I am neither pro nor anti-fracking, but green campaigners must go beyond local level issues and tackle the fossil fuel status quo if we are to combat climate changeI am resigning as a shadow minister in the Lords in a few weeks. Not because Jeremy Corbyn is Labour’s new leader but because I decided, after the general election, that I could have a bigger impact reducing the growing risk of climate change in a different, more internationally-focused role.Judging from my Twitter feed and inbox this will delight many who have made it their mission to oppose fracking in the UK.

Thousands of sea turtles come ashore to lay their eggs on the coast of Costa Rica. The incredible scenes were filmed by local wildlife experts in north-western Guanacaste. The turtles return to the beaches along the Pacific coast to nest and lay their eggs. Up to 5,000 turtles came ashore this year in the annual wildlife phenomenon called Arribada or arrival by sea. Tourists are advised to stay away and not interfere with the nesting

Palm oil mills are generating electricity using waste methane to the benefit of local communities and company profits

In the Pacific Ocean, the source of most of the world’s tuna, thousands of fishing boats roam the seas, pirate vessels in their midst. Conservation photojournalist Paul Hilton joined Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior to expose the illegal fishing that leads to shark finning and the death of countless protected species Continue reading...

Climate groups must put the pressure on Turnbull to deliver policy outcomes now, while he has the political capital to act.“The one thing that is clear about our current situation is the trajectory. We have lost 30 Newspolls in a row.”With that pronouncement, Malcolm Turnbull launched his coup against first-term Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott. Continue reading...

The Act on Climate national bus tour is stopping in areas worst affected by high pollution and social inequality, driving the message that urban communities and people of color are most afflicted by climate changeAs New York City gears up for Climate Week and the UN Sustainable Development Summit at the end of September, musicians, actors and activists – including Bill McKibben, Malik Yusef and Naomi Klein – are touring the US in a bus to highlight how people of color are disproportionately affected by climate change.“The tour is bringing awareness of climate injustice to urban communities and people of color,” said the Rev Lennox Yearwood, CEO of Hip Hop Caucus and organizer of the tour. “It’s broadening the current climate movement.” Continue reading...

World’s biggest PR firm says high risk clients threaten its reputation, following criticism for its work on behalf of fossil fuel companiesThe world’s biggest public relations company has decided it will no longer work with coal producers and climate change deniers.Edelman said it believes such clients pose a threat to the company’s legitimacy and its bottom line.

New, more ambitious goals from dozens of major cities boosts earlier historic deal between the world’s two biggest carbon polluting countriesChina’s mega-cities and major US metropolitan areas will pledge swifter and deeper cuts in carbon pollution on Tuesday, shoring up an historic agreement between presidents Barack Obama and Xi Jinping.Beijing and 10 other Chinese cities will agree to peak greenhouse gas emissions as early as 2020 – a decade ahead of the existing target for the world’s biggest emitter, under a deal to be unveiled at a summit in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Continue reading...

New prime minister says ‘policies will change in the light of changed conditions’ as Labor presses him on his support for unpopular measuresMalcolm Turnbull has defended the Coalition’s Direct Action climate policy and having a public vote on marriage equality after the next election, as he came under pressure to explain his U-turns on his first day as prime minister.Turnbull, who was sworn in as Australia’s 29th prime minister shortly before parliamentary question time on Tuesday, thanked the person he had ousted, Tony Abbott, for “his leadership and his service over many, many years” and indicated he would announce a new ministry later this week or early next week. Continue reading...

Costa Rica, Afghanistan, China, India and Albania are all embracing renewable energy sources – five experts give their opinion on what the future holdsCosta Rica is well on its way to becoming the first developing country to have 100% renewable electricity. Thanks to our hydro, wind and geothermal resources, 98% of our power is already renewable according to official data (Spanish website). This year, Costa Rica had 100% renewable power for 94 consecutive days. This achievement took several decades to build and the next milestone is to ensure that our electricity system is 100% renewable the whole year. This will require us to replace distributed diesel generators – that are used as a back-up source – with distributed, renewable energy resources. Continue reading...

A moneyless economy shows how our lives are intrinsically linked to the great web of life. In this deep ecology, our security comes from our relationships with people and nature

With growth in Asia driving up greenhouse gas emissions, the development agenda must take an integrated approach to urban crises and climate changeAs countries make final preparations for this month’s UN summit in New York to agree the post-2015 development agenda, there is a growing need for policies that take an integrated approach to climate change and urban crises. Ground zero is Asia, where 60% of the world’s population live.Asia’s conurbations are transforming faster than ever, with their geographies and populations doubling in less than 10 years. As the continent consumes ever-greater natural resources and discharges more waste, cities are generally not able to keep air pollution levels within international health standards. There is now a greater incidence of illness and death among the elderly and vulnerable, including young children. Continue reading...

