Global Witness figures show last year was the deadliest for environment and land campaigners since 2002Three environmental activists were killed per week last year, murdered defending land rights and the environment from mining, dam projects and logging, a campaign group said on Monday.In 16 countries surveyed in a report by Global Witness, 185 activists were killed, making 2015 the deadliest year for environment and land campaigners since 2002. Continue reading...

Solar-powered plane sets off from JFK airport on the transatlantic leg of its record-breaking flight to promote renewable energyThe sun-powered Solar Impulse 2 aircraft set off from New York’s JFK airport early on Monday, embarking on the transatlantic leg of its record-breaking flight around the world to promote renewable energy.The flight, piloted by Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard, is expected to take about 90 hours - during which Piccard will only take short naps - before landing at Spain’s Seville airport. Continue reading...

Improvements to ocean temperature measurements are making good measurements greatI have often said that global warming is really ocean warming. As humans add more heat-trapping gases to the atmosphere, it causes the Earth to gain energy. Almost all of that energy ends up in the oceans. So, if you want to know how fast the Earth is warming, you have to measure how fast the oceans are heating up.Sounds easy enough at first, but when we recognize that the oceans are vast (and deep) we can appreciate the difficulties. How can we get enough measurements, at enough locations, and enough depths, to measure the oceans’ temperatures? Not only that, but since climate change is a long-term trend, it means we have to measure ocean temperature changes over many years and decades. We really want to know how fast the oceans’ temperatures are changing over long durations. Continue reading...

Saxlingham Nethergate, Norfolk Known as “toe-biters”, the water scorpion will pinch unsuspecting paddlers, while preferring small fish, tadpoles and other pond insectsI reach into the tepid, brackish pond, right up to my shoulder. My daughter crouches next to me, hoping I will find her a pond snail shell. Eventually, in the squishy mud, I discover an uninhabited one. It’s small and a little cracked but beautifully whirled. Now we part the duckweed with nets, swishing in a figure of eight, then emptying our haul into a clear tub. A dragonfly nymph eyes us like a soggy grasshopper while a water boatman sculls to hide.There among the diverse creatures is a brown, flattened insect, only one centimetre long but with grasping scorpion pincers and a sharp prong of a tail. “Will it sting me?” Annie asks, watching it suspiciously in her net. This is the water scorpion Nepa cinerea, luckily stingless and no relation to actual scorpions but equally ferocious in behaviour. They are known as “toe-biters” as they will pinch unsuspecting paddlers, although they normally feed upon small fish, tadpoles and other pond insects. Those pincers grip the prey while their powerful mouth parts suck the victim dry. Continue reading...

The Business Council and Minerals Council of Australia have been silent about the bleaching of the reef but not all miners have to take the same pathAs the scale of the recent catastrophe on the Great Barrier Reef has become widely known, a clamor has occurred across Australia.People are grieving and furious about the devastation of our reef. I have lost count of the number of distressed people I have talked with, distraught at what has happened, hardly knowing what to say. Continue reading...

Working group on investment responsibility argues it is better to keep investments in oil and gas companies, rather than divest £5.9bn endowmentThe University of Cambridge has rejected calls to divest its £5.9bn endowment from fossil fuels, as students, academics and the former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams have called for.In a report on Friday, the university ruled out future investments in coal and tar sands, although it currently has no direct holdings in either, and only negligible holdings in coal by investments managed externally.

Documents seen by Guardian show that the commission’s in-house science service told it in 2010 that tests had uncovered what researchers suspected to be a ‘defeat device’The European commission was warned by its own experts that a car maker was suspected of cheating emissions tests five years before the VW emissions scandal.A documents cache seen by the Guardian show that the commission’s in-house science service told it in 2010 that tests had uncovered what researchers suspected to be a “defeat device” that could cheat emissions tests. Continue reading...

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 20 June 1916June 19.

The willow warbler, easily confused with other visitors, breeds throughout Britain, from Cornwall to ShetlandWhat’s the commonest summer visitor to our shores? The swallow perhaps, or the swift? The house martin, or the blackcap?Actually it’s the willow warbler – a bird not all that many people have heard of, let alone heard. Yet the silvery, shivery song of this tiny, leaf-like sprite is the accompaniment to the burgeoning of spring – from the Isles of Scilly in the south to Shetland in the north. Continue reading...

