Target and Walmart are pulling bedding off their shelves after a falsely labeled Egyptian cotton products controversy involving manufacturer Welspun IndiaEgyptian cotton, which can be spun into fine, long fiber to make sheets with a high thread count, is synonymous with luxury bedding. But in the last four months, it’s been at the center of a controversy that has caused many Americans to wonder whether the Egyptian cotton sheets they rely on for a good night’s sleep actually contain any cotton from Egypt.Related: Why aren't more big brands designing clothes for people with disabilities? Continue reading...

People living upriver from gold-mining are the most contaminated, according to US-based scientistsAsk about the fish in restaurants in the centre of Puerto Maldonado, the biggest town in Peru’s south-east Amazon, and you’ll hear all kinds of things. Some people will shake their heads and say there isn’t any fish on the menu “because of the contamination” or “out of protocol”. Others might say there is fish available, before sometimes hastily clarifying that it comes from farms along the Inter-Oceanica Highway running to Brazil, or from the Pacific coast, or even, according to one chef, all the way from Vietnam.Why such problems with the fish in this part of the Amazon? Answer: alluvial gold and the mercury required to extract it. The gold-rush in the 8.5m hectare Madre de Dios region began in the 1980s and, by 2012, miners had destroyed more than 50,000 hectares of forest, effectively dumping 100s of tons of mercury into the rivers while doing so. In May this year Peru’s outgoing government announced a pathetic 60-day “declaration of emergency”. Continue reading...

We have no rituals for coping with extinction, ecological destruction or environmental loss. And that’s a problem. Now, an impassioned group of artists and activists are trying to create them.

Ending global legal markets is a great plan A, but that alone won’t stop elephant poaching or stem the illegal consumption of ivoryIt appears inevitable now that almost all legal domestic ivory markets will be closed. This is the plan A of a large consortium of animal rights and welfare organisations aimed at stopping elephant poaching – informed by the belief that legal trade provides cover for illegal trade and stimulates demand.

Weighing just 750g, the Italian-made frame is stiff in sprints and doesn’t twitch in corners – even during one of the toughest bike challenges aroundThe greatest compliment you can pay a suit is that you forget you’re wearing it. The fit is so good, the stitching so subtle and the fabric so well cut that it exists as a background reality; seamless tailoring that never distracts by being too lose or too tight. The Sarto Seta is that in a bike, and the sartorial comparison is totally appropriate.Sarto, an Italian frame builder, has endeavoured to bring Saville Row to the cycling industry, building bespoke made-to-measure bicycles as exclusive and as sought after as classic British tailoring. The company was founded in 1950 by the Sarto family. Continue reading...

The influential African figure champions smallscale agriculture in an increasingly insecure global climateAt vast global gatherings like the COP22 UN climate conference, which has just concluded in Marrakech, the seductive grandeur of the occasion frequently strips attention from the people, in faraway places, who climate change threatens the most.But on Wednesday at the COP, during a panel discussion on how agriculture can support the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal for zero hunger, Kanayo F. Nwanze brought these forgotten people into the spotlight with an impassioned plea. To achieve food security in a changing climate, we need to focus on the world’s smallscale farmers—who are not only responsible for the bulk of food production in developing countries, but ironically face some of the worst threats to their own food security, Nwanze said. As the president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), an organisation that invests in smallscale agriculture in rural environments around the world, Nwanze’s work to highlight the importance of these farmers on the global agriculture scene won him the inaugural Africa Food Prize in 2016. Continue reading...

Holmsley Inclosure, New Forest Each silk button spangle gall has a minute larva inside. Looked at later under the microscope, they remind us of a scrumptious doughnutWe drop down the side of this woodland on a bright day buffeted by a cold wind. First planted in 1811 with scots pine and oak, its fences now enclose a wide variety of trees. We turn along the eastern edge to find the lower gate and, on entering, are plunged into a claustrophobic tangle of branches, before quickly coming to a narrow path close set with brambles on one side and hollies on the other. The recent rains have made the soil beneath the fallen leaves a muddy squelch, deeply incised with fresh bike tracks.Getting our eyes in, we begin to see a host of small brown and greyish fungi tucked into the patchwork of sodden foliage and decaying leaf-fall. For us, most of them are “little brown jobbies”, as they are known to those without sufficient skill to identify them. We notice, too, some so much smaller that we are drawn into a Lilliputian world. Continue reading...

