Continue reading...

Study finds three-quarters of consumers throw away rather than recycle or donate unwanted garmentsA predicted 235m items of Britons’ unwanted clothing are expected to end up in landfill unnecessarily this spring, according to new research.Three-quarters of consumers admit to binning their discarded garments, usually because they do not realise that worn-out or dirty clothes can be recycled or accepted by charities, a survey of 2,000 people commissioned by the supermarket Sainsbury’s has found. Continue reading...

English Heritage asks public to help map spread and intensity of pale-backed clothes moth, a particularly destructive speciesClothes-devouring moths infesting the wardrobes and drawers of many homes in the UK are now threatening precious curtains and carpets, costumes and tapestries in some of England’s most historic properties. Conservators are reporting that the number caught in traps has doubled in the last five years.A particularly destructive species, Monopis sp., also known as the pale-backed clothes moth, has recently been discovered for the first time by English Heritage, which is now enlisting the help of the public to map the spread and intensity of a menace that only a few decades ago seemed as relevant a historical plague as the Black Death. Anyone with a precious cashmere sweater now resembling a piece of lace will sympathise. Continue reading...

Wolsingham, Weardale Whitlow grass marks the spring flora advent as moschatel unfurls its luminous green clustersThree warm days in a row and the longed-for spring had arrived. In a week there would be drifts of wood anemones and primroses everywhere, but on this day I went in search of two of the supporting cast in the annual floral pageant.I saw the white flowers of whitlow grass (Erophila verna) as I climbed over the stile in the wall. Here it grows on meadow ant nests on a south-facing slope. In some years it blooms in such profusion that each hummock seems snow capped. This year it wasn’t so plentiful, but then 10 days ago this field was covered by snow. Continue reading...

An innovative bioenergy project in New South Wales could produce enough electricity to supply 5,000 homes and produce fertiliserEd Fagan’s family has been farming the same 1,600-hectare block of land in Cowra, about 240km west of Sydney, since 1886.These days Cowra is a shire of nearly 13,000 people and straddles the Lachlan river. It’s a diverse agricultural town with a strong industrial sector. And if a keen group of locals get their way, it could soon be home to an innovative bioenergy project that cleans up waste, produces renewable energy and creates valuable fertiliser as a byproduct. Continue reading...

A bioenergy project could take the waste streams of a group of farms in New South Wales and turn them into electricity and heat for local residents, and make fertiliser from the leftovers• Renewable roadshow: transforming waste into a cleaner Cowra Continue reading...

About 450 icebergs – up from 37 a week earlier – have drifted into waters where Titanic sank, forcing vessels to divert and raising global warming fearsMore than 400 icebergs have drifted into the North Atlantic shipping lanes over the past week in an unusually large swarm for this early in the season, forcing vessels to slow to a crawl or take detours of hundreds of kilometres.Related: Greenland: the country set to cash in on climate change Continue reading...

Technologies that use gels, liquids, and molten silicon or salt could all claim a slice of the growing renewable energy storage market

Complaint lodged over prospect of Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility partially funding 400km rail lineA $1bn federal loan to builders of a railway line between the proposed Adani coalmine and the coast would be a direct breach of government policy, a legal group has claimed.Environmental Justice Australia has lodged a formal complaint with the Productivity Commission over the prospect of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility partially funding the 400km rail line. Continue reading...

Risk of energy sector being denied entry to Europe’s internal energy market looms large – with Brexit also likely to exacerbate industry skills shortagesVital energy projects including the £18bn Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant and interconnectors used to import cheap electricity from Europe are under threat due to Brexit, energy experts have warned.They said the projects, which are key to efforts to keep the UK’s lights on, could be at risk if the energy sector is denied entry to Europe’s internal energy market. Continue reading...

MGM’s National Harbor resort opened in Maryland last December with the aim of building strong ties to the local community and encouraging local businessWhen Toya Mitchell first learned MGM Resorts International had won a contract to build a new casino down the street from her house in Prince George’s County, Maryland, she was cautiously optimistic. Mitchell, the owner of Lord & Mitchell, a small, women-run business specializing in customized promotional and printed materials, was excited about the possible jobs and business opportunities the casino could bring, not to mention the much-needed boost to the county’s economy.But she was also wary. Casino developers aren’t exactly known for their community spirit, and cities that have authorized casinos in the hope of reviving their economy in the past have not fared well. Atlantic City’s storied and troubled past is probably the best example of this – despite rigorous economic investment resulting in a strip of glitzy casinos and hotels, the local community suffered long and hard – high taxes, failing infrastructure the loss of tens of thousands of jobs – before it all came crumbling down. Continue reading...

