The distribution of surplus food in Ireland is being transformed by FoodCloud. Killian Fox meets the duo behind the venture

The official start of winter was heralded by days of sharp sunshine. Country Life’s editor at large celebrates the season’s natural beautyWindscreens frozen, ground like iron, a vichyssoise of fog in the valleys – we’ve had the first intimations of a proper winter, and my friend’s blood is coursing. “Isn’t it the most exciting time of year?” he mumbled, from the depths of many layers of warm clothing. “I love the sharpness of the air, the crunch of frost underfoot.”I’m with him. A lucky chum who has a house in the Caribbean told me about the temperature variance on Nevis; it will be 30C at Christmas, just as it was 30C in July. A superficially seductive prospect, I admit, but who wouldn’t rather have the drama of the changing year? Icicles hanging from the eaves, mulled wine simmering on the stove. As the 18th-century nature poet James Thomson put it, “Welcome kindred glooms!” Continue reading...

The world’s leaders have promised to take urgent action on climate change. But that was the easy part. Here’s what they need to do next

Safety issues force many reactors offline with warnings of power cuts across France, higher energy prices and a rise in emissionsThe company building the UK’s first new nuclear power station for decades is facing questions over the health of its fleet of French nuclear plants after an investigation which has left the country with the lowest level of nuclear power for 10 years and the prospect of power cuts during a cold snap.Thirteen of Électricité de France’s (EDF) 58 atomic plants are offline, some due to planned maintenance, but most for safety checks ordered by the regulator over anomalies discovered in reactor parts. Continue reading...

As a relatively new owner of a Nissan Leaf, I support entirely the need for adequate provision of charge points (Letters, 29 November). The ecotricity charging points at motorway services are great, even if they are now not free. But you can now only pay using a mobile phone app – not much use for my wife whose phone is too old to run the app, and not much use for anyone if their phone is lost or broken. What is wrong with a swipe card, as offered by Charge your Car at other charging points? But the biggest absurdity, as employed by all charging points, is that you pay by charging session, not by the amount of electricity you use. In a petrol or diesel car in an area with few fuel stations, you will top up whenever you have the opportunity even if it means putting in only, say, a quarter of a tank. Electric car users may need to follow that routine, but will have to pay the same however much electricity they need.

Transition team says that the president-elect’s endorsement of the controversial Dakota Access pipeline ‘has nothing to do with his personal investments’Donald Trump has said he supports a controversial oil pipeline that runs next to a Native American reservation in North Dakota – a project that the president-elect is personally invested in.Related: Dakota Access pipeline company and Donald Trump have close financial ties Continue reading...

Foreign secretary, who backs ban on ivory trade, breaks off London speech to make plea for ‘magnificent’ vulnerable animalBoris Johnson has interrupted a sweeping speech on the UK’s geopolitical future to make a passionate plea to save the African elephant, saying they are on the brink of extinction as they “get turned into umbrella stands and billiard balls”.

A baby slow loris, a ‘walking shark’ and caribou in Alaska are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

Paris, Madrid, Athens and Mexico City will ban the most polluting cars and vans by 2025 to tackle air pollutionFour of the world’s biggest cities are to ban diesel vehicles from their centres within the next decade, as a means of tackling air pollution, with campaigners urging other city leaders to follow suit.The mayors of Paris, Madrid, Athens and Mexico City announced plans on Friday to take diesel cars and vans off their roads by 2025. Continue reading...

Climate change intensified the extreme weather in Tennessee, but its legislators deny the science

Environmentalists celebrate as Beijing appears to abandon plans to build giant hydroelectric dams on 1,750-mile NujiangEnvironmentalists in China are celebrating after controversial plans to build a series of giant hydroelectric dams on the country’s last free-flowing river were shelved.

Lawyer on president-elect’s transition team says leaving UNFCCC is ‘most practical way’ way to quit agreement, a process that normally takes four yearsThe US should completely quit the United Nations forum to tackle climate change in order to quickly exit the Paris climate agreement, according to a conservative lawyer who is part of Donald Trump’s transition team.

In a country where only 16% of rural homes have power a government-led scheme is bringing electricity to thousands of villagesFour feet in length, of aggressive disposition, and deadly poisonous: you don’t want to stand on a Russell’s viper in the dark. Especially if there’s no antivenom for miles around. Yet that’s the daily predicament facing millions of villagers in Myanmar, where snakebites cause about 500 deaths every year.In Yin Ma Chaung, a rural settlement about nine hours by car from Yangon, villagers can rest easier knowing there are doses of antivenom chilling securely in a new refrigerator in the village’s community centre, powered by solar. Continue reading...

