Fossil fuel executives and climate change skeptics, including former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, feature among the candidates for key environmental rolesThe future of America’s basic environmental protection has been thrown into doubt, with a host of fossil fuel executives and climate change skeptics set to get key roles in Donald Trump’s new administration, including a potential return to political life for Sarah Palin.

The absence of climate change as a leading topic in the election was a failure of the media – and it’s now their responsibility to get Americans talking about itImagine the world was facing upheaval on a scale not seen during modern civilization, a change that would imperil the world’s great cities by the rising seas and snuff out species at at the fastest rate since the dinosaurs disappeared. Then imagine you were a journalist, had repeated chances to ask the next president of the United States about this and decided to not do so.The apparent failure of the media during the presidential election has been multifaceted and fiercely debated. But the absence of climate change as a leading topic in the election of Donald Trump is perhaps the single greatest rebuke to the idea that power should be held to account for the benefit of this and future generations. Continue reading...

The president-elect wants to bypass the theoretical four-year procedure to exit the accord, according to a Reuters sourceDonald Trump is looking at quick ways of withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement in defiance of widening international backing for the plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions, Reuters has reported.

Activists and scientists at UN climate talks in Marrakech now fear a change in US policyAs news of Donald Trump’s victory reached Marrakech on Wednesday, the many thousands of diplomats, activists, youth and business groups gathered in the city for the UN’s annual climate conference were left in shock and disbelief that the US could elect a climate-change denier as president.Some of the younger activists were in tears. “My heart is absolutely broken at the election of Trump,” said Becky Chung, a delegate for youth advocacy group SustainUS from California. Continue reading...

Writer and cannabis consultant David Bienenstock reflects on a night of progressive marijuana legislation – in the face of regressive everything elseI spent the biggest election day in cannabis history streaming live from the roof of High Times headquarters in Los Angeles. I’d rolled nine joints in advance of going on the air – one for each state voting on legalization (adult use, or medicinal) – and vowed to smoke them all, on camera, if and when each ballot initiative passed. Needless to say, as a longtime marijuana journalist, and author of a book called How to Smoke Pot (Properly), I was hoping to get really, really blazed by the end of the night.

The president-elect is a political novice whose energy plan doesn’t account for the economic reality of coal and renewable energyAs the world struggles to absorb the implications of Donald Trump’s unexpected victory in the US general election, no one is facing the future with more trepidation than those working on clean energy, clean transportation, climate and the environment. Hillary Clinton had promised to build on Obama’s substantial progress in this area; now they worry that it may be reversed, and then some.What does the future hold, under a Trump government, and how worried should we be? Continue reading...

Airedale, West Yorkshire Far from being robust birds, these visitors from Scandinavia can suffer terribly when the temperature dropsThe little grebes have changed into their smart off-season outfits – smoky-brown, with a dark cap worn low on the brow – and moved upriver, westward, to winter with us. The quickening of the current has brought a dipper down from the river’s higher reaches. In a hawthorn that overhangs the water, redwings gorge on the dull red fruit.These aren’t the first redwings I’ve seen this season: since the turn of October they’ve been skipping through high overhead in threes and fours and fives, calling seep, seep. The warden, hunkered in the adjoining meadow on autumn “vismigging” (visible migrant) duty, pointed out to me their distinctively irregular wingbeats. Continue reading...

Lawyer Michael Berkman has been involved in a slew of court fights against the likes of Adani and next faces a political clash against Labor’s Steven MilesOne of Queensland’s leading exponents of what miners and conservative politicians brand environmental “lawfare” has been thrust into the role of trying to win what the Greens consider their most winnable seat at the next state election.Michael Berkman – a lawyer at the Environmental Defenders Office Queensland who has played a key role in a slew of court battles against Adani, Gina Rinehart’s Alpha Coal and New Acland Coal – will be the Greens candidate for the inner Brisbane seat of Mount Coot-tha. Continue reading...