The EPA chief, Scott Pruitt, has ignored the scientific recommendation of his own agency to allow continued use of chlorpyrifos, despite its links to brain damageEnvironmental groups have filed a complaint against the US government over its support of a pesticide linked to brain damage in children, one week after Donald Trump’s administration rejected federally backed science and reversed an Obama-era policy.The Pesticide Action Network and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) filed the case against the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday, seeking to force the government to follow through with the Obama administration’s recommendations to ban an insecticide widely used in agriculture. Continue reading...

German and French governments have already required that manufacturers fix vehicles spewing high levels of toxic pollution but UK is ‘doing nothing’The diesel-fuelled air pollution crisis should be solved by making motor companies recall and upgrade the dirty cars they sold, experts said on Wednesday.Current UK plans are focused on making diesel drivers pay to enter cities and a possible taxpayer-funded scrappage scheme. Continue reading...

Companies from every EU nation except Poland and Greece sign up to initiative in bid to meet Paris pledges and limit effects of climate changeEurope’s energy utilities have rung a death knell for coal, with a historic pledge that no new coal-fired plants will be built in the EU after 2020.The surprise announcement was made at a press conference in Brussels on Wednesday, 442 years after the continent’s first pit was sunk by Sir George Bruce of Carnock, in Scotland. Continue reading...

We’d like to find out about how single-use plastic bottles are recycled where you live. Share your you views and experiences from around the worldThe disposal of plastic bottles is a global issue. Every year millions of single-use bottles end up in landfill sites or in our oceans and a very small proportion are recycled.It’s estimated Americans throw away at least 50 million bottles every day. Every year, a UK household uses 480 plastic bottles, but only recycles 270 of them, according to Recycle Now, a campaign group funded by the government’s waste advisory group Wrap. A survey by Greenpeace found five out of six global soft drinks firms sold single-use plastic bottles weighing more than two million tonnes – only 6.6% of which was recycled plastic. Continue reading...

Three recent studies point to just how broad, bizarre, and potentially devastating climate change is to life on Earth. And we’ve only seen one degree Celsius of warming so far.

The giant armadillo benefits 80 other species by providing a unique lodging and dining service in the largest wetland on Earth – the Pantanal in Brazil. Here’s a sneak peek into the lives of nature’s most amazing host and its guests Continue reading...

White-tail spider unlikely to be responsible for necrotising skin infection that led to amputation of Filipino tourist’s legsA Melbourne man’s double amputation is likely to have been misattributed to a white-tail spider bite.

Environmental and legal groups fear impact on groundwater and accuse Queensland government of giving Indian mining company special treatmentAdani’s controversial $21bn Carmichael coalmine has been granted an unlimited 60-year water licence in what environmental and legal groups say is another example of governments giving the company special treatment.The associated water licence, signed by a Queensland government representative the day after Cyclone Debbie tore through the state’s north, allows Adani Mining to take water from or near the Betts Creek formation when removing or draining water from the mine. Continue reading...

Despite past failures and high costs, wave power companies are pushing ahead with research trials“In two weeks we face the full brunt of the South Westerlies and we’ll see what the sea is going to do to us.”Simon Gillett has a habit of talking about the device his company, Wave-tricity, has created as an extension of himself. This must be a nerve-wracking time. Continue reading...

Wenlock Edge Violets have a built-in nostalgia, a belonging to something that is always fleeting and longed forA century and a half ago, when springs were different, the poet John Clare wrote: “All bleaching in the thin March air / the scattered violets lie.” (March Violet). He may have meant violets growing under withered and bleached nettle stems, but for me, today, there are shining white violets “bleaching” on the hedge bank in one of the last cold, grey, “thin” mornings in March.

