Animal hospital reports sharp rise in bites from tiger and brown snakes as reptiles emerge from winter hibernation to exceptionally warm weatherThe Victorian government has warned people to be aware of snake activity after a spate of recent incidents in which dogs and cats have been bitten by the reptiles.

Chair of UK Onshore Oil and Gas said woman are less likely to be persuaded as they rely more on gut reactionWomen are far less likely than men to support fracking because they rely more on feel and gut reaction than facts, according to the woman representing the UK shale gas industry.Averil Macdonald, who was appointed chair of UK Onshore Oil and Gas this week, said that giving women more information about the controversial practice would not change their minds.

The 165-hectare coastal area is already home to rare butterflies and the trust hopes to encourage the return of birds that were once common thereA beautiful farm set in a landscape associated with rare butterflies and the poet Alfred Tennyson has become the National Trust’s largest coastal acquisition in over two decades. Continue reading...

Fishermen dumping small dolphins so they can fill quota with more profitable specimens as annual Taiji dolphin hunt begins, says Sea ShepherdMarine conservationists have claimed that fishermen in the Japanese town of Taiji are dumping the corpses of small dolphins out at sea so that they can fill their annual quota with larger, more profitable specimens.The conservation organisation Sea Shepherd released images on Thursday of a juvenile Risso’s dolphin it claimed had washed ashore in Taiji after being thrown overboard by local fishermen, who began their annual dolphin hunt last month. Continue reading...

Once David Cameron stood firm on environmental issues. So why is he now savaging such a booming sector?The former Tory party chairman Grant Shapps is promoting renewable energy in his new role as minister for Africa. Launching a bid to exploit British prowess in the booming solar sector and aid the poor, he insisted governments should be attracted by an energy source that is “so much cleaner” than traditional supplies, and more “attractive”. “Lots of people think that it doesn’t compare favourably with other forms of electricity,” he said. “They haven’t put it all together and it’s hard to know why.”Related: The government seems intent on ending the solar power industry. It’s madness | Howard Johns Continue reading...

The sweet potato (commonly called a yam) is a familiar vegetable on our supermarket shelves and it is indeed an achievement to grow the sweet potato in the UK (British farmers crack the sweet potato, 18 October). The sweet potato is eaten by some billion people worldwide and is high in vitamins A and C and fibre as well as starch.If you too have eaten sweet potato you have eaten your first GM meal. Some 8,000 years ago a bacterium (Agrobacterium) inserted two of its genes into the original sweet potato DNA thus producing a GM sweet potato. These genes have been detected in some 300 varieties of “yam”; they are expressed and cause tissues like the root to swell. Domestication was probably based on root size and thus continued propagation of its GM variety. Continue reading...

Liberals took up a progressive mantle when the NDP failed to project a vision of environmental and social justice – now it’s up to the public to bend them to their willOn Monday night many Canadians breathed out a sigh of relief. Then they breathed in a whiff of apprehension. The ousting of the Conservatives was a victory, a rejection of Stephen Harper’s politics of fear and outright hatred. But Canadians now confront a Prime Minister gifted in the art of warm, fuzzy claptrap. They won’t be offered what they dreamed of: that was never an option in this election.The election’s most revealing poll was scarcely reported by the media. Those voting against Harper – sixty to seventy percent of Canada, a progressive majority holding steady through his decade in power – were asked in late September what kind of change they desired. They answered overwhelmingly: not moderate but ambitious, not incremental but immediate. In other words, most people didn’t just want Harper out: they wanted plentiful jobs, a healthy environment, indeed a far more just and fair country. Continue reading...

Patagonia, Dove and Chipotle are backing social and environmental issues in a bid to get ahead of competitors, but is it working?Dove, Chipotle and Patagonia are among some of the companies trying to get out ahead of their competitors by aggressively backing social and environmental issues.Companies have traditionally competed to release the best products or provide the best services, but experts say a new type of gold rush is unfolding, one in which brands race each other to claim an environmental or social cause.

Former UN chief Kofi Annan hails Energy Africa scheme as chance for continent to steer away from carbon-intensive practices of rich countriesKofi Annan, Bob Geldof, Richard Branson and international business leaders have joined politicians from 14 African countries to launch a global campaign to bring solar power to the 620 million people on the continent who must still use kerosene, candles and wood to light their homes and cook.A dramatic fall in the cost of solar power, combined with growing access to mobile phones, has given Africa the chance to leapfrog richer countries’ polluting energy sources and to kickstart business, said Annan, chairman of the Africa progress panel and former UN secretary general. Continue reading...

