Björk used to walk across the tundra singing at the top of her lungs. John Grant left America for its rocky grandeur and Sigur Rós’s music captures its isolation. What is it about the Icelandic landscape that hypnotises artists?“I was brought up in the suburbs of Reykjavík,” says Björk, sitting in a small cafe in the heart of the Icelandic capital while the rain skitters about outside. “I lived next to the last block of flats, and then it was moss and tundra. I used to walk a lot on my own and sing at the top of my lungs. I think a lot of Icelandic people do this. You don’t go to church or a psychotherapist – you go for a walk and feel better.”Iceland’s most celebrated musician is feeling particularly impassioned about her homeland: she had just held a press conference to raise awareness of the threat to the Icelandic highlands, an area of extraordinary beauty and ecological diversity that may be irreparably damaged by plans to lay a subsea power cable to the UK, accompanied by above-ground power stations and infrastructure. Continue reading...

The trial will now shift to defense for Don Blankenship, who could get up to 30 years in prison for breaking safety laws in worst US coal mine disaster in decadesThe prosecution rested Monday in the high-profile trial of ex-Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship after weeks of testimony asserting that he put dollars ahead of human safety in the years before the worst US coal mine disaster in decades.Now the trial pivots to the former coal executive’s multimillion-dollar defense. Continue reading...

Kenya’s coalition for wildlife has succeeded in bringing poaching under control. This article explains how it was doneSince 2013, according to the latest estimates, elephant deaths from poaching in Kenya are down by 80% and deaths of rhinos by 90%. This is a success story that deserves to be more widely known.Kenya was traditionally in the forefront of wildlife conservation in Africa. However, in 2008 the sale of ivory from four southern African countries to China and Japan triggered an explosive demand and poaching erupted across the continent.

The French footballer has been moonlighting as a partner of a biochemical company that could revolutionise the energy industry – and net him £20bn. Go on, my son!Name: Mathieu Flamini.Age: 31. Continue reading...

A simple machine can convert human waste to electricity and fertilisers. It is time to rethink how we treat this valuable resource

Creation and protection of wildlife areas is key as the effects of warming temperatures threaten birds, bees, butterflies and plants, says RSPB reportClimate change is already affecting UK nature, from seabirds to plants, with wildlife “increasingly at risk” as temperatures rise, conservationists have warned.A report from the RSPB shows the impact that warming temperatures in Europe are having on birds, bees, butterflies and plants and the risks of future impacts from more extreme storms, loss of habitat and disruption between predators and prey. Continue reading...

As the world gears up towards a crucial summit on tackling global warming, test your own green credentials with our quiz1How certain is the UN’s Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change that humans are responsible for global warming?65%75%85%95%2Which is the world’s biggest producer and consumer of energy?the USChinaIndiathe European Union3How many degrees has the world warmed since the large scale burning of fossil fuels began with the industrial revolution?0.1C1C10C100C4Who described the planet as “an immense pile of filth” earlier this year?Barack ObamaDonald Trumpthe Dalai Lamathe Pope5How did US senator James Inhofe attempt to demonstrate that global warming is ‘the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people?’he tried to put climate change scientists under criminal investigationhe threw a snowball across the floor of the US senatehe built an igloo outside the Capitol with signs that read “Al Gore’s home” and “honk if you love global warming”all of the above6What did Peabody, the world’s largest private coal firm, attempt to rebrand coal as a solution to?diseasepovertythe global economic crisisunhappiness7What is permafrost?the final ice layer to melt in the Arcticthe extra ice layer created when rain falls on top of icehigh carbon soil that has been frozen for more than two yearsthe frost created during a night-time snowfall, dreaded by skiers and gritters everywhere8What was the little ice age?The period in the middle of the century when temperatures droppedA cold period in the Northern Hemisphere around 500 years agoThe name given to the time when climate change scepticism became popular in the USA Disney film, rediscovered in the archives last year9What does the “350” in the environmental movement 350.org stand for?the level of CO2 that can safely remain in the atmospherethe number of months, on current trends, until the next great mass extinction of species on earththe number of times oil giant ExxonMobil has denied denying climate changethe number of proven fossil fuel reserves that companies own but cannot be burned if the world is to avoid dangerous climate change10Who or what is El Niño?the Costa Rican diplomat leading UN climate change talks in Paris this Decembera weather phenomenon that can warm the seas, prompting drought and floodingthe Spanish judge who is redefining environmental crimes in international law as crimes against humanityBrazil’s largest, scandal-hit oil giant11What’s going on in Paris next month?A mass participation sporting event to raise awareness of air pollutionThe mass destruction of tonnes of tonnes of illegal ivoryA landmark UN climate change conference to create a new deal on cutting greenhouse gas emissionsThe world’s biggest eco-art exhibition Continue reading...

