The organic-or-not debate ignores a crucial further option. Setting aside tracts of land for wildlife habitat can benefit bees, butterflies and plants without harming crop yieldsNon-organic farmers can do much more to foster wild plants, butterflies and bugs without giving up on pesticides, according to new research, but organic farms still bring the largest benefits for wildlife.In the UK, 80 non-organic farms have signed up to the conservation grade (CG) scheme. This requires them to turn 10% of their land over to habitat specifically targeted at supporting their local ecology. In return, farmers brand their products with a “Fair to Nature” accreditation and can charge a premium for them. Continue reading...

Wagamama and Bella Italia among restaurants using seafood from overfished areas or failing on transparency, survey findsMore than half of the UK’s biggest restaurant chains are using seafood from overfished areas of the sea or failing to be transparent about the origins of their fish and shellfish, according to a new survey by a marine conservation charity.

There is little recognition of the pressure that we, the citizen investors, can put on companies to act more socially responsiblyPeople often talk of capitalism, and of plans to reform or replace it. But we seldom ask who are the capitalists, on whose behalf the system is supposedly run.

Is the planet’s fastest growing metropolis in China, Indonesia or Niger? With many different methods of measurement, there’s no simple, single answerThe fastest growing city in the world is Batam in Indonesia … or Niamey in Niger … or maybe Xiamen in China. It all depends on who you ask.Batam is the fastest-growing city in the world by population, according to US-based consultancy Demographia, which bases its annual Demographia World Urban Areas ranking largely on the United Nations’ 2010-20 world population forecasts – but only includes cities with a population of 1 million or more. Batam is close to Singapore and operates as a transport hub and industrial area, while a free-trade zone boosts trade with the island city-state. Batam had a population of 1.1 million in the latest estimate, with an annual growth of 7.4%. Continue reading...

An area forested since 1600 – as Smithy Wood in Sheffield has been – should not be turned into a motorway service station, surely. But there is little protectionSmithy Wood can be traced back to the 11th century. Long-eared and soprano pipistrelle bats fly among its oaks. Marsh tits, badgers and dingy skipper butterflies make their home in this ancient woodland, on green belt surrounding the famously tree-rich city of Sheffield.Twenty acres of this unique wood will be bulldozed to build a pleasantly leafy service station by junction 35 of the M1, if the city council approves a move that could undermine the status of ancient woodland across Britain. Extra Motorway Services has enlisted Forbes-Laird Arboricultural Consultancy (Flac) to help its application. It claims to “secure ‘impossible’ planning permissions, including in ancient woodland and historic landscapes”. This isn’t an idle boast. Ancient woodland – places proven to have been forested since 1600, with uniquely rich, pesticide-free soils – is under siege. Flac succeeded with a housing application imperilling part of the ancient Bluebell Woods in Kent, and is involved in others. Continue reading...

Lynher Valley, Cornwall Autumn colours lighten the gloom, leaves brighten the path and the swollen river gushesTowards Halwinnick Butts a flock of starlings courses low across drab fields; hedgerow trees are leafless although clusters of keys hang on the ash. Ahead, the mast on Caradon Hill overlooking this pastoral land is part obscured by cloud but in the Lynher Valley autumn colours lighten the gloom. In the gardens at Rilla Mill there are blue hydrangeas, red fuchsias and valerian; in adjoining woodland, catkins have already formed among yellowing hazel leaves. Drifts of beech, chestnut and oak leaves brighten the rough path and are caught in the greenery of ferny undergrowth and mossy banks.By Stara Woods, within sound of gunshot at a nearby range, the swollen river gushes beneath a mediaeval clapper bridge. Upstream a new suspension bridge gives access to paths through this community woodland. Today a volunteer with long-handled Cornish shovel has buried the decomposing body of a badger. Continue reading...

Kyodo Senpaku has been found guilty in a case brought by Humane Society International – the first verdict of contempt of the environment actAn Australian court has found a Japanese whaling company guilty of “wilful contempt” of court for breaching an order to stop killing whales, and has fined it $1m.On Wednesday, the Australian federal court heard an application by Humane Society International (HSI) as part of a decade-long legal battle against the company Kyodo Senpaku to stop Japan killing whales within Australia’s Antarctic whale sanctuary. Continue reading...