Investec Securities has ‘long-term concerns’ about financial strain the £18bn nuclear project will put the French energy group underA leading City broker has called on investors to sell their shares in EDF, saying it has “long-term concerns” about the financial stresses on the French energy group from the £18bn Hinkley Point C nuclear project in Somerset.The sell note from Investec Securities comes a day after EDF signed a deal with China General Nuclear Corporation and said it would start work within weeks on the UK’s first new nuclear plant for 20 years. Continue reading...

Tiny archipelago seeks to create world’s sixth-largest area to be fully protected from fishing or drillingThe tiny western Pacific archipelago of Palau has approved the creation of a marine sanctuary twice the size of Mexico.Conservationists said the 500,000 sq km (193,000 sq mile) sanctuary would be the world’s sixth-largest fully protected area – meaning no fishing, or other uses such as drilling for oil – if it is signed into law by Palau’s president as expected on Monday. Continue reading...

New hybrid black cab will hit London roads in 2017, a year before all taxis are required to be capable of ‘zero emissions’ motoring, reports Business GreenLondon’s iconic black cabs have received a green makeover with the launch of the latest battery-powered TX5 model, unveiled yesterday during Chinese premier Xi Jinping’s state visit to the capital.The new London taxi, which will be available from 2017, will be made with Chinese electric vehicle technology. It was designed by the London Taxi Company, which is owned by Chinese car manufacturer Geely. The TX5 will be manufactured at a new £300m plant outside Coventry – the UK’s first new auto plant in a decade. Continue reading...

New CEO, Francesco Starace, is taking the Italian firm in a new direction, investing in solar and wind to become the first ‘truly green energy giant’Just a year ago the Italian energy giant Enel was in a bitter court battle with Greenpeace, which accused the utility’s coal plant pollution of killing people. Today, the two groups are firm friends and Greenpeace says Enel is on track to be the “first truly green energy giant”.What changed was the observation by new Enel CEO, Francesco Starace, that the tide was flowing in only one direction for utilities – towards low-carbon energy – thanks to fast-dropping renewable energy costs, smarter and more-efficient grids and increasing government action on climate change. Continue reading...

Auditors say EU scheme to tackle $100bn global trade in illegal timber is poorly designed, badly managed and largely ineffectiveA European bid to clamp down on the $100bn-a-year global trade in illegal timber has been poorly designed, badly managed and largely ineffective, according to a damning report by the EU’s court of auditors.Illegal logging is thought to be responsible for around one-fifth of man-made greenhouse gas emissions – more than from all the world’s ships, planes, trains and cars combined. It is also an existential threat to forest-dependent indigenous people, and to biodiversity. Continue reading...

‘Seven gorillas had been shot. I took three frames then had to leave because the army were looking for me’Virunga national park is probably the most dangerous place to practise conservation in the world. In 2007, it was a war zone: 17 paramilitary groups, as well as rebel troops and the Congolese army were all operating in the park, situated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. All the while, rangers were trying to protect the wildlife, including the world’s most endangered primate, the mountain gorilla. I had gone there with a journalist for Newsweek to document what we thought would be clashes between rangers and paramilitaries. But instead, after three days, we got word a gorilla had been killed.We hiked into the bush with some rangers and, a few hours later, came across the first bodies. Three females had been shot. It started to rain really heavily so we headed back to our camp because it wasn’t a safe area at night. The following morning, we found Senkwekwe the silverback and yet another female. In total, seven had been killed. One of the females was pregnant and another’s baby was assumed to have run off. It must have died as well.

Denmark joins more than a hundred places around the world making business-friendly zero carbon commitments as they transition away from fossil fuels

With the right investment in infrastructure and improved liability laws, cycling in the UK could be this successful and our streets could be reclaimed as places for people of all ages to enjoyWho builds a bicycle road on a 32km-long sea dyke? One akin to a really, really long Severn Bridge, made of earthworks, tumbleweed and gulls, with a six-lane highway? The Dutch, that’s who, and I’m grateful for it.With no end in sight, only a straight line of smooth tarmac stretching seemingly to infinity, and bordered on both sides by sea, this bike road on the Afsluitdijk is impressive, if only for its sheer length and optimism. After two roadies and a man on a small, rattly moped overtake me at the start, there are no other cyclists using it but me, laden with panniers and tent, while motorway traffic buzzes past, at the foot of a wide, grassy bank. Continue reading...

