Environment | The Guardian

Unpublished report found four-fifths of the 433 London primary schools in areas breaching EU limits for NO2 were deprivedAn air quality report that was not published by Boris Johnson while he was mayor of London demonstrates that 433 schools in the capital are located in areas that exceed EU limits for nitrogen dioxide pollution – and that four-fifths of those are in deprived areas.

If confirmed as wild it will be first time species, also known as the lammergeier or ossifrage, has been found in UKA spectacular bearded vulture, believed to be the first recorded in the UK, has been spotted soaring over the Severn estuary and moorland in Devon. Continue reading...

Around 9.3 million women use tampons in the UK, but we don’t often speak about how we dispose of them

Statoil granted seabed lease to develop floating windfarm 15 miles off the coast of Peterhead that is expected to be operational by the end of 2017The world’s largest floating windfarm is set to be built off the coast of Scotland after its developers were granted a seabed lease on Monday.Statoil, the Norwegian energy company, expects to have five 6MW turbines bobbing in the North Sea and generating electricity by the end of 2017. The company has already operated a single turbine off Norway. Continue reading...

Images of the devastated Canadian city show just how destructive fire can be to urban populations. But the risk is greatest in informal settlements, where high population density and low-grade construction can be a deadly combinationWith patches of lawn on fire in the front yards of his neighbourhood’s suburban homes and flames rising up the trees at the back, Jared Sabovitch frantically got into his car and began driving away from his home in Fort McMurray, Alberta, the Canadian city recently overtaken by wildfires.“Hasty exit,” he said as he drove, the phone in his hand recording a video he would later post to Instagram. “That might have been the last time I ever saw my house, right there.” Continue reading...

These beautiful images were captured by participants of last year’s event, when thousands recorded more than 100,000 bees to help raise awareness of the threat to Britain’s 250 species of bee. Those taking part in this week’s count can send their photos using a free app Continue reading...

Smart leak detection and reusing stormwater to reduce urban heat are discussed at this year’s OzWater as cities prepare for climate changeFor the international water industry delegates descending upon Melbourne last week, in the leadup to OzWater 16, it must have seemed they had arrived in the wrong place.The torrential rain and flash floods inundating the city appeared at odds with Australia’s billing as the driest inhabited continent in the world, and certainly made for an unlikely setting to host a conference focusing on sustainability in a future of increasingly scarce water supplies.

Frustrated by simplistic portrayals of poaching, photographer Benjamin Rutherford has documented the complex and violent trade in his new project, Nyama Continue reading...

Heavy traffic sees A472 at Crumlin record highest nitrogen dioxide outside London – and residents fear for children’s healthThe rush hour is not a good time to be out and about on the A472 as lorry after lorry climbs out of the south Wales valley town of Crumlin and heads up and over towards Pontypool.“It’s pretty terrible,” said Deanna Harwick, a mother of two young children, who lives in a terrace lining one side of the heaving road. “We can’t have the windows open because of the fumes so in the summer the house feels pretty airless. I don’t let the children play outside, not just because of the risk of a road accident but because of the damage the air may cause to their health. I’ve been here 10 years and I’m keen to move.” Continue reading...

Payments to greenhouse gas emitters more likely to go to reduction schemes that would have taken place without government funding, says economistThe government’s $2.55bn emissions reduction fund, which pays greenhouse gas emitters to pollute less, will inevitably pay for reductions that would have happened anyway, for the same reason that secondhand car markets are full of lemons, an economic analysis has concluded.The centrepiece of the government’s Direct Action climate policy is a reverse-auction, in which polluters bid for funding to pollute less. Continue reading...