Survey shows 36m trees have died since May, as record low snowpack and warm temperatures leave trees thirsty and prone to beetle infestationThe California drought has killed more than 102m trees in a die-off of forests that increases the risk of catastrophic wildfires and other threats to humans, officials said on Friday.

It’s easy to get lost in the old Moroccan medina – just as disorientating as the UN climate process, where emission-cutting goals are being bartered tooMarrakech has an ancient heart — centuries old and unafraid to show it — and it has all the ingredients needed to disorientate an outsider. You get lost, often.Lanes in the centuries-old medina are narrow and the walls are high, making it impossible to spot a landmark and get a fix on where you are. Continue reading...

Australia cannot hail the Paris accord as a turning point and simultaneously rejoice in a great long-term economic future for coalWhen Malcolm Turnbull was dumped by the Liberal party in 2009 because he refused to renounce support for emissions trading, the man now about to assume responsibility for implementing Donald Trump’s evisceration of US climate change policy was elated.

Five years after the last rabbit was killed, endangered birds such as the black-browed albatross are growing in numbersEight species of threatened seabird have begun to recover on Macquarie Island, signalling a possible end to 130 years of death and destruction on the sub-Antarctic outpost.The island has been formally declared pest-free, five years after the last rabbit was killed. Continue reading...

US Department of the Interior says ‘fragile and unique’ Arctic ecosystem at risk if drilling allowed, possibly by pro-fossil fuels Trump administrationBarack Obama’s administration has ruled out drilling for oil and gas in the pristine Arctic Ocean, throwing up a last-ditch barrier to the pro-fossil fuels agenda of incoming president Donald Trump.The US Department of the Interior said that the “fragile and unique” Arctic ecosystem would face “significant risks” if drilling were allowed in the Chukchi or Beaufort Seas, which lie off Alaska. It added that the high costs of exploration, combined with a low oil price, would probably deter fossil fuel companies anyway. Continue reading...

Ahead of the autumn statement next week (Report, 18 November), we urge the chancellor not to answer calls from oil producers in the North Sea for another round of government subsidies. Instead, Philip Hammond should put an end to the taxpayer-funded bonus for oil and gas companies and set the UK on a pathway to a more prosperous, clean energy future. If the world is to deliver on the Paris agreement on climate change, most of the known oil, gas and coal reserves must remain untapped. Yet in spite of warnings about risks of stranded assets from the governor of the Bank of England, the UK continues to promote the production of yet more oil and gas.The tax breaks introduced by former chancellor George Osborne in 2015 and 2016 have been costly. The Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that the Treasury will hand oil and gas companies a net £4.8bn in rebates between 2015 and 2021. These tax breaks have also failed to protect jobs. Even with current subsidies, North Sea oil and gas operators expect to lay off one in six UK-based workers this year. By contrast, a recent UK Energy Research Centre study found that similarly sized renewable energy projects create 10 times more jobs than their fossil fuel counterparts. Continue reading...

Marrakech COP22 president urges US president-elect to join battle against global warming for sake of humanityThe president of the COP22 climate summit in Marrakech has made a direct plea to the incoming US president Donald Trump to join the struggle against global warming for the sake of humanity and the planet.Salaheddine Mezouar, who is also the Moroccan foreign minister, had spent most of the week-long summit diplomatically trying to steer clear of questions about Trump, telling reporters at one point that “no one can stop history”. Continue reading...

Despite a 2012 EPA report finding that dry cleaning is a toxic process in the US, many Americans have no idea the way they clean their clothes is carcinogenicWith the results of the most recent presidential election, Americans are faced with all sorts of uncertainty in regards to their health. But there are some consumer choices that individuals can make to protect against future illness: cutting down on sugar, for example; exercising daily; and, surprisingly, being careful about how you clean your delicates.

At COP22, the African Development Bank’s president, Akinwumi Adesina, tells of strategies to improve energy supplies and fight the impact of climate change“We lose 5% of our potential GDP every year, and African industries cannot be competitive without access to electricity,” says Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank. “I believe that’s why we can’t break away from reliance on exporting our raw materials – new industries will only go to where there’s power.”He is speaking on the sidelines of the COP22 climate change conference in Marrakech, which ends on Friday. Continue reading...

A pheasant that sports Donald Trump’s hairdo, a line of baboons and a ‘teddy bear’ bee and among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

Election of a climate sceptic as US president sparks outpouring of donations and a surge in planned protests and court challengesThe global green movement is preparing for the fight of its life against efforts by Donald Trump to rollback action on climate change, with a surge in fundraising, planned court challenges and a succession of protests.Environmental activists said the election of a climate change denier as US president, along with the prospect of former vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin and various oil billionaires holding senior posts, has prompted an “outpouring” of donations. Continue reading...