Agencies warn of unchartered territory as strongest-ever El Niño threatens to batter vulnerable countries with extreme weather for monthsThe UN has warned of months of extreme weather in many of the world’s most vulnerable countries with intense storms, droughts and floods triggered by one of the strongest El Niño weather events recorded in 50 years, which is expected to continue until spring 2016.El Niño is a natural climatic phenomenon that sees equatorial waters in the eastern Pacific ocean warm every few years. This disrupts regular weather patterns such as monsoons and trade winds, and increases the risk of food shortages, floods, disease and forest fires. Continue reading...

Clean energy is preferable to coal-focussed policies which could leave a billion people still without electricity, analysis suggestsCoal power plants are not the solution to help billions of people without electricity or clean cooking facilities, aid agencies have warned.Analysis by Cafod, Christian Aid and thinktank the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) suggests that continuing with current energy policies that focus heavily on coal, risks leaving a billion people without access to electricity and three billion without access to clean cooking facilities by 2030. Continue reading...

Analysis of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation health charity, and 13 other major funds, reveals moving investments out of coal, oil and gas and into green companies would have generated billions in higher returnsThe Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would have had $1.9bn (£1.3bn) more to spend on its lifesaving health projects if it had divested from fossil fuels and instead invested in greener companies, according to a new analysis.The Canadian research company Corporate Knights examined the stock holdings of 14 funds, worth a combined $1tn, and calculated how they would have performed if they had dumped shares in oil, coal and gas companies three years ago. Continue reading...

Tibet is encouraging companies to tap the Himalayan glaciers for premium drinking water, but the environmental stakes are highIn the last two decades China has become the world’s largest bottled water consumer and a major producer. With per capita consumption 19% lower than global average, the market is expected to continue to grow.

The landscape has changed radically in the decade that LSE Cities’ Urban Age programme has travelled the world – but the questions it explores are more important than ever, writes Deyan SudjicOutside the echo chamber of religious fanaticism of all descriptions, this is not a moment in which the world is much given to declamatory statements about how things should be. Thinking about the future of the city, we are so traumatised by a century and a half of prescriptions for urbanism that have had only disastrous results that we have become cautious about making any kind of commitment to ideas or manifestos.We are certainly more sceptical than the generation of modernist architects of the 1930s who retreated to a cruise liner sailing across the Mediterranean to lay the ground for the Charter of Athens, the document that codified a city made up of parallel slabs of housing rising out of parkland, and where work, home and leisure were divided by functional zoning.

Anthorn, Solway Firth But it is the waders that drew us to the remote Solway estuary. Mudflats, marshes and tidal sands create a wetland teeming with lapwings, oystercatchers, dunlins and curlews, the high tide pushing them onto their saltmarsh roosts“Time is a thing,” says our minibus driver, with her duffle coat pegged up against the crisp westerlies as we alight in a layby near Campfield Marsh. “Like a bird on the wing.”“Come again?” asks a guy with Zeiss binoculars. “Just seems apt when we’re near Anthorn,” came the reply. “Birds everywhere. Like it says in the song we sang at school. There – look!” She points across the glittering upper Solway in the direction of Criffel (570m) as barnacle geese fly honking by, necks outstretched. “Birds on the wing!” As we watch, transfixed, she adds: “And over there? See those masts? Time!” Continue reading...

Twelve artists put together what might be the most inaccessible art exhibition in the worldWhen Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant went into meltdown on 11 March 2011, thousands of people jumped in their cars and fled north. Some had second thoughts. They stopped to check the direction of the wind, then drove in the opposite direction, away from the plume of radiation spreading from the stricken plant.

