Demand by hundreds of academics from Oxford and Cambridge universities for evidence-based investment policies could include divestment from fossil fuelsHundreds of academics from the universities of Cambridge and Oxford are demanding their institutions adopt an “evidence-based, morally sound investment policy that serves the needs of the future”, which could include divestment from fossil fuels.The call is supported by Lord Deben, chair of the government’s official climate change advisory committee; Prof David Mackay, former chief scientist at the Department of Energy and Climate Change; the incoming president of the Royal Society, Sir Venki Ramakrishnan, and the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, as well as 300 other academics. Continue reading...

For more than 30 years, John Thompson, who has died aged 74, was the city of Oxford’s landscape architect. Si monumentum requiris, circumspice: his magnificent legacy to the city can be seen at every turn – he initiated Oxford in Bloom and the Forest of Oxford scheme, oversaw planting of trees in every crevice and corner of the city, and created enchanting wildlife sanctuaries in Boars Hill, Shotover, Cutteslowe, Grandpont, Wolvercote and Burgess Field. He was a passionate advocate of allowing nature as much freedom as possible by the promotion of indigenous species linking landscape to surrounding buildings.He was also a collector of modern art and a passionate supporter of Bauhaus, Corbusier, brutalism, Didcot power station, modernism and postmodernism in all its guises. But this paradox emanated from his underlying deep aesthetic – an intuitive understanding of how landscape and buildings should interact harmoniously with each other. Continue reading...

The murder of helicopter pilot Roger Gower while protecting Tanzania’s wildlife is the latest example of those on the frontline in the war against illegal ivory being outnumbered and outgunnedThe death of Roger Gower, shot through his helicopter by AK47 while protecting Tanzania’s game reserves from poachers, is the culmination of a worrying trend in the east African nation that has seen its wildlife populations plummet in recent years.In 2014 a helicopter donated to the Tanzanian government to help the anti-poaching operations crashed, killing four. In December last year, Tanzania National Parks’ head of anti-poaching Emily Kisamo was murdered. Four have been charged, but there are still uncertainties as to the reasons for his killing, or the cause of the helicopter crash. Continue reading...

New Moscow exhibition showcases young artists playing with stereotypes of Soviet-era suburban landscapes Continue reading...

Joshua Gilbert says he was told he would be publicly attacked if he spoke out against the association’s policy on clearing of native vegetationA dispute inside a New South Wales farming lobby group over permission to clear native vegetation has led to one of its most prominent voices resigning, after personal threats he alleges were made against him.Joshua Gilbert, who was formerly the chair of the NSW Farmers young farmers committee and was also on the NSW Farmers executive, resigned last week citing “philosophical differences” over the group’s policy on land clearing. He said he received threats from a member of NSW Farmers saying he would be publicly attacked if he spoke out against the policy. Continue reading...

Huge project clears one more hurdle, but financial uncertainty still hovers over the mine and related rail and port construction at Abbot PointAdani has secured an environmental permit from the Queensland government to build Australia’s largest coal mine.The Indian conglomerate was issued an environmental authority for its Carmichael mine, west of Bowen in north Queensland, by the department of environment and heritage on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Claxton, Norfolk They seem to watch us as much as we look at them. It is the piercing glare of equalsWhat is it about owls that’s so captivating? I’m sure one part of the allure is that array of night noises which passes for owl communication. Frequently we have barn owls land on our bedroom roof, where they delight in waking us with a coarse, breathy hiss that sounds like something concocted for a zombie out the crypt in an old Hammer Horror film. Earhhhhhhh!Even better is tawny owl song, which has begun this week and is the earliest marker of winter’s breakdown. It reminds me in one specific sense of its diurnal twin, the cockerel’s dawn clarion. They both arc across the sky and fall towards you out of some indeterminate space. Continue reading...

Europe’s offshore wind capacity doubles in one year but the UK falls behind Germany in the clean energy race, despite attracting more investmentGermany has overtaken the UK in the rate at which it is installing wind turbines at sea, industry figures show.Globally, wind installations grew by 25% in 2014, reaching a landmark 62,000 MW of capacity, according to a separate report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). Continue reading...

