Groups applaud review that will assess how federal coal production fits in with the US’s commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas emissionsThe Obama administration will halt new coal mining on public land for the next three years with immediate effect as it undertakes a review of the “environmental and public health impacts” of coal production.

Who will win in the fight against climate change: mounting scientific evidence, or a lone climate change denier? Play our game to find out. Guide The Lone Denier through the levels as he tries to shut down evidence that climate change is real Continue reading...

A snowy owl, beached whales and a majestic fan throated lizard are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

England set to break extended deadline to meet EU water pollution targets and already risks legal action for failing to meet original 2015 deadline, reports ENDSMost rivers, lakes and coastal and ground waters in England will still not meet legally binding EU water pollution targets by 2021 – six years after the initial deadline.According to the Environment Agency’s (EA) draft river basin management plans (RBMPs), analysed by ENDS, compliance with Water Framework Directive (WFD) standards will have risen to just 25% in 2021, up from 17% in 2015 (see table 1).

Italian city’s mayor postpones daytime curb of pre-1999 motorcycles intended to reduce smog after #handsoffmyvespa social media campaignScooter owners in Genoa, birthplace of the Vespa, are celebrating a partial victory after the city’s mayor postponed a ban on models produced before 1999 intended to tackle pollution.The hashtag #handsoffmyvespa went viral on social media, with furious riders in the north-west coastal city – which boasts more motorcycles per capita than anywhere else in Italy – taking up the slogan: “Born in Genoa, dies in Genoa.” Continue reading...

South Uist Those flying with the wrong species extricate themselves quickly and dash after their companionsWhatever the season, the machair is alive with birds. In spring and summer it is the story of singles and then pairs, as individuals sing and perform their aerial displays to advertise their worth as breeding partners. In autumn and winter it is about flocks both large and small, as resident birds congregate and are joined by others who have flown in from the north to find an easier winter.Today 100 or so lapwing are roosting in a field adjacent to the machair track. All facing the same direction, they stand motionless, apart from the occasional shift of position from a restless bird. Much as I dislike the idea of disturbing a resting flock, I’m going to have to pass close to them. Hoping to appear less of a threat, I turn my head slightly away and look down, shooting a sidelong glance now and again to see if there is any sign of unease among the lapwing. Continue reading...

A camera trap captured pictures of a herd roaming through the remote Cardamom mountains, spelling success for 14-year conservation effortRare footage of an elephant herd roaming through Cambodia’s biggest forest sanctuary has signalled the success of a 14-year conservation programme and raised hopes for the endangered species’ survival.

In a vision of the Biblical plagues and with an almighty stench, thousands of squid have washed up on Chilean shores. Residents of the Island of Santa Maria in the country’s south first noticed the molluscs on Sunday night, lying as a fleshy film over the sand. The decomposing molluscs are raising concerns of health risks for locals Continue reading...

Move comes in ongoing dispute with Delaware North, the company that lost a $2bn bid to run the national park’s hotels, restaurants and outdoor activitiesThe names of iconic hotels and other landmarks in the world-famous Yosemite national park will soon change in an ongoing battle over who owns the intellectual property, park officials said Thursday.

Hurricane Alex develops near Azores in water barely warm enough for any storm to form, say US researchersA hurricane has formed far out in the Atlantic Ocean, the first time such an event has happened in January since 1938, US officials said.Hurricane Alex’s maximum sustained winds were near 85mph (140kmh) and residents of Portugal’s mid-Atlantic Azores islands were warned to expect waves up to 60ft (18 metres) high and wind gusts up to 100mph. Continue reading...

California gas company’s own samples from Porter Ranch community contained at least twice the amount of benzene that air regulators consider normalThe utility whose leaking natural gas well has driven thousands of Los Angeles residents from their homes has publicly understated the number of times airborne levels of the cancer-causing chemical benzene have spiked over the past three months, the company’s own data suggests.

State officials argue the EPA is responsible for a Colorado mining spill in August 2015 that deposited 3m gallons of toxins into riverbeds and lands in four statesNew Mexico announced on Thursday that it plans to sue the US Environmental Protection Agency over the toxic Colorado mining spill that sent 3m gallons of waste into the Animas and San Juan rivers.New Mexico officials have filed a notice of intent to sue, the first step in filing a lawsuit against the federal government, arguing that the EPA is responsible for the massive spill on 5 August that deposited toxins into the riverbeds and agricultural lands of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona. Continue reading...

Rosia Montana declared site of historical interest, granting it protection from Gabriel Resources, which has tried for 15 years to extract 300 tonnes of goldA Romanian village where a Canadian firm is planning a controversial open-cast goldmine has been declared a site of historical interest, granting it protection from mining activity.“Rosia Montana village has been designated a place of historic site of national interest which has a radius of two kilometres [just over a mile],” said Adrian Balteanu, the Romanian culture ministry’s adviser on cultural heritage. Continue reading...