Interview with environmental activist Victor Zambrano on his work protecting the Tambopata National Reserve in Madre de DiosThe World Travel and Tourism Council predicts that travel and tourism’s “total contribution” to Peru’s GDP will exceed 11% by 2026, but how well, in the long-term, is Peru protecting its best tourist assets? Among foreign tourists easily the most popular destination in the country’s lowland Amazon region is the 274,000 hectare Tambopata National Reserve (TNR) - yet it currently stands invaded by gold-miners.The TNR is in the Madre de Dios region in the south-east of Peru. Over 632 bird species, 1,200 butterfly species, 103 amphibian species, 180 fish species, 169 mammal species and 103 reptile species make it one of the most biodiverse places in the world, according to the Environment Ministry, but those numbers don’t compare to the gold-miners. According to Victor Zambrano, president of the TNR’s Management Committee and the recently-announced winner of the 2016 National Geographic Society/Buffett Award for Leadership in Latin American Conservation, there are 8,000 miners in the reserve itself and more than 35,000 in its buffer zone. Continue reading...

World heritage site of St Kilda, 40 miles west of the Outer Hebrides, is suffering a dramatic fall in species due to warming seasA fundraising appeal to help preserve St Kilda, the acclaimed world heritage site off the west coast of Scotland, has begun after research showed catastrophic crashes in seabird numbers linked to climate change.The National Trust for Scotland (NTS) is asking for donations to help fund the £270,000-a-year costs of conserving the once-populated archipelago, which sits in the Atlantic 41 miles west of the Outer Hebrides. Continue reading...

The world heritage site of St Kilda, 40 miles west of the Outer Hebrides, is suffering a dramatic fall in species because of global warmingA fundraising appeal to help preserve St Kilda, the acclaimed world heritage site off the west coast of Scotland, has begun after research showed catastrophic crashes in seabird numbers linked to climate change.The National Trust for Scotland (NTS) is asking for donations to help fund the £270,000-a-year costs of conserving the once-populated archipelago, which sits in the Atlantic 41 miles west of the Outer Hebrides. Continue reading...

Hinkley Point delays mean projects such as Bradwell in Essex should be fast-tracked, says former energy select committee chairMinisters need to talk to the Chinese about fast-tracking the planned reactor at Bradwell in Essex because the future of the £18bn Hinkley Point project is so uncertain, according to a leading pro-nuclear campaigner.Tim Yeo, a former chair of the energy and climate change committee, said the government should also consider whether the Russian state operator, Rosatom, or the British state could build new atomic plants. Continue reading...

Dry weather in California and growing fire risks are prompting a new effort to cull dead trees affected by bark beetles and use them to make electricityCalifornia’s record four-year drought has primed its coastal forests for a bug invasion. Millions of native bark beetles, which thrive in warm conditions, are burrowing into trees weakened by a lack of water, leaving in their wake dry, dead wood that becomes natural tinder. The beetles and drought have already killed off 29m trees, with tens of millions more expected to become casualties.

Government is accused of pouring money away with payments to companies including Shell and DraxThe government has handed out almost £30m to Shell and other companies for work on carbon capture and storage (CCS) despite scrapping their projects that could have played a role in beating climate change.The payments, revealed in a written parliamentary answer, come as the UK government is about to host the international Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum even though it has just mothballed a £1bn CCS research programme. Continue reading...

Lobby group says ‘guerilla street nannas’ are out in the PM’s electorate hanging climate change posters below Turnbull’s ownWhile the ordinary voters of Wentworth sheltered from the rain on Sunday afternoon, a small group of activists set out on a stealthy campaign against their local member, the prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.Dubbed the “guerilla street nannas” by GetUp climate campaign director, Sam Regester, the group, mostly comprised of women in their 60s, braved the weather to check on their latest endeavour: a set of corflute signs showing the torso of a man in a business suit crossing his fingers. Continue reading...

As one of our best-loved charities, the RNLI attracts enormous public support. But is it making life difficult for Britain’s independent lifeboat crews?It’s a sunny day on the Isle of Wight. Mark Birch is building an extension for a local shop when his pager goes off. He scans the device briefly then turns and starts running. His colleagues are not surprised. They’re used to it. Within minutes he arrives at the local lifeboat station in Sandown on the southeast coast. Soon he and his two crew are at sea, powering towards Culver Cliff, where two swimmers, men in their 30s, are trapped against the rocks by a heavy swell.It’s a tricky operation to steer the rigid inflatable boat close enough without it, too, being smashed against the rocks. Mark has to bring it in quickly then hover, balanced carefully at 90 degrees to the swell. The crew hoist one man out and Mark swings the boat round for the other before turning for home. With both men delivered safely to the emergency services, the boat is rehoused, washed and prepared for the next incident. Within two hours Mark is back at the building site. Continue reading...

