20 sites fail safe bathing criteria stoking fears UK will once more be ‘dirty man of Europe’ after BrexitThe UK is second bottom in a league table ranking EU countries on the quality of their bathing water, stoking fears that the “dirty man of Europe” could be on his way home after Brexit.96.4% of British beaches were found safe to swim in last year, but 20 sites failed the assessment in the annual survey by the European Environmental Agency (EEA) released on Tuesday. Only Ireland had a higher percentage of poor quality bathing waters at 4%. Continue reading...

Up to 15,000 people took part in the 2016 Great British Bee Count, recording 383,759 bees, some of which are pictured here. This year’s annual count has begun and will run until 30 June 2017

Environmental group warns it will take legal action against Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility directors if funding granted for rail lineThe Australian Conservation Foundation has warned it will pursue all avenues, including possible legal action, to stop a concessional loan being granted to a rail line associated with the controversial Adani coalmine.

Company managers tell Senate estimates the $2bn project announced by the PM has not counted a large cost factorThe expansion of the Snowy Hydro Scheme, touted by the prime minister as costing $2bn, will likely blow out to more than $3bn, Senate estimates was told on Tuesday.The idea of expanding the Snowy Hydro Scheme, adding 2,000MW of capacity and storage, was announced by Malcolm Turnbull in March. Continue reading...

If Tour De France climbs without time pressure or panniers sounds appealing, investigate this bespoke cycling holiday in the French PyreneesWhat kind of cyclist are you? A superfit obsessive with high-end equipment, up for the toughest races? Or a potterer along county lanes, limiting yourself to 20 miles a day, treating cycling as a gentle route to the next pub? If you’re somewhere in between – but fitness can vary considerably, because you are time-poor – then this trip could be for you.Perhaps you also want to taste Europe’s finest cycling, tackle the Tourmalet, or other classic cols, but don’t want to carry panniers, or worry about bike repairs, agonise over routes or scour websites for the best-value restaurants and hotels. You want to enjoy cycling as a pure, challenging experience, but go at your own pace, stop for lunch, take photographs, and feel that you can have that extra glass of wine at the end of the day. Continue reading...

The 2015 warehouse explosion in Tianjin was one of the worst manmade disasters in Chinese history – and exposed the darker side of rapid urbanisation

Allendale, Northumberland I linger, hoping to see a flicker of wings before leaving the trap to work its magicThe night garden is brilliantly lit by the full moon of the moth trap’s bulb. Shadows are thrown deep into the drystone walls and the hawthorn branches show bright against the dark fields. Shading my eyes against the UV light, I linger, hoping to see a flicker of wings before shutting the door and leaving the trap to work its magic.

Lisa Singh departs from official Labor position that the mine can proceed on its own merits with no federal fundingThe federal Labor senator Lisa Singh has said the Adani coalmine would be “a huge mistake for this country” in a departure from the official Labor position. The opposition maintains the controversial project can proceed on its merits, but without any government support.

They were the masters of the fossil fuels industry. Now three former top executives are building the clean energy economyAustralian clean energy activists might have recognised some strangely familiar faces joining their ranks of late – those of their greatest adversaries in the coal industry.Coal sector executives have been quietly switching sides to chase the lucrative profits up for grabs in green energy and – welcome or not – the experience they bring could prove vital to the increasingly desperate race to avert cataclysmic climate change. From a fifth-generation coalminer applying his hereditary knowledge to harvesting the building blocks of a clean energy economy to a fierce opponent of a price on carbon launching an energy-efficiency start-up, here are a few examples: Continue reading...

There were two leaks – one because of a leaky part, the other after an above-ground valve failed – as crews prepared disputed $3.8bn pipeline for operationThe Dakota Access pipeline and a feeder line leaked more than 100 gallons of oil in North Dakota in separate incidents in March as crews prepared the disputed $3.8bn pipeline for operation.Related: Dakota Access pipeline has first leak before it's fully operational Continue reading...

In the first of a series of videos on critical issues confronting regional Australia, Gabrielle Chan investigates the proposed Narrabri gas project in New South Wales. The oil and gas company Santos proposes 850 wells in the Pilliga and some locals see the opportunity for jobs. But others warn of the potential damage to the land and water supply. Now it’s up the NSW government to decideIn Narrabri, everyone has a stake in the farming v mining fight Continue reading...