Borrowdale, Lake District Ever the good shepherd, he recognises the snow-white faces of many of his Herdwicks like he does peopleJostling each other, bleating the while, 400 pregnant Herdwick ewes make their way along the bottle-neck road from Stonethwaite in Borrowdale. Their destination? Nook Farm, hidden behind the huddle of slate-roofed cottages in Rosthwaite, the next village towards Keswick. Here they will give birth to the year’s lambs, soon to be seen skipping in the dale’s threadbare fields, which have not yet started to grow the fresh grass they will need to thrive. But in the meantime, the ewes are blocking the road as we meet head-on, forcing me to park up against the wall to let them by.Several walkers wearing Coast-to-Coast beanie hats are already waiting. Their route will take them 192 miles from Robin Hood’s Bay to St Bees, east to west across three national parks, rather than from the Irish Sea to the east coast, which is the direction recommended by Alfred Wainwright, who originally devised the unofficial long-distance footpath in the 1970s. Continue reading...

16 May 1936: In May the land is murmurous with the utterance of its own striving to richnessThat compulsory investment, so well known to the British, a long wet winter pays its ocular dividend in May; if the skies had not been so grey the fields would not be so green. The floods were fertilisers, and where there lingered for weeks the dismal ooze of the swollen river there is now an added foison of green and gold, of grass and buttercups, richness and lushness, and Nature’s ungovernable bounty.When Wordsworth’s Idiot Boy announced of grass that “you almost hear it growing” he was giving an accurate description of May in some soft corner of England. For fierceness of growth and thrusting plant we are accustomed to think of jungles far away; but the kind of native field which is squelchy in a dry winter or flooded in a wet one offers at this season an extraordinary example of lustihood in growth as well as of liveliness in colour. Continue reading...

Latest monthly figures add to string of recent temperature records and all but assure 2016 will be hottest year on recordApril 2016 was the hottest April on record globally – and the seventh month in a row to have broken global temperature records.The latest figures smashed the previous record for April by the largest margin ever recorded.

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 15 May 1916Garden warbler and blackcap were singing side by side in the wood, where the thick foliage now makes it difficult to see the songsters; these two, in these northern counties, where the nightingale is so rare, are undoubtedly our sweetest singers. In the dense vegetation which fringed the mere sedge warblers trilled, chattered, and purred, and the more sombre reed warblers crooned contentedly. In one of those deep hollows the result of salt-country subsidence pools, deep and forbidding, are bordered with sticky mud, but the sandpipers chased above the water whistling their love songs, and the redshanks rose from the ooze with deep plaintive calls. On the steep sloping banks, where rank weeds quickly hide the scars caused by constant landslips, the lively whinchat flitted, always perching on the topmost branchlet of dead weed or the highest clump of grass. Beyond, in the lanes, the whitethroat scolded, evidently resenting our presence in the neighbourhood of the spot selected for a home, and in the trees above the silent but ever-busy spotted flycatcher watched for the passing insects. But it was above the mere itself that the abundance of summer bird life was most noticeable, for sand martins, swallows, house martins, and swifts beat to and fro in scores; one could not even guess at their number. The birds have come, and come to stay. Continue reading...

‘I’m not a lifelong politician,’ says Bennett, as speculation begins over successor, with Caroline Lucas a likely strong contenderNatalie Bennett is to step down as leader of the Greens this summer, after saying she believed she had established her party as a national force while acknowledging that she was not a “spin-trained, lifelong politician”.She will remain leader until the end of August when her second two-year term expires, but said she was making the announcement now to allow possible successors plenty of time to come forward. Continue reading...

The sea lamprey, Petromyzon marinus, is most likely to be seen in British rivers at this time of year as the adults swim upstream to spawn.They are remarkable creatures but good looks are not one of their attributes. They resemble an eel and have a permanently open mouth with a great number of teeth. They also have some nasty parasitic habits. Continue reading...

President’s wide-ranging graduation address defends factual knowledge and attacks isolationism as he targets Trump’s border wall planBarack Obama delivered a stinging rebuke to a culture of isolationism and falsehood, and an adamant defense of facts and science, in his commencement address to the Rutgers University graduating class of 2016 on Sunday.In a wide-ranging address, Obama singled out the issue of income inequality and proposed closing tax loopholes on hedge fund managers, highlighted the importance of voting and accountability, and commented on the problems of money in politics and climate change. Continue reading...