Many elephants get electrocuted by low-slung overhead electric cables before authorities take actionOn the night of 4 September, a large tusker was electrocuted by a sagging high tension electric cable in Kaziranga national park, Assam.

Court orders settlement after Earthjustice, Greenpeace and other organizations take legal action amid concern over the impact of military training activitiesA federal court has ordered a settlement in two cases that challenged the United States navy’s training and testing activities off the coasts of Hawaii and Southern California.Environmental legal aid organization Earthjustice tells the Guardian that the settlement will secure “long-sought protections for whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals by limiting navy activities in vital habitats”. Continue reading...

Any day now Arctic sea-ice is going to hit its lowest extent for the year, and once again it’s set to be one of the lowest years on record (the four lowest years have all occurred since 2007). Already a number of ships have glided safely through the fabled northwest passage, unencumbered by sea-ice.Typically the Arctic sea-ice minimum occurs in mid to late September and the signs so far suggest a lean year. Back in August the sea-ice covered 5.61m square kilometres – the fourth lowest August average in the satellite record. And by the end of August the area of sea-ice was already in sixth lowest position. Continue reading...

Last winter’s snow accumulation in the mountains that provide state’s most important natural water system was just 5% of what is normal, study finds

Kim Cattrall is right to argue that women who have not had children, through choice or circumstance, can play a positive role in society (Cattrall: I may not be a mum but I am a parent, 14 September). In reality, in a world heading for four billion more people by 2100, those who choose not to have children make a greater contribution than those who do.One’s number of children has a greater environmental and social impact than any other decision one makes. From environmental degradation and climate change to pressure on housing and public services, we are all affected by continuing population growth. Accepting the choices of those who have one or no children is an essential component of a more sustainable future.

Road test reveals cars emit seven times the permitted level of exhaust emissions when tested in real-world conditionsNine out of 10 new diesel cars break new EU pollution limits when tested on roads rather than test tracks, according to a new report.On average, the cars emit seven times the permitted level of NOx gasses, with the worst car producing 22 times the legal limit. Models from every major motor manufacturer breached the limit when they were evaluated in real-world conditions. Continue reading...

Unexposed to cinema, the Arhuacos are captivated by their first ever screening of a film that shows them the unexplored, wild Colombia, reports El PaisA prison guard opens the grey metal door to free four detainees. In Nabusimake, an indigenous Arhuaco village of circular mud huts with straw roofs and stone floors near the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains in northern Colombia, prisoners are not made to suffer. Imprisonment is synonymous with reflection and change. It is not associated with punishment. The prisoner remains in custody for several days or months, until his body and mind are ready to return to the community of 8,000 people who live in Nabusimake or, as locals call it, “the heart of the world.”

Animal welfare groups have hailed the Californian senate’s decision to ban the trade but industry supporters will continue to campaign against the banA lobbying effort by the Australian government to continue the trade of kangaroo skins and meat to California has failed, with the US state set to impose a ban on the import of the animal.

Next two years likely to be hottest recorded as the world’s climate reaches major turning point – but UK summers may be cooler, report predictsThe world’s climate has reached a major turning point and is set to deliver record-breaking global temperatures in 2015 and 2016, according to a new report from the UK Met Office.Natural climate cycles in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans are reversing and will amplify the strong manmade-driven global warming, the report concludes. This will change weather patterns around the world including more heatwaves, but it is possible that the UK will actually have cooler summers. Continue reading...

Frankfort, Norfolk It was a knobbly red fist of moss-like filaments, grown to completely envelope the unripe husk of a rosehipWhen sauntering this path a few days earlier, my eye had snagged on a scrap of bright crimson amid the green hues of the hedgerow. Closer inspection of a tangle of dog rose briars had proven the brazen flash of colour to be a bedeguar gall. The size of a large conker, it was a knobbly red fist of moss-like filaments, grown to completely envelope the unripe husk of a rosehip.I returned home to books and found that this strange sticky mass had been caused by a tiny wasp, Diplolepis rosae, which lays its eggs in the leaf buds of wild roses. Weeks later the simple feeding of any resulting wasp larvae causes a tumour-like gall to form. Photos of the rarely seen diplolepis showed a tiny amber-legged wasp that reproduces asexually, never needing and seldom producing a male. Continue reading...

Group wants to see incentive tax breaks introduced, as opposed to current system of penalising companiesEEF, one of Britain’s leading employers’ groups, has urged the government to scrap the carbon price floor and other green taxes, following on from a series of ministerial moves to slash subsidies on wind and solar schemes.The demand for more cuts comes as a high profile green crowdfunding scheme, the Trillion Fund, said it would no longer be loaning money to renewable energy projects because the government had “rocked investor confidence”. Continue reading...