Single-use packaging is still normal practice, but every reusable receptacle saves about 100 disposable versionsI recently bought a set of top-of-the-range reusables. For coffee I got a KeepCup (keepcup.com), which fits neatly under any coffee machine, ensuring baristas don’t hate you during the morning rush. For water, famously available for free from a tap, I bought a Jerry Bottle (jerrybottle.com) and to add bubbles, a SodaStream (sodastream.co.uk) – each carbonator displaces 40 bottles.For every reusable receptacle you bring into your life, you save about 100 disposable versions. Plus, I’ve made new friends. When I bring my KeepCup to the coffee stand people want to know where I got it. Single-use packaging is so normalised – the average UK household gets through 500 plastic bottles a year – that it turns out you have to re-make the case for reusables quite often. Continue reading...

In Cairns, north Queensland, coral bleaching isn’t the real worry – it’s the fear that tourists won’t come because they think the reef is already deadAnyone in the Cairns tourism industry who might be feeling a sense of panic about the largest destruction of coral on the Great Barrier Reef since divers first strapped on snorkels is not letting it show.The north-eastern Australian city – a global holiday destination where the natural wonder’s name festoons everything from the signs greeting airport arrivals to the local casino – is celebrating a storming tourist trade over the last 12 months. Continue reading...

Knightwood Inclosure, New Forest This clearance was done so long ago that many of the stumps dotting the area are punctured with holes made by wood-boring larvaeWe crossed the ditch together into the clear-felled area of this inclosure. At once, she dropped at my feet and disappeared into the heather. She didn’t budge as I gently pulled the stems apart to find her, and no doubt would have been more active on a warmer and less overcast day.The common heath moth Ematurga atomaria atomaria comes in a variety of colours. This female is the dark form; her wings, barely two centimetres in span, are crossed by ragged black lines set against a weave of tawny scales. No doubt her pheromones are already wafting on the breeze, inviting suitors to come and mate. Continue reading...

Senior figures at French energy company declare in letter that delay is needed until issues including reactor design are solvedSenior managers at EDF have told MPs that they remain convinced that the French state-controlled group should postpone the Hinkley Point project until it has solved a litany of problems, including the reactor design and multibillion-euro lawsuits over delays on similar schemes.The letter from EDF managers to the UK parliament’s energy and climate change committee is the latest setback for the proposed £18bn nuclear plant, a flagship government energy policy that is intended to provide 7% of Britain’s electricity from about 2025, at a time when old coal and atomic plants are closing down. Continue reading...

In Bangladesh, one of the world’s most polluted cities has led the way globally in ridding itself of harmful PM10 particlesOnce, Rajshahi’s sweltering summers were made worse by a familiar problem on the Asian subcontinent: windows would have to be shut, not because of the wind or monsoon, but because of the smog.Dust blown up from dry riverbeds, fields and roads, and choking smog from ranks of brick kilns on the edge of town helped to secure the place a spot in the top tier of the world’s most polluted cities. Continue reading...

From soaring temperatures in Alaska and India to Arctic sea ice melting and CO2 concentrations rising, this year is smashing records around the world1) Arctic sea ice is melting at a rate that by September could see it beat the record low set in 2012. The maximum extent of sea ice in winter was at a record low, and the extent in May was the lowest for that month ever, by more than 500,000 sq km. Continue reading...

Unprecedented temperature levels mean more heatwaves, flooding, wildfires and hurricanes as experts say global warming is here and affecting us nowMay was the 13th month in a row to break temperature records according to figures published this week that are the latest in 2016’s string of incredible climate records which scientists have described as a bombshell and an emergency.Related: Seven climate records set so far in 2016 Continue reading...

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...

Its 170,000 pieces of aluminium are a hive-like structure of latticework, controlled by the vibrations of honeybees in a hive at Kew that is connected to the sculpture“My approach to a sculpture seeks to frame nature so one can experience it more intimately,” says British artist Wolfgang Buttress, whose 17-metre high Hive installation opens at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, in London on Saturday. “I want visitors to feel enveloped, wrapped-up and involved in the experience, rather than adopting the position of an external observer.”Related: How much do you know about bees? - quiz Continue reading...

Fewer than 13,000 Australians stream final leaders’ debate, with audience members handing victory to Bill ShortenMalcolm Turnbull ruled out a change to penalty rates in the next term of government and Bill Shorten called on the prime minister to lead on marriage equality regardless of who was elected in the third and final leaders’ debate.Fewer than 13,000 of more than 23 million Australians streamed the final leaders’ debate on Facebook, though it was aired on the ABC and Sky. Of the 30 audience members, only seven felt Turnbull won the debate while 17 voted for Shorten. Continue reading...