The East Sussex seaside resort is one of the UK’s most sunkissed spots – but it’s up there with London in terms of pollutionName: Eastbourne.Appearance: Seasidey. Continue reading...

Owner’s annual report shows executives would benefit personally from any expansion despite past denialsHeathrow bosses will stand to gain from bonus payouts if the airport gets permission to build a £17.6bn third runway, it has emerged.Although the west London airport has previously denied the existence of any such financial incentives – not least when senior executives at rival Gatwick were found to have incentives to win a second runway – the annual report of Heathrow Airport Holdings states that during 2015 “a new bonus scheme was launched based on EBITDA, passenger service and airport expansion over the Q6 period” (pdf), which runs from 2014 to 2020. Continue reading...

Woodland, parkland, marsh and mountain all have their protectors. But who will stand up for our unloved, wildlife-rich in-between spaces?A whitethroat launches into the sky to deliver his scratchy song, before parachuting down to his hidden nest along the banks of a canal. A cluster of marsh orchids push their way through the surface of a disused tennis court in the shadow of Newcastle United’s football stadium. And the walls and gravestones of a rain-lashed Cornish churchyard are encrusted with layers of lichens.At first sight, these very different places do not seem to have all that much in common. Yet like roadside verges and railway lines, golf courses and military ranges, they were all originally designed for us, but have since become havens for wildlife. That’s because, unlike the intensively farmed wider countryside, they are not being regularly sprayed with pesticides and herbicides, but mostly left to their own devices. Continue reading...

A hatred of sprouts, a mug of blood with a Masai tribe and a physiological need for Indian meals – the naturalist shares his most memorable food experiencesMy earliest memory is repugnance towards over-cooked sprouts, an essential part of our family’s menu, boiled until blanched. The worst punishment possible was being told I had to stay at the table and finish eating them, instead of running back into the woods, where things were more interesting. I was scarred by sprouts.I had a problem with eggs as a child, no end of grief. I could cope with dipping soldiers in soft yolks, but the whites would make me gag. Later I collected birds’ eggs, but never saw them as food. To me they were beautifully made jewels, fascinating treasures. Each stone-curlew egg, for instance, has a dark brown squiggle pattern identifiable to its mother. I also collected chocolate Easter eggs – I’d not eat them, just save them, for years, arranged on shelves in my wardrobe.

The new field of planetary health examines the link between human health and the environment to prevent viral pandemics such as Zika and EbolaThe Zika virus, now detected in 42 countries, is only the latest in a series of diseases establishing a new normal for pandemics. Sars ravaged South China in 2003, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) shocked the Middle East in 2012, and Ebola devastated west Africa in 2014. We have seen avian influenza emerge in new geographies alongside mosquito-borne viruses, such as Chikungunya. Over the past 50 years, more than 300 infectious pathogens have either newly developed or reemerged in places where they had never been seen before.These trends raise questions: Why are infectious diseases occurring with such frequency? Why are pandemics the new normal? The increased rate of outbreak is typically framed as a failure of the health system. Indeed, that is a critical component. But the conditions that allow for outbreak in the first place are rooted in environmental change. Continue reading...

Minimal packaging, no synthetic preservatives – but are ‘naked’ cosmetics any good?In my continued effort to experiment with green living, I’m trying naked cosmetics. I’ve traded in over-engineered pump-action pots for slices of soap wrapped in paper, and chunks of “solid” shampoo in reusable tins.I’d have liked to have spread my experiment around various brands, but when it comes to solid beauty there’s only one serious player on the high street: Lush. What it lacks in sophistication the brand makes up for in non-conformism – 35% of the product range is deemed “naked”, devoid of both synthetic preservatives and packaging. Lush says that last year it displaced more than 15m plastic bottles through global sales of its shampoo bar. Continue reading...