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 17 September 1915A curious thing happened here yesterday. I am writing in a densely wooded Welsh valley, facing the cloud-veiled heights of Cader. The post brought, enclosed in a small matchbox, a pipistrelle; it was sent from Somerset, and left there on the 13th. In spite of its long journey in so small a box it was slumbering when it reached me, but later it awoke. About 1 30 in the afternoon I placed it on the rough-cast of the wall, and in a few moments it took wing, at once circling round and over the neighbouring trees, and apparently feeding, for flies were abundant. At that time, though many martins were fly-catching, there were, of course, no bats about, but to my surprise in little more than ten minutes it was joined by another bat of its own species. They flew about for some time, though not close together. A bat takes some time to rouse from its diurnal sleep; how then did the stranger manage to communicate with a sleeping pipistrelle, safe in its resting-place? It is hard to say, but if by voice, it is evident that the Somerset dialect of the chiropteran voice is understood by the Celtic bats. Continue reading...

September marks the end of the UK’s summer and also the end of our risk period for summertime smog. From now on, shorter days and weaker sun mean that ground level ozone won’t pass six on the 10-point UK pollution index.This year summertime smog in the UK was confined to three main periods; during the early July heatwave over most of England and parts of Wales, in early August across the southern half of England spreading westwards, and then across Scotland and England later in the month. Continue reading...

Corals are recovering from last year’s bleaching but warmer-than-normal ocean temperatures this year will likely lead to a more deadly year for coral reefWarmer-than-normal ocean temperatures around Hawaii this year will likely lead to the worst coral bleaching the islands have ever seen, scientists said.Many corals are only just recovering from last year’s bleaching, which occurs when warm waters prompt coral to expel the algae they rely on for food, said Ruth Gates, the director of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology. The phenomenon is called bleaching because coral lose their color when they push out algae. Continue reading...

John Comben, who has died suddenly aged 64, was a leading member of Incredible Edible Totnes, a project that plants herbs and vegetables in flowerbeds and disused spaces so that produce can be freely harvested by the public.He and those involved in the project, backed by the charity Transition Town Totnes, worked regularly on beds and an arboretum in the south Devon town. His career as a gardener and horticulturalist gave him a huge knowledge of plants and growing that he shared with project volunteers, and he supplied plants and seedlings. Continue reading...

Critics say plan to make councils responsible for policing pollution in urban areas offers no extra money or new powersA government plan to meet European air quality limits by letting councils ban diesel vehicles and charge drivers more for parking polluting cars and vans is disappointing and could result in further court cases and tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths, critics say.The plan, drawn up by the Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) in response to a supreme court ruling, proposes individual emission limits for four different vehicle types. Continue reading...

Local people say way of life is under threat from industrial vessels, and see plan as chance to protect environment and repair relations with mainlandIn the pre-dawn gloom in a small harbour on Easter Island, three fishermen fill their boats. Instead of piling nets, they load rocks which they will use to drop a line tens of metres below the swelling waves. The lines will be hauled up hand over hand with their catch, huge yellowfin tuna.The technique would be recognisable to the fishermen’s ancestors who have worked these waters for hundreds of years. But this way of life on one of the world’s remotest inhabited islands is under threat, say local people and conservationists, from illegal fishing by industrial vessels that dwarf these tiny boats. Continue reading...

How to bring up a child with small carbon footprintsBritain’s latest parenting guru is science writer and mother-of-two Zion Lights with her Ultimate Guide to Green Parenting. This enters a world that has often been seen as hippy or for the too-posh-for-Pampers set (or a combination of both). But that’s unfair. It’s 25 years since Juliet Solomon codified earth mother and father techniques in Green Parenting, and the big aim remains bringing up children with small ecological footprints.This is a tough ask. In industrialised economies, one child will be responsible, over their lifetime, for consumption and pollution equating to that of 30 to 50 children in the developing world. Continue reading...

Asked if he would step down over a Coalition loss, PM says ‘well we’re not going to lose’, despite a new poll showing a 10% swing away from the LiberalsTony Abbott has predicted the Coalition will win the Canning byelection, dismissing suggestions that his leadership is in trouble.Related: Canning byelection: Abbott asked about leadership and Dutton's 'lame joke' Continue reading...

The founder of chemicals giant Ineos says shale offers Britain cheaper energy and insists it could reinvigorate his native north country‘One thing I’m sure about,” says Jim Ratcliffe, billionaire founder of chemicals giant Ineos. “You can’t have an energy policy that means you can only have a bath when the wind blows.”The Manchester-born industrialist points to figures, based on National Grid statistics, breaking down the composition of the UK’s energy supply. It shows nearly half of Britain’s electricity on the day in question being generated from gas, with around 20% from coal and 20% from nuclear. Despite subsidies and major investment in wind farms, only around 1.4% of the day’s electricity is generated from that source. Continue reading...