In the first of a series of investigations into issues facing regional Australia, we report on how locals in a north-western New South Wales town are bracing to learn the fate of the state’s last coal seam gas projectCountry towns are, by their nature, conservative. Change happens slowly and traditions are not discarded easily.The conservative thinker Edmund Burke wrote that we must act as trustees of the world – what he called “temporary possessors and life renters”, rather than its “entire masters”. Continue reading...

EPA plan to focus on hazardous areas that pollute air and water, often near low-income communities and minorities, was dashed by president’s budget proposalEnvironmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt’s vow to shift the agency back towards the “vital” work of dealing with toxic sites that pollute air and water has been dashed by a White House budget plan that would slash funding for the clean-ups.Donald Trump’s 2018 budget plan proposes severe cuts to clean-up programs targeting some of the most toxic sites in the US, which are invariably situated near low-income communities and minorities, despite a push by the EPA to prioritize these hazardous areas. Continue reading...

The former US vice-president and environmental activist said there was hope in the fight against climate change – but the world and the US had to actAl Gore believes that Donald Trump will not halt the momentum of the climate movement even if he withdraws the US from the Paris agreement.Speaking at a press engagement for his new documentary An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, the former US vice-president and environmental activist said that he was confident Trump would commit to the historic climate change agreement, but that even if he did not, it would still not be enough to reverse the move towards renewable energy in many American cities. Continue reading...

大象的DNA里可能藏着抗击癌症、延年益寿的秘密，哪怕为了人类自身，我们也该好好对待大象。(翻译：子明/chinadialogue)

What does it say about the Trump administration that the president was fooled by a dumb, long-debunked climate myth?

Tammi Riedl and her partner believe ‘chemtrails’ are damaging our health. They prove conspiracies have gone mainstream – and aren’t just for the right wingStanding between beds of golden beets and elephant garlic in the garden of Lincoln Hills, a small organic farm in Placer County, California, Tammi Riedl looks up and points to a stripe of white haze running across a cloudless blue sky.“See that?” she asks, raising her eyebrows. “What do you think that is?” Continue reading...

The Conservative manifesto pledges to create ‘Future Britain’ wealth funds, and a shale gas fund is under discussion at the Treasury. Is the UK finally waking up to the opportunity such schemes offer for tackling inequality?

Agency says it has not received a submission on the rail line from Queensland government and has not conducted any cost-benefit analysisInfrastructure Australia has not identified a proposed rail line linking the controversial Adani coalmine with the Abbot Point port as a priority, and it has not consulted the body which is expected to stump up a concessional loan.

Clougha Pike, Forest of Bowland Once forbidding and forbidden, ringfenced for shooting, this is still a secret, silent placeFind a big map and you’ll see there’s a monstrous, heart-shaped blank in the middle of north-west England. You’ve passed it probably, but the big roads skirt it with such circuitous subtlety you don’t notice you’re orbiting something. For years, unless you paid to shoot things, it might well have remained more a brooding feeling than a sight, its extent out of view beyond this brow or that.But then wildest Bowland became the poster-place for the second access revolution. The first was Kinder Scout, for its trespass in 1932,which legitimised the case for national parks. Bowland epitomised the unfinished business: the Countryside Rights of Way Act.

The World Bank reckons the 16,000 flares worldwide produce around 350m tonnes of CO each year, causing untold harmThe emission of air pollution from traffic in our cities is the last step for a fuel that produces air pollution at every stage of production, often starting with flaring at a distant oil well. The World Bank estimates that the 16,000 flares worldwide produce around 350m tonnes of CO each year.Black carbon from sooty flames adds to the problems, especially across the northern hemisphere where it darkens arctic and mountain snow encouraging melting. The flared gas is also a wasted resource. Continue reading...

We had come to see one of the greatest bird spectacles in the world: the courtship display of the Andean cock-of-the-rockOur guide unlocked the wooden door. “Here” he announced to his still sleepy audience “are the keys to paradise.” José Antonio has probably used this line before, but none of us was complaining. For as dawn broke over the Manu cloud forest, in the heart of Peru, we were assembling on a wooden platform perched on the edge of the mountainside. We had come to see one of the greatest bird spectacles in the world: the courtship display of the Andean cock-of-the-rock (Rupicola peruvianus).Cocks-of-the-rock (note the pedantic plural) are very striking birds indeed. About the size of a collared dove, though much plumper, they sport a prominent crest, which they use to intimidate their fellow males, and attract females, in the avian equivalent of the red deer rut. Continue reading...