Teams of energy-efficiency enthusiasts are racing homespun solar-powered vehicles over 3,000km from Darwin to Adelaide. Each car is allowed a maximum of 6 sq m of solar panels as well as a nominal 5kW hours of stored energy; all other energy must come either from the sun or from the kinetic energy of the vehicle. The challenge, first run in 1987, goes from 18-25 October Continue reading...

Don Blankenship’s lawyers have found ways to repeatedly suggest to jurors that regulators targeted his company for political reasons under Obama’s watchAn outspoken critic of president Barack Obama charged with conspiring to violate mine safety rules before a deadly explosion is under orders not to tell jurors he’s being persecuted by Democrats.The federal judge also warned former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship that safety rules are not on trial. Continue reading...

It can be tough for a business to get certified in social and environmental performance – just ask organic winemaker Fetzer VineyardsIn 1968, Barney Fetzer decided to start what he believed was a revolution in the fertile lands of California’s Mendocino County. He was going to challenge the status quo and seek out winemaking practices that were better for the planet.Although Fetzer is no longer alive – he died in 1981 – his vision spurred the creation of one of the most sustainable large wine companies in California. Continue reading...

Retailer brings end to ‘living laboratory’ programme in Ayrshire, set up in 2009 to investigate sustainable meat productionThe supermarket chain Morrisons is pulling out of a sustainable farming project in which it has invested £2m over the last five years.The struggling retailer took over the running of a 1,000-acre estate belonging to Dumfries House in Ayrshire in 2009 after the stately home was saved for the nation by a charitable consortium led by Prince Charles. The prince took out a £20m personal loan in 2007 to prevent its sale and its unique collection of furniture being broken up. Continue reading...

Recent “what about the farmworkers?” correspondence in relation to The Archers (Letters, 6, 10 and 13 October) strikes a chord.Back in the 1970s as an officer of the agricultural workers’ union, the NUAAW, I raised just this point with the late Anthony Parkin, agricultural adviser to The Archers, following complaints from union branches that the everyday story of country folk was dominated by antique dealers and farmers/landowners, while the hired workers were generally portrayed as idiots. Continue reading...

Does your city have a forgotten or underappreciated river? Do you wish it could be better used? Share your photos and stories with GuardianWitnessMany cities have well-loved rivers, from Paris’ picturesque Seine to the newly revitalised Chicago River. But for every celebrated city river there are others which are unloved or underused.Much of LA’s river runs along an abandoned concrete channel surrounded by electricity pylons and decorated with graffiti – which has in itself become an iconic scene of the city – though the water flow is often so limited it barely feels like a river at all. But now, an 11-mile stretch is planned to be restored, spearheaded by the “kayaking mayor” Eric Garcetti and with the help of superstar architect Frank Gehry. Continue reading...

Long-serving Labour MP and former environment minister committed to green issues and defeating povertyIn the course of his 45-year career in the House of Commons, Michael Meacher, who has died aged 75, established a name for himself as an earnest and committed leftwing MP who wore his much-polished social conscience very visibly on his sleeve. He sat on Labour’s frontbench in government and opposition for a total of 29 years, but his misfortune was that he was never greatly favoured or particularly trusted by the six party leaders under whom he served. His good fortune, however, and the reason for his lengthy political survival in office was that he did not allow this evident antipathy to matter to him and even accepted demotion and an occasional public humiliation as a necessary price to pay.He was one of only two MPs elected in May (the other is the Father of the House, Gerald Kaufman) to have served in the 1974-79 Labour governments under Harold Wilson and James Callaghan. He had arrived in the Commons as the MP for Oldham West (now Oldham West and Royton) in 1970 with his political aims and ambitions, nurtured at New College, Oxford, and in a brief academic career, in an advanced state of preparation. He knew exactly what he wanted to do as an MP and he won grudging respect from his parliamentary colleagues for a dogged and unfailing application to his agenda. Continue reading...

Xi Jinping hails £18bn nuclear project as ‘flagship project of cooperation’ in new era for China and Britain in joint press conference with David CameronWork on the first new nuclear power plant in the UK for 20 years is set to begin within weeks after the French energy company EDF and China’s main nuclear operator agreed a deal on building the £18bn project.The agreement was hailed by David Cameron and the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, at a joint press conference in London, with Xi describing the Hinkley Point C plant in Somerset as the “flagship project of cooperation” in a new era for China and Britain. Continue reading...