Author and social activist says political action on climate change was lacking ‘and nowhere more so than Australia’The Canadian author and social activist Naomi Klein has criticised Australia’s climate change policies after winning the Sydney Peace prize for her work exposing the structural causes of the planet’s climate crisis.Klein said political action on climate change was lacking “and nowhere more so than Australia”. She has previously described Tony Abbott as a climate change “villain”. Continue reading...

Environment minister Rory Stewart told Tory MEPs to support ‘get-out clause’The British government has been accused of trying to secretly undermine new EU air pollution targets in favour of big business, as leaked papers reveal that Tory MEPs were told to support a “get-out clause” in proposed laws.Legislation designed to force member states to strictly limit emissions of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and ammonia by 2030 is being scrutinised in Brussels. Continue reading...

International project will use IVF and stem-cell technology in an attempt to resurrect the speciesUnder the watchful eyes of a group of heavily armed guards, three rhinos graze on the grassland of the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. Most of the world knows that the rhinoceros is threatened, but the status of these animals is in another league. They are the planet’s last three northern white rhinos. None is capable of breeding. The northern white, which once roamed Africa in its thousands, is in effect extinct. The three – named Sudan, Najin and Fatu – are the last of their kind.In a few months, however, a group of scientists from the US, Germany, Italy and Japan will attempt the seemingly impossible: to rescue the northern white rhino – smaller and hairier than its southern cousin – from the jaws of extinction. In October, they plan to remove the last eggs from the two female northern whites and by using advanced reproductive techniques, including stem cell technology and IVF, create embryos that could be carried to term by surrogate rhino mothers. The northern white could then be restored to its former glory. The procedure would be a world first. Continue reading...

High costs keep the less affluent out of drama schools and careers, but surely acting is about transcending background, not being confined by it?As somebody from a working-class background, I have considerable sympathy for those who feel they are excluded by the private-school dominance that seems to permeate society even more thoroughly than in my youth (“The loneliness of the working-class actor”, New Review, last week). Unsurprisingly, students from working-class backgrounds are not applying to drama school when the cost is so high and the earnings from acting are so precarious. However, are they really excluded, by their background, from the parts that are available? Surely the clue is in the job title, or do we only expect actors to play themselves today? Perhaps some of them need to develop a broader portfolio.

15 years on, our love affair with food is deepening...so are our problemsIn the 15 years since the launch of Observer Food Monthly, the British food scene has changed beyond recognition. Artisan coffee shops are now a feature of many high streets; gastropubs, not just white-linen dining establishments, are awarded Michelin stars. Supermarket shelves are stacked with foods catering for most intolerances. Review sites such as Trip Advisor have democratised the experience of eating out, while the proliferation of online delivery services means we can order takeaway via the touch of an app. It feels as if we have more choice than ever.A lively debate about what’s on our plate, and how it got there, has also emerged. In the past decade, celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall have thrown their weight behind exposing the ugly truth about how some of our food is produced. Continue reading...

Villages in Ryedale, North Yorkshire, hope a landmark ruling this week will save them from the disruption of the shale revolutionKirby Misperton, like many other villages in North Yorkshire, has enjoyed its obscurity for centuries. At this time of year, it has all the characteristic features of rural Ryedale: the medieval church that stands among the last of the cherry tree blossom, the poignant war memorial cross that stands at the tiny roundabout, the cottages with their neat front gardens blazing with scarlet and yellow tulips. This is the kind of community I grew up in, only a few miles away.But this village of a few hundred residents unexpectedly finds itself in the national spotlight – the subject of a decision that could be a critical juncture in how a new and deeply controversial energy technology is shoehorned into the intricate and richly layered English countryside. Continue reading...