Pictures from Tasmania’s central plateau, shot by wilderness photographer Dan Broun, show the extraordinary damage wrought by more than a week of bushfires following lightning strikes in Australia’s southernmost state on 13 January. The world heritage area was home to a range of unique alpine flora including pencil pines, king billy pines and cushion plants, some more than 1,000 years old. Now more than 10,000ha of land has been incinerated, and ecologist say that, unlike eucalyptus trees, the ancient flora will not recover Continue reading...

The airline hopes to test technology later this year which would allow its planes to taxi to and from the runway using zero-emissions fuelEasyJet has unveiled plans to use hydrogen fuel cells on its aircraft to save up to 50,000 tonnes of fuel a year and cut its carbon emissions.The airline hopes to trial technology later this year that would allow planes to taxi to and from the runway using zero-emissions fuel. Continue reading...

This is midwinter day, the halfway point between the winter solstice and spring equinox. The days are rapidly getting longer, by about four minutes, and it is marked as a significant day in many cultures. February 2 is celebrated by Christians as Candlemas, when the church candles are blessed, and by pagans as the Festival of Light. In America it is Groundhog Day, when this animal’s behaviour is said to foretell whether spring is coming.Related: Weatherwatch: Candlemas and the folklore factor Continue reading...

Board terms expire, leaving body tasked with investing in emerging technology in hands of department secretary for second time in two yearsAll appointed board members of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency have had their terms expire and have not been replaced, leaving it governed by the secretary of the Department of the Environment, Guardian Australia has learned.Related: Australia's carbon emissions are increasing, government report shows Continue reading...

Hassan Rouhani charmed his way around Europe, but Iran is still fuelling the war in SyriaPresident Hassan Rouhani’s whirlwind visit to Europe last week was an indication both of how eager Iran is to shed its pariah status and of how eager western countries are to resume trade and financial relations now that international sanctions are being lifted. Dozens of contracts running into billions of dollars were discussed. He met the pope, the Italian prime minister, the French president, and many business leaders.The security services continue to harass and detain activists, writers and journalists Continue reading...

As a pilot is shot down trying to stop elephant poaching, the extent of big game slaughter is becoming clear. But we must get to the cause of the problemThe death of the British helicopter pilot Roger Gower, shot down by elephant poachers over a game reserve in Tanzania, shows the dangers faced by the heroes attempting to save our most charismatic mammals from extinction.We are in the midst of a crazy killing spree, the slaughtering of elephants, rhinos and lions on a scale never before witnessed on Earth. The 1989 ban on the international trade in ivory and conservation efforts that helped populations of big African animals recover in the 1990s now looks like a golden age. In 2007, 13 rhinos were poached in South Africa. In 2014, 1,215 were poached. Last year, numbers fell for the first time since 2007 – to 1,175. More than 129,000 elephants have been killed for their ivory since 2012. Continue reading...

Police have joined forces with Guard From Above, a raptor-training security firm based in the Hague, to keep wayward drones from causing troubleAs the use of drones increasingly worries everyone from firefighters and air traffic control to law enforcement, Netherlands’ national police have aligned themselves with a group that hates flying robots on principle: the bald eagle.Dutch police have joined forces with Guard From Above, a raptor-training security firm based in the Hague, to keep wayward drones from causing trouble by snatching them out of the sky. Continue reading...

My admiration for Peter Tatchell has been boosted by his admission that he was wrong about an issue (I’ve changed my mind on the gay cake row, 1 February). We need more people in public life who are prepared to admit they were wrong.

Deal marries interests of First Nations, environmentalists and logging industry, who will see 15% of Great Bear forest available under ‘most stringent’ standardsBritish Columbia is set to announce a historic agreement to protect a vast swath of rainforest along its coastline, having reached a deal that marries the interests of First Nations, the logging industry and environmentalists after a decade of often-tense negotiations.

Local reports were confirmed when a population of previously unknown lions was caught on camera trap in the remote Alatash national parkConservationists have announced the “amazing discovery” of a previously unknown lion population in a remote north-western region of Ethiopia, confirming local reports with camera trap photographs for the first time.