EU concerns are growing that some oil-rich nations that have not yet ratified the deal could now try and slow action on reducing emissionsConcerns are mounting that Donald Trump’s victory could embolden some fossil fuel-rich countries to try unpicking the historic Paris climate agreement, which came into force last week.Saudi Arabia has tried to obstruct informal meetings at the UN climate summit in Marrakech this week, and worries are rife that states which have not yet ratified the agreement could seek to slow action on carbon emissions. Trump has called global warming a hoax and promised to withdraw the US from the Paris accord. Continue reading...

Government divisions over approach to climate change plan are bridged, but targets will be reviewed in 2018 to consider their impact on industryGermany’s coalition government has reached an agreement on a climate change action plan which involves reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 to 95% by 2050, a spokesperson said on Friday.The plan, which will require German industry to reduce its CO2 emission by a fifth by 2030, and Germany’s energy sector to reduce emissions by almost a half, will be reviewed in 2018 with a view to its impact on jobs and society. Continue reading...

Donald Trump’s win could be catastrophic for the world’s climate, as well as international diplomacy, as American leadership is transformedThis November is likely to have profound implications for climate change – but not in the way that was anticipated just a week ago. The Paris climate deal came into force on 4 November but Tuesday’s election of Donald Trump as US president casts an ominous shadow over the agreement and the chances of avoiding dangerous global warming.Trump is a highly erratic figure, so predicting his actions can be problematic. But we do know that he wants to withdraw the US from the Paris accord, which aims to keep the global temperature increase below a 2C threshold, that he believes climate change to be a “hoax” and that Barack Obama’s warning that global warming is a threat on a par with terrorism was “one of the dumbest statements I’ve ever heard in politics.” Continue reading...

Italy’s hedgehog hospital, starlings in flight and a comical fox are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

Leading scientists say the climate denier’s victory could mean ‘game over for the climate’ and any hope of warding off dangerous global warmingThe ripples from a new American president are far-reaching, but never before has the arrival of a White House administration placed the livability of Earth at stake. Beyond his bluster and crude taunts, Donald Trump’s climate denialism could prove to be the lasting imprint of his unexpected presidency.

From Hong Kong’s tiny subdivided flats to the migrant crisis, this year’s photography and sustainability award shortlist explores the theme of space from all perspectives

Langstone, Hampshire The newly attached, unfed, arachnids were red-brown and as tiny as sesame seeds, the fully engorged ones like glossy grey pearlsHedgehogs that have had a hind leg amputation can struggle to groom themselves, so are more likely to harbour ectoparasites. I had noticed that Sweetpea, my resident hedgehog, had been flailing her shortened leg as she tried to scratch using her phantom limb. But it was still a shock to spot her emerging from her nest with one side of her body studded with ticks. They clustered in the folds of her right ear and along her right flank, where the coarse skirt of fur met the quill line.Related: Specieswatch: Ixodes ricinus (tick) Continue reading...

George Christensen has endorsed Craig Kelly’s view that Donald Trump’s election means the agreement is ‘cactus’The energy and environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, has rejected his environment committee chairman Craig Kelly’s assessment that the Paris agreement on climate change is dead with Donald Trump as president.But just an hour after Frydenberg’s comments, the high-profile conservative backbencher George Christensen backed in Kelly’s view that the agreement was “cactus”. Continue reading...

It’s easy to imagine the battle for greener chemistry as a titanic struggle between government and industry – but it’s consumers who really call the shotsWhenever the battle against toxic chemicals makes headlines, it’s usually linked to huge, sprawling disasters like Flint’s poisoned water or BPA-laden plastics – the kind of thing that involves large scale poisoning and disease and defies an easy solution. And, on those rare occasions when a happy chemistry story breaks – like the ban on antibacterial ingredients like triclosan, or the reauthorization of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which will expand the government’s ability to regulate chemicals – the combination of confusing chemistry and bizarre political maneuvering makes the story almost incomprehensible for anybody who isn’t already an expert.It’s easy to imagine the battle for greener chemistry as a titanic struggle between goliath industries and sprawling governments, with consumers watching from the sidelines as their lives and health hang in the balance. But this perspective – and most stories about toxic chemicals – ignore a key part of the equation: consumer demand. For all the much-discussed push of government policies and industry innovations, it’s the pull of consumers and the market that ultimately fuels the biggest changes. Continue reading...