Wenlock Edge, Shropshire Defying the season, the flowering hedge-bank plant has an irrepressible urge to burst forthA hogweed blooms in the violet breath of shadows on the lane. Where garden roses are bred to keep flowering compulsively in a desperate denial of the season, the hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) opens in defiance. In a frosty corner of the hedge bank cut down at the end of summer, one flower makes a reappearance.Related: Late bloomers in the lee Continue reading...

Caribbean Princess discharged thousands of gallons of polluted bilge waste along British coast, while other ships used rigged sensors to hide contaminationPrincess Cruise Lines will pay a US$40m penalty after pleading guilty to seven federal charges in an illegal ocean pollution case that involved one ship’s use of a so-called magic pipe to divert oily waste into the waters.Miami US attorney Wifredo Ferrer told a news conference the penalty was the largest ever of its kind. A plea agreement filed in federal court also requires Carnival, the UK and US-listed parent company of the Princess line, to submit 78 cruise ships across its eight brands to a five-year environmental compliance programme overseen by a judge. Continue reading...

The federal and Queensland governments are risking the reef being put on Unesco’s in-danger list with their coal obsession and shoddy progress reportIf you’ve ever visited the Great Barrier Reef, or are one of the 70,000 people whose job relies upon it, you know why it’s considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world.Yet it faces more pressure than ever before, from global warming, water quality, industrialisation of the coastline, and ever more extreme weather. Continue reading...

National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority censors documents sought by GreenpeaceAustralia’s offshore oil regulator is censoring documents about BP’s plans to drill in the Great Australian Bight on the grounds that environmental campaigners could use the information to “oppose all drilling activities” there – and that the plans are too “technical” for the public to understand.Nathaniel Pelle, a Greenpeace campaign who requested the documents under freedom of information laws, said the decision hindered democratic debate. Continue reading...

Doctors warn excessive intake can pose risks for some patients and say medical advice needs to be more specificThe common advice to drink plenty of water when ill is based on scant evidence and can actively harm chances of recovery, doctors have warned.Medics at King’s College hospital NHS foundation trust, in London, raised the alarm after they treated a patient with hyponatremia – abnormally low sodium – from drinking too much water to help with a recurring urinary tract infection.

One cruise liner is offering passengers weeklong cruises centered entirely around volunteer work. But are these vacations as sustainable as they seem?Cruise lines are among the travel industry’s worst polluters, notorious for dumping insufficiently treated sewage into oceans or producing as much soot as 1m cars per day.Now, cruise companies are seeking to offset that tainted image by offering “voluntourism” experiences. Passengers onboard Carnival Cruises’ Fathom line, for example, can expect to tan by the pool in the morning, build water filters in the Dominican Republic in the afternoon, then dance on the ship’s deck at night. Continue reading...

Overwhelming majority of people agree the government should legislate to stop chemicals polluting the Great Barrier ReefMore than two-thirds of Australians think the condition of the Great Barrier Reef should be declared a “national emergency” and support much stronger measures to protect it than are now being considered.On Thursday the government released its report on the reef to Unesco, which was a condition of the reef being excluded from the UN body’s “world heritage in-danger” list. The government reported slow progress on the key issue of water quality and the failure of a major plank in the plan – slowing tree clearing in Queensland. Continue reading...

Tree campaign groups across Sheffield have been at pains to garner expert inputs to substantiate their very clear arguments against the Sheffield chainsaw massacre (Letters, 29 November). The Woodland Trust is a longstanding critic of the Sheffield “Streets Ahead” programme and its epic and disastrous plans for street tree “management”. Equally, the Sheffield Wildlife Trust has not been shy about its deep reservations. More recently, the Arboricultural Association has felt compelled to take a position. It is insulting to condemn them as “fanatics”.Campaigners do not advocate saving every tree and have a clear position on the removal of the dead and the dangerous. Yet we live in a post-truth, post-factual world. Perhaps then we should be unsurprised when finding some rot and a little deadwood are being cast in the way of constructive dialogue. Continue reading...

New £310m plant hailed as positive ‘perfect storm’ for port area with one of Britain’s highest unemployment ratesA new £310m factory in Hull that makes wind turbine blades has been hailed by ministers as proof that manufacturing has a “glittering” future in the UK.

UK capital experiences high pollution levels on Thursday with warnings telling people to avoid strenuous exerciseAir quality alerts have been issued at bus stops, tube stations and roadsides across London because of high pollution levels, said a spokeswoman for the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.The alerts will notify Londoners on Thursday evening during their commute home from work.