Policy Exchange paper argues government should stick with carbon price floor until coal is fully forced off the grid, reports BusinessGreenPolicy Exchange has become the latest organisation to call for the retention of the UK’s carbon price floor ahead of next week’s autumn statement, arguing changes to the policy would seriously undermine the government’s efforts to phase out coal power by 2025.The influential thinktank joins the CBI and trade body Energy UK in arguing the levy should be kept in place, despite lobbying from some industry groups calling for it to be axed. Continue reading...

South Australia’s water minister Ian Hunter reportedly used colourful language against Joyce in a heated meetingThe Turnbull government’s legislative agenda is in doubt after Barnaby Joyce rejected a deal to release 450 gigalitres of environmental water to South Australia, a stand which may jeopardise Nick Xenophon’s votes on other legislation.The deputy prime minister wrote to the South Australian water minister Ian Hunter on Thursday night to tell him that it was not possible to deliver the 450 gigalitres without hurting other people and local economies along the river. Continue reading...

Oliver Duggan recounts the geographical, physical and mental rollercoaster of cycling 100 mountain passes in 10 days across southern France and Spain

Britain’s first ‘green gas mill’ will convert grass into biomethane to heat more than 4,000 homes and is set to come online in 2018The grass is always greener than the shale gas on the other side, according to a British businessman who claims grasslands could provide enough gas to heat all of the UK’s homes.

The man in his 60s is the third person to die on the reef this week, after two French tourists apparently had heart attacks on WednesdayA British man has died while diving on the Great Barrier Reef, the third death in three days among visitors to Australia’s popular natural tourist attraction.The 60-year-old man was found without a breathing device during a tandem scuba dive at Agincourt reef, 100km north of Cairns, on Friday. Continue reading...

Lake Manasarovar, Tibet Bar-headed geese are popular with British fanciers, but better to think of them here, readying for their lofty migration over the HimalayasFrom the roof of Chiu monastery, perched high on its rocky hill, the water of Lake Manasarovar was cobalt, the surrounding hills rich ochre, luminous in the sunlight of a late autumn afternoon. With a shoreline 55 miles (90km) long, and at an altitude of more than 4,500 metres (15,000ft), this is one of the highest and largest bodies of freshwater in the world. Its name translates from the Sanskrit as “mind’s lake”; the mind in question being that of the Hindu creator Brahma, and in the thin air there is something ethereal about it, something unworldly. It is a sacred site of pilgrimage for a quarter of the world, not just Hindus but Buddhists too, as well as the lesser known Tibetan religion of Bon and India’s Jains. Continue reading...

Parliament adopts amendment that declares country’s abundant clean supplies are ‘a public good managed by the state’ and ‘not a market commodity’Slovenia has amended its constitution to make access to drinkable water a fundamental right for all citizens and stop it being commercialised.

Estimated 20bn barrels of oil found in Texas’s Permian Basin, three times larger than the Bakken oilfields of North Dakota, could be worth as much as $900bnA huge deposit of untapped oil, possibly the largest ever discovered in the US, has been identified by the US Geological Survey (USGS) in west Texas.

A coalition of bivalve enthusiasts is trying to revive oyster farming in water that is beset by trash and raw sewageThe oysters in the Hudson River around the Statue of Liberty are some of the plumpest and fastest growing Crassostrea virginica in the whole of New York harbor. Fitting it should be that way, at least in contrast to the East River, between Manhattan and Brooklyn, where untreated effluent is allowed to flow out during storms in what New York authorities describe as a “rain event”.

Thousands of dead fish were seen on the surface of the Shinnecock Canal in Southampton, New York, on Monday, after becoming trapped inside overnight. Tom Jones, a marine adviser at Hampton Watercraft, shot drone footage of the bizarre occurrence. It is believed the fish were chased into the canal by larger predatory fish and then became trapped inside when the canal shut early Monday morning. The fish eventually dispersed back into the bay when the canal opened later on Monday Continue reading...

Officials believe the bunker fish, trapped after Shinnecock canal closed, may have been chased there by predatory fish and died due to lack of dissolved oxygenThe surface of the Shinnecock canal in Southampton, New York, was glistening and silver on Monday. One local told CBS New York that at first glance, it seemed like the canal was covered in frost.The actual cause was much more grim: the water was covered almost completely in dead fish. Continue reading...