Data suggests giant climatic event could be the strongest on record, meaning rains for drought-stricken California and a worsening of the coral die-offThe giant El Niño climatic event is set to bring rain to drought-stricken California by January, but is likely to exacerbate a widespread die-off of corals in the ocean, new data suggests.

US Fish and Wildlife Service has allowed one of world’s rarest wolves to be killed, as an estimated 50 to 75 are left in North Carolina wilderness, lawsuit allegesThe US government has failed to properly protect the red wolf, one of the world’s rarest wolves, by allowing a member of the species’ small wild population to be killed, conservationists have claimed.

Stanford University president John Hennessy was asked about his current policies on fossil fuel divestment while getting his hair cut at a local barber. In a video posted online by the Fountain Hopper, Hennessey is told there are more than 100 students protesting outside his office and asked if he will meet with them. He says he cannot see them right away, but that they can make an appointment

Scientists have discovered a breed of sandpiper with four different sexes. It makes for a complicated mating seasonName: Ruffs.Age: Up to four-and-a-half years, on average. Continue reading...

Activists object to French government proposals to scale down protest on 29 November amid security fears following terrorist attacksTalks between the French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, and campaigners over the fate of a huge march before the forthcoming Paris climate summit have ended without agreement.In the wake of attacks in Paris last Friday, the French government proposed scaling down the protest from a march on 29 November – which organisers had hoped would draw hundreds of thousands of people – to a stationary rally. Continue reading...

Judges make order amid concerns that smoke and ash spewing from mausoleum could harm marble monumentIndia’s supreme court has ordered a state government to remove a wood-burning crematorium near the Taj Mahal to protect the monument from pollution damage.The judges made the order after receiving a letter from another supreme court judge, who said he had noticed the mausoleum spewing smoke and ash during a recent visit to the monument and was concerned about the impact of air pollution on the marble structure. Continue reading...

A government cull of tens of thousands of bats has no scientific basis and is putting the survival of the species at risk, coalition saysConservationists are calling for an end to a government cull of tens of thousands of fruit bats in Mauritius that they say is putting the survival of the threatened species at risk.Authorities began shooting 18,000 Mauritius fruit bats (Pteropus niger) on 7 November, despite protests and even though the species is protected on the Indian Ocean island and listed as vulnerable by the IUCN, the world’s conservation union. Continue reading...

Australian environmental group asks court in Sydney to find Japanese whalers in contempt of a 2008 ruling banning fleet from the Southern OceanEnvironmental campaigners are launching a last-ditch legal attempt to prevent Japan from slaughtering whales in the Antarctic this winter, after Tokyo indicated it would ignore a ban on its “scientific” expeditions.

US firm’s plan to produce GM salmon eggs in Canada and ship them to Panama threatens contamination of wild fish in a ‘huge live experiment’, lawsuit arguesEnvironmental groups are taking the Canadian government to court in an attempt to halt the production of genetically modified salmon eggs, claiming that the process risks a “huge live experiment” with the genetic makeup of all wild Atlantic salmon.A US firm has been granted permission to produce fertile salmon eggs in Canada and ship them to Panama, where they will be grown in the hope that the fish will be given approval for human consumption in the US and Canada. Continue reading...

The banning of fishing in a newly created Pacific marine sanctuary will help stocks recover and attract high-end tourist dollars as a replacement source of incomeThe recent decision by the Pacific island nation of Palau to end fishing in a California-sized swath of tuna-rich ocean comes at a time of record overfishing and will help the populations of bigeye and yellowfin to recover, scientists say.Officials hope that the new reserve will boost sustainable tourism revenues as well as fish populations, as ordinary divers and even snorkelers will be able to experience the difference that protection measures can make. Continue reading...

Figures from October show carmaker sold fewer of its mass market brands – VW, Seat and Skoda – at a time that the overall market was growingVolkswagen’s European sales and market share slipped in October, industry data has showed, as the German carmaker’s emissions-cheating scandal began to take its toll at a time when the overall market continued to grow.New passenger car registrations in the EU and European Free Trade Association trading bloc rose 2.7% last month on a year ago to 1.14m vehicles, according to figures from the Brussels-based Association of European Carmakers (ACEA) published on Tuesday. Continue reading...