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 19 November 1915After bumping over frozen ruts in lanes bordered by frost-decorated hedges, I reached the mere, only to find the fog hanging in a dense curtain; indistinct lumps on the water, just beyond the fringe of ice, were birds, but what kinds it was almost impossible to tell. Just beyond the reeds a couple of goldeneyes, recognisable by form rather than colour, were feeding; they have frequented this spot for nearly a fortnight. As I walked through the wood the crisp rime-rimmed beech leaves rustled beneath my feet, and nervous wood-pigeons dashed with clattering wings through the leafless branches. But the same footfalls which scared the wood-pigeons attracted another bird – a robin. Not content with coming to visit me he called my attention by a subdued but sweet little warble, and then, hopping and flitting through the undergrowth, kept pace with me whilst I walked. Why this difference in birds? The wood-pigeon, except in the London parks, where it is now tame, distrusts man and shuns him at once, but the robin seeks his company. When we dig in the garden the robin comes for what it can get; we are then useful food providers; but what can it hope to gain from our presence in the wood? Apparently it hopes for nothing, but is simply pleased to see us: perhaps its little brain may also realise that we are pleased to see it, and for that reason it need have no fear. Continue reading...

Motorists told to drive ‘only if absolutely necessary’ after torrential rain and Environment Agency issues flood warnings

The sparkles from fireworks last a few seconds but the air pollution can linger in our cities for hours.Firework smoke is rich in tiny metal particles making it very different to normal urban air pollution. These metals are used to make firework colours in much the same way as Victorian scientists identified chemicals by burning them in a Bunsen flame; red from strontium or lithium, blue from copper and bright green or white from barium compounds. Continue reading...

My twin brother, Jonathan, who has died aged 69, helped ignite the modern environmental movement. In the early 70s he was a founding member of Friends of the Earth UK, set up the National Union of Students’ environment committee, and was an organiser of the first United Nations youth conference on the human environment.A lover of hitchhiking and hostelling, in 1973 Jonathan received a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust fellowship and campaigned as an environmental activist in London, Japan and New Zealand. He was the author of three books on the environment, including Consumers’ Guide to the Protection of the Environment (1974). Continue reading...

Cycling writer Rob Penn takes an enjoyable change of direction – into the woods“I grew up under an ash tree,” Robert Penn writes at the start of his new book. Really, his point is that we all did. The oak might have inspired more poetry, and the willow has a more evocative name. Ash was never used to make “stately furniture” or “Her Majesty’s ships”. But Penn argues that for all its apparent lack of glory, ash has been, at least in Europe, our most intimate sylvan companion.Fraxinus excelsior has certainly been put to an exhausting variety of quotidian but essential uses: primitive bicycles, barrows, tool handles, cartwheels, fishing rods, looms, ladders, joists, beams, butcher’s blocks, charcoal, toboggans – even Achilles’s spear. To Penn’s eyes, the freshly sawn wood is “pinkish white and disturbingly like human flesh”. When the situation calls for an unfussy, dependable wood, it is to ash that we have turned, but the literature about it is surprisingly thin on the ground. Continue reading...

Food tech firm makes alternative to Asian delicacy that kills 73 million fish a yearA new San Francisco startup is hoping to combat the trade in shark fins with biotechnology.New Wave Foods is planning to use genetically modified yeast to produce collagen, which can be crafted into the desired fan-like structure typical of shark fins. “You start with a gel and then stretch it into the right conformation,” says Jenny Kaehms, a bioengineer and co-founder of the company. Continue reading...

World leaders must come up with a plan at this month’s climate change conference in ParisWe Homo sapiens got lucky. Very lucky. Back in the 1920s, when looking for a “safe” gas to use in refrigerators, chlorine was the element of choice in a new family of manmade chemical compounds – chlorofluorocarbons. In the 1970s, Paul Crutzen, Mario Molina and Sherwood Rowland discovered that while it was safe in our fridges, it was destroying the ozone layer, which is essential to protect all life on land.Luck struck twice. Nasa scientists measuring ozone above Antarctica in the 1980s never saw the ozone hole in their data. Their computers were programmed to ignore any figures deemed “impossible”. Luckily, the British Antarctic Survey had no such technology and sounded the alarm. In 1997, nations signed the Montreal Protocol outlawing CFCs. Continue reading...

Paris summit must recognise spreading health danger posed by global warming, says Wellcome Trust directorEpidemics of dengue fever and other tropical diseases could soon affect people in Britain because of global warming, one of the world’s leading medical experts has warned. Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, said he also believed the planet is already being affected by many other serious health threats triggered by climate change – including malnutrition and deaths from air pollution.However, these dangers were not being given proper attention by world leaders, added Farrar, an expert on infectious diseases. Climate negotiators heading to Paris this month did not appear to have understood the widespread impact that global warming has already had on Earth. “I don’t think the health community has had a big enough input into climate talks,” Farrar told the Observer. “Bodies like the World Health Organisation have not made their voices heard.” Continue reading...