Record numbers of cruise ships, airport capacity pushed to the limit and on the roads. But the Balearics find welcome cash also brings headachesThe beaches are not yet packed on a windy weekend in the Balearic islands and few have ventured into the brusque waves. But even though the summer season is just under way, the bars, restaurants and roads of Mallorca are thronged with people and traffic.Related: Barcelona’s tourist hordes are target for radical new mayor Ada Colau Continue reading...

Two more women file claims against Rajendra Pachauri after 29-year-old colleague from Energy and Resources Institute speaks outA court in Delhi has ruled that Rajendra Pachauri, the former chairman of a Nobel prize-winning UN panel on climate change, will stand trial on charges of stalking and sexual harassment of a former employee.A 29-year-old former employee of The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri), based in the Indian capital, filed a police report against Pachauri last year. She said Pachauri, who led the organisation, had made inappropriate advances soon after she joined in 2013. Continue reading...

Leaked papers reveal that Tory MEPs were told to support a ‘get-out clause’ in proposed new Europe-wide lawsThe British government has been accused of trying to secretly undermine new EU air pollution targets in favour of big business, as leaked papers reveal that Conservative MEPs were told to support a “get-out clause” in proposed laws.Legislation designed to force member states to strictly limit the emission of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and ammonia by 2030 is currently being scrutinised in Brussels. Continue reading...

For companies who bottle pure mountain air, like one in Canada, plummeting air quality is a business opportunity. For the rest of us, it’s a killerFor one company, at least, the world’s escalating air pollution crisis has an upside. While billions of people live amid a fog of harmful airborne particles each day, Vitality Air, which sells bottled Canadian mountain air, is reporting a brisk trade.

Sow your veg patch with pollinator-friendly flowers, thin out waterlilies, plant diasciasA few rows of annual flowers criss-crossing your veg patch doesn’t just look pretty – it lures in beneficial insects such as lacewings and hoverflies (whose larvae hoover up aphids), and bees and butterflies to pollinate crops. Sow pot marigolds, nigella, poached egg plant and cosmos in situ now: they will self-seed for a repeat performance in future years. Continue reading...

Now only 60 of Mexico’s vaquita marina left despite the navy enforcing a ban on the fishing net, latest study showsEnvironmentalists warned on Friday that Mexico’s vaquita marina, the world’s smallest porpoise, was close to extinction as the government reported that only 60 were now left.

Eriskay We don’t have to get much nearer to confirm our suspicions that what we’ve found is an otter spraint siteIt’s the patch of colour, a green much brighter than that of the sheep-nibbled turf covering the rest of the slope, that first suggests there might be something worth investigating. A little lower down from where we were wandering along, it’s just a few feet above where the carpet of grass meets the rocks that dip down to the sea. We don’t have to get much nearer to confirm our suspicions that this is an otter spraint site.But what a site! Far and away the largest I’ve ever seen, it has obviously been in use a long time. On seven or eight flat-topped hummocks that look like the remains of collapsed rabbit burrows is a pile, or the remains of a pile, of otter leavings. Continue reading...

Former sales executive who emigrated to Australia 30 years ago is hatching a daring plan in an attempt to save the species from poachersA retired South African sales executive who emigrated to Australia 30 years ago is hatching a daring plan to airlift 80 rhinos to his adopted country in an attempt to save the species from poachers.

A North Dakota rancher shot and killed the first wolverine documented in the state for more than 150 years, allegedly saying it was a threat to his cowsA North Dakota rancher fatally shot the first wolverine documented in the state in more than 150 years, outraging wildlife advocates across the US who said the killing was cruel and unnecessary.The rancher, who allegedly posted photos of the dead wolverine on Facebook, with the caption “killed this here critter out tormenting the cows”, was justified in shooting the animal, according to state wildlife officials, who said the wolverine had traveled in numerous states in the west. Continue reading...

