Richard Di Natale says an independent statutory body, modelled on the US Environment Protection Authority, would help end system he says is ‘rigged’ in favour of developersThe Greens want to create a tougher independent environmental watchdog and a new set of environment laws for Australia.They said the current system is failing because it is too easily exploited by powerful miners and developers. Continue reading...

British Lung Foundation research finds those in poorer areas up to twice as affected as those in rich boroughsPeople living in some of London’s most deprived areas have up to twice as much chance of dying from life-threatening lung conditions – from cancer to asthma – as those in the richest areas, new research has shown.The research, by the British Lung Foundation charity, prompted the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, to call for urgent measures to improve air quality and reduce pollution in the capital. Continue reading...

There are £2.7bn worth of unworn garments in Britain’s wardrobes. One writer calculates how much the items she rarely wears could raise for charityWake up. Remove dog from head. Ponder 100+ items of clothing in drawers so overstuffed they no longer close properly. Feel defeated by this cluttered life. Then rub face against vintage silk kimono, purchased on impulse in a charity shop on Orkney. Perk up. Put on same jeans as day before but with different top. Done.This is my morning routine, and according to research by Marks & Spencer and Oxfam, I’m not the only one building up a collection of clothes I will never put on. The research, which polled 2,000 wardrobes for the “Shwopping” campaign to recycle clothes for charity, found £2.7bn worth of unworn items stored throughout Britain. All those stacks of identical Gap jeans are eating into our time, too: women spend an average of 17 minutes each morning, or four days a year, deciding what to wear (for men it’s 13 minutes). Continue reading...

The 5,000 homes planned for Lodge Hill, Kent may be much needed, but what price do we put on the rare songbirds breeding there?Per-per-per-cheat. Churrup-churrup-chur-put. I’m struggling to put into words the extraordinary song I heard last week. Only poets such as John Keats and John Clare come close to capturing the quick-fire bubbling joy of the nightingale, whose liquid melodies make the lovely song of a nearby wren seem flat and one-dimensional.This aural wonder was even more miraculous because I heard it on a chilly sodden evening at a brownfield site in Kent. Continue reading...

Vote Leave campaign head mocks partly-EU funded conservation project to revive numbers of little terns as ‘aphrodisiacs for birds’

Proposal for temporary licence extension for chemical used in weedkiller, to study concerns over cancer risks, fails to get sufficient majority in votingEU nations have refused to back a limited extension of the pesticide glyphosate’s use, threatening withdrawal of Monsanto’s Roundup and other weedkillers from shelves if no decision is reached by the end of the month.Contradictory findings on the carcinogenic risks of the chemical have thrust it into the centre of a dispute among EU and US politicians, regulators and researchers. Continue reading...

The flooding in Paris is a stark warning of the danger posed by climate change to everything human civilisation has achieved – no matter how pricelessRelated: Strikes, floods, protests and sense of betrayal pile on misery for FranceOne of the oldest human illusions is that culture is a conquest of, or an escape from, nature. It is an illusion we need to abandon fast. Continue reading...

Companies say offshore wind will generate electricity as cheaply as fossil fuels within a decade if properly supportedA group of offshore wind companies have pledged that the technology will generate electricity as cheaply as fossil fuels in Europe within a decade – but only if policymakers across the EU take the steps needed to ensure such growth as a matter of urgency.The pledge and the challenge to ministers are designed to reposition offshore wind as having a strong future in the EU. The European commission has tended to emphasise gas as the priority source of energy security. Continue reading...

Two whale sharks destined for an ocean theme park in China were rescued after an 18-month investigation by Wildlife Conservation Society, covered by investigative photojournalist Paul Hilton. The operation, supported by Indonesia’s marine police, revealed where the protected species were being illegally caught and kept in sea pens by a major supplier of large marine megafauna to the international wildlife trade Continue reading...

Since the launch of the 100 Resilient Cities initiative, writes Rockefeller Foundation president Judith Rodin, we have been inspired – and daunted – by our member cities’ willingness to confront the many challenges aheadAs we move deeper into the 21st century, the stresses and shocks come faster and faster. They’re hitting hard in all parts of the world, and cities are bearing the brunt because that’s where the largest segments of our populations live.

Solving climate, peace and human security issues requires a quiet defiance.The climate system is a unifying ethical field that extends from the physical to the metaphysical and connects your actions to my well-being, and vice-versa, no matter how remote your life is from mine. The Golden Rule we have always treated as an abstract moral recommendation is now visibly playing out its logic in the physical world.This period in history must be about useful innovations that rescue Earth systems from collapse and dignify human beings everywhere. We must dare to imagine, explore, and remake the limits of our experience, together. Continue reading...