The best nature photography offers a peek into another world – but first you have to pin down your camera-shy subject“I want to see you crawling. Get down lower. Crawl!” I am crawling – my elbows hooking uselessly into the large, loose pebbles of Brighton beach, dragging my body another inch forward, while my hands and wrists wobble beneath the weight of a hefty Canon 5D MK III camera. It might look impressive if I wasn’t so embarrassed. Through the unsteady lens, my target bounces about: a flock of seagulls, squatting 10 metres away.Along the shore people duck and dodge the gulls, which swoop with menacing confidence towards chips, children and ice-cream. Yet, I’m having the opposite problem – every time I get within striking distance of a bird, it soars off into the distance. Continue reading...

Tony Abbott, on his third visit to the electorate, says Peter Dutton’s joke about rising sea levels and Liberal leadership speculation are ‘not about me’The prime minister, Tony Abbott, has dodged questions about his leadership and criticism of an insensitive joke made by government frontbencher, saying both issues were “not about me”.Related: Tony Abbott defends Peter Dutton after joke about rising Pacific Island sea levels Continue reading...

Shark fishing remains profitable as narrow focus on Chinese finning trade obscures wider global trendThe internet erupted with praise last month when United Parcel Service tweeted that it would stop shipping shark fins. But the decision – after a petition to the delivery giant garnered 178,000 signatures – addressed just one of many concerns about the ecologically vital but often threatened marine species.“There is a persistent belief among many well-intentioned folks that the only threat that sharks have ever faced, or are currently facing, is shark finning,” said David Shiffman, a well-known shark scientist at the University of Miami. He argues that the focus on fins distracts attention from more important conservation actions. Continue reading...

Blacka Moor, Derbyshire You wake to a clear sky and the air filtering through the open bedroom window is sharp and freshLate summer is flat in north Derbyshire; the light is harsh and the moors a drab monochrome. The air is heavy; lay your hand on a slab of gritstone and it comes away moist. The woods are deep in shade, the herbaceous plants gone to seed, tall stalks of foxgloves nodding towards the ground. Then, blessed morning, you wake to a clear sky and the air filtering through the open bedroom window is sharp and fresh, and from the north, promising the “penalty of Adam”, the season’s change.Today was that day, and I celebrated by visiting one of the richer corners of moorland hereabouts. Swallows were gathering in bright sunshine on telephone wires at the base of the hill, sending their clicks down the line, and a late brood of great tits was mobbing through the birch as I climbed. Where the trees gave way to heather, the berries of the rowans had, in the space of hours it seemed, turned blood orange, an auspicious tree come to fruition; you can make a tart, smoky jelly from rowan berries, mixed with apples, that is good with venison, or, for vegetarians, a crumbly, soft cheese like Wensleydale. Continue reading...

Tony de Brum, Marshall Islands foreign minister, joins others in expressing offence at comments by Peter Dutton, caught on microphone in CanberraPacific leaders have hit out at the insensitivity of an Australian minister’s apparent joke at the expense of low-lying nations struggling against rising sea levels.

The Countryside Alliance says he is an extremist and wants the BBC to fire him. But the conservationist insists he is on farmers’ side, and unafraid to go on opposing foxhunting and badger cullingRelated: Countryside Alliance urges BBC to sack Chris Packham in conservation rowEven though it started over a hen harrier – and there will be those of us, shamingly, who don’t know what one of those looks like – there was something quintessential about the row that broke out this week between Chris Packham, hero of Springwatch, and the Countryside Alliance, champions of blood sports. Packham wrote a column in the BBC’s Wildlife magazine in which he criticised wildlife charities for being too meek. Frankly, it could have been said by anybody, of whatever political stamp, about any charity; they’re all way too meek about everything. But he was making a specific point, which he elaborated to me, on his garden bench near Southampton, looking out on to a view so perfect that I had the sense of imminent disaster. “The way the wildlife NGOs evolved is that they were instigated by people who had split interests. They were interested in country pursuits – shooting, hunting, fishing, farming – and also natural history. And they were brilliant natural historians with a genuine desire to protect that legacy. We should no longer be sleeping with these people, but we should be in constructive dialogue with them. We need to move on.” Continue reading...

Each day we endure eight-hour power cuts. Zambia’s rivers should produce plenty of hydroelectric energy, but a botched privatisation has left the nation without cash for new power stationsZambia is in the middle of a massive power crisis that began in June and has been getting steadily worse. In Lusaka, where I live, the situation is becoming desperate due to eight-hour blackouts every day. Moreover, the electricity goes off just at the time it is most needed – when families come home from work. The entire family is left without electricity for lighting and for cooking the evening meal. So instead it means cooking on the mbaula (a simple charcoal fire) and eating by candlelight.Related: Zambian villagers take mining giant Vedanta to court in UK over toxic leaks Continue reading...