Mayors in Queensland’s far north call for council rangers to be able to capture problem crocodiles rather than wait for state wildlife officers to take actionRogue crocodiles are terrorising communities in Queensland’s far north and Indigenous councils are pleading for greater powers to deal with them before someone is killed.They want the state government to give their rangers the authority to capture and relocate problem crocodiles from local waterways. Continue reading...

The Mexican government is planning a marine reserve extending 200 miles out from the Caribbean coast on the Yucatán peninsula. However a network of caves connecting the sea to the jungle will remain outside of the reserve. Environmentalists are calling for this unique ecosystem to be protected too to safeguard its future and that of the wider reserve Continue reading...

Chee Dale, Derbyshire Every so often, looming out of the mist, I’d encounter the massive arch of a viaduct, like Inca ruins lost in the jungleGrike is a northern English word, probably of Norse origin, used most commonly for the solution fissures that characterise limestone pavements, and therefore not often heard in upland Derbyshire, which has almost none. But I can’t help thinking of Chee Dale as a colossal grike. The familiar version offers protection to juicy plants from the ever-voracious sheep and Chee Dale does something similar.Above Litton, early in the morning, a mower had already cut a field for silage, leaving it shorn and lemony. Down in the valley, just beyond the line of pretty terraced cottages at Blackwell Mill, I entered a different world, a canyon thrumming with vegetation, primeval and unkempt. It had rained overnight, and the surface of the Wye was steaming, mist billowing off the river and soaking the leaves of the overhanging ash and elm. At first I walked through drifts of ramsons, still flowering, still pungent, but as the tight walls of the valley closed in, I found myself waist deep in butterburs, my trousers soaked in seconds as I pushed through, vast black slugs reclining on their rhubarb-like leaves. Continue reading...

Australian Energy Market Operator also finds this would push wholesale energy prices up, but reduce consumptionAustralia’s coal-fired power stations will face early closure to meet 2030 emissions reduction commitments, according to assumptions made by a government agency that runs the national electricity grid.The Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) also found such closures would push wholesale energy prices up, but that would be offset by reduced energy consumption and greater energy efficiency, leaving consumers’ energy bills relatively unaffected. Continue reading...

Report raises fears over conflict of interest and calls for independent system operatorA powerful parliamentary group has called for the National Grid to be stripped of its powers for balancing the energy system in Britain due to a potential conflict of interest.The House of Commons energy and climate change committee is urging the government to transfer control for ensuring all methods are used to keep the lights on to a newly created independent system operator (ISO). Continue reading...

The Paris climate conference set the ambitious goal of finding ways to limit global warming to 1.5C, rather than the previous threshold of 2C. But what would be the difference? And how realistic is such a target? Environment 360 reportsHow ambitious is the world? The Paris climate conference last December astounded many by pledging not just to keep warming “well below two degrees celsius,” but also to “pursue efforts” to limit warming to 1.5C. That raised a hugely important question: What’s the difference between a two-degree world and a 1.5-degree world?Given we are already at one degree above pre-industrial levels, halting at 1.5C would look to be at least twice as hard as the two-degree option. Continue reading...

Retailer joins forces with community-focused energy group to raise £1.2m for panel installation on nine large outletsMarks & Spencer is using crowdfunding to back the installation of solar panels on its stores.The retailer is partnering with Energy4All, a not-for-profit group that helps community groups set up energy co-ops, with the aim of raising £1.23m to put panels on nine large stores including Torbay in Devon, Truro in Cornwall and Cheshunt in Hertfordshire. Continue reading...

European Union launches infringement procedure against Poland over tree-clearing in the Białowieża forest, a protected Unesco World Heritage siteThe European Union on Thursday launched an investigation into Polish logging in its ancient Białowieża forest, a protected Unesco World Heritage site which includes some of Europe’s last primeval woodland.“The commission has launched an infringement procedure against Poland ... the commission is in contact with the Polish authorities to make sure that any measures are in line with EU law,” a spokesman said. Continue reading...

The UK could play a great role in the creation of Europe’s integrated single energy market – and reap its share of the significant benefitsEnergy is the lifeblood of society. It heats our homes, powers our industry and entertainment, and fuels our transport. It has become yet another punchbag in the UK referendum campaign, with claims and counterclaims about costs. But there is a simple and very positive story to be told.

The sea eagle, also known as the white-tailed eagle, was driven to extinction in Britain earlier this century. Now, thanks to a reintroduction programme by Scottish Natural Heritage and the RSPB, it has returned one of its former haunts, the Inner Hebrides island of Mull in Scotland Continue reading...