That the government is now at last being forced to do more to reduce the dangerous levels of nitrogen dioxide air pollution is welcome news (Court defeat for government on air pollution, 3 November). More than a year on from the “dieselgate” revelations, ministers should have been in no doubt about the dishonest and illegal methods used by some manufacturers to cheat emissions tests. Not only has the government failed to update its pollution modelling based on realistic emissions figures, it has also done nothing to support the 1.2 million UK diesel vehicle owners caught up in this scandal.If anything, the government seems to be going out of its way to protect manufacturers. Cars fitted with the defeat device software are still able to pass MOT emissions tests, so the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency seems to have turned a blind eye to this. Continue reading...

From private prisons to pharamceuticals, several industries stand to gain from the president-elect’s policy agendaOperators of private prisons are soaring on the stock market because analysts expect Donald Trump to row back on the Department of Justice’s ruling this summer to phase out privately run institutions’ housing of federal inmates. Continue reading...

Farming in Devon national park, and sheep and cattle welfare, jeopardised by climbers, cyclists and campers, says livestock societyAdventure seekers who visit one of Britain’s great wild places are making life more difficult for farmers and putting cattle and sheep in danger, a livestock welfare charity claims.The chair of the Dartmoor Livestock Protection Society, which was formed in 1963, says the “idle amusement” of millions of visitors is threatening to squeeze out hill farmers. Continue reading...

Tiny Llanbedrog community council in North Wales proves worthy adversary for TV adventurer and his development planThe television adventurer Bear Grylls may have endured some of the most extreme conditions on the planet, but his survival on a north Wales peninsula is now under threat.The Old Etonian, who has a personal fortune worth £6m, has gone head to head with a rural council over his plans to develop a local beach. Continue reading...

Mustafah Abdulaziz has spent years documenting humanity’s relationship to a precious natural resource – water. His latest work focuses on the challenges facing California, a highly populated state and a major agricultural center. Water: California was the first prize winner in the Syngenta photography award professional commission category for 2014–15, and will be on display at the National Geographic Museum in Washington DC from 12 November to 30 January 2017 Continue reading...

Changing autumn colours in the US, New Delhi’s architecture and Hurricane Matthew were among the images captured by European Space Agency and Nasa satellites last monthThe snowy landscape of the Putoransky state nature reserve, a Unesco world heritage site in the central area of the Putorana Plateau in northern central Siberia. The site, about 100km north of the Arctic Circle, serves as a major reindeer migration route – an increasingly rare natural phenomenon – and is one of the very few centres of plant species richness in the Arctic. Virtually untouched by human influence, this isolated mountain range includes pristine forests and cold-water lake and river systems. The lakes are characterised by elongated, fjord-like shapes, such as lake Ayan in the upper-central part of the image. Zooming in on the lake we can see that it is mostly ice-covered, with small patches of water peeking through around its lower reaches. Another feature of this area are the flat-topped mountains, formed by a geological process called ‘plume volcanism’: a large body of magma seeped through Earth’s surface and formed a blanket of basalt kilometres thick. Over time, cracks in the rock filled with water and eroded into the rivers and lakes we see today. Continue reading...

Anyone who voted for Trump shares the responsibility for the climate damages resulting from his presidency

Ministers reject court proposal to deliver an effective plan within eight months following their legal defeat against NGO ClientEarth last weekAction to combat the UK’s air pollution crisis has been delayed again after the government rejected a proposal to deliver an effective action plan within eight months.Environmental lawyers ClientEarth inflicted a humiliating legal defeat on ministers last week – its second in 18 months – when the high court ruled that ministers’ plans to tackle illegal levels of air pollution in many UK cities and towns were unlawfully poor. Continue reading...

Leaving more contaminated soil and rubble on-site instead of moving it to dedicated dumps is cheaper and allows for quicker clean-ups, say officialsMore contaminated soil and rubble will remain at the sites of Britain’s old nuclear power plants rather than going to a dedicated dump, under government-backed proposals.

