Port Talbot seems obvious, but World Health Organisation data shows south coast town registers high levels of two tiny types of particulate pollution

Two cities – one in Iran and another in Nigeria – can claim title because WHO measures pollution in two different waysThe new WHO database of worldwide air pollution measures it in two different ways, and as a result two cities – one in Iran and another in Nigeria – can lay claim to the unenviable title of world’s most polluted city.It all comes down to which minute particles, or particulate matter (PM), in the air are being measured. These particles are between 2.5 and 10 microns in diameter, roughly 30 times smaller than the width of a human hair. Continue reading...

Outdoor pollution has risen 8% in five years with fast-growing cities in the developing world worst affected, WHO data shows

World Health Organisation report says high pollution puts millions of people in cities including Delhi at risk of early deathEnvironmental campaigners in India have called for the government to implement a “stringent, time-bound” plan to curb air pollution in cities, as a new World Health Organisation report suggests that six of the 10 most polluted cities in the world are in India.The report, which contains data from 795 cities in 67 countries between 2008 and 2013, shows Indian cities have some of the highest concentrations of particulate pollution, which can cause fatal damage to the heart and lungs. Continue reading...

Community energy groups are coming up with renewable energy schemes. Shouldn’t government extend a hand to help them?Yackandandah, like most Australian towns, has had its ups and its downs. One of its biggest ups was the north-east Victorian gold rush. By the 1890s our town was full of miners toiling to extract what was left of its alluvial gold. The only thing holding these folks back was an energy crisis. The miners were unable to source the power needed to sluice and dredge or crush the ore. The solution was a water race from high up on the West Kiewa river, which wasn’t the brainchild of government, or even the mines department – but rather a local man.John Wallace, a Yackandandah resident, recognised a problem that needed immediate action and set about solving it. Continue reading...

The group of more than 40 was forced to flee on life rafts when the 23-metre catamaran began sinking 10 nautical miles from Lady Musgrave IslandEleven people were hospitalised after more than 40 people escaped a tourist boat that became engulfed in flames and began sinking on the Great Barrier Reef off the central Queensland coast.The 23m (75-foot) catamaran, Spirit of 1770, was 10 nautical miles from Lady Musgrave Island, east of Gladstone, around 4pm on Wednesday when its 42 passengers and four crew were forced to jump from the burning boat and seek refuge in life rafts after a fire in the engine room spread. Continue reading...

Exclusive: a series of images taken from around Lizard Island reveal the rapid death of coral across thousands of kilometres of the reef as bleaching takes holdDevastating images showing the complete destruction of coral colonies on the Great Barrier Reef have been obtained by Guardian Australia and illustrate what is happening to coral there that would fill an area the size of Scotland.They reveal the rapid death of coral impacting much of the Great Barrier Reef, with estimates that as much as half of the coral in the northern third of the 2000km reef had this fate. Continue reading...

The ‘red tide’ algal bloom, which turns the sea water red and makes seafood toxic, is believed to be one of the country’s worst recent environmental crisesA “red tide” outbreak is widening in southern Chile’s fishing-rich waters, the government has said, deepening what is already believed to be one of the country’s worst environmental crises in recent years.The red tide – an algal bloom that turns the seawater red and makes seafood toxic – is a common, naturally recurring phenomenon in southern Chile, but the extent of the current outbreak is unprecedented. Continue reading...

The government is campaigning against Labor’s emissions trading scheme but its own Direct Action will only work with large funding increases or as an ETSModelling hailed by the Liberal party as proof its Direct Action plan could meet Australia’s long-term climate promises in fact assumes the Coalition would turn its policy into a type of emissions trading scheme, according to the authors.The environment minister, Greg Hunt, released the modelling, by the Energetics consulting firm, just days before the election was called and told the Australian newspaper it was proof that critics of the government’s policy – who say it has no hope of reaching Australia’s target without changes – were totally wrong. Continue reading...

A new report shows that demand for seafood with sustainable certification now accounts for 14% of the global market – up from less than 1% a decade agoThe global sustainable seafood market hit $11.5bn in retail sales last year, a result of commitments by large restaurant chains and retailers such as Walmart, Whole Foods, Ikea and McDonald’s to source certified seafood and address decades of mismanagement, according to a report released today.Related: Off the hook: can a new study in the Pacific reel in unsustainable fishing? Continue reading...