Hundreds of fishermen and officials rescued 24 of the whales after their pod swam ashore in Probolinggo, East JavaEight pilot whales have died after a mass stranding on the coast of Indonesia’s main island of Java that sparked a major rescue operation, an official said Thursday.

Climate Central: The last monitoring station in the world without a 400 parts per million reading has now reached it, NOAA confirmsWe’re officially living in a new world.Carbon dioxide has been steadily rising since the start of the Industrial Revolution, setting a new high year after year. There’s a notable new entry to the record books. The last station on Earth without a 400 parts per million (ppm) reading has reached it. Continue reading...

European commission launches world’s first system for classifying and banning endocrine disruptors against a barrage of criticismThe European commission has launched the world’s first system for classifying and banning endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), against a barrage of criticism from scientists, NGOs, industry and consumer groups.Endocrines are hormone-altering chemicals common in everyday substances from paint to pesticides that have been linked to an array of illnesses including cancer, infertility, obesity, diabetes, birth defects and reproductive problems. Continue reading...

Greenpeace analysis of satellite data reveals 3.5m hectares have burned this year, while government statistics claim only 669,000 hectaresForest wildfires rampaging across Russia are being significantly under-reported by authorities, according to analysis of satellite data.Climate change is making wildfires much more likely in Russia, but regional officials have been reluctant to report the true extent of the problem, and campaigners are warning that the harm to forests, property and human lives could rise. Continue reading...

Wolsingham, Weardale Adult dung flies chew hoverflies like hotdogs, but many fall victim to an insect-eating fungusCattle had been sheltering in the lee of the hedge and had spattered the footpath with fresh cowpats. We had to be careful where we put our feet, but the male dung flies, Scathophaga stercoraria, sitting in the centre of these discs of ordure, had no such reservations; these were their courtship arenas. Each suitor, resplendent in golden hairs that glowed in the early morning sunlight, was waiting for the arrival of females – usually found to be in short supply.Dung flies’ behaviour and their sex lives have intrigued evolutionary biologists. Males vary in size and females tend to choose the largest mates available on the cowpat, with multiple mating being the norm. It’s a situation where large males, which tend to be more fecund, should prosper. Continue reading...

A year since the pope’s clarion call to climate action, Australia must declare a moratorium on new coal, oil and gas mines and end fossil fuel subsidies• Divesting from fossil fuels: open letter from religious leaders in fullFew papal proclamations have reverberated more strongly throughout the world than Pope Francis’s encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si’. The anniversary of this clarion call to protect the environment comes as Australia’s election is in full swing and, in terms of its message, the contrast could not be greater.

Letter seeks to draw attention to ‘the degradation of the Great Barrier Reef … principally due to global warming’• Catholic orders take their lead from the pope and divest from fossil fuelsTo those in public office or aspiring to it:

Exclusive: Four Australian Catholic orders are jointly and publicly divesting from coal, oil and gas: ‘We believe the Gospel asks no less of us’• Divesting from fossil fuels: open letter from religious leaders in fullFour Australian Catholic organisations have announced they are completely divesting from coal, oil and gas in what they say is the first joint Catholic divestment anywhere in the world.

Ernest Gove says he sold fish processing firm in Aberdeen voluntarily, contradicting son’s claimsMichael Gove’s father has contradicted claims made by his son that the family’s fish processing firm in Aberdeen was destroyed by the European Union’s fisheries policies.Ernest Gove told the Guardian that he sold the business voluntarily because the fishing industry in Aberdeen was being hit by a range of different factors. These included competition for space in the port from North Sea oil vessels, the Icelandic cod wars, dockworkers’ strikes and new 200-mile limits to control over-fishing. Continue reading...

I, too, used to walk up Piggies Lonnen (Letters, 13 June) with my sisters on our way from Lemington to Walbottle, to see my Grandpa, Johnny McSwine. We were allowed to help feed his pigs and clean out their pigsties. Though the lonnen was near the “piggery”, it had nothing to do with Grandpa’s pigs, who never left their sties. On a memorable visit he took us to see the sow and her piglets cosseted under a heat lamp in the biggest of the three sties. The pigs were fed on scraps and meal which was weighed out in the “flower house”, – so called because that was where mounds of freshly cut blue scabious would be bunched and boxed ready for market. Around the tea table at his house, I would hear about the Bull family who lived in the village, but I don’t think had bulls. My grandfather died in 1963 but his name, or his father’s, lives on – “Johnny’s Bank” is the road that ran past the market garden up to Walbottle Stores. The market garden continued until my Uncle Fred retired.