‘There is an acute danger of politicians panicking’ about energy demand and costs, Grattan Institute report warnsA new report has warned the Turnbull government the national electricity market is at “crisis point”, with rising energy prices for consumers and increasing concerns the grid cannot meet demand.The report by the Grattan Institute says urgent action is required before summer to safeguard against the risks of blackouts, but it also cautions against political “fixes” – like Malcolm Turnbull’s Snowy Hydro 2.0 plan or the South Australian government’s plan to boost energy self sufficiency. Continue reading...

Emanuele Lobina makes the case for public ownership of the water industry, while Peter Simpson of Anglian Water defends the privatised company’s record on reducing leaksNils Pratley (Labour’s water renationalisation plan is a damp squib, 17 May) argues that there is no need to renationalise water because regulation is enough to tame the monopolistic behaviour of the private operators. This argument is not convincing when you look at the experience with water privatisation since 1989.Related: 'Water poverty' to rise in the UK as scarcity pushes up bills Continue reading...

Girl shaken but physically unharmed after large sea lion grabs her dress and pulls her into the water near Vancouver, CanadaA young girl and her family were left shaken after a large sea lion grabbed her and pulled her underwater near Vancouver.The girl was sitting on a dock in Richmond watching the animal in the water before it grabbed her dress and pulled her into the water. Continue reading...

Oxfam attacks Australia’s ‘climate policy paralysis’ and urges it to promise no new coalmines and end public subsidiesNew coalmines will leave more people in poverty, Oxfam has said in a new report, calling on Australia to commit to no new coalmines and to end public subsidies for coalmining.The report comes as the Queensland and federal governments continue to push for the controversial Adani coalmine in the Galilee basin, signalling potential infrastructure support and “royalty holidays”. Continue reading...

Tim Mosedale says destruction of rocky outcrop, possibly in 2015 earthquake, may make climbing to summit more dangerousA British mountaineer has confirmed that a famous rocky outcrop near the peak of Mount Everest has collapsed, potentially making the climb more dangerous.The Hillary Step, named after Sir Edmund Hillary who, along with the sherpa Tenzing Norgay, was the first person to climb the mountain in 1953, may have been destroyed during the 2015 Nepal earthquake.

Investors including the Church of England and activists will send signal to Anglo-Dutch company’s board at AGM this weekShell shareholders including the Church of England, European pension funds and Dutch activists will send a signal to the board of the Anglo-Dutch company this week by voting for it to set new climate change goals.The challenge comes from a Dutch group of retail investors, who have tabled a resolution for Shell’s annual general meeting on Tuesday, asking the company to establish carbon emission reduction targets.

One of the UK’s largest battery storage schemes, built next to a windfarm, will offer vital services to the National GridNestling alongside rows of conifers and wind turbines in a Welsh valley, a pioneering project will materialise this summer that could prove a blueprint for unlocking Britain’s renewable energy potential.The Upper Afan Valley near Swansea is already home to the biggest windfarm in England and Wales, but in July work will begin there on one of the UK’s largest battery storage schemes. Continue reading...

As Trump administration reviews 27 national monuments, conservationists fear a federally mandated effort to strip public lands of environmental protectionsA decision by the Republican governor of Maine, Paul LePage, to ban signs to Katahdin Woods and Waters, a national monument designated by Barack Obama, has been described as “sophomoric and petty” by a member of the family that donated the 87,563-acre tract to the nation.Related: 'This is our land': New Mexico's tribal groups gear up to fight for their home Continue reading...

Electoral Commission says charities must declare all campaign spending since June last year, despite them not knowing a snap election would be calledUK charities face a permanent “chilling effect” on their campaigns after the Electoral Commission said they must declare any work that could be deemed political over the past 12 months to ensure they are not in breach of the Lobbying Act.At least one charity has been warned that if it does not, it may face “civil or criminal sanctions”. Continue reading...

Environment experts weigh up the manifesto pledges on issues such as air pollution, climate change, energy and waste Continue reading...