Devils Hole pupfish, of which there are fewer than 115 in existence, found dead after men were seen entering fenced-off area of national parkThree men have been arrested over a drunken rampage that resulted in the death of a member of one of the rarest fish species in the world.The three suspects have been charged by police after allegedly breaking into a fenced-off protected area of Death Valley National Park in Nevada on 30 April. The men stomped around in the water of Devils Hole, strewing vomit, beer cans and boxer shorts over the area, and tearing up the habitat of the Devils Hole pupfish, one of the rarest fish in the world. One of the fish was later found dead. Continue reading...

Rosatom understood to be hoping to revive plans to build reactors in Britain if EDF proposals for Hinkley Point C failA Russian nuclear group is hoping that the potential meltdown of French plans to build new European pressurised reactors at Hinkley Point could offer an opportunity to break into the British nuclear market.Deeper concerns about the future of the Somerset scheme were raised by the French energy minister, Ségolène Royal, who warned of the “colossal” cost, which EDF admitted could be £18bn or even £21bn. Continue reading...

In the Forest of Dean, a corner store stocked with old trash is in fact an installation helping to raise awareness of our throwaway lifestylesThe Con-Venience corner shop in Colford in the Forest of Dean looks a lot like a standard corner shop. Look closer, though, and you’ll see it is stocked with decades-old litter found in the forest – sandwich boxes, beer cans, drinks bottles, jars of old sweets – scrubbed clean and neatly stacked on shelves. Wander through the forest and you’ll find a vending machine sat in a clearing doling out the same. It’s a little surreal.It’s unlikely that you lie awake at night fretting about that can of Irn-Bru you dumped in a hedge decades ago. But Con-Venience is at the centre of a new anti-littering campaign, launched this week by the Forest of Dean District Council and environmental charity Hubbub, which aims to ensure you do. “It’s not your normal shopping experience,” says Trewin Restorick, Hubbub CEO and founder. The vending machine, for example, stands more as a sculpture than a snack dispenser. Continue reading...

Campaigners in Kirby Misperton say there could be a domino effect if council approves application next weekAs you enter the village of Kirby Misperton, in North Yorkshire, the first thing you notice are the many signs dotted around asking visitors to respect the tranquility of the countryside.

We have written to the Britain Stronger in Europe and Vote Leave campaigns to ask how a leave or remain vote will affect the UK’s treasured natural environment and its remarkable and already threatened species (Could Brexit be the best thing for Europe’s wildlife?, theguardian.com, 9 May). The decision on whether to stay in the EU or to leave will have many far-reaching and long-term effects. While several of the areas where this effect will be felt have been debated in some depth, such as trade, investment, immigration and jobs, there are other important areas that have not been given attention by campaigners, but directly or indirectly affect us all. A significant gap is the impact on wildlife.The outcome of June’s referendum has the potential to change the face of the UK’s countryside for generations to come. We strongly believe that whether people are committed to the EU, determined to leave, or still undecided, the effect their vote will have on the natural environment must be known. 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...

Coal-generation hit historic low several times last week in what experts say are the only occasions since the first coal-fired generator opened in London in 1882The amount of electricity generated from coal in the UK has fallen to zero several times in the past week, grid data shows.In what green energy supporters have described as a “historic turning point” for the UK’s power system, coal-fired electricity first fell to zero late on Monday night and for the early hours of Tuesday morning, according to data from BM Reports. Continue reading...

The air quality in this sun-baked California area known as ‘America’s salad bowl’ has been identified as the worst in the US. Residents are concerned, but low wages mean long hours out in the thick of itJose Velasquez, weary from picking cherries, was heading home on a battered bike this week with signs of a tough day etched across his face: dust, sunburn and little red marks all over.And now a reporter is telling the 35-year-old that the World Health Organisation had just identified this baked corner of California as having the country’s worst air pollution. Continue reading...

An endangered seal, catfish and a rhino calf are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

Timothy Allen is the first outsider to walk with a Kazakh family on their spring migration. The Kazakhs of western Mongolia are known for hunting with eagles and each year between February and April about 200 families make the 90-mile trip across the Altai mountains Continue reading...