As the world prepares for the UN Paris climate summit, the world is at a tipping point. But a political and scientific revolution could yet save itWe Homo sapiens got lucky. Very lucky. Back in the 1920s, when looking for a “safe” gas to use in refrigerators, chlorine was the element of choice in a new family of manmade chemical compounds – chlorofluorocarbons. In the 1970s, Paul Crutzen, Mario Molina and Sherwood Rowland discovered that while it was safe in our fridges, it was destroying the ozone layer, which is essential to protect all life on land.Luck struck twice. Nasa scientists measuring ozone above Antarctica in the 1980s never saw the ozone hole in their data. Their computers were programmed to ignore any figures deemed “impossible”. Luckily, the British Antarctic Survey had no such technology and sounded the alarm. In 1987, nations signed the Montreal Protocol outlawing CFCs. Continue reading...

The Paris attacks, Europe’s refugee crisis, the election in Myanmar – the best photography in news, culture and sport from around the world this week Continue reading...

Month’s rainfall forecast to fall in 24 hours in some areas, with special pumps dispatched to Cumbria where flood risk is greatestPeople in northern England and Wales have been warned to brace themselves for possible flooding as another band of heavy rain sweeps across the UK.The Met Office has issued amber warnings of severe weather for north-west Wales and parts of north-west England, with the Environment Agency saying Cumbria, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, and North and West Yorkshire are at risk from significant river and localised flooding on Saturday evening and into Sunday. Continue reading...

Green roofs are sprouting up all over the place, but what's the point of putting plants on top of buildings?Green roofs are sprouting up all over the place but what's the point of putting plants on top of buildings?On the show, Jane Perrone talks to green roof guru Dusty Gedge about high-rise wildlife habitats and how to build a green roof on a budget, and visits David Matzdorf's exotic green roof in London. Plus she gives us a tour of her very own green roof and plants some new additions Continue reading...

Businesses and cities are installing state of the art parking facilities for the swelling ranks of cyclists, but will they pay to park?For all those cyclists who leave their bike at the station only to spend the rest of the day worrying it will be stolen or vandalised, there may be hope in the form of a German-designed tower.“When you get to a train station these days, you see 150 metres of bikes. We need much more compact solutions,” says Nick Child, managing director of Cardok, which will distribute the Radhaus tower in Britain. (Radhaus is a pun on the German word Rad, which means bicycle, and Rathaus, which means city hall.) “We need much more compact solutions.” Continue reading...

Householders are rushing to take advantage of generous Fits before they are cut in January – and you can tooAround 655,000 homes – less than 3% of the UK’s housing stock – have solar panels, but if government plans to slash the industry subsidy go ahead, further installations could be halted, campaigners are warning.The solar industry, backed by at least 35 MPs, is proposing an alternative plan to encourage further installations while adding just £1 to the average electricity bill. But amid fears their plea will fall on deaf ears, householders are rushing to take advantage of feed-in tariffs (Fits) while they last. Continue reading...

‘Cover it with something to keep the rain off. Some people use upturned dustbins’In the spring I bought two small banana plants. They have grown well on my south-west-facing patio, but I’m not sure how to care for them now winter is approaching. Should I bring them inside, fleece them or maybe even cut foliage off?You need to keep the worst of the winter rain off; this is the main enemy, rotting the crown of the plant. The foliage will blacken after the first hard frost and start to rot, so you will need to remove this. You can, if you like, cut the banana back before it is frosted: leave a stump a foot or so high. Mulch around the base of the plant with very well-rotted garden compost or bark mulch, wrap the crown up with fleece, then cover it with something to keep the rain off. Some people use upturned dustbins (depending on the size of the plant); perhaps you could use a cloche, which would look more attractive. Continue reading...

Bretton Clough, Derbyshire Tibetan lamas speak of sacred hidden valleys that offer spiritual refuge. If such a place exists in north Derbyshire then this is it – a narrow, steeply sided valley, thick with trees, that seemed full of secrets and surprisesAt Abney Manor, a dozen goldfinches burst into the air, light catching their red faces and the broad yellow bar on their wings. I stopped to watch, and then looked down into Bretton Clough.Tibetan lamas speak of beyul, sacred hidden valleys that offer spiritual refuge. If such a place exists in north Derbyshire then this is it. Its watershed divides Eyam and Shatton moors, a narrow, steeply sided valley, thick with trees, that feels remote and convoluted in clear weather, but today seemed full of secrets and surprises. Continue reading...