Campaigners call for all cut flowers to have ‘grown in UK’ labelWhen you’re searching for the perfect bunch of flowers at your local supermarket or florist, how many of those blooms do you think are grown in Britain? The perhaps surprising answer is typically just 10% to 12% – a percentage that has been shrinking rapidly over the last 30 years.Now the National Farmers’ Union, backed by growers and florists, is taking matters into its own hands. It is spearheading calls for “provenance labelling” of cut flowers in retailers and florists to enable the public to better recognise which are homegrown. By doing so it hopes to persuade consumers that local and seasonal are the way to go. Continue reading...

Fabrics such as cotton come at a dear cost to the environment. Look for progressive alternatives made from pineapples, eucalyptus, even mushroomsFuture generations will shake their heads at our loyalty to a handful of fibres with terrible environmental profiles, such as cotton (thirsty for pesticides and water) and plastic (oil based). They’ll want to know why we didn’t display more imagination.Many innovations in the fashion industry have a distinctly mushroomy flavour Continue reading...

The government must find a way to proceed with green energy projects while maintaining responsibility for its environmentFor anyone who has concerns about our environment and about humanity’s future in a rapidly heating world, the proposed construction of massive offshore windfarms in Scotland’s Firths of Forth and Tay poses a dilemma of some magnitude. On one hand, the four projects – Inch Cape, Neart na Gaoithe and Seagreen Alpha and Bravo – offer the prospect of generating enough electricity to power 1.4m homes without burning fossil fuel or producing carbon emissions. At the same time, between £314m and £1.2bn could be generated for the Scottish economy. Such prospects – claimed by the Scottish government and local industry – are powerful inducements to proceed with the farms’ construction.But some environmentalists point to the cost. Every year, the windfarms’ 335 giant turbines could kill thousands of Scotland’s seabirds – puffins, gannets and kittiwakes – when they stray into the giant blades that have been erected in their feeding areas. Hence the RSPB’s dismay at last week’s decision by Scotland’s most senior judge, Lord Carloway, to reverse previous legal bans on the projects. As we report, environmentalists are now locked in opposing camps. One side claims the windfarms will help make Scotland the green energy leader of Europe. Others point out that the country’s nesting seabirds make a crucial contribution to Scotland’s highly lucrative tourism industry. Their slaughter could have serious financial consequences. More importantly, the nation has a duty of care to its wildlife. Continue reading...

Beach businesses in La Baule, celebrated by F Scott Fitzgerald, say ‘absurd’ rules threaten its futureIn the chic French seaside town of La Baule, the tourist season has not yet started. The Côte d’Amour resort known for its long beach, Anglo-Norman villas and palatial hotels is preparing for the invasion of French and foreign holidaymakers that will swell the 16,000 local population almost a hundredfold.In his 1922 collection of short stories, Tales of the Jazz Age, F Scott Fitzgerald described La Baule, on France’s Atlantic coast in southern Brittany, as a haven of good taste and refinement. “At the Palace in La Baule we felt raucous amidst so much chic restraint. Children bronzed on the bare blue-white beach while the tide went out so far as to leave them crabs and starfish to dig for in the sands,” he wrote. Continue reading...

After a long legal battle, 335 turbines will now be built in Scottish watersIn the waters of the North Sea a few miles off Scotland’s east coast, a nine-year battle has been raging that threatens a fragile and unique environmental equilibrium. The struggle has made mortal enemies of two huge lobbies that share a passionate commitment to the environment.On one side are the developers of four vast windfarms comprising 335 turbines, which are planned for the waters of the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Tay. The windfarms are backed by the Scottish government, which regards renewable wind energy as key to the economic future. Pitched against them is the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, which claims the scale of the developments threatens the existence of some of Scotland’s best-loved species of seabird. Continue reading...

Lomborg’s Copenhagen Consensus Centre says investment in keeping temperature rises below 2C would return less than $1 for every $1 spentExperts have challenged a claim by Bjørn Lomborg’s Copenhagen Consensus Centre that holding global temperature rises to 2C is a poor investment.In 2015 the education department abandoned plans for Lomborg to set up an Australian Consensus Centre, but gave the Copenhagen centre $640,000 to support its Smarter UN Post-2015 Development Goals project. Continue reading...