More than half of beekeepers suffered unsustainable losses, with deadly mite infestations and harmful land management practices piling on pressureMore than a quarter of American honeybee colonies were wiped out over the winter, with deadly infestations of mites and harmful land management practices heaping mounting pressure upon the crucial pollinators and the businesses that keep them.

Report says infrastructure such as electricity grids and communication networks are not adequately protected from the threatPower cuts caused by flooding are a major danger to people’s lives in the UK and “could happen anywhere” because infrastructure such as electricity grids and communications networks are not adequately protected against the threat, according to a new report.The finding, from the Royal Academy of Engineering, calls into question the UK’s preparedness for incidences of weather-related disasters, even as scientists and government advisers have warned that they will become more frequent, owing to climate change. Continue reading...

Trips to the coast, to green spaces in towns and to the countryside all decreased during wet and stormy seasonThe number of trips made to England’s coasts, parks and countryside between December and February was the lowest in four winters, according to a survey.Natural England said visits fell 15% from the same quarter last year, from 751.8m to 637.9m visits. It was the first fall recorded by the agency’s monitor of engagement with the natural environment (Mene) survey since 2011, and the lowest level for the season since 2011/12 when there were 628.4m visits. Continue reading...

Lizzie Carr aims to become the first person to stand-up paddleboard 643km along connected waterways from Surrey to CumbriaA female adventurer is aiming to become the first person to paddleboard the length of England via connected waterways to highlight the issue of plastic pollution.

An architect’s video outlining ambitious proposals for Amman’s biggest urban failure, the Jordan Gate Project, has gone viral. Has previous apathy towards the city’s lack of community life now turned into a hunger for public space?Architect Hanna Salameh is blunt about how his city is different from many others. “We have no concept of sidewalks,” he says. “We really see them as something you cross over to get to your car. I think that’s why so many people throw trash on the sidewalks – we have no connection to our streets. You don’t walk there and you don’t see it as yours.”Instead, the streets of the Jordanian capital are something else entirely: slow-moving strips of metallic colour, car roofs gleaming beneath fast food drive-thru signs and glass-fronted malls in interminable gridlock. If Amman was built for cars, it sometimes seems incapable of dealing with them.

With some Indian Ocean tuna stocks on the brink of collapse, the expedition exposes harmful methods by the world’s largest tuna company, Thai Union, owner of John West Continue reading...

Government is wasting time and taxpayers’ money as it faces a second court challenge over illegal air pollution, say green lawyersThe government spent at least £105,000 in legal costs while fighting and losing a court challenge over illegal levels of air pollution, according to data released through freedom of information rules, and now faces further bills from a new case it is contesting.ClientEarth, the environmental lawyers who defeated the government, say the taxpayers’ money should have been used instead for early and effective action to cut air pollution, which causes 40,000 early deaths a year, according to government figures. Continue reading...

In addition to the estimated $9bn damage to Fort McMurray, ‘the beast’ will affect forests, carbon emissions, air and water pollution and wasteThe explosive wildfire in Canada’s tar sands region that forced 90,000 people to flee last week is still burning. By Tuesday, “the beast” had grown to 230,000 hectares, but had moved into largely unpopulated regions east and south of the town of Fort McMurray, Alberta.Although officials have found 80-90% of the town undamaged, power and water is out, and about 2,400 homes and other buildings have been burned down. Continue reading...

Hoesung Lee, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, voices hope in battle against 2C increase in warming but warns of ‘phenomenal’ costsThe head of the United Nations climate science panel has declared it is still possible to avoid a dangerous 2C increase in global warming – despite more than a dozen record hot years since 2000. But the costs could be “phenomenal”, he said.In an interview with the Guardian, Hoesung Lee, the leader of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), defied the bleak outlook of climate scientists who warn the world is hurtling to a 2C rise far faster than anticipated. Continue reading...

Cumbrians see length of time it has taken to repair crucial A591 link after floods as proof of lack of government interestIts loss has cost businesses 60% of their trade, separated children from their schools and cut the Lake District in half. But five months after floods destroyed one of Cumbria’s key thoroughfares, the road between Grasmere and Keswick finally reopened on Wednesday.That it took so long to repair the A591 after December’s Storm Desmond is seen by many in the Lake District as a sign of the government’s lack of interest in the north of England, despite its claim to want to build a “northern powerhouse”. Continue reading...