Energy and climate targets are ‘well within reach’ but the transport sector is lagging behindEU countries are on track to meet their 2020 targets for renewable energy and emissions cuts but could fall short of ambitious longer-term goals, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said on Thursday.“The EU’s 2020 targets on energy and climate are now well within reach,” EEA executive director Hans Bruyninckx said. Continue reading...

Environmentally friendly groups at Companies vs Climate Change said they will work to make sure Trump won’t undo all the progress the country has madeFrom his claim that global warming was a gigantic hoax masterminded by China to his promise to pull the United States out of the landmark Paris agreement, Donald Trump’s surprise election win was widely decried by those who feared that recent progress in tackling climate change was about to come undone.Related: Donald Trump presidency a 'disaster for the planet', warn climate scientists Continue reading...

Protesters gather to support Simon Crump and Calvin Payne, who appeared in court after trying to save 100-year-old treeApproximately 150 people have staged a protest in support of two men who appeared in court in Sheffield after they tried to stop a 100-year-old tree being cut down.Simon Crump and Calvin Payne are two of five people to have been arrested in the long-running battle over the local authority’s tree-felling programme. Continue reading...

Communities feel effects of US-funded developments; abortion activists challenge state laws; senators seek declassification of files on Russia and electionThrough the US Export-Import Bank, Barack Obama’s administration has spent nearly $34bn supporting 70 fossil fuel projects around the world, work by Columbia Journalism School and the Guardian has revealed. Guardian reporters have spent time at American-backed projects in India, South Africa and Australia to document the sickness, upheavals and environmental harm that come with huge dirty fuel developments. In India, for example, the reporters heard complaints about coal ash blowing into villages, contaminated water and respiratory and stomach problems. “While Obama can claim the US is the world’s leader on climate change – at least until Donald Trump enters the White House – it is also clear that it has become a major funder of fossil fuels that are having a serious impact upon people’s lives,” they write. Continue reading...

The last Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, is said to have died in 1936 and was declared extinct in 1986. The Thylacine Awareness Group claims there have been 5,000 reported sightings of thylacines in the past 80 years, however, they do acknowledge video evidence is ambiguous

Efforts to curb tree clearing have failed, the government admits in its update to Unesco on work to save the world heritage siteAustralia needs to work faster on lifting water quality to save the Great Barrier Reef, according to its first progress report to Unesco since the world heritage site was spared an “in-danger” listing.The report admitted that a key plank of Australia’s conservation plan – land-clearing reforms in Queensland to staunch water pollution – had failed. It also highlighted climate change, which is the biggest threat to the reef and led to the worst recorded coral bleaching in its history this year, but which the plan makes no attempt to address. Continue reading...

Waitrose, John Lewis and Argos among the first users of a new biomethane fuel for gas-powered trucks, reports BusinessGreenGas-powered lorries laden with Christmas parcels are set to have a lighter carbon impact this season thanks to the launch today of a new renewable fuel from CNG Fuels.

Through the Export-Import Bank, the Obama administration has spent nearly $34bn on dirty energy plants in countries from India to Australia to South AfricaSeemingly little connects a community in India plagued by toxic water, a looming air pollution crisis in South Africa and a new fracking boom that is pockmarking Australia. And yet there is a common thread: American taxpayer money.Through the US Export-Import Bank, Barack Obama’s administration has spent nearly $34bn supporting 70 fossil fuel projects around the world, work by Columbia Journalism School’s Energy and Environment Reporting Project and the Guardian has revealed. Continue reading...

The actor will take the lead in The Humanity Bureau, set in 2030 when global warming has destroyed much of the Earth’s hottest regionsNicolas Cage is to take the lead in a new sci-fi movie depicting a world ravaged by climate change. The film, called The Humanity Project, takes place in 2030, when much of the midwest of America has been rendered uninhabitable.The government agency of the title exiles people felt to be unproductive and banishes them to a colony, New Eden. Cage plays a caseworker seeking to appeal the exile of a single mother (Sarah Lind) and her son (Jakob Davies). Continue reading...

Variable speed limits, removal of speed bumps and ‘no idling’ zones near schools among Nice recommendationsSpeed bumps should be removed, speed limits made variable on England’s motorways, sometimes dropping as low as 50mph, and a congestion charge considered in more cities to cut air pollution and save lives, health experts have said.

CEO Andrew Mackenzie warns jobs in peril due to government policy failure after power was cut to 200,000 properties on Wednesday nightFederal and state governments must make power security a priority after South Australia suffered another widespread blackout, the boss of mining company BHP Billiton has warned.Andrew Mackenzie said problems which cut power to 200,000 properties on Wednesday night showed that investment and jobs were being placed in peril by the failure of policy to both reduce emissions and secure affordable and uninterrupted power. Continue reading...