Met Office issues amber warnings, the second highest, and Environment Agency says parts of northern England face significant river floodingAreas of north-west England, Yorkshire and north Wales, as well as all of Northern Ireland, have been warned to be prepare for heavy rain on Saturday after storm Abigail left thousands without power and closed schools.The Met Office put in place a series of amber warnings, the second highest, while the Environment Agency warned that communities in northern England faced the risk of significant river flooding over the weekend. Continue reading...

From transport and gentrification to community initiatives, readers from Mexico City shared their stories and photos of life in the capital – and how it’s changingThroughout our special Mexico City week, we’ve welcomed residents’ stories of the Mexican capital today and how it is changing, in order to understand a fuller and broader view of life in the city. Through GuardianWitness, Whatsapp, Twitter and emails, you shared your pictures, videos and experiences with us – and we’ve published a selection below. Thank you to everyone who contributed. Continue reading...

Toxic mudslide from collapse of dams spreads as BHP Billiton fined $66mNine people are now confirmed dead, and a further 19 remain unaccounted for as a slow-motion environmental catastrophe continues to unfold following the collapse of two mining dams in Brazil’s mineral-rich state of Minas Gerais.Eight days after the town of Bento Rodrigues was swept away by 50m cubic metres of toxic mud, a slow-moving tide of toxic iron-ore residue is oozing downriver, polluting the water supply of hundreds of thousands of residents as it makes its way to the ocean. Continue reading...

VW sales drop by 1.5% in Europe but rise in North America in October, a month after it admitted rigging nitrogen oxide testsVolkswagen car sales fell worldwide last month as the German carmaker counted the cost of the emissions rigging scandal.VW sold 490,000 cars of its namesake brand last month, 5.3% fewer than a year earlier, while its Czech brand Å koda was down 2.7% and Spanish marque Seat dropped 3.1%. Commercial vehicles registered a sharper decline of 9.8%. Audi sales held up with 2% growth, while Porsche raced ahead with an 18% increase. Continue reading...

For eight years, Gideon Mendel has travelled the globe, photographing people whose lives have been devastated by floods. Here are his images of a drowning world

Since 2007, Gideon Mendel has photographed lives turned upside down by floods. What do his latest images reveal?• See more images from Gideon Mendel’s flood project

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...

Tesco’s ‘fast-frozen’ de-stoned and peeled avocado packs could help to cut down on the 54,000 tonnes of stone fruit wasted in Britain each year, say expertsToo slow to ripen or too squidgy and brown inside, avocados often end up contributing to the UK’s food waste mountain. But Tesco believes it has the answer to our avocado woes: frozen ones, de-stoned, peeled and ripe when they thaw out.On sale from this weekend, in what is believed to be a first for a UK supermarket, the frozen avocados will also be cheaper than the fresh fruit at £2.50 for nine halves. Continue reading...

California senator and actor explodes tusk in video to draw attention to illegal wildlife trade that kills tens of thousands of elephants each yearThe all-action movie star and former California senator Arnold Schwarzenegger has lent his weight to a campaign against ivory poaching by blowing up an elephant tusk on camera.The Wildlife Conservation Society’s ‘96 elephants campaign’ aims to draw attention to the daily death toll of the majestic animals. Continue reading...

Hundreds of pupils in Tower Hamlets given next week off as pest control teams attempt to tackle outbreakTwo primary schools have been forced to close after they became infested with false widow spiders.Hundreds of pupils who attend the Osmani and Thomas Buxton primary schools in Tower Hamlets, east London, have been told they won’t have to go in for the next week as pest controllers try to tackle the outbreak. Continue reading...

It’s been a tough year for coal industry PR. Whether it’s coal, oil or fracking, some PR execs will stop at nothing to improve the reputation of fossil fuels. To demonstrate, the Guardian teamed up with UCB Comedy to uncover what’s really going on inside fossil fuel industry boardrooms. Continue reading...

Thirsty bees, sleeping lions and a tiny elephant shrew are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

Members of different denominations embark on a two week long march to the Paris climate change talks to raise awareness of environmental issues“Not getting lost in London will probably be the first hurdle,” laughed Jade Till, a teacher from Stroud, before adding that walking 19 miles on a cold November day will also be a challenge.Sat in the crypt of St Martin’s-in-the-Fields on the edge of Trafalgar Square on Friday, Till was about to walk 200 miles to Paris on a two week “pilgrimage” to crunch UN climate change talks where world leaders aim to negotiate a new deal on limiting greenhouse gas emissions. Continue reading...