Kary Stewart visits shanty towns close to the coast of Peru, where people driven from inland regions by poverty are resettling on dangerous ground

With the arrival of February the end of winter is in sight for the northern hemisphere, as the southern hemisphere enjoys the remains of summer. We’d like to see your photos of the February wildlife near youWith recent flood warnings and winter storms, the northern hemisphere will be glad to see the back of January. The arrival of February hopefully means slightly milder temperatures and spring just around the corner. The southern hemisphere will be preparing to say goodbye to the summer as autumn approaches. So what sort of wildlife will we all discover on our doorsteps? We’d like to see your photos of the February wildlife near you.Share your photos and videos with us and we’ll feature our favourites on the Guardian site. Continue reading...

Join a panel of experts online on Wednesday 17 February 10am GMT to discuss how to improve the working conditions and livelihoods of migrant workers

Gupta family’s investment of around £10m will finance development of the technology in the UK and IndiaThe development of tidal lagoon schemes has received a boost with a commitment of millions of pounds to the technology in the UK and India.The investment by the Gupta family, thought to be around £10m, will give it a substantial stake in Tidal Lagoon Plc, a holding company set up to finance the development of full-scale tidal lagoons to generate clean power in the UK and abroad. Continue reading...

A consortium of Dutch government, NGOs and businesses has proposed solutions to Guanabara Bay’s pollution. But cash-strapped Brazil can’t payWith the Olympic Games just months away, Rio de Janeiro has a problem: rubbish. Hundreds of tonnes of unprocessed waste flow into the Guanabara Bay every year. The problem isn’t new but the prospect of Olympic swimmers and sailors taking to Rio’s contaminated waters have put the issue in the spotlight.Previous promises from Rio officials to “regenerate Rio’s magnificent waterways” through investment in sanitation have not delivered results. Could the Dutch environment ministry have better luck? In an ambitious and diplomatically unorthodox move it has pulled together some of the country’s leading waste experts, including businesses and NGOs, to propose a variety of innovative solutions under the name Clean Urban Delta Initiative [pdf]. Continue reading...

Ted Cruz has presented ‘misleading’ information in the Senate, scientists say, while Marco Rubio rejects ‘destroying our economy’ – despite pleas for action coming from officials in his own stateThey have bloviated about carpet bombing, bickered about walls, and waxed anti-Muslim and -migrant, but over more than 16 hours of debate, the Republican candidates for president have almost entirely ignored what most of the world fears most: the rising tides and temperatures of climate change.Related: Election live: Trump and Clinton lead on day of Iowa caucuses Continue reading...

Roger Gower, 37, manoeuvred helicopter into tree in Serengeti park, giving friend time to jump before it crashedA British pilot shot dead by elephant poachers in Tanzania was a close friend and housemate of the colleague whose life he saved, his brother has said.Roger Gower, 37, from Birmingham, was tracking criminals who had killed three elephants near the Serengeti national park when one poacher opened fire. A high-calibre bullet passed through the floor of the helicopter, hitting Gower first in the leg then in the shoulder before exiting through the roof. Continue reading...

The growth in renewable energy is fuelling new jobs in Asia and Africa. Meet three beneficiaries of the new green economy from Zambia, Pakistan and KenyaWhile the price of oil is plummeting, taking with it a significant number of jobs, the renewable energy job market is booming. It is estimated that it will grow to 24m jobs worldwide by 2030 – up from 9.2m reported in 2014 – according to analysis by the International Renewable Energy Industry (Irena), which predicts that doubling the proportion of renewables in the global energy mix would increase GDP by up to $1.3tn across the world.The rise and rise of the solar industry has been the largest driver of growth. In 2014, it accounted for more than 2.5m jobs, largely in operations, maintenance and manufacturing – now increasingly dominated by a jobs boom in Asia. Continue reading...

The secret life of a pig farmer: I don’t earn enough, given the hours I work and the injuries I get. But at least David Cameron hasn’t bothered my animals yetHaving worked in administration for over 10 years, the decision to pursue a career in farming may perhaps not have seemed the obvious choice for a 28-year-old woman, but four years ago that is exactly what I did. Following a serious health scare, the opportunity to get involved with the family business was something that I didn’t want to pass up. I left a job that I loved and my life in the city and moved 100 miles away to run a 300-acre mixed arable and livestock farm in a rural area.Related: Cheap imports force UK pig farmers out of business Continue reading...

German discounter says all bananas it sells will be certified by Rainforest Alliance or Fairtrade Foundation by end of yearGerman discount supermarket Lidl is seeking to boost its environmental credentials by announcing it is taking steps to buy all its bananas from 100% sustainable sources this year.