A Minnesota judge found the preponderance of evidence did not favor coal industry climate science denial

The UK government’s failure to build new homes that are energy efficient will see future generations dealing with our costly mistakesFrom the Forth Bridge to our sewer system and the London Underground, we still rely on Victorian engineering every day in modern Britain. We all benefit from this inherited infrastructure, but we’re still paying the bills for the way it was built.Our older homes are among the most energy-wasting the world. And as anyone who has lived in a draughty, single-glazed, Victorian terrace knows, they can be expensive to keep warm in winter. Continue reading...

The UK government’s failure to build new homes that are energy efficient will see future generations dealing with our costly mistakesFrom the Forth Bridge to our sewer system and the London Underground, we still rely on Victorian engineering every day in modern Britain. We all benefit from this inherited infrastructure, but we’re still paying the bills for the way it was built.Our older homes are among the most energy-wasting the world. And as anyone who has lived in a draughty, single-glazed, Victorian terrace knows, they can be expensive to keep warm in winter. Continue reading...

Airport will ban arrivals and departures before 5.30am, and support the launch of an independent noise authorityHeathrow has agreed to curb night flights if permission is granted for a third runway, as it announced measures it claimed met all the conditions set by the Airports Commission for its expansion plan.As well as banning all arrivals and departures before 5.30am, the airport said it would support the introduction of an independent noise authority, and pledged not to add new capacity unless it can do so without delaying UK compliance with EU air quality limits. Continue reading...

Airport reveals package of measures to reduce impact of potential expansion on local residents and the environmentHeathrow has announced plans to ban night flights in an attempt to reduce the impact of a potential third runway on the local community and environment.The airport said it would support the introduction of an independent noise authority, and pledged not to add new capacity unless it can do so without delaying UK compliance with EU air quality limits. Continue reading...

Future in which global concentration of CO2 is permanently above 400 parts per million loomsThe world is hurtling towards an era when global concentrations of carbon dioxide never again dip below the 400 parts per million (ppm) milestone, as two important measuring stations sit on the point of no return.The news comes as one important atmospheric measuring station at Cape Grim in Australia is poised on the verge of 400ppm for the first time. Sitting in a region with stable CO2 concentrations, once that happens, it will never get a reading below 400ppm. Continue reading...

Future in which global concentration of C02 is permanently above 400 parts per million loomsThe world is hurtling towards an era when global concentrations of carbon dioxide never again dip below the 400 parts per million (ppm) milestone, as two important measuring stations sit on the point of no return.The news comes as one important atmospheric measuring station at Cape Grim in Australia is poised on the verge of 400ppm for the first time. Sitting in a region with stable CO2 concentrations, once that happens, it will never get a reading below 400ppm. Continue reading...

Stocks at the centre of the ‘mackerel war’ regain eco-label after joint efforts by fishermen and regional ministersNorth-east Atlantic mackerel has won back its status as a sustainably managed fish stock - after losing it at the height of the “mackerel war”.An international coalition of more than 700 fishing boats from small coastal vessels to ocean-going trawlers has regained the “eco-label” for mackerel from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), which certifies well-managed fisheries. Continue reading...

Stocks at the centre of the ‘mackerel war’ regain eco-label after joint efforts by fishermen and regional ministersNorth-east Atlantic mackerel has won back its status as a sustainably managed fish stock - after losing it at the height of the “mackerel war”.An international coalition of more than 700 fishing boats from small coastal vessels to ocean-going trawlers has regained the “eco-label” for mackerel from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), which certifies well-managed fisheries. Continue reading...

Filed patents show the British engineering firm may use solid-state batteries that could stretch electric car’s range to hundreds of miles and increase safetyDyson could become the next Tesla motors as it develops a new electric car, according to a leading industry expert. Filed patents show the Dyson vehicle may use solid-state batteries, which would see the car’s range stretch to hundreds of miles and also be safer than current batteries.In March, a government document revealed funding to help Dyson develop “a new battery electric vehicle”. The company declined to comment but in 2015 it said it planned to invest £1bn in battery technology and in October it bought solid-state battery company, Sakti3, for $90m, which founder Sir James Dyson said had “developed a breakthrough in battery technology”. Continue reading...