Helen Pidd chooses her favourite bike clobber for 2016 after extensive testing in Mallorca ... and ManchesterHurray! Summer is finally here and with it comes the best ever choice of women’s cycling gear. I’ve been testing a load of kit for the past few months in my native Manchester, plus sneaking off to Mallorca with my club to test the wicking properties of various jerseys and seeing which chamois offer best protection to my delicate bits. Here are my favourites: Continue reading...

University lecturer Doreen Collyer named as victim of second fatal shark attack in Western Australian waters within five days as authorities seek to kill animalThe second shark victim in West Australian waters within five days has been named as university lecturer Doreen Collyer, as authorities try to catch and shoot the animal believed responsible.Collyer, a lecturer with the school of nursing and midwifery at Perth’s Edith Cowan University, was hailed as a much-loved and respected colleague, mentor and teacher. Continue reading...

At their peak in the late 19th century, trams provided working people with a fast, efficient means of getting around. Now, argues Christian Wolmar, it is time to follow the Swiss model and put them back at the heart of urban transport policiesAt their peak there were well over 100 tram systems in Britain. Every major city and many small towns had a network carrying millions of people each week. They were cheap and popular with workers – often bringing them right to the door of their factories.But they had few defenders among the middle classes, who thought they got in the way of cars, which were seen as the future. The systems that were not shut down during the second world war by disuse or enemy action were soon closed in the aftermath. It was one of the great transport policy mistakes of the 20th century. Continue reading...

Road traffic congestion is damaging the capital’s most important form of public transport with a variety of ill-effectsAll over Britain, buses are slowing down. They’re doing it in Brighton, Edinburgh, Manchester, Bristol and Hull and most of all they’re doing it in London. Over the past year, speeds on a third of London’s bus routes have fallen by more than 5%, reducing some of them to walking speed: route 11, which runs between Fulham Broadway and Liverpool Street station, averages just 4 mph in parts.As a result, people are giving up on using buses. For ten years after the formation of Transport for London (TfL), the capital’s bus service was a huge success. Only three years ago, demand for bus services was expected to keep on rising. Now, London is experiencing one of the fastest declines in bus use in the land. The implications for the city are profound. Continue reading...

Women are leading protests in Tamil Nadu state against a power plant – yet few people in India know the village they’re from, let alone support their causeBehind the Lourdes Matha church in Idinthakarai, a fishing village at the southern tip of India, five women have abandoned their chores to protest at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant. Today is day 1,754 of their relay hunger strike, which began when the plant was fuelled in 2011.Celine, 73, is among the five protestors, who take it in turns to go without food. “Not a single government, not a single political party is willing to take up our cause,” she says. “Only Mother Mary can save us now.” Continue reading...

Blencathra, Lake District In the whole time I tread its slopes and ridges this evening, I don’t see another soulIn a bright, breeze-ruffled Derwentwater, a shoal of swimmers moves towards the shore. Dozens of wet-suited arms arc rhythmically above the water like small sea serpents, churning the lake as they go. A gauzy light filters down through high streaks of cirrus and ranks of towering cumulus look like smoke thrown up over the fells from a giant cannon salvo. Continue reading...

While government needs to address food waste issue, experts say customers also need to change their perceptions about what normal food looks likeWould you drink water made from food waste?You could soon be doing just that, thanks to an innovation that is not only promising to help in the race to find sustainable sources of drinking water, but also in the battle against food waste. Continue reading...

After facing severe funding cuts last year, clients of the Environmental Defenders Office of the Northern Territory offered their art to be auctioned to raise money for the office. The second annual art auction is happening now

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 9 June 1916June 8

Western Australia Department of Fisheries sets drum lines to catch and kill shark reported to be be between three and six metres longA great white shark suspected of killing a 60-year-old diver in Perth’s north is being hunted.The woman was diving with a 43-year-old man one kilometre offshore from Mindarie marina just before midday on Sunday when she was mauled. Continue reading...

Greens launch clean energy policy with spending to put solar in schools, a ‘fast-track’ to renewable energy and a right to solar for rentersThe Greens want to regulate the electricity system to ensure a “fair price” is paid for solar-generated electricity and ensure a “legal right” to connect to the grid by forcing energy companies to prove they cannot connect a consumer.The Greens’ clean energy policy would put $192m for solar into schools, establish a solar ombudsman who would enforce a “right to solar” for renters and force energy companies to write-down pole and wire assets. Continue reading...

The coalition of rightwing politicians backing Brexit consists of climate change deniers, environmentalist cynics and no-holds-barred free-marketeers. For George Eustice to claim the UK’s environment will be top of a list of priorities if Britain decides to leave the European Union is, frankly, ridiculous (Minister attacks ‘spirit-crushing’ green directives, 31 May).The big environmental challenges the UK faces – air pollution, catastrophic climate change, fish stocks, the hunting of migratory birds – do not respect national borders and can only be tackled collectively. Continue reading...

