Residents who can are paying to have their home’s pipework replaced amid concern over water quality but for most the cost is way beyond their means

Instructions provided varied greatly, ranging from those that contained protocols the EPA advised against a decade ago to those that were periodically updated

France, Germany and Austria have been hit by flash floods - if you’ve been affected, we want to hear your stories

Authorities intercept man trying to leave a day after dozens of dead tiger cubs found in Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua temple freezerWildlife authorities in Thailand have found adult tiger skins and fangs during a raid on the “tiger temple” tourist attraction, and intercepted a monk who was trying to leave in a car that was carrying skins.Separately, officials said they would press charges against the Buddhist temple after 40 tiger cubs were found in a freezer on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Environmental lawyer who has read the company’s financial statements says Josh Frydenberg needs to revisit an assurance he gave workersJosh Frydenberg should revisit reassurances he gave workers at Peabody’s Australian coalmines after the company filed financial statements revealing a “dire financial position”, an environmental lawyer who has studied the documents says.

Our air, rivers, and corrupt local politics have all benefited from the cleansing power of EU membership. Brexit would threaten all that

Violent storms and downpours have lashed parts of northern Europe in recent days, leaving nine people dead, breaching the banks of the Seine in Paris and flooding rural roads and villages

As scientists warn the future of the Great Barrier Reef looks even bleaker than feared, we want to see the impacts of global warming on your part of the country

EU directives have helped to protect an array of animals – even though agricultural policy has sometimes had a negative effectFrom the sea to the land to the air, EU directives on habitats and birds have protected and enabled the recovery of wildlife, including dolphins, orchids and butterflies and the booming marsh-dwelling bird the bittern.But, with the intensification of farming having seriously harmed wildlife in past decades, the impact of the EU’s huge common agricultural policy (CAP), has often been in the opposite direction. Continue reading...

Drastic cuts to hit remediation work – the process of detoxifying soil, with plans to phase it out by 2017, MPs on environmental audit committee findThe government has drastically cut funds needed to encourage new building on “brownfield” sites, despite claiming that such sites would be key to solving the housing crisis.

Prime minister Stefan Löfven should keep his election promise of clean energy and not let state-owned Vattenfall sell its coal mines to EPHThe history of the fossil fuel industry can feel like it is told in complicated deals the public isn’t meant to understand. This is what is happening in Sweden. The government-owned energy company, Vattenfall, is demanding the sale of its coal mines and power plants based in Germany to a Czech company, EPH. The deal includes some of Germany’s largest coal mines – and three of the top 10 most polluting coal plants in Europe. They are going to a deeply unattractive buyer – EPH, a company hell-bent on burning as much coal as possible.In the next couple of weeks, Swedish prime minister, Stefan Löfven, is facing a stark choice. On one hand, he could approve the sale of the most climate-destroying assets in Europe, breaking his own election promises in the process. Or, he could promote a transition to keep coal in the ground – and support a liveable climate – in an unprecedented decision by a government to keep fossil fuels in the ground. Coal is the most polluting of all fossil fuels, and lignite or ‘brown coal’ is the most polluting type of coal and the greatest threat to EU climate goals. Continue reading...

Widdybank Fell, Teesdale Vivid bird’s-eye primroses survive and bloom in the bleak grandeur of the north PenninesA skylark rose from among the dry grasses and heather beside the footpath, spiralling higher and higher, showering us with song until it was lost from view in an almost cloudless sky.

Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders in marine science program gives students insight into reality of the fieldJackie Makie never thought of becoming a marine biologist.If statistics are anything to go by, that’s not surprising. Indigenous students make up 3% of the total population but less than 1% of students at university. Continue reading...

The Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders in marine science program has been reconnecting Indigenous children to the Great Barrier Reef and a world that is central to their traditional culture. It enrols about 40 children from schools along the reef coastline and introduces them to the world of marine science Continue reading...

The move comes two years after opposition Liberal National party banned mentions of climate change impacts from planning policyThe Queensland Labor government will bankroll projects by coastal councils to mitigate the effects of rising sea levels, less than two years after its Liberal National predecessor banned mentions of climate change impacts from planning policy.The Palaszczuk government has set up a modest $12m fund, launching it in Redcliffe, north of Brisbane, which it said was “one of the communities on the frontline in the battle against the worst predicted effects” of rising sea levels. Continue reading...