Annandale, Dumfries and Galloway We inhabit the same earth, the coal tits and I, but live in different worlds. I can fly at liberty around mine but cannot hope to enter theirs. Looking at their lives is like peering down at a country where I cannot land.The sky is overcast and the air smells softly of smoke in the still, snow-muffled high reaches of Annandale above Moffat. From within a dark stand of conifers comes a chirping as soft as grasshoppers. The source is a band of coal tits, their subtle winter-coloured plumage a match for the surrounding environment.These birds are biologically distinct in part because of their adaptations to life in coniferous woodland, with a more slender beak than blue or great tits. Tiny tufts of snow sit precariously on the sprigs of the branches but somehow stay in place as the birds rummage within the needles for insect food, so delicate is their fidgety but precise work. Continue reading...

The company has won plaudits for its admission of forced labour in the Thai seafood industry but much of the supply chain remains hiddenIt’s hard to think of an issue that you would less like your company to be associated with than modern slavery. Yet last November Nestlé, the world’s largest foodmaker and one of the most recognisable household brands, went public with the news it had found forced labour in its supply chains in Thailand and that its customers were buying products tainted with the blood and sweat of poor, unpaid and abused migrant workers.By independently disclosing that Nestlé customers had unwittingly bought products contaminated by the very worst labour abuses, the company said it was moving into a new era of self-policing of its own supply chains. A year-long investigation by the company confirmed media reports that the seafood industry in Thailand is riddled with forced labour and human trafficking and that slave labour was involved in the production of its Fancy Feast catfood brand.

Treasury committee chair Andrew Tyrie says more information required over reasons for Davies report’s conclusionsA decision on airport expansion is being taken on the basis of “opaque” information, a senior MP has warned.Andrew Tyrie, chair of the influential Commons Treasury select committee, said parliament and the public had been left partly in the dark on the case for a new runway at Heathrow. Continue reading...

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 4 February 1916The sleepers awaken; indeed in many cases winter slumbers have been light and fitful. Up and down the lane, between and round the black-budded ashes and above the grassy borders, where pale green nettles form thick and treacherous beds for those who would pick the first flowers, the bats fly at dusk. Early this week it was not one bold straggler who had ventured out to test the weather, but whole colonies were on the wing; in less than a mile I counted ten different bats, and at least of two species. Evidently it was not a disappointing effort on their part, for the air was full of dancing winter gnats, though no doubt less full when the bats ended their crepuscular flight.A correspondent, writing from Old Colwyn, speaks of another early riser, a small tortoise-shell butterfly, which she saw sunning its beautiful wings. In autumn this fly sought out some sheltered and cosy retreat, and, folding those many-coloured wings so that the marbled under-surface alone was visible, slept the sleep of the just - dreamless or otherwise we cannot tell. Unlike too energetic wasps, however, its awakening will probably not be useless; it can fulfil its life-history. The same warm touch which stirred its stiffened limbs had pushed on those young nettles beneath the hedge: they are ready to receive the eggs which the fly has waited so long and patiently to give them. She may have emerged late in the autumn, and at once, after one rapturous nuptial flight, have sunk into winter oblivion, and, when the nettle bed is found and provided with its future colony of stiff-spined caterpillars, she may pass at once into the deeper sleep of death; but if the eggs are safely deposited, however short her life as a perfect insect, she will have played her part in the economy of nature. Continue reading...

Every hour or so the “Old Faithful” geyser in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, shoots a column of boiling water up to 50m into the air. This incredible natural spectacle, along with multiple other geothermal features and the one to two thousand earthquakes that occur every year, are just some of the signs that this region is sitting atop a whopping great volcano. The last super-eruption was nearly 640,000 years ago, but gentle swelling of the ground indicates that the underlying magma chamber is refilling, and Yellowstone will erupt again one day.Related: Yellowstone national park: scientists discover huge magma chamber Continue reading...

National Audit Office to investigate taxpayer value for money in George Osborne’s scrapping of CCS and question plans to secure UK energy supplyThe National Audit Office is to investigate George Osborne’s decision to scrap a £1bn prototype carbon capture scheme which cost the taxpayer at least £60m, a letter seen by the Guardian shows.