Study of different colours in black bears, barn owls, black sparrowhawks and crows finds online images can substitute for costly fieldworkStudying photographs of animals posted online by the general public has proven to be as valuable as traditional fieldwork in research on the locations of species that have evolved with different colours.Colour polymorphism - the occurrence of two or more colour types in the population of a species - has long fascinated biologists. These different colour types often vary geographically, providing a useful way of studying how different colour morphs evolve. Continue reading...

Wenlock Edge, Shropshire The more it tries to blend in, the more noticeable it becomes. The bird looks as if it’s made from hedgeThe thrush in the hedge is only a nipper. It’s supposed to remain concealed, but every now and then it whirrs across the lane to the hedge opposite. There it perches in a thicket of twigs and briars, feigning invisibility, like a child hiding behind coats hung on the back of a door.There may be trouble. Two adult thrushes are flying up and down the lane. It could be the parent birds getting frisky or else one parent seeing off a rival. They are flying literally at breakneck speed; one false move and either of them could be fatally injured. Spring is drunk on daring. Continue reading...

Wenlock Edge, Shropshire The more it tries to blend in, the more noticeable it becomes. The bird looks as if it’s made from hedgeThe thrush in the hedge is only a nipper. It’s supposed to remain concealed, but every now and then it whirrs across the lane to the hedge opposite. There it perches in a thicket of twigs and briars, feigning invisibility, like a child hiding behind coats hung on the back of a door.There may be trouble. Two adult thrushes are flying up and down the lane. It could be the parent birds getting frisky or else one parent seeing off a rival. They are flying literally at breakneck speed; one false move and either of them could be fatally injured. Spring is drunk on daring. Continue reading...

Blaze that partly destroyed city has temporarily shut down Alberta’s oil sands production – a mainstay of the country’s petroleum industryA wildfire that partly destroyed the city of Fort McMurray has cut Canada’s oil output by as much as a third after forcing the oil sands industry to effectively shut down in the province of Alberta.Related: Fort McMurray evacuees caught in uneasy limbo week after wildfires Continue reading...

Thousand-year rainfall record shows weather in New South Wales over the past 100 years has been unusually stable and absent of mega droughtsDrought and flood risk in New South Wales is vastly underestimated, with weather in the past 100 years being unusually stable, according to a detailed reconstruction of rainfall over a NSW catchment for the past 1,000 years.In a world first, scientists have used data drawn from an ice core to reconstruct the rainfall records for a particular catchment – in this case one in the Hunter Valley called the Williams river. Over the past 1,000 years they found droughts such as the millennial drought or worse occurred quite frequently, as did periods of very wet weather. Continue reading...

Interactive map commissioned by Lock the Gate shows fossil fuel claims cover 37% of Australia’s landmassMore than a third of Australia’s landmass is earmarked for coal or gas, according to a new analysis and interactive map commissioned by the community group Lock the Gate.No single register of fossil fuel exploration and extraction licences and applications exists so, commissioned by Lock the Gate, Energy Resources Insights gathered spatial information on land earmarked for fossil fuels from state and federal regulators. Continue reading...

Female fertility | DNA database | Prison reform | Disposable fashion | Last English kingI was surprised to be informed (The foul reign of the biological clock, 10 May) that 1.5 is “the number of children the average American woman had in 1976”. At a rough estimate this means 120 million children were born in 1976. There’s an old joke about an American asking “Do you have children?”, and a British person answering “Not if I can help it.” But it’s not apparently a distinction that your editors are aware of.

A glass of wine can require as much as 14 gallons of water to make, prompting Fetzer Vineyards to try a wriggly wastewater solution invented in ChileNext time you open a bottle of merlot or chardonnay, be sure to thank the vintner. And you might want to toast the worms, as well.Everyday earthworms are the latest solution to a thorny problem that most wine drinkers never consider: wastewater disposal. Continue reading...

The sweet ritual of hanging your clothes to dry in the warmth of the sun is not only environmentally effective, it’ll spare your clothes undue damageEveryone hates me in the springtime.As soon as the weather warms up, the clothesline in my backyard gets hauled into action and I become physically unable to stop talking about it. My Instagram feed becomes littered with bucolic pictures of my dainties fluttering in the sunny breeze and I become prone to embarking upon long-winded screeds to anyone within earshot about how amazing my sheets smell when they’re dried in the fresh air.