More than 50 US companies have signed a pledge to commit to paying the same salaries to women and men; here, we profile four of themThe debate around fairer pay for women feels more prominent and urgent than ever. Yet, despite this momentum, new estimates suggest the gender pay gap won’t be closed anytime soon. A new report from the World Economic Forum estimates that it will take up to 170 years for the world’s women to earn wages that are equitable to men’s.While that’s the global picture, things aren’t much better at home in the US. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, in 2015, female full-time employees earned about $0.79 for every dollar made by full-time male employees. For minorities, the data is even more disparaging: African American women earn $0.64, Native American women earn $0.59 and Latinas earn $0.54. Continue reading...

Activists will march on airport on Saturday in protest over third runway, with some planning action that could delay flightsHeathrow airport is braced for protests and disruption on Saturday as climate campaigners join locals in a march on the airport, with one group planning direct action that could delay or cancel flights.

Foreign minister, Boris Johnson, signs global pact to cut carbon emissions in LondonThe UK has become the 111th country to ratify the Paris climate agreement, which aims to avoid the most devastating effects of climate change by cutting carbon emissions.The foreign minister, Boris Johnson, who has flirted with climate scepticism, signed the pact in London on Thursday after a parliamentary deadline passed on Wednesday night, with no objections raised. Continue reading...

Government changes to rules on claimants’ costs could make it harder for anyone to challenge public projects, warn campaigners, lawyers and politiciansEnvironmental legal challenges face being hit by the “chilling effect” of new government rules that remove a cap on claimants’ costs, according to campaigners, lawyers and politicians.They warn that the changes could deter organisations and individuals challenging projects such as fracking wells, HS2 and the Heathrow third runway for fear of racking up huge court costs. Continue reading...

We’d like to find out about air pollution around the world. How does it affect your daily life? Share your views and experiencesAir pollution has risen by 8% in in five years with fast-growing cities in the developing world worst affected, according to the WHO. We want to explore its impact on the daily lives of people around the world. If you live in a city that is affected by toxic air or you work in air quality control, we’d like to hear from you.Two weeks ago, India’s capital city, New Delhi, was effectively shut down because of air pollution. The threat to citizens from smog in Delhi was judged so great that traffic was rationed, coal-fired power stations closed and diesel generators suspended. This week schools were closed in Iran’s capital, Tehran after a blanket of smog was blamed for a string of deaths and in Beijing, students have been told to stay indoors. Air quality in London is among the worst in Europe, and is illegally in breach of EU limits. Continue reading...

Award-winning wildlife photographer, Sue Flood, is one of the world’s only women to specialise in polar photography. Her images capture wildlife, people and landscapes in the Arctic and Antarctica

German manufacturer Qmilk is making use of Germany’s two million tonnes of waste milk by turning some of it into toilet rollA premium-priced toilet roll made from waste milk will be hitting Italian supermarket shelves amid the Christmas paraphernalia this winter.Carezza di Latte – which translates as “milk caress” – is a collaboration between German fabric innovators Qmilk and Italian company Lucart, one of Europe’s largest manufacturers of paper and tissue products. Continue reading...

A cohort of US delivery services want to change the way we view, cook and eat ‘imperfect’ produce that grocery stores regularly banishKing-sized kiwis, curvy squash and smaller-than-usual apples and limes. That was the “ugly” produce count in boxes of fruits and vegetables Deborah Levine recently received at her home in the San Francisco Bay Area. While most of the produce she gets in her biweekly deliveries is “very normal”, she recalls one particular veggie. It was like a siamese carrot, but with part of it broken off, it looked like it “didn’t have its leg”.Related: Half of all US food produce is thrown away, new research suggests Continue reading...

COP22 host leads by example in the fight against climate change with 52% green energy target by 2020 and Africa’s first city cycle hire schemeAs the host of this year’s COP22 climate change conference in Marrakech, Morocco has been keen to demonstrate its green credentials and make this COP the “African COP”.In the past year, Morocco has banned the use of plastic bags, launched new plans for extending the urban tram networks in Casablanca and Rabat, started the process of replacing its dirty old fleet of buses and taxis, launched Africa’s first city bicycle hire scheme, and launched a new initiative – the “Adaptation of African Agriculture” – to help the continent’s farmers adjust to climate change. Continue reading...