Down is wonderfully warm, but campaigners say the live-plucking of geese is cruel and prevalent. Companies have brought in new policies but doubts lingerThis year’s El Niño-inspired warm winter is probably a source of frustration for anyone who shelled out hundreds of dollars on a down coat last year, and was looking forward to showing it off again. Last year, Canadian jacket-maker Canada Goose became so popular that the company experienced a problem with counterfeiting, and the company says it’s on course for US sales to grow 50% in 2016. You can be sure that when the temperature finally drops (and it’s starting to), the ubiquitous Canada Goose logo will probably regain its place on every other sleeve in America.Other brands, such as North Face and Patagonia, are also finding plenty of takers for their down coats, despite the often eye-watering prices confronting shoppers. But animal welfare groups warn that consumers should be careful over their purchases due to increasing awareness of the suffering that can go into the production of warm jackets with down, the soft fluffy feathers that lie next to the skin of geese and ducks.

Research from the University of Sheffield argues audits are working for corporations but failing workers and the environment

Study finds global warming made Britain 50-75% more likely to receive catastrophic rainfall that caused floods, but natural variation also played a roleClimate change made the UK’s record December rainfall, which caused the devastating floods, 50-75% more likely, a preliminary scientific investigation has found.“Greenhouse gas emissions are loading the weather dice towards these warmer, wetter winters,” said Friederike Otto, scientific coordinator of the climateprediction.net project, which harnessed the collective power of roughly 70,000 home computers to run thousands of climate models extremely quickly. Continue reading...

Conservation action plan for England’s most threatened bird of prey has taken traditionally opposing groups more than four years to agreeLandowners, shooters, gamekeepers and conservationists have backed a long-delayed government plan to resolve a deep-rooted conflict over England’s most threatened bird of prey.The fate of the hen harrier in the English uplands has been of serious concern following years of illegal persecution by gamekeepers who have used poisoned bait to protect the grouse-shooting interests of landowners. Continue reading...

Backers of proposed airport to north-west of French city seek eviction of farmers in case that has become symbolic for French environmentalistsMore than 1,000 protesters thronged the entrance to a court in Nantes on Wednesday as a hearing began that could evict the last 11 families living along the route of a proposed airport.Aéroport du Grand Ouest (AGO), a subsidiary of Vinci Airports, is requesting fines of up to €1,000 per person per day against hold-out farmers, as well as the seizure of farm properties and animals. Continue reading...

Dauria, that has led ecological campaigns for 20 years, joins nearly 100 environmental and human rights groups hit by law preventing them from receiving funding from abroadAn ecological centre in Russia’s far east has become the latest environmental group to be declared a “foreign agent” amid a wider crackdown on NGOs.

Festival founder Michael Eavis in court to hear accusations that protected trout were killed due to leak in steel sewage tank during 2014 eventGlastonbury festival has admitted breaching environmental regulations after human waste from the site polluted a nearby river.The incident happened after a steel tank used to store sewage from festivalgoers sprung a leak during the event in June 2014. A “large quantity” of sewage filtered into the river Whitelake, causing harm to fish and water quality, a district judge was told. Continue reading...

‘Delta Five’ blocked oil train in Washington but say their actions were moral as judge gives them a ‘Hail Mary pass’ to argue a ‘necessity defense’A jury in Washington state is hearing evidence on whether the threat of climate change is a justifiable defense for criminal acts, the first time such a defense has been allowed in an American court.On Thursday, in a tiny municipal courtroom amid the strip malls and ranch houses of this suburban community north of Seattle, defense attorneys for five climate activists will call the final witnesses in their “Hail Mary pass” that has set up a historic legal showdown.

Trade body says solar panel installation is still attractive for consumers but average payback period will almost doubleSolar panels still make financial sense for consumers despite a double whammy of subsidy cuts and a rise in VAT rates, the industry has said.Midnight on Thursday marks the final chance for homeowners to secure the current incentive of 12.47p per kWh for electricity from solar panels. The feed-in tariff scheme then closes to new applicants for three weeks and anyone installing panels will get 4.39p per kWh, a 65% cut that was branded “huge and misguided” when it was announced just before Christmas. Continue reading...

In my year of no spending, the weekly grocery shop is planned like a military operation and I batch cook meals, but I need some culinary inspiration

State minister for mines calls in data from health authority to track possible cases of condition caused by breathing in coal dust over long periodsUnderground coalminers feel let down by the system amid fears more workers could be diagnosed with the potentially deadly black lung disease in Queensland, a mining union says.

Victim was attacked in Kimberley region in the far north of Western Australia and flown to hospital in DarwinWildlife officers are trying to find and kill a crocodile which bit off an elderly woman’s hand in Western Australia’s far north.The woman is believed to have lost most of her arm in the attack at Three Mile creek, near the town of Wyndham in the Kimberley. Continue reading...

Militiamen have attracted media coverage while occupying the Malheur wildlife refuge, but their disjointed social media messages have ‘created a big mess’The armed militiamen occupying a wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon have increasingly turned to a different weapon in their fight: social media.Militia leader Ammon Bundy and his rightwing followers, who have been stationed at the headquarters of the Malheur national wildlife refuge since 2 January, have used Facebook, YouTube and live-stream videos to get their message out directly to the public and to call on anti-government activists to support their cause. Continue reading...