Six more islands have large swaths of land, and villages, washed into sea as coastline of Solomon Islands eroded and overwhelmed

Report’s author says many media outlets have misinterpreted the science by conflating sea-level rise with climate changeLinks between climate change and the sinking of five islands in the Pacific Ocean have been exaggerated, the author of a widely reported new study has said.The report, published on Friday, tracked the shapeshifting of 33 reef islands in the Solomon Islands between 1947 and 2014. It found that five had been washed away completely and six more had been severely eroded. The study blamed the loss on a combination of sea-level rise and high wave energy. Continue reading...

Nearly 300 climbers and their guides are waiting for weather window this week after two climbing seasons marred by tragedyClimbers are hoping to reach the summit of Everest this week for the first time in almost three years, following two seasons marked by tragedies on the world’s highest mountain.

Coalition of wildlife groups write to US Bureau of Land Management asking them to remove Cliven Bundy’s cattle from federal land in NevadaEnvironmental groups have called on the government to round up Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy’s cattle with a mass seizure of livestock that some fear could lead to a tense standoff between armed militia groups and federal authorities.A coalition of wildlife organizations wrote to the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on Monday urging the agency to remove Bundy’s cattle in the Gold Butte area of Nevada, where the 70-year-old has for years allowed his cows to graze freely on public lands in defiance of federal land-use restrictions. Continue reading...

Survey finds 35,000 filling stations overtaken by more than 40,000 recharge points – although many belong to private ownersWhen it comes to electric vehicles, Japan is speeding ahead of the rest of the world, blissfully free of the range anxiety that afflicts plug-in drivers elsewhere.

Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten explored already well-worn themes on day two of the election 2016 campaign, despite the best efforts of the Greens to butt in, writes Elle Hunt • Sign up here to receive your Campaign catchup in your inbox every afternoonWith polls suggesting a tight contest, could we be heading towards another minority parliament?The Greens seem happy to fan that analysis, with Adam Bandt, the MP for Melbourne, telling Radio National the party would be open to forming a “stable progressive government” with Labor. Continue reading...

Moving towards low-carbon, climate-resilient transport and infrastructure is the best route to reducing poverty worldwideWill 2015 be a watershed in the human effort to solve global problems, or just another chapter in the history of collective inaction?The answer will soon become apparent on construction sites around the world. Continue reading...

UK routinely topped annual league table run by Ernst & Young but has slid to 13th place due to government’s ‘non-committal approach’The attractions of Britain for investors in renewable energy projects are at an all-time low, an authoritative new report has found.The UK routinely topped the annual league table for attractiveness to clean energy companies, run by consultancy Ernst & Young (EY), in the mid-2000s. For the first time, however, it has slid to 13th in the global rankings. Continue reading...

Pulborough Brooks, West Sussex Ten slender black and white birds are wading through the water, their red, stick-like legs folding and unfoldingA line of birdwatchers with telescopes are looking out from the Hanger viewpoint towards the grey pools below. Ducks and wading birds swim about or sleep on the banks of mud in the fine morning rain. Pete Hughes, a former warden here at RSPB Pulborough Brooks, and now warden at the nearby reserve at Medmerry, greets me: “The stilts are in the left-hand pool, towards the front.”Nothing else looks like the black-winged stilts. Ten slender black and white birds are wading through the water, their red, stick-like legs folding and unfolding delicately as they dip their long, needle-like beaks in the water. Only one is fully adult – a male – the rest are probably just over one year old. Continue reading...

Cosmetics company Lush has managed to combine record sales with controversial campaigns. Don’t expect others to copyLush likes to cause a stink. As well as its smelly shops and package-free produce, a large chunk of the handmade cosmetics company’s time and money is spent on political activism.Far from carefully choosing a few business-friendly good causes, Lush has backed a plethora of controversial causes from Guantanamo prisoners, to hunt saboteurs and the anti-fracking campaign. It does this through financial donations – totalling £5m a year in 2015 - and in-store products such as the May Day bath bombs, which supported activists opposed to the badger cull. It also supports groups in favour of peaceful resistance to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Continue reading...

Severe weather and dangerous swells hamper search for 2.5m pygmy or dwarf sperm whale found at Logans BeachWildlife officers are trying to find a small and rare whale that was found stranded at a Victorian beach on Monday evening, however their search efforts are being hampered by severe weather and dangerous swells.The adult whale, about 2.5m long, was found at Logans Beach in Victoria’s south-west and rescuers believe it to be either a pygmy sperm whale or a dwarf sperm whale. Continue reading...