It is not surprising that small ports are being used to import goods and people illegally (Dispatch Norfolk, 4 June). Successive governments have cut customs staff due to their doctrinaire policies of reducing civil service staff numbers. Thirty years ago every small port had its own customs officer, and there also were coast preventive men who travelled around their local coastal area in blue mini cars, talking to harbour staff, local people, seafarers etc, gaining intelligence on unusual traffic. The key word is “preventive”; Coastwatch volunteers, however willing, are no substitute for a professional anti-smuggling force. If the government wishes to protect the UK border properly, it has to employ enough staff to do so.

Huge swells and strong winds batter the New South Wales coastline in Australia, causing flooding and dangerous conditions in Sydney and the surrounding areas. Evacuation notices have been issued in areas including Lismore, the Cooks River and Chipping Norton amid heavy rainfall, with the stormy conditions set to continue into Monday Continue reading...

Hugh Aldersey-Williams’s scholarly survey of the history of tides, from the Bristol Channel to the Bay of Fundy, is enlighteningThe subtitle of this book gives pause. The greatest force on Earth? Typhoons, volcanos and earthquakes humbled by a few metres’ change in the level of seawater? There is little in the early chapters to enforce the claim. Hugh Aldersey-Williams begins with a trip to the shore near his Norfolk home, preparing the reader for “Nature’s greatest marine performance”. The action begins an hour or so after high water. The tide ebbs. Twelve hours and 30 minutes later it has returned and started to fall again. The author notes froth, gulls and vegetation. Subsequent journeys to Venice to observe work on the lagoon’s tidal barrage, and the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia to watch a tidal bore roll up the Shubenacadie river are not thrilling.Related: The power and glory of tides – in pictures Continue reading...

On World Environment Day, we urge governments to address the growing threat to activists and indigenous people by bringing those who harm them to justiceThe enjoyment of a vast range of human rights, including rights to life, health, food, water, and housing, depend on a healthy and sustainable environment. Today, on World Environment Day, let us remember that those who work to protect the environment are not only environmentalists – they are human rights defenders. And they are increasingly at risk.

A woman who was reportedly a diver is found dead with injuries ‘consistent with a shark attack’A 60-year-old female diver has been killed by a large shark in Perth’s north, less than a week after a surfer was fatally mauled south of the city.Insp Danny Mulligan told reporters the woman was diving with a 43-year-old man at a popular spot in Mindarie about 11.50am on Sunday when she was mauled. Continue reading...

Campaigners hope the Thai temple raid will stir the world’s conscience – but the trafficking of tiger parts to China is a booming businessA week ago it cost 600 baht (£11.50) to visit the tiger temple in Thailand’s Kanchanaburi province, west of the capital, Bangkok. Tourists moved by the spectacle of such splendid creatures living side by side with human beings could also pay the saffron-robed Buddhist monks an extra £15 to help feed the cubs, or to have their picture taken with an adult tiger’s head resting on their lap.Along with nearly 250,000 people, Jay Z, Beyoncé and their daughter Blue Ivy posed with the animals last year, and marvelled that some of the world’s fiercest creatures could be so tame. Continue reading...

The Flint disaster and other cities’ ‘cheating’ called criminal in nature by some, but scientists believe the remedies are fairly straightforwardA tragedy of widespread testing failures in US drinking water is that experts believe the remedies are fairly straightforward – if there is political will.

French environment minister says she fears more bodies will be found as waters recede in central villagesA third person has died in France from the country’s worst flooding in decades, as the death toll across Europe reached at least 17 in a week.The French prime minister, Manuel Valls, did not give any details about the latest victim of the floods, which caused the river Seine in Paris to rise to 6.1 metres (20ft) overnight. Continue reading...

The adventurer is convinced that managers can transform their businesses by spending time camping out in the wildernessWhen it comes to the great outdoors, Ben Fogle is easily excited. After asking him a question about the benefits of working-age people getting out into the wilderness, he quickly launches into a passionate response.

As roads and walkways are submerged by floods, life goes on in Paris and beyond“Incredible, that’s all I can say,” muttered Catherine, a publishing editor, as she stared dumbfounded at the river water that had swallowed up the busy road running along the banks of the Seine near her Paris apartment.Roads and picturesque cobbled walkways in the French capital have disappeared, submerged by a vast expanse of brown river water carrying an unusual assortment of debris including logs, big wooden planks and a metal sign from a boat-club in its angry, swirling current. Continue reading...