Theresa May ‘very conscious’ that past governments encouraged motorists to buy diesel cars, as increased charges for polluting vehicles loom largeTheresa May says she will not punish drivers of older diesel cars who were encouraged to buy the polluting vehicles under the Labour government.A crackdown on the vehicles to tackle poor air quality has been announced by the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, with drivers of polluting vehicles facing £24-a-day charges to drive in central London from 2019. Continue reading...

US defence expert warns people fleeing low-lying Pacific islands a precursor to ‘climate-exacerbated water insecurities’ that could trigger wider conflictAustralia could be on the frontline of a new wave of “climate refugees” displaced by extreme weather events, droughts and rising seas, a US expert on the national security impacts of climate change has warned.Sherri Goodman, a former US deputy undersecretary of defence, argues the impact of climate change – rising seas, extreme weather, prolonged droughts – will be a “threat multiplier” for security challenges, and could be the spark that ignites conflict and drives new waves of mass forced migration. Continue reading...

Daffodils on verges | Gendered Oscars | Anti-antidisestablishmentarianism | The world’s oldest continuously established parliament | The Boat Race | San SerriffeI agree with Jill Bennett (Letters, 4 April) that daffodils may not look great on urban verges, but here in Old Buckenham we persuaded the parish council to fund the purchase of sacks of varied narcissi for us in 1999. These were planted in bulk by volunteers around the base of all of the seven 30mph speed signs at the various entrances to the village as a Millennium project. They first bloomed in 2000 and are still providing a welcome sight, some 18 seasons later. Perhaps Patrick Barkham should come and have a look before the blooms die off.

MEPs say a ban, which needs approval from the European commission, is needed to avoid renewable targets contributing to deforestationMEPs have voted overwhelmingly to ban biofuels made from vegetable oils including palm oil by 2020, to prevent the EU’s renewable transport targets from inadvertently contributing to deforestation.A new palm oil regulation, minimum sustainability criteria, customs duty reforms and anti-deforestation articles in future EU trade deals were also approved with a 640-18 majority. Continue reading...

Troubled tech giant forced to take sole ownership of NuGen after Engie sells stake, adding to uncertainty over plan for three reactorsToshiba has been forced to buy out the French utility Engie from a project to build three nuclear reactors in Moorside, northwest England, further straining the Japanese company’s finances and adding to uncertainty over the project.Engie said on Tuesday it was exercising its right to sell its 40% stake in the NuGen venture to Toshiba following the bankruptcy of the Japanese firm’s Westinghouse nuclear power plant business. Toshiba will pay 15.3 billion yen ($138.5m) for the stake. Continue reading...

More than 2,000 schools around England and Wales are located near roads with illegal and dangerous levels of emissions from diesel cars. Use this tool to see whether your school is on the listType a school name, postcode or town name into the box to see the schools affected by dangerous levels of NO2 pollution. Continue reading...

Region contains five of top 10 hotspots outside London for dangerous levels of nitrogen dioxide pollution

European parliament backs tougher rules and €30,000 per vehicle fine for carmakers to prevent repeat of VW emissions scandalDiesel vehicles will disappear from roads much faster than expected, according to the European Union’s industry commissioner.

David King, who served Labour and Tory governments, says he was misled by car industry over levels of diesel pollutionThe former chief scientific adviser has admitted it was wrong to cut fuel duty on diesel vehicles after being hoodwinked by the car industry, as the mayor of London launched a crackdown on vehicle pollution.David King, who until last week served Labour and Tory governments as special representative for climate change, said he was misled by carmakers over the amount of poisonous nitrogen oxides (NOx) diesel cars would emit on the road. Continue reading...

Republican Party leaders keep putting fossil fuel industry profits over the well-being of Americans

The fossil fuel industry, and its enablers in government and the financial sector, have a stranglehold on us. But we can fight back

Exclusive: new analysis indicates south will get significantly more funding per capita than elsewhere, in part because of higher property pricesThe government’s planned spending on flood defences heavily favours London and the south-east of England, according to a new analysis, with spending per person up to 13 times higher than in other regions.The recently published plans set out spending to 2021 and, for major projects, beyond that date. By far the largest projects are those for the Thames estuary, leading to 60% of the planned spending going to London and south-east, home to 32% of England’s population. Continue reading...