Climate change and deforestation mean people who once lived among trees now go to bed not knowing if their homes will be lost to the desert by morning. Villagers are learning how to adapt and stop the sandStanding next to a thin belt of rattling trees that represents the only line of green in vast stretches of orange desert, 70-year-old Hamud El-Nour Hamdallah recalls a time when this area in Sudan’s River Nile state was dense forest. If you had not found Goz El Halg village by nightfall, you would have to wait until morning to find your way out.But decades of drought and deforestation have allowed sand to roll through the desert and swallow homes and farmland. Hamdallah and his community now go to bed not knowing if they will make it out of their homes the next day. Continue reading...

Trump’s plans to roll back environmental protections seem worse than many feared

Animals are still being killed in horrifying numbers despite global efforts to stop the poaching crisis, says prince at Hanoi summitPoachers killing Africa’s rhinos and elephants are still one step ahead of efforts to stop the multibillion wildlife trade, Prince William has warned.Traffickers have become more sophisticated and increasingly brutal, and animals are dying in “horrifying numbers”, the Duke of Cambridge told an international wildlife summit in Hanoi, Vietnam on Thursday. Continue reading...

Conservation groups warn watered down native vegetation rules threaten wildlife and will increase greenhouse gas emissionsThe New South Wales government’s controversial biodiversity laws have passed their final hurdle in parliament, with farmers winning greater power to clear their land from next year.

Will the new mayor uphold his election pledges and prove he is serious about improving cycling in the capital, asks London’s former cycling commissionerOver the next few years, the future of cycling in Britain may depend on what happens in London, the place that has done more than any other to build segregated bike lanes.Only six months after they opened, the new tracks have succeeded beyond our wildest dreams – the Embankment one carries an astonishing 3,000 people an hour in the peaks, according to Transport for London’s Alan Bristow. Continue reading...

International prize goes to US designer who was worried about using bike-hire schemes without a helmetThe inventor of a foldable bicycle helmet has won a £30,000 prize to take it towards commercialisation.The “EcoHelmet” is the brainchild of Isis Shiffer, a 28-year-old designer and bike enthusiast from New York who came up with the idea after she began using city bike-hire schemes but was worried about cycling without a helmet. Continue reading...

Chapel Fell, Weardale The male’s black and white plumage is striking, but at close range a greyhen is captivatingly beautifulEvery autumn, for the past four years, I’ve seen black grouse (Tetrao tetrix) here. Always single birds, most likely wanderers from the lek at Langdon Beck in Teesdale, just a few miles south.This morning there were six – four males and two females, in a sheltered hollow in rough pasture, halfway down the fellside. In the distance they could have been mistaken for large free-range chickens, but just a glance through binoculars revealed the distinctive profile and plumage of the male black grouse, striking even in autumn. Continue reading...

Marrakech communique commits countries including Australia to reducing emissions from the oil and gas industryAustralia has signed an international agreement committing to reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas industry, and calling for other countries to do the same, sparking claims it is being hypocritical and could “seriously damage our reputation in climate talks”.The Marrakech communique, signed this week at the first meeting of parties to the Paris agreement in Morocco, commits a coalition of countries including Australia to take measures to reduce methane emissions in the oil and gas industry. Continue reading...

Energy minister Josh Frydenberg raises concern with American counterpart over US activists seeking to stop Adani’s giant Carmichael coalmineAustralia has used a summit on reducing greenhouse gas emissions to lobby the US energy minister in support of the development of one of the world’s largest coalmines.The move, by the Australian environment and energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, at the Marrekech meeting, won Australia the “fossil of the day” award, announced daily by the Climate Action Network to the countries that perform the worst at UN climate talks. Continue reading...

Couple warns of continuing danger from second world war-era nuclear weapons program around St Louis, where uranium was processedA Missouri couple says their home is contaminated with dangerously high levels of radioactive waste left over from the US government’s second world war-era atomic weapons program.In a lawsuit filed in the St Louis County circuit court on Tuesday, Robbin and Mike Dailey of Bridgeton say dust samples collected from their kitchen and basement were found to contain the radioactive element thorium-230 at levels about 200 times higher than normal “background” levels. In a move they hope shines a light on the continuing impact of the country’s early nuclear weapons program on their midwestern city, the Daileys named nine companies in their lawsuit that they say are responsible for decades of negligence that led to the contamination of their property. Continue reading...

US secretary of state John Kerry urges countries to treat the earth’s changing climate as an urgent threat as he addresses the uncertainty created by the election of Donald Trump. ‘Obviously an election took place in my country, and I know it’s left some here and elsewhere feeling uncertain about the future,’ he told the audience, before reiterating that a majority of citizens in the US believe climate change is a real threat