Russell Reichelt says he has no problem with environmental lobbyists portraying the seriousness of the damage but a lot of the reef remains unscathedThe chairman of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Russell Reichelt, has played down a report that said he accused activist scientists and lobby groups of distorting maps and data to misrepresent the extent of coral bleaching on the reef.The authority withdrew from a joint announcement from the national coral bleaching taskforce about the extent of coral bleaching earlier in the week because Reichelt believed maps accompanying the research did not depict the full picture. Continue reading...

Trawsfynydd, Gwynedd, Wales They are constantly in motion, dancing out of the gorge in undulating flightPont y Llyn Du on the Afon Gain, in the lonely moors east of Trawsfynydd, above the old gold mines at Gwynfynydd, is one of those places at which you’d never arrive except by design. It’s one of my favourite haunts in the Welsh hills.The peaty hill stream rushes down through a miniature rocky gorge under the old humped bridge to debouch into a round pool of amber depth, encircled by green pastures. You can traverse through on rock ledges beneath the arch, plunge into the pool if you’re hardy and of the “wild swimming” persuasion. What most appeals to me are the spirits of the place. Continue reading...

Rural Australia is being progressively hollowed out of its people. Will it be reduced to a vast mechanised place of scant human habitation?These cows are in no hurry. Each just meanders to the dairy, all rolling hindquarters, swishing tails and loping heads, the blue-black and tan Rorschach ink-blot patching of their hides vivid against the washed-out Australian summer light. They stop as they please along the way. Chew cud. Moo. Drop pats. Moo again. They nudge the soft earth or a companion before snorting and continuing on up through the paddocks to the shed.

A Canadian man and his son loaded a Yellowstone bison calf into their vehicle because they thought it was an abandoned newborn, they said in an interviewA Canadian man and his son loaded a Yellowstone national park bison calf into their vehicle last month because they thought it was an abandoned newborn that would die without their help, the men said in their first interview since park officials had to euthanize the animal.

If implemented, weakened proposal means 14,000 people could die prematurely across Europe each year from 2030EU states have agreed to water down a proposed law aimed at halving the number of deaths from air pollution within 15 years, after intense lobbying from the UK that cross-party MEPs have condemned as “appalling”.Some 14,000 people will die prematurely every year across Europe from 2030 as a result, if the weakened proposal is implemented, according to figures cited by the environment commissioner, Karmenu Vella. Continue reading...

Simon Ingram tackles the forbidding rock face of the mountaineering memoir, while Fiona Reynolds mounts a passionate plea for the defence of our natural landscapeFrom Beinn Dearg to Ben Nevis, Simon Ingram’s The Sunset and the Sea: A View of 16 British Mountains takes us on a journey over sixteen of Britain’s most evocative mountainous landscapes. He talked about his motivation for climbing, the history of our national parks, and how he drew upon the history, mythology, weather and tales of endeavour that surround these mountains to write his book.After 11 years as Director General of the National Trust, Fiona Reynolds work continues in her new book The Fight for Beauty, where she argues that beauty is an essential element of all our lives, and needs protecting. She talked about how the Industrial Revolution invaded the countryside, how campaigners resisted that advance, and how the idea of beauty can support public policy. Continue reading...

Residents voice their fears as the water level of the Seine river in Paris continues to rise. Officials forecast the Seine could peak at 6.5 metres, its highest level for more than 30 years in central Paris, stressing this is still well below the level at which it would threaten residents and businesses. Photograph: Philippe Wojazer/Reuters

We’re halfway through the year with the month of June and we’d like to see your photos of the June wildlife near youThe southern hemisphere approaches winter during the month of June while the northern hemisphere basks in warm, sunny weather. So what sort of wildlife will we all discover on our doorsteps? We’d like to see your photos of the June wildlife near you.Share your photos and videos with us and we’ll feature our favourites on the Guardian site. Continue reading...

We asked you to share your May pictures of the wildlife around the world wherever you are. Here’s a selection of our favourites• You can add your June wildlife photographs by clicking on the ‘Contribute’ button below

Fighting snakes, a rare sand cat family and Belgium’s newborn giant panda are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

At least 12 people killed across northern Europe in week of storms that have flooded villages and wrecked roads

Three monks among those charged as police remove more dead animals from tourist temple, including bear and leopardThai police have charged 22 people, including three Buddhist monks, with wildlife trafficking and have removed more dead animals, including a bear and a leopard, from a Buddhist temple known as the tiger temple.The temple in Kanchanaburi province, west of the capital, Bangkok, has been a major tourist attraction for more than two decades, with visitors paying 600 baht (£12) admission to pose for photographs with the tigers. Continue reading...

City is under increasing pressure to change test methods that scientists said may underestimate the amount of lead found in water after a Guardian investigationThe Philadelphia water department, accused by some experts of having water testing “worse than Flint”, is facing a class action lawsuit and a lead-testing campaign mounted by citizens concerned about water quality.