Leaves and branches can slow air currents and cause pollutants to settle, says health watchdogCity trees, popularly thought to remove pollutants and improve urban life, may also increase the amount of foul air that people breathe, says the UK body which gives independent health guidance to national and local government.

Unchecked global warming is greatest threat to 21st-century security where mass migration could be ‘new normal’, say senior militaryClimate change is set to cause a refugee crisis of “unimaginable scale”, according to senior military figures, who warn that global warming is the greatest security threat of the 21st century and that mass migration will become the “new normal”.The generals said the impacts of climate change were already factors in the conflicts driving a current crisis of migration into Europe, having been linked to the Arab Spring, the war in Syria and the Boko Haram terrorist insurgency. Continue reading...

Wolsingham, Weardale Most hedgerow blackthorns are brutally trimmed but these small trees, unpruned and unharvested by birds, are laden with fruitIn early May, this blackthorn thicket had been smothered in the most spectacular display of blossom that I had ever seen and I made a mental note to return in autumn, to see if it had fulfilled its promise.I’d intended to return sooner. Now it felt like the first real day of winter, and my breath turned to steam in the icy wind. In the shade of the trees beside the beck, where deep shadows would linger all day, fallen leaves were fringed with frost crystals. Continue reading...

Start to tourism season prompts environment minister to override federal law and allow the nets in NSWJosh Frydenberg overrode federal law to give the go-ahead to lethal shark nets in northern New South Wales to save the local tourist industry and nipper clubs.The environment minister has argued that there was a “national interest” in installing the controversial nets because, with the tourism season about to start, surf shops were experiencing decreased sales and nipper clubs had fewer registrations. Continue reading...

Malcolm Turnbull says ‘mechanisms’ to meet 2030 Paris emission reduction targets may need to be examinedMalcolm Turnbull has acknowledged the looming review of the Direct Action climate policy in 2017 “may result in some changes” to the federal renewable energy target.

Greg Clark welcomes 700-job factory, which will produce hundreds of 75m-long blades a year for a new generation of offshore windfarmsThe first batch of 75-metre-long wind turbine blades will roll out of a new factory in Hull on Thursday, destined for huge windfarms off the UK’s coast.

Victorian woman spends two days in hospital after being stung on neck off Fitzroy IslandA female snorkeller is lucky to be alive after suffering heart failure following an Irukandji jellyfish sting in far north Queensland.The 39-year-old Victorian woman was snorkelling off Fitzroy Island last Friday when she was stung on the neck by the deadly, thumbnail-sized jellyfish. Continue reading...

The Thylacine Awareness Group is ‘dedicated to the research, recognition and conservation of our most elusive apex predator’ – officially extinct since 1936Six years ago Neil Waters moved to Tasmania. There, he says, he had a “brief encounter” with a thylacine, the carnivorous marsupial known as the Tasmanian tiger, declared extinct in 1986.Two years later, in January 2014, he was doing work on his house when a smaller animal walked up a dirt track leading out of a tin mine and past his bedroom window. Continue reading...

New analysis of nine species that ‘walk’ by night on shallow reefs shows their range is much smaller than was knownBizarre “walking sharks” are at a greater risk of extinction than previously thought, with new information about their distribution leading researchers to expect greater efforts to protect them from human threats such as fishing and climate change.Bamboo sharks include nine species of sharks that swim and “walk” in shallow waters around northern Australia, Papua New Guinea and parts of Indonesia. In 2013 a new species of the genus was found in Indonesia. Continue reading...

Parts of UK experienced coldest night of the season on Tuesday, with temperature of -9.4C (15F) recorded in Powys in WalesEngland and Wales will continue to experience some of the coldest temperatures of the last 12 months over the next few days , as the meteorological winter starts on Thursday.Related: Cold snaps: frost and ice around the UK – in pictures Continue reading...

Trees planted in memory of a school’s former pupils killed in first world war set to be cut down in road maintenance projectCampaigners are demanding that Sheffield council re-examine plans to cut down trees planted to honour soldiers killed in the first world war, in the latest development of the long-running battle over the local authority’s tree-felling programme.The 23 trees on Western Road in the Crookes area of the city were planted in memory of a group of young soldiers who attended nearby Westways primary school and were killed in the war. Continue reading...

‘We will make China a beautiful country with blue sky, green vegetation and clear rivers,’ vowed President Xi Jinping in September. But these haunting photographs by the award-winning Canadian photojournalist Kevin Frayer, who travelled to Inner Mongolia to witness the activities of unauthorised steel mills, underline the scale of Beijing’s challenge to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels Continue reading...