Rome has a problem with wild boar; wolves mingle with surburban Germans; mountain lions frequent LA. All around the world, city life seems increasingly conducive to wildlifeIn Aesop’s fable, the town mouse turns his nose up at his country cousin’s simple fare, preferring the haute cuisine to be scavenged in the city. It appears that the wild boar of Italy have taken note, and are venturing ever more boldly into Rome.But they are not alone: all around the world, city life seems to be increasingly conducive to wildlife. Urban nature is no longer unglamorous feral pigeons or urban foxes. Wolves have taken up residence in parts of suburban Germany as densely populated as Cambridge or Newcastle. The highest density of peregrine falcons anywhere in the world is New York; the second highest is London, and these spectacular birds of prey now breed in almost every major British city. And all kinds of wild deer are rampaging through London, while also taking up residence everywhere from Nara in Japan to the Twin Cities of the US. Continue reading...

Scientists have produced detailed maps showing where plants known to trigger allergies growSufferers could have relief from runny noses, sneezing and itchy eyes as scientists have developed the first ever hay fever map of Britain.The new, highly-detailed maps of the UK contain the location of key plants and trees known to produce pollen that triggers allergies and asthma. Continue reading...

Mockbeggar, New Forest Tiny, parched, sorrels streak the ground with red but there is feverish activity in the ditchFrom Moyles Court, a fine 17th-century house that is now a private school, we set off up the slope with paddocks on either side. Leaving the Avon Valley Path, we cut the corner of Newlands Plantation, and climb steadily uphill along the woodland edge. Rhododendron ponticum infests part of the margin, with the blooms of young plants announcing their colonisation of the adjacent open ground.

Report questions why taxpayers should finance the project, which would have an export edge over Australia’s coal ports

BHP’s new image could appeal to the patriotism of its Australian shareholders and help rebuff Elliott Advisors’ advancesIt’s been a big week for BHP Billiton. For one thing, it’s not even called that any more. As part of its “Think Big” rebranding theme, the world’s biggest mining company opted to shed the Billiton moniker it acquired in a 2001 merger with a Dutch-South African company and revert to its previous true-blue Aussie name.

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...

No seeds were lost but the ability of the rock vault to provide failsafe protection against all disasters is now threatened by climate changeIt was designed as an impregnable deep-freeze to protect the world’s most precious seeds from any global disaster and ensure humanity’s food supply forever. But the Global Seed Vault, buried in a mountain deep inside the Arctic circle, has been breached after global warming produced extraordinary temperatures over the winter, sending meltwater gushing into the entrance tunnel.

The conflict between humans and elephants for space and resources is driving the rapid decline of elephant populations. Join us on Wednesday 24 May from 1-2.30pm BST to discuss how elephants and humans can live togetherThis week an elderly man was killed by a wild elephant in central India as he picked tendu leaves in the Surajpur forest. A few days earlier, a father and his son were injured after two elephants wandered into their house in Tamil Nadu. As human populations grow and communities live in closer proximity to elephants, one of the world’s most unique and beautiful animals can become the most dangerous.But human development is also contributing to the severe decline in elephant populations. Across Asia and Africa, elephants’ natural habitats are being destroyed by rapid urbanisation and industrial and agricultural expansion. Continue reading...

Tasmanian devils, a Saimaa ringed seal and a white wolf are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

People have to grasp how climate change impacts them, and we need to value environmentally sound behaviorWe know humans are causing climate change. That is a fact that has been known for well over 100 years. We also know that there will be significant social and economic costs from the effects. In fact, the effects are already appearing in the form of more extreme weather, rising sea levels, ocean acidification, and so on.So why haven’t humans done much about the problem? Answering that question may be more challenging than the basic science of a changing climate. Fortunately, a new review just out in Science helps us with this question. Lead author, Dr. Elise Amel, a colleague of mine, completed the review with colleagues Drs. Christie Manning, Britain Scott, and Susan Koger. Rather than focusing solely on the problems with communicating the science of climate change, this work takes a wider view on the hurdles that get in the way of meaningful action. Continue reading...

The bikes designed by Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde would suck in polluted air, using positive ionisation to purify it, before releasing it back into the atmosphereDutch designer Daan Roosegaarde has announced the next phase of his Smog Free Project: a bike that sucks in polluted air and releases purified air in a cloud around the cyclist.According to Roosegaarde, whose design firm Studio Roosegaarde has offices in both Rotterdam and Beijing, the idea for his Smog Free Project came just over three years ago, as he gazed out of his Beijing apartment’s window. On a Saturday, the city skyline is visible; on weekdays, it’s shrouded in smog. Continue reading...