Delivery of money through multi-donor fund coordinated by World Bank seen as slight on innate expertise of country well versed in handling climate issues

Numbers pass the level deemed viable for the raptor’s long-term survival but it remains missing from a third of its traditional territoriesBritain’s golden eagle population has soared to new heights, according to a new survey released on Wednesday.There are now more than 500 breeding pairs in the UK, up 15% and passing the threshold at which bird’s long-term future is thought viable. Continue reading...

On a panel moderated by Guardian Australia editor Lenore Taylor, the author Naomi Klein, anti-Carmichael coalmine campaigner Murrawah Johnson, climate action leader Maria Tiimon Chi- Fang, Community and Public Sector Union national secretary Nadine Flood and GetUp! human rights campaigner Shen Narayanasamy discuss the need to transition to a post-carbon Australia.

Riseley, Bedfordshire Nissen huts stored ammunition here, hidden by tall elms whose offspring are just bushes, cursed with perpetual youthAmerican servicemen came in wartime with concrete and bombs to Coppice Wood. They paved the paths with cement and put up a parking lot – a series of wide bays with Nissen huts storing explosive shells. Chipped and cracked, this network of hard standing remains, though the army is long gone. So too the elms remain, the trees that hid the ammunition stores from enemy aircraft under their canopy.The elms’ descendants are cursed with perpetual youth. Always a bush, never a tree, seems to be the mantra, the leafy sprays doomed to shrivelled adolescence by Dutch elm disease. Only a few have made it to the heights. Continue reading...

Streets around the country have been brightened by the trees’ blooms in the lead-up to summer. Here are some of our favourite snaps from Instagram Continue reading...

Caper whites descend on state’s south-east – only to be replaced by plague of flies as temperatures climb to 38 degreesFrom butterflies to plain old flies, south-east Queensland is experiencing a two-phase swarm of insects amid weather conditions that allow both species to thrive.Last Friday residents began reporting a sudden surge of butterflies, an influx of tens of millions of caper whites in what experts said was a phenomenon that occurred about once a decade. Continue reading...

Coal, pharmaceutical companies and mining groups can all expect to benefit, while renewables are out in the coldBecome a Guardian supporter or make a contribution Continue reading...

William Beaton took his first egg at the age of five in 1948 and had illegally collected hundreds more since, court toldA retired solicitor from Devon who amassed a collection of hundreds of eggs over nearly 70 years has been fined almost £5,000 and had his haul confiscated.William Beaton, 73, told Plymouth magistrates he took his first egg – from a blackbird’s nest – on a “fine April evening” when he was five. Continue reading...

Cristal Pigment Ltd has been sentenced for two serious incidents at its titanium dioxide plant that arose from poor operational practices, reports ENDS UKA global chemical company has been fined for poor operational practices that killed one of its employees and seriously hurt another when they were overcome by a toxic vapour cloud.

Many fear Donald Trump will reverse the ambitious course set by Barack Obama, withdraw the US from the accord and increase fossil-fuel spending• Become a Guardian supporter or make a contributionJust days after the historic Paris agreement officially came into force, climate denier Donald Trump’s victory has thrown the global deal into uncertainty and raised fears that the US will reverse the ambitious environmental course charted under Barack Obama.International environmental groups meeting at the UN climate talks in Morocco said it would be a catastrophe if Trump acted on his pledge to withdraw the US from the deal, which took 20 years to negotiate, and to open up public land for coal, oil and gas extraction. Continue reading...

Investment fund would help wave and tidal power to provide a tenth of the bloc’s power by 2050The EU is proposing to spend hundreds of millions of euros to help the budding ocean energy industry to provide a tenth of the bloc’s power by 2050.

From rapid genetic analysis to spectrography, high-tech advances in forensics are being used to track down and prosecute perpetrators of the illegal wildlife trade, reports Environment 360Feisal Mohammed Ali, a prominent member of the Kenyan business community, was convicted last July of trafficking two tons of elephant ivory found in a Fuji Motors parking lot in Mombasa. The landmark ruling came after two years of drama: Feisal’s flight to Tanzania, his capture and repatriation, the disappearance of nine vehicles that were major evidence in the case, and accusations of evidence tampering.The landmark wildlife crime verdict – and 20-year sentence for Feisal – in part came down to political will, courtroom monitoring by NGOs, and police work. Also key, experts say, was the ability to use genetic tests to tie the illegally trafficked elephant tusks from different shipments to the cartel headed by Feisal. Continue reading...