New research shows that investing in clean cookstoves and solar lanterns could benefit people, the planet, and NGOs’ budgetsStretched humanitarian agencies could save millions of dollars – and reduce carbon emissions, deforestation and violence against women and girls – if solar power and other clean energy sources were installed at refugee camps, according to new analysis released today.In the first report looking into energy use in refugee camps around the world, a consortium of NGOs, thinktanks and donors says that the refugees’ energy use has been neglected by both the international energy access lobby and by humanitarian agencies. In refugee camps, 90% of families have no access to electricity. There’s also often no street lighting, putting women and girls at greater risk of sexual attack if they need to go to the toilet at night. Continue reading...

The drought that may prevent many South African farmers planting this year could lead to food shortages and social unrest, and stall land redistributionHannes Geldenhuys, a burly farmer in South Africa’s Gauteng province, surveys his fields. At this time of year, they should be a green, thigh-high carpet of maize and soybean. Instead, all he sees is the decaying residue of his last crop: hectare upon hectare of brittle, yellowing stalks.“Look, I’ve got goosebumps. In 40 years on the farm, from when I was a boy, I’ve never seen anything as bad,” he says. Continue reading...

Protesters against HS2 have been dismissed as nimbys, but there’s more at stake than house prices. Is there no future for life in the slow lane?Ron Ryall, wearing an oil-smudged blue boilersuit, was fettling a cream Morris Minor in his low wooden workshop on a lane where the suburbs of West Ruislip give way to scrapyards, dog kennels and horse paddocks. A strong whiff of solvents filled his shed and the rain battered on the roof. Ryall was born in a council house on this lane and started his car bodywork repair business there in 1962; it remained, he said, his own little world. Continue reading...

Claxton, Norfolk The summer woods are disrobing, and you can hear them do so one leaf at a timeOn these exceptionally still days I go to the copse by the marsh to listen to its subtlety one more time. You have to work to pick it out behind the blackbird commotion or the jay screech: a snick as a stalk breaks free and the leaf lullabies down.Often there is also the patter of its zigzag tumble through the branches and then a quiet rustle once it settles among the trees’ heap of old clothes. The summer woods are disrobing, and you can hear them do so one leaf at a time. Continue reading...

Students at prestigious US university demand it accelerate plans to divest parts of its $22.2bn endowment fund out of fossil fuelsStanford University students have begun an indefinite sit-in to protest against the institution’s investments in fossil fuels.According to protest organisers, more than 100 students attempted to enter the main administration building and office of the president on Monday afternoon. The students have been locked out but say they have encircled the building and will camp out there until Stanford acts on their demand to “completely divest” its financial holdings from the fossil fuel industry. Continue reading...

One of the most complex problems of man-made climate change is what our activities are doing to the clouds and rainfall. Certain generalities apply – the warmer it gets, for example, the more energy and moisture there are in the atmosphere and the weather gets more violent.Another factor is pollution. Traffic, factories and forest fires pump vast quantities of particles into the sky that would otherwise not be there. Around these particles droplets of water form, become clouds and eventually rain falls. Continue reading...

So-called Operation Noah’s Ark aims to relocate aquatic life from Doce river by moving fish in tanks provided by mining company Samarco to area lakesTeams of biologists are rushing to rescue fish from a river that was contaminated after two dams at an iron ore mine in Brazil collapsed earlier this month, unleashing a deadly wave of mud.Mining company Samarco said in a statement that it was providing logistical support to the so-called Operation Noah’s Ark effort aimed at saving aquatic life from the now-turbid waters of the Doce river. Experts have warned that the ecological harm caused by the 5 November breaches could last a generation. Continue reading...

Despite Friday’s horrific attacks, Obama and other world leaders will attend talks in France, as Republicans in Congress continue to fight Obama’s climate planThe point person behind Barack Obama’s environmental agenda has declared Americans are fed up with climate change denial and other efforts to wreck a Paris summit to stop global warming.Despite Friday’s horrific attacks, Obama and other world leaders still plan to travel to Paris on 30 November for the start of two weeks of talks aimed at securing a global agreement to reduce climate pollution. Continue reading...

Lufthansa and BA two thirds as fuel efficient as Norwegian Air Shuttle, says report by group that exposed VW emissions-rigging scandalThere is huge variation in fuel efficiency between transatlantic airlines, with British Airways and Lufthansa emitting 51% more carbon dioxide than the cleanest flyers, according to a report by the organisation that revealed the VW test-rigging scandal.Pollution from a non-stop transatlantic round trip averages around one tonne of CO2 per passenger, the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) research found – the same as would be clocked up in a year by commuting 22 miles to work daily in a Toyota Prius. Continue reading...

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...