Drum lines were set in the wake of the attack on Ben Gerring and a 4.2m-long great white was caught shortly afterwardsWestern Australia’s fisheries department has trapped and killed a large great white shark in baited drum lines close to the site where a surfer suffered life-threatening injuries in an attack.The authorities took samples from the 4.2m-long shark to see whether it was responsible for the attack which left a 29-year-old fly-in fly-out worker, Ben Gerring, fighting for his life. Continue reading...

Sugarcane waste, drones, solar-powered alumina refining and strata-owned solar: which Arena R&D projects could make a big difference to Australia’s energy sector?Although there are numerous innovative projects seeking to improve the sustainability of Australia’s energy sector, one of the main barriers to making them happen is – as with most things – money.With the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena) set to lose $1.3bn in unallocated funds, the agency has announced a raft of grants for green projects, including $17m for nine research and development projects that “have a pathway to being fully commercial” through industry partners. Continue reading...

Charities say Brexit would mean ‘years of uncertainty’, as David Cameron pledges to protect birds and habitats directivesTwo of the biggest conservation charities in Britain, the RSPB and WWF, have joined forces with David Cameron to urge their 1.7 million supporters to protect the UK’s environment by voting to stay in the EU.

UN hopes $1bn operation will boost employment and drive development among Ogoniland communities devastated by contamination from spillsA $1bn clean-up of one of the world’s most oil-polluted regions will be officially launched on Thursday by the Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari. But it will be at least 18 months before full remedial work starts in Ogoniland in the Niger delta, and possibly 25 years before all the swamps, creeks, fishing grounds and mangroves are restored after decades of spills by Shell, the national oil firm and other oil companies.According to agreements signed last year in Abuja, $200m (£139m) will be spent annually for five years to clear up the devastated 1,000 sq mile (about 2,600km) region in Rivers state near Port Harcourt. More money may be needed to restore the ecosystem fully. Continue reading...

Report from US Geological Survey says northern wildfires must now be seen as significant driver of climate change, not just a side-effectThe devastating rise in Alaska’s wildfires is making global warming even worse than scientists expected, US government researchers said on Wednesday.The sharp spike in Alaska’s wildfires, where more than 5 million acres burned last year, are destroying a main buffer against climate change: the carbon-rich boreal forests, tundra and permafrost that have served as an enormous carbon sink. Continue reading...

Vote does not create binding policy but is significant defeat for SNP so soon into new parliamentary termThe Scottish parliament has voted narrowly in favour of a ban on fracking, after Scottish National party MSPs abstained following a debate that gave a strong indication of the changed nature of the new Holyrood chamber.Scottish Labour had tabled an amendment in support of a full ban as part of an environment debate headed by the new cabinet secretary, Roseanna Cunningham. Continue reading...

Lobby Joe’s long voyage back to the ocean began when he was spotted by Christine Loughead, sitting alone in a tank in a northern Ontario supermarketBy the time Lobby Joe was released back into the waters on Canada’s east coast, the Atlantic lobster had travelled thousands of kilometres on a journey that had cost hundreds of dollars.

Last year saw record worldwide investment and implementation of clean energy such as wind, solar and hydropowerAn upsurge in new wind, solar and hydro plants and capacity saw renewable energy smash global records last year, according to a report on new supply.Some 147 Gigawatts of renewable electricity came online in 2015 - the largest annual increase ever and as much as Africa’s entire power generating capacity. Continue reading...

Pressure mounts on ministers to release full evidence behind the decision to end mandatory use of a harmful chemical sheep dip

In the hunt for a sustainable solution to a rapidly rising population, agriculture has begun to adopt a venture capital mindsetThe raw numbers make for daunting reading. One in 10 people out of the current global population of 7.4 billion already goes hungry. Crop yields that soared in the decades after the second world war are flatlining, and the UN predicts there will be 2.3 billion more mouths to feed by 2050.So how to keep people fed without trashing the planet? Some estimates put the contribution of the global food system to manmade greenhouse gas emissions as high as a third. Unsustainable farming methods are depleting soil nutrients significantly faster than they can be replenished. Rising demand for meat is driving deforestation as land is cleared to grow feed for livestock. Continue reading...

Mexico, Canada and US collaborate on report that concludes the three nations will have to dramatically ramp up efforts to reach 10% protection goalNorth America is far from reaching national and international targets for protecting oceans, according to a first-of-its-kind report released on Wednesday.

Officials have removed 61 live tigers from Tiger Temple in ongoing operation after allegations of wildlife traffickingWildlife authorities in Thailand have found 40 tiger cubs in a freezer during a police raid on Tiger Temple, a tourist attraction that has faced repeated allegations of animal trafficking.The discovery occurred after officials from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP), backed by police, closed the temple this week to relocate 137 tigers to government-run sanctuaries. Continue reading...