An economist, whose brother is a former prime minister of South Korea, is the IPCC’s new chief, reports the Straits TimesAlthough one of the world’s top carbon emitters, South Korea has also become a leader in pursuing climate-resilient economic development. Its transformation was witnessed - and partially pioneered - by Dr Hoesung Lee, an economist specialising in climate change.The 69-year-old now has the world’s climate blueprint on his plate, having been elected as the fourth and latest chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a United Nations body that assesses climate research and issues. Continue reading...

Watch time-lapse footage of the changing of the seasons at the National Trust’s Stourhead landscape garden in WiltshireIf you need confirmation that autumn is here, watch this video of the changing colours of the landscape at the National Trust’s Stourhead garden in Wiltshire.A time-lapse camera installed on the roof of the newly-restored Pantheon by Bristol-based Lobster Vision has been running since September 9. It records a new image every 15 minutes. Continue reading...

Some in Somerset are keen to see the creation of employment to halt the departure of its able and ambitious young people; others have concernsFishing boat skipper Steve Yeandle was in no doubt. “Bring it on. We all want the lights to work when we press the switch. We need secure energy. Yes, I’d prefer it if it was our government putting the money in, but you can’t have everything. Nuclear seems to be the viable way to go, and if it is Chinese money making it happen then so be it.”Yeandle was working on his boat – Scooby Doo Too – in the harbour at Watchet, a modest town on the Somerset coast a few miles west of Hinkley Point. For more than 30 years, he has escorted anglers on to the Bristol Channel in search of cod, skate and whiting. They tend to quiz him briefly about the squat towers of the Hinkley A and B nuclear power station as they chug away from the harbour – and then get on with their fishing. Continue reading...

World energy watchdog says commitments would result in rapid slowdown in growth of carbon from energy sector if followed throughPledges on greenhouse gas emissions made by governments ahead of landmark climate talks this December will result in a rapid and dramatic slowdown in the growth of carbon from the energy sector - but will not reverse that growth within the next 15 years, the world’s energy watchdog said on Wednesday.

See autumn’s arrival at Stourhead in Wiltshire, courtesy of the National Trust. A time-lapse camera installed on the roof of the newly-restored Pantheon by Bristol-based Lobster Vision has been running since 9 September. It records a new image every 15 minutes, brought together here in a stunning timelapse video

Renewable energy is changing the country’s dynamic, turning lives around and allowing people to be part of the green growth story. This is the basis of its climate commitments ahead of crucial talks in Paris, reports India TodayEvery summer, as India’s biggest cities resort to ‘load shedding’ to keep pace with the demand for power, its residents cuss and sweat, waiting for the comforting whirr of the fan and the hum of the air conditioner that allows them to stay insulated from the reality that millions of others live with - a life without electricity.As our society transforms and our cities get more and more attractive to migrants seeking ‘the good life’, our urbanisation experiment gets impetus. Everyone wants to be on the grid and some, like those in Dharnai village in Bihar, get to do so by harnessing the flood of sunshine that defines their lives for most of the year. Dharnai became India’s first solar-powered village in July last year, literally lighting up the lives of people here who only knew life in the dark. Continue reading...

VW scandal could lead to change in labelling law that currently covers fuel consumption and CO2 emissions but not air pollutants, reports ENDS EuropeThe European commission is considering the inclusion of pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) in car labelling rules as a result of the Volkswagen emissions scandal.The commission is currently reviewing the 1999 car labelling law, which covers fuel consumption and CO2 emissions but not air pollutants. Continue reading...

The decision to allow China to build nuclear power stations in the UK is sheer folly, especially at a time when Cameron is shutting the door on renewable energyThe grand kowtow continues its humiliating progress today, but beggars can’t be choosers. The Queen and all her family – good grief, even the Duke of York – are rolled out as the golden words flow. Britain always risks being a figure of fun as it grasps at the coat-tails of the great powers: enough leaks from our American cousins have revealed how often our “special relationship” dream has been mocked in Washington. What snickers echo in Beijing’s labyrinths of power?Related: Britain 'sucking up' to China is a national humiliation, says PM's former adviser Continue reading...

Lack of control over ivory sales is hindering progress made by China and the US to combat elephant poaching, say NGO WildAid, after an investigation exposes traders using legal trade as a cover Continue reading...