Government to phase out the most polluting fossil and replace it with cleaner sources, such as gas, to meet climate commitmentsThe last coal power station in Britain will be forced to close in 2025, the government said as it laid out its plan to phase-out the polluting fossil fuel.Ministers promised last year that the UK would close coal power within a decade and replace it with gas and other sources to meet its climate change commitments. Continue reading...

‘Equivalent of a Hazelwood a year’ will need to close by early 2030s to meet Paris targets, witnesses tell Senate inquiryCoal-fired power stations in Australia will need to shut at the rate of about one a year between now and the mid-2030s for the country to meet the commitments made in Paris, a Senate hearing has been told.Witnesses also told the hearing that since Australia’s coal-fired power stations are now very old – mostly built in the 1970s and 80s – they would be shutting in the coming decades regardless of climate policy, further highlighting the need for a transition plan. Continue reading...

New report by British Cycling suggests tax incentives for employees and businesses, to encourage bike commutingPeople should receive £250 a year in tax breaks if they cycle to work, according to a proposal to improve public health and business productivity backed by some of the UK’s biggest companies and the Paralympian Dame Sarah Storey.

CloudCAM technology allows operators to reliably predict the output of solar farms 15 minutes ahead of timeA new way to tackle the much-maligned unpredictability of solar energy is being deployed at a solar farm opening today in Western Australia – cloud-tracking cameras. Continue reading...

Three battalions ready to avert crisis after storms last year caused severe damage across north of EnglandTheresa May has placed three battalions of up to 1,200 soldiers on 24-hour standby to help if England suffers flooding this winter.

Energy Transfer Partners says it’s ‘mobilizing drilling equipment’ to tunnel under Lake Oahe, which activists describe as ‘unconscionable and devastating’Support our fearless, independent journalism by making a contribution or becoming a memberThe Dakota Access pipeline operator chose the day of the US presidential election to announce that the final phase of its controversial construction project will begin in two weeks – marking a bold escalation in its response to the Native American protests.Related: Dakota Access pipeline: the who, what and why of the Standing Rock protests Continue reading...

Legislation to be trialled at Lighthouse beach, Sharpes beach and Shelly beach at Ballina, Seven Mile beach at Lennox Head and Evans Head beachFive New South Wales beaches will soon be trialling mesh shark nets under legislation to be fast-tracked into parliament.The legislation will be tabled by the NSW primary industries minister, Niall Blair, on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Groups also plan to undermine government attempts to regulate parts of industry identified by the competition watchdog for price gougingA coalition of natural gas lobby groups are planning a coordinated campaign to convince Australians gas is “a long-term necessity”, top industry lobbyists have revealed.They also disclosed plans to undermine government attempts to regulate sections of the industry that have been identified by the competition watchdog for price gouging by offering the federal environment minister “something he can announce” – but which would not amount to regulation. Continue reading...

Proposal to cut emissions controversially omits several appliances on the grounds that economic benefits would not be worth the negative publicityThe EU has dropped plans to force toaster-makers to improve the energy efficiency of their products over fears of the political costs of being seen to be intruding in people’s daily lives, it has emerged.But while a new EU plan to cut emissions controversially emits several appliances, the manufacturers of electric kettles, refrigerators and hand driers will have to make their future products consume less energy. Continue reading...

Dong Energy chief executive hails ‘inflection point’ as he confirms plan to sell company’s oil and gas divisionWind turbines could soon supply most of the UK’s electricity, the boss of the country’s largest windfarm operator has said, as he confirmed plans to sell its oil and gas division.Dong Energy said the sale would underpin its plan to become a “global leader in renewables”, 44 years after the company was set up to exploit Denmark’s North Sea oilfields. Continue reading...

Dry summer, tighter regulations and more spending by water companies sees 98.5% of beaches monitored by the Environment Agency meet EU standardsEngland’s bathing waters are the cleanest ever recorded thanks to a dry summer, tighter EU regulations and increased spending by water companies.

Activists at the North Dakota pipeline site say they have little faith in either presidential candidate to bring about the kind of change they hope for