Brexit would allow Britain to renegotiate a more favourable share of catches, claims out campaigner George EusticeBritain would have an opportunity to upend fishing quotas that give a “disproportionately large” share of catches to France if it votes to leaves the EU, according to George Eustice, the pro-Brexit minister for farms, food and fisheries.In an interview with the Guardian, Eustice said that even if it left the EU, the UK would still respect catch limits set out to preserve stocks, some driven to near-extinction by decades of over-fishing. Continue reading...

We asked you to share your most striking images of the weather in May from around the world. Here are some of our favourites• You can add your June weather photographs here

Funding for geoengineering computational experiments was mysteriously included in a Senate appropriations bill

Elephant populations in Tanzania’s Selous national park could collapse unless poaching and mining are urgently controlled, say WWFElephants could disappear from one of Africa’s most important wildlife reserves within six years unless industrial scale poaching is stopped and mining is brought under control, the WWF has said.Selous national park, a world heritage site in southern Tanzania, has lost an average of almost 2,500 elephants a year since the 1970s. But it has now reached a crtitical stage with only about 15,000 left, according to the latest census. Continue reading...

Steep rise between 2010 and 2014 shows link between EU’s renewable energy mandate and deforestation in south-east Asia, say campaignersLeaked trade industry figures show a five-fold increase in the use of palm oil for biodiesel in Europe between 2010 and 2014, providing new evidence of links between deforestation in southeast Asia and the EU’s renewable energy mandate.The leaked figures, which the Guardian has seen, show that 45% of palm oil used in Europe in 2014 went to biodiesel, up from 8% in 2010. Continue reading...

Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party MP Robert Borsak admits to shooting and eating an elephant while on a hunting trip in Zimbabwe. In a late-night sitting of New South Wales parliament on Tuesday, he defends his choice ‘to hunt and gather my own meat because it is my right to do so – it’s a clean, organic and sustainable way to live’

Energy inefficient and substandard construction in developing countries locking the world into high greenhouse gas emissions for decades, warns Fatih BirolBuildings currently being constructed at an increasing rate in developing countries are locking the world into high greenhouse gas emissions for decades to come, the world’s leading authority on energy has warned.Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, told the Guardian that the world’s number one priority in tackling climate change must be to ensure those buildings meet higher standards of efficiency and safety. Continue reading...

From Tibetan monks playing basket ball with ice thawing high up in the Himalayas, to the pollution that hides behind the Taj Mahal, here’s our pick from 60 exceptional environmental photographs, by photographers and filmmakers from 70 countries, that will go on show at the Royal Geographical Society in London from 29 June to 21 August. The winners will be announced on 28 June

Captured by the XL Catlin Seaview Survey, these images show the extent of coral bleaching in the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Maldives. Scientists say this and similar devastation elsewhere in the world, including Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, are visible evidence of the impact of global warming• Coral bleaching spreads to Maldives, devastating spectacular reefs Continue reading...

Exclusive: Images from the Indian Ocean archipelago reveal the extent of the longest global coral bleaching event in history• Coral bleaching in the Maldives – in pictures The longest global coral bleaching event in history is now devastating reefs in the crystal clear waters of the Maldives, with images released exclusively to the Guardian powerfully illustrating the extent of the damage there.Photographed by the XL Catlin Seaview Survey, the images captured the event in May as it moved beyond the now devastated Great Barrier Reef and into waters further west. Continue reading...

Company’s CEO Ian Taylor has kept a low profile but is finally breaking cover to lobby against EU plans to tighten regulation of commodity trading“The biggest company you’ve never heard of” is a label regularly bandied around but is well-deserved by the global trading firm with a name more suited to a household cleaning product: Vitol.You will not hear its name at this week’s Opec meeting in Vienna or have heard it quoted on the subject of the significant rise in oil prices over the past four months, but a Saudi oil minister would know the name Vitol as they would Shell or BP. Continue reading...

Wenlock Edge, Shropshire These shocking pink perennials are an antidote to a kind of sobriety that prevails in much writing about the natural worldThere’s a flash of naughtiness in the hedgerows. We never talk of shocking blue or shocking green, but shocking pink seems fitting for the red campions. Their colours are so vivid that they appear like garden plants in the waysides, an unfeasible pink that ranges from screaming princess to rose blush.Silene dioica is a largely perennial herb. Silene is a feminine form of Silenus, who was the old, drunken tutor of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and wildness, and given to antinatalist prophecy – which basically claims we’re better off dead. This seems totally at odds with the brightly camp campions and the note of exuberant joy they start summer with. Continue reading...