State public utility commission gave only power company permission to charge higher rates and fees to users, shattering industry’s business modelThere are 36 solar panels sitting in a row behind Richard Stewart’s home in north Las Vegas. The panels cost about $40,000 – most of his savings, he said. He made the investment with his wife, who has since died, hoping to save money heating and cooling their high desert home. The retiree worried then, as retirees on fixed incomes often do, about rising energy costs.

The economic implications of the tumbling cost of crude are momentous but mixed. For the environment, though, it should at least mean that more fossil fuels stay in the groundA decade ago, British civil servants were packed off on a training day about, in a then-fashionable phrase, future-proofing UK plc. The idea was to game the mid-century economy on a range of feasible assumptions, one of which concerned the oil price. There was an “expected case” for 2050 of $45 a barrel, a “best case” of $35 and a “worst case” of $55. So much for the bureaucratic imagination. Over the short years since, the price has twice been more than double the so-called worst case, and then twice also come skidding down by two-thirds.We are currently in the midst of a great oil collapse, with prices sinking to within touching distance of $30 on Tuesday afternoon, 73% down on 18 months ago. As with every climb up and every slip down the greasy price pole, analysts are scrambling around to figure out whether the change will endure. Nobody can know, but when financial sentiment swings, some always conclude that it will soon swing even harder. The RBS note for investors which this week unleashed a note of panic by advising them to “sell everything” mentioned the possibility of $16 a barrel, a number with little obvious basis apart from being half the current price. Continue reading...

Company’s new boss, Matthias Müller, seeks to convince Environmental Protection Agency head Gina McCarthy to accept VW recall plansThe chief executive of Volkswagen on Wednesday met the head of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the regulator that exposed the German car company’s emissions cheating scandal.Matthias Müller, who was promoted to VW CEO following the axing of the previous boss in the wake of the scandal, met EPA administrator Gina McCarthy in Washington. Continue reading...

Rick Snyder activated the reserve military force to distribute supplies in Flint, where lead-contaminated water flowed into households for monthsMichigan’s governor, Rick Snyder, on Tuesday ordered the Michigan national guard to help distribute supplies in response to the city of Flint’s lead-tainted water crisis.In an executive order issued late on Tuesday, Snyder activated the reserve military force to assist the state at five water resource sites established in Flint, where residents are still reeling from revelations that lead-contaminated water flowed into their households for months. Continue reading...

Electricity North West says no payments will be made despite having encouraged customers to apply for compensationAn electricity company will not compensate tens of thousands of households in Lancashire and Cumbria after three-day power cuts following Storm Desmond in December, despite having earlier encouraged them to apply for compensation. Continue reading...

Activists trying to prevent exploratory drilling say they will not be defeated after police clear camp and arrest nine peopleProtesters evicted from the UK’s longest-running anti-fracking camp have responded defiantly, saying they will not be defeated.

Whales are utopian creatures that we reinvent according to our culture. Now, when one swims up the Thames or dozens hurl themselves on a beach, we interveneThe stranding of 80 pilot whales on an Indian beach is a physical confrontation. It addresses the chasm between ourselves and the natural world. On one hand a sleek, beautiful animal is driven, by loyalty, to follow its fellow whales on to land in a seeming act of mass suicide. On the other, humans make desperate attempts to return these creatures to the sea.No one can give an adequate explanation for these events. Bad weather, changing shorelines and physiological infection may play their part. But so too do we, by pumping anthropogenic noise into their world. As idyllic as the Indian Ocean may seem, it is throbbing beneath the surface with the sound of constant traffic carrying the consumer goods that fuel our world. Continue reading...

Readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific conceptsWhen I started in school in 1968 we were told that the weight of all the people on earth (then about 3.5 billion) was equal to the weight of all the ants on earth. Was this true? I heard this repeated as a fact on the radio just the other day, with the world population now at 7.3 billion. Has the population of ants likewise increased? Have ants got heavier? Or both?Gareth Pritchard, Daventry, Northants Continue reading...

Activists welcome ‘historic’ move to crack down on trade that is seen to help fuel rampant elephant poaching across AfricaHong Kong will ban the import and export of ivory, the city’s leader announced on Wednesday, in a “historic” move hailed by animal welfare activists.

Adverts featuring the Virgin founder and Chinese celebrities highlight that the keratin found in rhino horn has no more health benefits than chewing your own fingernailsSir Richard Branson is leading a new campaign against the sale of rhino horn that features the Virgin founder, along with Chinese celebrities and global wildlife ambassadors, chewing their nails.The campaign, a series of English and Chinese-language billboards and videos from conservation groups WildAid and the African Wildlife Foundation, aims to highlight how rhino horn is made primarily of keratin, the same protein that makes up human fingernails and hair, which has no medical benefits. Continue reading...