Pact addresses concerns that burgeoning output from renewables is putting strain on electricity grid and pushing up pricesThe German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has hammered out a deal with state premiers on the latest reform to Germany’s renewable energy law aimed at curbing the costs and controlling the speed of the roll-out of green power sources.After a meeting with the leaders of Germany’s 16 states that stretched into the early hours of Wednesday, the government agreed to cap the expansion of onshore wind power at 2.8 gigawatts in capacity per year. Continue reading...

He may have been excluded from the leaders’ debate but that hasn’t kept his party out of the media spotlight this election campaign – far from itRichard Di Natale was at home on his farm on Sunday night, watching Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten on television.

The Australian Greens leader examines coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef while snorkelling at Lizard Island in Queensland. Richard Di Natale also dives at Michaelmas Cay, where he is joined by his deputy, Senator Larissa Waters. All footage provided by the Australian Greens Continue reading...

Ben Gerring, a 29-year-old mine worker, was surfing at Falcon Beach south of Perth when he was mauled by a shark and has reportedly lost a legA surfer is fighting for his life after being mauled by a shark off a beach south of Perth.It’s believed 29-year-old Ben Gerring has lost a leg above the knee. Continue reading...

The killing of Harambe after a child fell into his enclosure at Cincinnati zoo was a tragedy. Lethal force is not the only way to deal with these reasoning animalsThe tragic events at Cincinnati zoo last Saturday triggered an outpouring of emotion all over the world. Shock at the killing of a splendid young silverback, Harambe, mixed with relief that the four-year-old boy came through it relatively unscathed (though doubtless traumatised). What lessons can we learn from such a sad turn of events?Related: Cincinnati zoo visitors leave flowers for gorilla fatally shot after grabbing boy Continue reading...

A crop of web and mobile developers from Silicon Valley and beyond are stopping blemished produce from ending up in landfillsWhen Zoe Wong moved to the San Francisco Bay Area three years ago, she fell in love with the fresh and abundant produce from surrounding farmers’ markets. Wong grew up in Hong Kong, where fruits and vegetables were scarce and imported. After attending college in upstate New York, she moved to California, the largest agricultural state in the country.Soon, though, Wong discovered something was off. “At the market, I’d see farmers getting ready to throw out boxes and boxes of fruit and vegetables they couldn’t sell,” she says. “I was shocked.” Continue reading...

With overpopulation a key environmental concern, safe access to birth control, abortion and reproductive health services offer a simple solutionAn often-ignored factor when examining environmental issues and climate change is the powerful role played by women. In the developed world, although women still struggle to achieve parity in issues of pay and opportunity, we typically hold the most sway in household decisions. According to the Wall Street Journal, women control nearly three-quarters of consumer spending in the US and two-thirds in the UK, including “making the decision in the purchases of 94% of home furnishings … 92% of vacations … 91% of homes … 60% of automobiles”.This massive buying power means that most of the time, women hold the reins when it comes to making large, environmentally friendly decisions like deciding to vacation close to home rather than taking another long-haul flight, buying a modestly sized dwelling rather than a McMansion, and choosing a compact hybrid car rather than a gas-guzzling SUV. Continue reading...

Farmers in the Southwest are turning a harsh, dry climate to their advantage by raising fishEast of Lake Tahoe, an organic farmer and his son are putting the finishing touches on what is perhaps a counterintuitive approach to water conservation in a dry climate: a 32,000-sq ft greenhouse that will grow tomatoes, peppers and fish in the heart of the Nevada desert.Mark O’Farrell, the owner of Hungry Mother Organics in Minden, Nevada, plans to have his desert fish farm operational by August, when he’ll begin to produce an estimated 36,000 to 50,000 tilapia per year. Continue reading...

Cars and houses are buried in rubble after extreme floods hit parts of south-west Germany. Streets in Braunsbach were strewn with debris after two streams burst their banks. Four people have died, including a firefighter. Much of Germany and Europe experienced heavy rain and thunder storms over the weekend

The growth of car-free homes, a drop in driver’s licences and increased car-sharing could all be signs of a move away from the automobileIf all goes according to plan, next year construction will begin on a 30-storey residential tower in Austin, Texas. Nothing new in the daily life of a booming city, except for one thing: the apartment tower will offer no parking spaces to residents.